Samsung Galaxy S4 Bulging Battery issue

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#965201 11-Jan-2014 18:20

This has turned into a rant and vengeance thread by the looks. To be honest if it had have been me I would have purchased another battery off trademe and just waited it out. I do realise that some people deal with things differantly and like to make a point but in the end we are dealing with large overseas companies and I have seen more than enough evidence that Samsung aren't a lone in this.

Anyway sorted now just need to have the aftermath :)

my rant over

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Paulthagerous

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#965206 11-Jan-2014 18:45

mattwnz:
Paulthagerous:
mattwnz:
networkn:
uglyb0b:
tehgerbil:If they have a backlog of 20 people it's because they haven't escalated the problem to the Samsung rep. Trust me, there are channels they can get this moving if necessary.

How do you know they haven't escalated the issue? I know from experience that Samsung (or any OEM for that matter) are very difficult to deal with in terms of taking ownership for anything at all. In fact, every single customer service experience I have had with Samsung has been terrible, except, ironically, for the issue I had with my swollen battery.

Despite your perception, Samsung is NOT responsible in this case, his retailer is. His anger is misplaced though I can understand his frustration.

The consumer has the choice to deal with either the retailer or the manufacturer, so if they were dealing with the manufacturer and weren't getting anywhere, then I believe they are responsible.

Nope. Whoever supplies the product to the customer is the one who is responsible. Here it is HN not Samsung. S16 of the CGA says this, and 'supplier' is defined in Section 2 in such a way to catch the retailer only. This is intentional, to prevent the retailer from trying to pass the buck.

Of course, the consumer could go directly to Samsung themselves, and Samsung COULD fix the issue themselves (the law doesn't prevent this) but they are not OBLIGATED to deal directly with the consumer - that responsibility (legally anyway) falls squarely on HN.

I was always under the impression the manufacturer was obligated, because what happens if the retailer goes out of business. I wasn't talking about the actual 'supplier' which is another middle man in the process. The manufacturer is the only one left that they can deal with it if a retailer closes down. Also the manufatcurer will often have a dedicated support line, so the retailer will often say that they should contact the manufacturers support line to get it dealt with as quickly as possible. The retailer will often say that we can deal with it, but it will take longer, than dealing with the manufacturer directly. This takes load off the retailer, and means that the consumer is dealing with specialists to deal with any problems, versus a retailer who may know very little about what they are selling.

I don't want to go too off topic as it is very complex, but briefly:

There are some provisions where the manufacturer is liable. These are more limited
The law is clear that by 'supplier' it means retailer, not middlemen.
One big aim of the Act was to stop the retailer saying 'ask Manufacturer', who then turns around and sends them back to the retailer. There are many good reasons this was the path they took, won't go into them, but it provides certainty to the customer. Many people would rather deal with a physical retail store than a call center.
You also would need to show the device came through Samsung NZ, not an importer. Might be simple here, but the consumer probably wouldn't know the difference.
HN have accepted responsibility to the customer. It seems Samsung NZ have too, but aren't doing anything special/different to HN which is what the OP was hoping/expecting would happen.

TL:DR MAYBE you could hold Samsung NZ liable, but it is not as easy as with a retailer (and designed to be so).

uglyb0b

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#965207 11-Jan-2014 18:47

Regardless of whether Samsung or Harvey Norman are responsible, the point of the thread was to inform of/discuss a situation where Samsung failed miserably. There is a widespread and known issue that should be an easy fix, but wasn't, just because.

My earlier post was to indicate that I as a customer and retailer have had similar issues with Samsung before and that it is not uncommon for this kind of thing to happen.

networkn

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#965214 11-Jan-2014 19:05

uglyb0b: Regardless of whether Samsung or Harvey Norman are responsible, the point of the thread was to inform of/discuss a situation where Samsung failed miserably. There is a widespread and known issue that should be an easy fix, but wasn't, just because.

My earlier post was to indicate that I as a customer and retailer have had similar issues with Samsung before and that it is not uncommon for this kind of thing to happen.

But Samsung DIDN'T Fail miserably. They aren't setup in NZ to supply end user support. That's why they sell through a reseller channel and those are the people. It's a matter of the OP trying to get a faster resolution than his retailer offered under the CGA and this caused issues. I think even he realizes this now.

Samsung don't appear to have handled it that well, but equally they were asked to do something they aren't supposed to be doing.

Your experiences as a supplier and your low opinion of them for that, have no place in this thread because it's not relevant and only inflames the situation unnecessarily. If YOU were dealing with Samsung directly as a consumer, then you ALSO were not dealing with it properly and should hold yourself at least partially responsible for the poor outcome.

uglyb0b

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#965217 11-Jan-2014 19:24

I think the point was that Samsung have a reasonably serious known issue that they are not addressing adequately. I was sharing my experiences from two different perspectives to show that the OP is not alone in difficulties with dealing with Samsung, regardless of whether or not it is Samsung's responsibility. It may not be Samsung's responsibility to deal with end users, but they are at least somewhat responsible for cooperating with the companies selling their products, which in my experience, they are not.

To summarise, Samsung have a widespread issue they should have a non-standard process in place for and they don't. In my eyes this is a failure regardless of who is responsible for the actual stock.

Handle9

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#965221 11-Jan-2014 19:43

IANAL but the CGA does explicitly give the right of redress from the manufacturer to consumers in Part 3 of the act. It's not as comprehensive as section 2 (suppliers (i.e. retailers) however it does exist and it is not required that the consumer go to the supplier first.

As others have said the retailer can't make you deal with the manufacturer but if you choose to then you are within your rights. The link to the CGA is below, it's not a very complicated piece of legislation and well worth a read.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0091/latest/whole.html#DLM311053

Paulthagerous

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#965224 11-Jan-2014 20:03

Handle9: IANAL but the CGA does explicitly give the right of redress from the manufacturer to consumers in Part 3 of the act. It's not as comprehensive as section 2 (suppliers (i.e. retailers) however it does exist and it is not required that the consumer go to the supplier first.

As others have said the retailer can't make you deal with the manufacturer but if you choose to then you are within your rights. The link to the CGA is below, it's not a very complicated piece of legislation and well worth a read.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0091/latest/whole.html#DLM311053

It also is worth noting the remedies against a manufacturer are much more limited, s19,20 (repair, refund, replace, compensation etc) vs s27 (damages for loss of value the main one).

Depending on what your desired outcome is that may make it a non-starter.

As I said before, it is actually very complex, the idea being the retailer ought to be your first port of call and the manufacturer a 'backup' option.

deviljr

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#966170 13-Jan-2014 14:19

Hi guys,

I have this issue with the original battery after owning the S4 for 5 months. Now I got this phone parallel imported and rooted (knox counter and all...) so I don't see any chance I'll get a new battery replaced under warranty, so I bought an other battery off TradeMe, it looks official/legit enough. So the new battery is giving me some grief and I don't know if this is caused by the phone or the battery. Basically with the new battery every time I charge the phone to 100% the phone will automatically turn off and stay off and on some mornings the battery picture on screen shows its empty with a yellow explaination mark in a triangle next it, but if I replug the phone on charge again it'll stay the battery is full and I'm able to turn the phone on. Now because of this bulging battery issue I don't know if my S4 is faulty (possibly charging circuit fault?) or the new battery is faulty. Has any one come across this issue before? or what I should be doing to get this sorted. I'm all good with repairing/replacing parts myself but I don't really know where to start with this one... really wish I haven't rooted the phone now =/

networkn

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#966173 13-Jan-2014 14:24

deviljr: Hi guys,

I have this issue with the original battery after owning the S4 for 5 months. Now I got this phone parallel imported and rooted (knox counter and all...) so I don't see any chance I'll get a new battery replaced under warranty, so I bought an other battery off TradeMe, it looks official/legit enough. So the new battery is giving me some grief and I don't know if this is caused by the phone or the battery. Basically with the new battery every time I charge the phone to 100% the phone will automatically turn off and stay off and on some mornings the battery picture on screen shows its empty with a yellow explaination mark in a triangle next it, but if I replug the phone on charge again it'll stay the battery is full and I'm able to turn the phone on. Now because of this bulging battery issue I don't know if my S4 is faulty (possibly charging circuit fault?) or the new battery is faulty. Has any one come across this issue before? or what I should be doing to get this sorted. I'm all good with repairing/replacing parts myself but I don't really know where to start with this one... really wish I haven't rooted the phone now =/

Legally your retailer can not refuse you warranty support on your battery if you have rooted your phone, one is software and the other is hardware. Enforcing that can be difficult.

I suggest your new battery is the issue.

Talkiet

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#966177 13-Jan-2014 14:26

Do you still have your original battery? If so, is the serial number in the affected range?

And I agree with networkn... sounds like your aftermarket battery is at fault to me. Did you pay closer to $20 or to $50 for it? If you paid under about $35, I'd suggest there's very little chance it's a Samsung original.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

deviljr

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#966193 13-Jan-2014 14:39

Ok I'll give the 'waranty claim' a go and contact the trademe user at the same time.

The original battery is at home but from memory I think it is within the serial number range. I paid $35 for the after market battery which I thought was kind of too good to be true to be completely honest. I'll try and see if I can get that replaced but is there somewhere I can get an official Samsung battery? Went to Vodafone store and they said they don't stock any batteries.

Talkiet

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#966197 13-Jan-2014 14:40

I twittered Vodafone and Telecom and they both said they were completely out of stock of batteries but could order them...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

blackjack17

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#967363 15-Jan-2014 09:39

2 degrees now have replacement batteries in store. I simply called the store they put it on hold and 10minutes later they swapped it over, no questions asked (they didn't even ask for last name or account number).

This was at St lukes Auckland. Apparently Samsung supplied the batteries and they send the old batteries back.

So while it took a while Samsung seems to be coming to the party and making good. to bad they didn't do this from the get go, as the support has soured my opinion of an otherwise excellent device.

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Awatere

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#987059 13-Feb-2014 22:56

This is happening to me, and my battery's serial number was manufactured in China and within the given range. I'm actually really pleased to finally understand why my S4 is doing this!

I've just ordered a replacement battery from TradeMe (I really don't want to be without my phone while it jaunts off to Telegistics).

Was the answer around safety ever discovered? This device and I are practically joined at the hip - is it safe to keep using it until the new one arrives, or should I dig one of my old phones out of the emergency drawer in the interim?

blackjack17

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#987097 14-Feb-2014 06:44

Awatere: This is happening to me, and my battery's serial number was manufactured in China and within the given range. I'm actually really pleased to finally understand why my S4 is doing this!

I've just ordered a replacement battery from TradeMe (I really don't want to be without my phone while it jaunts off to Telegistics).

Was the answer around safety ever discovered? This device and I are practically joined at the hip - is it safe to keep using it until the new one arrives, or should I dig one of my old phones out of the emergency drawer in the interim?

See my post above. My battery was replaced on the spot.

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