• Moonrise2473@lemmy.ml
    27·
    5 months ago

    I fried the battery charging chip for my HTC dream when I rooted and used it as a router for the family in holiday. I felt it was hot to the touch but I thought “it’s gonna be ok, surely it has temperature sensors and it will throttle”. High draw for a long time when charging = the chip exploded and it wouldn’t charge anymore. Luckily the battery was removable and I already got an external charger for it from dealextreme. But HTC still repaired it for free under warranty even if it was my fault and I gave to them back rooted.

    Same for LG when my rooted Nexus 5X boot looped, although that was an endemic problem caused by LG shitty manufacturing (they changed the stance a few months after that, never bought LG anymore)

    Samsung should repair it, I thought they were the only ones root friendly left on the market…

    • voxel@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      5 months ago

      i was using my older mi play as a router (temporary solution) until we moved and got a proper internet connection. (we were very close to the poland-ukraine border back then and only my old phone was able to pick up vodafone ua’s 4g signal across the border)
      it shut itself down multiple times and was constantly turning off the tethering mode due to overheating.

      it still has vibrant permanent yellow burn marks on the display around the hot spots and only drains 0.5a while charging no matter what.

    • dandu3@lemmy.world
      61·
      5 months ago

      Samsung isn’t root friendly at all. Most of their phones can’t be bootloader unlocked officially.

      The only ones that do are google, moto and the chinese ones

      • voxel@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        5 months ago

        wdym literally all phones can be unlocked without a waiting period, account, internet connection or any other bs (it trips the knox e-fuse tho)
        you just go to the settings, enable oem unlock and run fastboot unlock.
        it’s as straight forward as it gets and works on all devices that aren’t locked to a carrier or sth (which is mostly an us-exclusive issue)

  • massacre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    5 months ago

    If it’s under warranty, they almost certainly cannot deny the claim for this or really many bullshit reasons manufacturers say like removing a “warranty void” sticker - which is still covered. You can sue in small claims. Check out the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act should you need to prove your point.

  • michael_palmer@lemmy.sdf.org
    11·
    5 months ago

    In Europe, there are unofficial Samsung phones available 15-20% cheaper than from authorized stores. Just consider how often you need warranty repairs. I’ve changed 5-7 phones during my life and haven’t had any problems with them except cracked screens and worn batteries.

  • PhreakyByNature@feddit.ukEnglish
    481·
    5 months ago

    Samsung have been trying to dodge honouring under warranty for years - check the comments for how much work had to be put in to get them to honour it. It pays to fight sometimes.

  • sudoku@programming.devEnglish
    815·
    5 months ago

    Your fault for buying a phone that doesn’t respect you: it has efuses (knox). Buying a regular Android phone that lets you fully restore it without a trace is the way to go.

    • money_loo@lemmy.world
      53·
      5 months ago

      This is true.

      I’m also wondering what OP was wearing when he took the phone in for repairs, seems like he was asking for it.

    • Vuraniute@thelemmy.clubOPEnglish
      11·
      5 months ago

      where can I get a good phone like a pixel or fairphone or whatever in greece? phones like that cant be found anywhere.

    • x4740N@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      Know any good brands then that have gold hardware because I like phones with large oled screens that have good hardware but haven’t found any phones that fit that yet

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
        3·
        5 months ago

        This is a hot take, but get a pixel. The hardware is more than good enough for basically any phone use case and you can install grapheneOS.

        The battery life could be better, but it will last substantially more than a day, so complaining seems a little pointless to me.

        • x4740N@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          5 months ago

          I will consider it when looking for my next phone but my current Samsung is still functioning so I don’t want to get a new phone until that one kicks the bucket

    • covert_czar@lemmy.ml
      3·
      5 months ago

      Yeah I bootlooped my samsung phone and the service center didn’t gave a shit about it They said the circuit itself is damaged and is hardbricked I fixed it with some kind of unlock tool lol
      I forgot the tool’s name Anyways i broke the screen just after few months fixing all this RIP💀

  • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
    89·
    5 months ago

    It’s illegal for them to do that, BTW. They have to prove magisk damaged your battery.

    I ran into this with Dell when they tried to claim after market RAM was the reason a CPU core wasn’t responding to interrupt requests.

    All it took was asking for the diagnostic data showing that the aftermarket RAM caused it to get the warranty repair approved.

    You just gotta push back until they cave. Maybe ask for their mailing address for your FTC report or for the number to their legal department (most call centers are terrified of escalating anything to the actual company).

    But, don’t directly threaten legal action, because they’ll stop the call right there.

    • db2@lemmy.world
      173·
      5 months ago

      It’s illegal for them to do that, BTW. They have to prove magisk damaged your battery.

      And you have to be able to afford those rights. If you can’t afford to sue them then you’re screwed.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
        24·
        5 months ago

        That’s where the arbitration clauses they make you agree to are actually helpful.

        THEY have to pay for arbitration. You don’t need an attorney, and generally they’ll just take care of you because it’s cheaper than hiring an arbiter.

        • funkycarrot@discuss.tchncs.de
          1·
          5 months ago

          Isn’t forced arbitration when the jury deciding on the case is on the payroll of the company you’re having the problem with in the first place?

          • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
            2·
            5 months ago

            Not exactly.

            It’s when there’s a third-party arbiter. In the case of customers seeking damages against these companies, the arbitration agencies are paid for by the company, but often there’s a list of arbiters the complainant can choose between.

            My personal strategy has always been to pick the most expensive one so that whether I win or lose, the company stags to lose more money on the process than by simply making me whole.

            The real reason for forced arbitration is because it makes DIY class action suits impossible.

            Otherwise, a company with a class action waiver would find themselves facing 10,000 cases from the same law firm instead of 1 case with 10,000 plaintiffs.

            With forced arbitration they can skip out on the cost process entirely and make the defendant do more leg work.

            And, importantly, there’s no precedent with arbitration. Losing the first case doesn’t necessarily snowball into you losing the next 9,999 cases with identical facts.

      • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
        9·
        5 months ago

        If you read further, I give suggestions on how to do that without a lawyer.

        It’s going to cost the company more money to call their lawyers than just doing the repair, so it usually doesn’t even take a ton of push back.

  • Mahonia@lemmy.world
    106·
    5 months ago

    I once tried to do a relatively basic repair on a phone, and ended up really breaking it. Like the touch screen won’t work because I broke some shit on the motherboard that now requires micro soldering broke it.

    So I send it to a repair company that allegedly does some micro soldering, and they call me to tell me they can’t repair it because their diagnostic utility doesn’t work unless it’s the stock OS (I’ve been a GrapheneOS user for many years). What they do is… wipe my data and then tell me it’s not the screen so they can’t repair it.

    Then I sent it to an actually good repair shop and they fixed it very quickly, easily understanding the problem. Good repair companies aren’t easy to find but damn are they worth it. They’re almost always smaller shops and they do not GAF what you do with your phone’s software.

  • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
    212·
    5 months ago

    An ideal phone:

    • Fairphone 4/5 like build
    • Unlocking the bootloader without asking manufacturer for the code
    • Access to the flashing and pairing tools from the factory to eliminate bricking
    • U-boot, Coreboot or similar sane bootloader
    • (Close to) mainline Linux support for the components, to enable “lifetime” updates and OS freedom
    • Optional: headphone jack and SD card slot
    • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
      5·
      5 months ago

      What a dream… But sadly it probably won’t happen. They manages to establish this shit as a standard and that’s it.

      Imagine PCs would be like that too. Would anyone buy them if they couldn’t install EVERYTHING? Or delete or change system-stuff/-apps? Or just go and install Linux? Or win? Or both?

  • jaschen@lemm.ee
    61·
    5 months ago

    Don’t go to any authorized repair center unless it’s still in warranty. Those people don’t care about you or your things. They are obligated to service you. Any 3rd party repair person has to work triple as hard and give you double the service to win your business.

    • KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world
      31·
      5 months ago

      As someone who used to work at and Apple and Samsung authorized repair center, it’s not that we don’t care. It’s that Apple and Samsung control every single thing we do and will fine us for deviating from their rules.

  • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
    9·
    5 months ago

    While this is some bullshit companies pull, you don’t have third party repair companies in your area?

    • Vuraniute@thelemmy.clubOPEnglish
      211·
      5 months ago

      samsung does bullshit where the parts have serial codes paired to the phone or whatever and you need to match it using their proprietary software for it to function. apple does it too.

      • OpenStars@startrek.websiteEnglish
        17·
        5 months ago

        I bought a Samsung as well. We should both learn from our mistakes, and never do that again - this is simply the cost of doing business with them. Maybe Fairphone would be good?

        • toastal@lemmy.ml
          3·
          5 months ago

          Fairphone removed the headphone jack so it’s pretty useless as a personal electronic device IMO

        • Vuraniute@thelemmy.clubOPEnglish
          6·
          5 months ago

          where can I get a good phone like a pixel or fairphone or whatever in greece? phones like that cant be found anywhere.

          • OpenStars@startrek.websiteEnglish
            6·
            5 months ago

            Sadly I know very little there. I know I HATE my current Samsung (mostly due to the company practices like you mentioned), and I also felt incredibly betrayed by my OnePlus 7T before that (the device itself was amazing, until an update broke it and now it literally hurts my hand, like I wonder if it’s giving me cancer by radiating something through the shielding that it burned through), and before that I absolutely adored my Nexus 5 (but Pixels are a whole other thing entirely - far too much camera and too little actual phone for my tastes). The entire smartphone world is incredibly predatory. I mostly figure that the next one I get will be a cheap phone, maybe even a dumb flip… but on the other hand I do live in an area where Google (or whatever) Maps could really help out so… I don’t know what I’ll do when my current one craps out:-(. Probably I will research a Fairphone, but if you live in an area where that would be difficult to repair, then yeah that may not be an option for you:-(. At least you live within the EU though where such is being forced to change, so you have that going for you.:-)

          • dzervas@lemmy.worldEnglish
            17·
            5 months ago

            γερμανος κ ξερο ψωμι!

            BTW: please don’t root/install magisk on a phone you use <3

      • JohnWorks@sh.itjust.works
        71·
        5 months ago

        Do you have a source for this? I’ve tried looking up anything online to see if this is something Samsung started to do but couldn’t find anything. I am also seeing 3rd party batteries available on Amazon for the a32 5g.

        Here’s an example that seems to have good reviews. Couldn’t find anything in the reviews that say the battery needed to be paired.

        Edit: battery said it wasn’t for a32 5g here’s another https://a.co/d/7Zy2N88

          • JohnWorks@sh.itjust.works
            7·
            5 months ago

            Looking though that it looks like Samsung made a comment

            Samsung’s representative stated:

            “I’m unfamiliar with the specific variables that could have come into play with this repair or the unsubstantiated comments from Mr. Jeffrey. What I can tell you is that there is no requirement to pair parts on our smartphones. If a repair were conducted correctly, a device would not lose functionality.”

            I was checking to see if anyone made any additional comments on the Hugh Jeffreys video and someone said they replaced the screen but kept the fingerprint sensor and it still worked fine. I believe replacing the battery with a 3rd party option should still have the device working fine.

            Hugh left a comment on the video as well:

  • kadu@lemmy.world
    53·
    5 months ago

    Here in Brazil the hardware and software are technically two different products, in such a way that you can’t deny a hardware warranty repair due to software modifications. That’s the good part.

    The bad part is that manufacturers do that anyway because they know you won’t pay the legal fees to challenge this in court. This strategy mostly pays off. If you’re particularly annoying, or somebody from our customer protection watchdog happens to take interest in your claim, the company will fold and repair the modified device for you eventually.

      • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipEnglish
        36·
        5 months ago

        This kind of thing is illegal in mist eu countries but they also dont enforce it like in brasil. Iirc norway enforces it because a bunch of people sued samsung together.

        • Pringles@lemm.ee
          1·
          5 months ago

          I have never heard of this kind of thing being an issue in EU countries. If your warranty is still good, they’ll simply fix/repair it without issues. Of course that’s purely anecdotal.