My Samsung Galaxy S3 died with the February 2012 firmware update and it's my fault?

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#777338 9-Mar-2013 13:30

some over reactions to not very much on here. Granted there is an issue but saying Samsung are doing nothing is incorrect or just an emotional reaction.

Had this discussion before, given not all of the 40 million S3's have failed, well in fact how many have, how many of those that did fall foul of SDS get refused warranty. Should Samsung recall the 40 million, yeah right I wouldn't either and there are always going to be those places that refuse warranty but luckily we have good consumer protection here.

Service agents are just that and have dealt with them before and I would only got direct to the manufacturer as the very last resort.

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mattwnz

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#777354 9-Mar-2013 14:03

Not all 40 million would be affected, just certain batches which they should have a record of. Other manufacturers do recalls on defective products, and just applies to some batches, even if the recall is just a repair. The problem is there doesn't appear to be any official acknowledgement about the problem from Samsung to even quote to the retailer which means that the consumer has to quote unofficial sources which are just hearsay. I think consumers deserve better from Samsung. I do have one of the possible affected models but so far mine has been ok apart from sometimes it allows down when it is writing to memory and suffers from random reboots every week or so but that may be normal.

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#777367 9-Mar-2013 14:49

Mauricio has blogged an excellent concise bit here about SDS. I would suggest anyone who needs to return their phone print this out and attach it to the phone when they take it back.

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#777374 9-Mar-2013 15:09

mattwnz: Not all 40 million would be affected, just certain batches which they should have a record of. Other manufacturers do recalls on defective products, and just applies to some batches, even if the recall is just a repair. The problem is there doesn't appear to be any official acknowledgement about the problem from Samsung to even quote to the retailer which means that the consumer has to quote unofficial sources which are just hearsay. I think consumers deserve better from Samsung. I do have one of the possible affected models but so far mine has been ok apart from sometimes it allows down when it is writing to memory and suffers from random reboots every week or so but that may be normal.

I think that is rather over simplified given most of the SGS3's have the emmc chip that can be effected by the firmware issue so it isn't just as simple as batch recall and not all those with that chip get infected.

This would also make it hard to distinguish, in some cases, with problems not associated with SDS. In my situation if my phone fails my water indicator shows it has had some moisture therefore I would think they would say it isn't SDS, I can fight that but if not I can fall back on my insurance.

The whole thing is being badly handled but not as bad as some would think. As an aside how many of the "death grip"iphones did Apple recall

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mattwnz

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#777394 9-Mar-2013 16:20

jeffnz:

The whole thing is being badly handled but not as bad as some would think. As an aside how many of the "death grip"iphones did Apple recall

Apple at least publicly acknowledged the deathgrip problem, and gave free bumper things to those cusomters. But in a way that was pretty minor, and only affected those who held their phone in a particular way. Many people don't hold the phone up to their face these days anyway.
The SDS is a major failure when it occurs, and we don't know if other performance issues with phones are caused by it. All the information about the emmc chip is also just speculation, as it isn't an official announcement by the manufacturer, so this may not be the cause of the problem.
My issue though is about the way it is being handled by samsung and how people who are sending their phones back to Samsungs repairers are being treated. As you have said it is being handled badly, and I agree with that. At least if people with these phones google the problem , they may find some unofficial information about that, but that may only be a small percentage of who is affected.

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#777402 9-Mar-2013 16:53

I don't agree with the way Samsung are handling it but think they are doing what is best for them, rightly or wrongly and trying to minimise the damage which is what I think most companies would do.

The apple thing was a design fault in hardware and probably not minor to those affected not unlike those affected by SDS its just the method of rectifying it that maybe differs.

It may be bigger than we know then again it may be smaller, we may never know but I am surprised it hasn't hit the media in a big way

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#777409 9-Mar-2013 16:59

jeffnz:

It may be bigger than we know then again it may be smaller, we may never know but I am surprised it hasn't hit the media in a big way

I think time will tell. I mean this model is still less than a year old, and it is a problem that could occur sometime in the future for many. I presume new ones being manufactured aren't going to be affected.
I had a friend who was affected by the iphone deathgrip problem overseas and they weren't happy, and they just got it replaced with a new one, so apple looked after them.

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#777410 9-Mar-2013 17:03

I think once the S4 is released it will be just forgotten about but until then they are keeping a lid on it.

The Note 2 has some with the affected chip as well so maybe it won't go away in a hurry. For now mine is going very well and hasn't missed a beat. (hopefully I didn't just put mockers on it)

To be honest i've seen more posts about phones being replaced under warranty than not however in some countries they are having issues.

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#777748 10-Mar-2013 21:30

Slightly OT since it doesn't relate to the S3 (which I just bought for my wife and I hope doesn't get the SDS!).

But I bought a Samsung Nexus S from Vodafone about 14 months ago and had it repaired twice under warranty. Both times it sent back to Samsung by Vodafone. I wonder why other retailers are using third party repair outfits?

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#777750 10-Mar-2013 21:39

I have doubts about "being sent back to Samsung". I don't think they have a lab in New Zealand. Most likely sent to one of the partner repair companies.

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#777775 10-Mar-2013 23:19

freitasm: I have doubts about "being sent back to Samsung". I don't think they have a lab in New Zealand. Most likely sent to one of the partner repair companies.

It was Samsung since I spoke to them a couple of times during the repair. And the number I was told to call was always answered Samsung NZ. As well the final repair sheet had the Samsung logo on it.

Plus both times I got a followup call from Samsung asking for my opinion of the customer service I had received.

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#777791 11-Mar-2013 00:01

Samsung have a very strong presence on the ground here so I'm sure they'll get on top of this. I've alerted them to the presence of this thread so I'd anticipate some sort of response.

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#777804 11-Mar-2013 07:22

They probably should get on top of it. Previously I've had a really good opinion of Samsung equipment, but now I'd probably look elsewhere next time, Motorola probably.

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#777850 11-Mar-2013 10:27

This is what I think:

Samsung have handled the S3 SDS issue from the start and have instructed the carriers/retailers to shut up/plead ignorant and quietly replace the mob no questions asked.

Now that the S4 is nearing release there's been a change of tact by Samsung. There's a concerted effort lead by Samsung to empty the shelves of S3's to the extent that all the carriers and retailers are offering a free tablet with each S3 sold.

There was never a chance of a mass S3 recall when there are millions of the jolly things still on the shelves worldwide.

You watch, getting the mob replaced now will be almost impossible, the default Samsung position via the carriers/retailers will be "sorry that's water damage"

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#777853 11-Mar-2013 10:46

wakaridnnz: This is what I think:

Samsung have handled the S3 SDS issue from the start and have instructed the carriers/retailers to shut up/plead ignorant and quietly replace the mob no questions asked.

Now that the S4 is nearing release there's been a change of tact by Samsung. There's a concerted effort lead by Samsung to empty the shelves of S3's to the extent that all the carriers and retailers are offering a free tablet with each S3 sold.

There was never a chance of a mass S3 recall when there are millions of the jolly things still on the shelves worldwide.

You watch, getting the mob replaced now will be almost impossible, the default Samsung position via the carriers/retailers will be "sorry that's water damage"

is this just your opinion or do you actually know this for a fact?

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