To Pay Or Not To Pay

[Asiantravel]

OP I just had a similar experience involving one of Thailand's biggest phone providers and I decided to explain everything in a written detailed complaint with a chronological description of conversations and e-mail exchanges which was submitted to the Office of the Consumer Protection Board in Thailand.

Things went a little bit slowly but this is understandable when you consider that this department was in a building in Bangkok that were surrounded by yellow shirt protesters during the height of the protests who were even threatening delivery drivers. When I sent my complaint , one of the OCPB staff had to physically come out of their office to collect my envelope because of the protesters wouldn't allow the delivery person to go in. Of course everything is back to normal delivery routines now.

I cannot stress how good these people are because not only did I WIN against one of Thailand's biggest companies. I was able to describe everything through this government agency that may otherwise have landed me in trouble through Thailand's archaic defamation laws and it didn't even cost me anything.

People should really be aware of the power of this government agency which is an offshoot of the Prime Minister's office.

I recommend you do the same as it will not be a waste of your time

[Asiantravel]

OCPB.

Office of Consumer Protection Board.

[Briggsy]

Why did you tell them where to go? I believe it would have been better to have discussed the issue rationally and calmly. Why do all the threads like this featuring the farang getting angry and probably shouting? It usually resolves little here.

You will have to go back or contact head office or take the financial hit. I would pursue it.

No the best is to shout as loud as possible and call them all animal names you know in Thai (reptilians are the most popular). My Thai wife is doing that and always got what she wants.

Not quite sure what to make of this. It would take a special person to carry it off successfully.

[HeijoshinCool]

I would not waste much time on it. Pay, get it back and forget about it.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Stop wasting your time posting here, send the OP the money, and forget about it.

[Cypress Hill]

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Typical Thai reaction to any 'guarantee'. As far as they are concerned they've got your dosh and you've got the problem.

Go direct to Samsung and you should be ok.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Typical farang reaction to any situation where the local doesn't immediately reach into the till and give the almighty farang his money back without question - slag off the Thais.

I've had refunds and no-quibble warranty replacements on everything from headphones to fans to toasters in this country.

While I fully support the OP's stance, I think it would be best to find out what is actually covered by the guarantee. I've often found that warranties and guarantees that accompany electronic goods sold here are "limited".

In the OP's case, the screen may not be covered.

If it IS covered, he shouldn't pay for the repair; he should get head office involved. The store isn't going to sell the phone on as it's not theirs to sell.

OP should stick to his guns

Edited June 20, 2014 by Cypress Hill

[hellohello123]

I would not waste much time on it. Pay, get it back and forget about it.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

and encourage them to keep on doing it to someone else?!?!?!?!

yes I agree, it may not be worth your time, however, by allowing it means you are encouraging them and saying its ok to do it

and its got nothing to do with Farang or thai culture, in case you want to go down that path,

sure, getting agro may mean you lose face, which is another topic,

but at the end of the day, charging for a product thats a warranty issue within the warranty period is simply UNACCEPTABLE, farang or thai

[h90]

Why did you tell them where to go? I believe it would have been better to have discussed the issue rationally and calmly. Why do all the threads like this featuring the farang getting angry and probably shouting? It usually resolves little here.

You will have to go back or contact head office or take the financial hit. I would pursue it.

No the best is to shout as loud as possible and call them all animal names you know in Thai (reptilians are the most popular). My Thai wife is doing that and always got what she wants.

Not quite sure what to make of this. It would take a special person to carry it off successfully.

It works for her.....Last time when she shouted at the revenue department that she will sue them, they reduced the tax from 40.000 to 4.000 Baht to calm her down

I don't know what would happen if I try that in Europe....I guess they would call a doctor to check my head....

[h90]

Here my advice (worked for me already a lot of times):

1. Take everything you have (guarantee, purchase bill, etc.) with you and make a complaint at the nearest Tourist Police Boot.

Remember to STAY CALM AND POLITE to the Tourist Police.

2. Ask them to go with you to the Samsung shop and help you resolve the case (that is their job).

They will go with you and talk to the Samsung people in a way the can't refuse.

3. Walk back with the phone without paying anything to SAMSUNG.

When you are back at the Tourist Police boot, give them a (big) tip for their help (comes handy next time you need them).

4. NEVER BUY any shit from Samsung.

Hope this helps

I just wanted to buy a Samsung S5.

I read before about someone having similar problems with Samsung and I thought, you never know what really happens.

Now that is the second story and I'll follow your advise: "4. NEVER BUY any shit from Samsung." So I don't get into this kind of troubles....

Try to get an I - thing repaired at an official shop.... not fun either. Lowest cost option seems to be these little repair booths. Takes a few hours only...

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I read that the I-company is very helpful on repairs.....Well you pay the double price, so they can do it easily....

But I never considered buying from a company that controls what I am allowed to install...So that's not an option for me.

[cro55fire]

i just love these post of no help no support

what happened to a problem aired

a bit of sympathy is all we need sometimes a

tell me if im wrong

im the same as you ( attitude )

now if they explained it is not covered by guarantee showed you this in the papers told you the damage to the phone etc you wouldnt be here now yes? ,,,20 k on phone we want a bit of after sales yes... " this is thailad" i love this,,,,,covers everything for the people here that have nothing better to do than write on forums ,,, now im doing it yes

your right leave it there get in touch with the chief dont part with no cash until its justified then you wont mind its just knowing yes

its a communication problem here most of the time im no help and im boring myself good luck im behind you no im beside you come get me il come back with you

[Neeranam]

Good news!

I went back to the DTAC shop where I bought the phone and explained the situation. A guy there made a phone call and then tokd me to go back to Samsung. I did and got the phone for no charge.

[CharlieH]

Great that its been resolved for you and no costs involved.

A good ending, as it should have been to start with.

[Neeranam]

Why did you tell them where to go? I believe it would have been better to have discussed the issue rationally and calmly. Why do all the threads like this featuring the farang getting angry and probably shouting? It usually resolves little here.

You will have to go back or contact head office or take the financial hit. I would pursue it.

No the best is to shout as loud as possible and call them all animal names you know in Thai (reptilians are the most popular). My Thai wife is doing that and always got what she wants.

Not quite sure what to make of this. It would take a special person to carry it off successfully.

It works for her.....Last time when she shouted at the revenue department that she will sue them, they reduced the tax from 40.000 to 4.000 Baht to calm her down

I don't know what would happen if I try that in Europe....I guess they would call a doctor to check my head....

The tax office ripped me off once. They told me I couldn't get allowance for my wife's retired parents. I did it online and got a massive rebate compared to previous years.

[hellohello123]

this is what happened to me recently, a reflection of the differnce in attitude and culture between two different countries,

I have a waterproof phone from sony, in a moment of sillyiness, I was with a friend and said lets test to see if the phone is waterproof, I ensured that the two flaps that made the phone water proof were secure, my friend also checked it,

we put it into some water for about 30 seconds, and lo and behold the phone was full of water, the camera lens was like a fishtank,

anyway, we took it back to the shop and they said they would try and get it replaced under "goods not fit fur purpose" however, Sony will probably say the flaps werent on properly., and then it becomes a "he says, she says" type stiuation

the shop who was on my side because I was not the first person to complain about the same problem, anyway, after a bit of forwards and back by the shop, as a gesture of good will, they gave me a brand new phone

Would this ever happen in thailand in light of a guy having problems even getting his phone repaired under warranty!!!!

[nzvic]

It's natural to get angry about such incidences - but why do those living in Thailand, from the west, assume that such happens only there...there are dozens of like-events such as this which happens in NZ where consumer laws are plentiful. For example I paid 5 wks temporary accommodation in advance only for them to cancel the night before because the place did not like the discounted rate I booked at (through another site) as they didn't get enough money out of it...yet neither had no mechanism to stop me booking/paying a large total sum...then they tried to rob me of ten days saying I had not given sufficient notice when it was not my choice.

[ozsamurai]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Don't pay. Contact Samsung Head Office and tell them what happened. You CAN demand action from Samsung.

Contact Samsung.

My wife has had light usage and good service from her Gio, so much so that I bought an identical phone for my elderly father to use. About 1 month ago, she noticed the battery was always flat, I suspected the battery itself was just perhaps old. I gave her the battery from my Samsung 5700 to use, but the problem just persisted. About 3 weeks ago the phone simply stopped charging at all when connecting the micro USB. We took it to our nearest Samsung Authorised repair shop in Omyai in Thailand. They said that the connector had become loose and would need to be replaced, parts were ordered and the phone given to them for repair, 500Baht. 2 weeks later we had not heard from them, we called, and they said that the board of the phone needed replacement at a cost of 2,500Baht, bringing the repair costs well over the purchase price of it. When we handed them the phone, in front of us they were able to charge it via other means, the phone was functioning normally.

We contacted Samsung customer service in Thailand, they called the repair shop and did nothing. The manager simply removed the part he had replaced, making my wife wait while he did this, and gave her the phone back more damaged than before as we were not willing to pay for a ''''''''''''''''new board''''''''''''''''.

Is this the kind of service I can expect from Samsung? If it is, you can be sure I will be VERY vocal about it at every chance I get. I am not happy with the way the situation was handled, nor the response from your company in Thailand and demand some positive steps be taken to remedy the problem.

Above is my complaint to Samsung....

here is the response

Dear Sirs,

Thank you very much for your value information and feedback . We sent your comment to responsible process and please accept our apology for the inconvenience this may have caused.

Best Regards,
Samsung ERMS Support Team

That is all you are going to get..... and it's all they are going to get out of me from now on too....switching brands.

Oz

[h90]

Good news!

I went back to the DTAC shop where I bought the phone and explained the situation. A guy there made a phone call and then tokd me to go back to Samsung. I did and got the phone for no charge.

DTAC...seems the way to go :-)

[h90]

this is what happened to me recently, a reflection of the differnce in attitude and culture between two different countries,

I have a waterproof phone from sony, in a moment of sillyiness, I was with a friend and said lets test to see if the phone is waterproof, I ensured that the two flaps that made the phone water proof were secure, my friend also checked it,

we put it into some water for about 30 seconds, and lo and behold the phone was full of water, the camera lens was like a fishtank,

anyway, we took it back to the shop and they said they would try and get it replaced under "goods not fit fur purpose" however, Sony will probably say the flaps werent on properly., and then it becomes a "he says, she says" type stiuation

the shop who was on my side because I was not the first person to complain about the same problem, anyway, after a bit of forwards and back by the shop, as a gesture of good will, they gave me a brand new phone

Would this ever happen in thailand in light of a guy having problems even getting his phone repaired under warranty!!!!

Well I had plenty computer problems.....hard disc broken....aha...throw the old one in a corner, give me a new one...sign here....case finish....

motherboard broken on the last day of warranty.....too old, no have spare, which one of the newer boards you want instead?.....case finish....

Monitor same as HD

HD...Western Digital

motherboard: Gigabyte

Monitor: Acer

[StefanBBK]

I would not waste much time on it. Pay, get it back and forget about it.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Stop wasting your time posting here, send the OP the money, and forget about it.

OK, I got it. My comment came across stronger than it was meant. What I tried to say is, evaluate the situation. Consider the time and effort you would like to spend to get your good right. If it is worse it too you, go for it and get them. The office for consumer protection seems to be a great way.

If you decide it is too much effort and cost too much time, that you perhaps don't have, it would be best to let it go.

I understand that at times we fight out of principle. And right is right and wrong is wrong. But surely 2000 baht dispute is different from 200000.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[krisb]

Problem with screens is they can say it was the user who broke it.

I know it wasn't smashed, but they can say it was dropped.

Then maybe a small print in the warranty regarding whats covered whats not, parts versus labor type thing.

I had to replace a smashed screen recently and that made a $600 phone suddenly worth $850 after repairs. Glass screens are the worst design and repair places are making a fortune from it.

[YipYipYa123]

Problem with screens is they can say it was the user who broke it.

I know it wasn't smashed, but they can say it was dropped.

Then maybe a small print in the warranty regarding whats covered whats not, parts versus labor type thing.

I had to replace a smashed screen recently and that made a $600 phone suddenly worth $850 after repairs. Glass screens are the worst design and repair places are making a fortune from it.

broke my note 3 screen and the cheapest origiinal gorilla glass screen was 5000 at a fixing stall + 30 min wait

they are making a fortune for sure

6600 at samsung + 2 weeks to fix it becaise no screens in stock ?? w tf

roll on flexible screens ASAP

[taotoo]

Would this ever happen in thailand in light of a guy having problems even getting his phone repaired under warranty!!!!

Yes it would - I dropped my Sony phone which broke the screen. It had visible damage and was obviously dropped. For some reason Sony repaired it under warranty.

[somchaismith]

On the Thai Samsung website there's a section where you can register your mobile telephone using its make and serial number. After registration you can then check out it's warranty details. However, the whole site's in Thai, so good luck.

On this page here, http://cybersvc2.samsungcsportal.com/cyberservice/csc/account/login01.jsp?locale_id=th_th&ssoUseYn=N&ssoLang=en , if you click the second blue button you can check the status of your repair and warranty, so it says.

I hope this helps towards an answer.

Edited June 21, 2014 by somchaismith