Do not buy SAMSUNG cell phone, especially in Belgium...

• I've just returned from the shop where I bought my brand new mobile phone more than a month ago. Three weeks after the purchase I realized that those on the other side of the call connection did not hear me. Microphone was broken they said in the PhoneHouse and I had to wait two weeks to get it back repaired. One from UK would wonder, a mobile for about hundred and half Euros after three weeks with serious fault should be replaced right away. It is Samsung though! No way, "two weeks, no more a we'll call you", they said. After 2 and half I called the clients care dept. of the PhoneHouse asking about the status of the repair. Was advised that's done and waiting for me in the shop. Indeed, it was there today, but as I was leaving the shop and trying to call to my wife I experienced the microphone problem again. Result - they did not even try to get it repaired in Samsung but only returned it back to the sales point. I was advised that had already happened before. And what’s the next procedure? Another two weeks of hope that the next time they will manage to get their job done in Samsung service.
  I can imagine this situation in normal country that you would not accept it - buying a phone for 150 Euro and after 3 weeks of use being obliged to undergo repair procedure twice because of inability of the Samsung service centre to do what they are paid for. I would definitely ask money back and never buy a new Samsung cell. But only thing you can do in Belgium is being humble and hope to have you phone back after a few month of lousy service.
  You should really set up a section for SERVICES in Belgium.
  
  

  01 Aug 2007, 03:33 Michael (miguele17@yahoo.com)

Replies

• Samsung bought from PhoneHouse Belgium = abusing and mocking clients

  Further on this unpleasant experience shared below, I may share mine which is not much brighter: the Samsung telephone that Phone House sold me was 299 euros and it gave two defects on the ninth month after the purchase. I brought it to the PhoneHouse shop where I made the purchased and which issued me the warranty papers. Since then, T_H_R_E_E M_O_N_T_H_S have passed and the phone has not been brought back from repair yet. Calling, faxing, writing them, going to the shops several times - nothing happens. PhoneHouse is one of the worst service companies I have ever encountered, the way they treat their clients is humiliating. Or perhaps this is Samsung's policy in terms of warranty? Whichever, the experience is repulisve. Consider avoiding both Samsung mobile phone products but especially PhoneHouse.

  Albena 07 Jan 2008, 07:14 - Report

• PhoneHouse - ScamHouse

  Bought a Samsung phone at Phone House last week. They wanted to sell me an all-risk insurance at 9 Euro a month. I kindly refused. When I checked the invoice they had added an automatic monthly payment from my bank account and wanted me to sign that. I refused to agree, much to their anger, and have reported them immediately to the Belgian economical inspection.

  Louvain 22 Sep 2008, 10:01 - Report

• No service in Belgium

  Customer care or service is an absolute is bad in Belgium compared to the UK. I know because I am a Belgian citizen living in the UK.

  Frank 15 Oct 2008, 02:01 - Report

• Quality of service and service people in Belgium can be questioned!

  I understand your feeling perfectly! If you EVER have to visit ANY persons for care (customer care) you will have to think twice in Belgium. I had to claim refund for my train ticket, they refunded it, and took 5 WEEKS to do that and of course charged me a cost of about 40% of the total as "service charge," nothing else.
  
  If you think about mobile call rate, it is 25 cents.. seems communication is still in dark age.
  
  I am sorry to say, not all creature can drink clean water, they jump and make it dirty then drink! Besides, they have an enormous amount of self satisfaction which is like a disease!
  
  Its time for us to awake our people!
  
  Well, is it true that you can get cell phone for free with subscription in the UK? How much is to pay for it?!

  Alex Grubbe'r 26 Nov 2008, 01:28 - Report

• The end: "Do not buy SAMSUNG cell phone, especially not in Belgium..."

  I've just googled for "lousy services Belgium", and surprisingly enough for me, this experience that I impulsively described more than a year ago it currently appears to be the most clicked hint in this search engine. Frankly, I haven't thought that it will ever be read by someone
  I have therefore decided to finish my story and presumably I could publish much more experiences with services and "clients/customers care" in this country.
  
  …Alors, three weeks later (as I had to leave my cell phone in the shop for the second time) I came back to the PhoneHouse (not surprised that they did not call after two weeks as they had promised) and I really tried to be nice that time. Well, the only person present in the shop could not find my cell phone in their boxes and then looked into their electronic system and told me that the phone had been already given to me. You can imagine how many different colours my face turned into but still I tried to stay calm. I showed him the original claim form and asked him how they could possibly give it to me as I had the paper (that has to be signed upon release) with me. He told me that he didn't know as it was his colleague who released the phone to "me" and that I should have spoken to him. But he wasn't in that day and I started to be quite annoyed because he seemed to mean it really seriously. I told him then that I want to see the signature on the claim/return paper which confirmed that "I" had been given the phone back. But he only reverted me to his colleague and refused to talk to me further. OK, pretty tough, but as I had to leave Belgium that day (it was Friday) I could not come back the next day and on Monday I received an SMS or a call that the phone is waiting for me in the shop. No explanation at all, obviously I did not ask after all these experiences ( I should have probably)…I only realised later that there was one sms stored in the "sent" folder in dutch which I do not speak and thus I assumed that the phone was returned to someone else and then they tried to get it back and return to the owner…
  
  Well that was the end of the story but only the beginning of more stories and even more incredible ones… I'll maybe write about them one day but being in Belgium already a few years, I "sort of" adopted so called "OIB" approach (only in Belgium and stay calm.

  Michael (miguele17@yahoo.com) 03 Dec 2008, 04:54 - Report

• Samsung readies cell phone with Adobe PDF support

  Samsung announced today that its SPH-V6500 and SCH-V650 smartphones will both offer support for Adobe PDF, MS Word and Excel, JPG and TXT files. Although I am not a huge fan of Adobe PDF, this is a big step forward to making e-books attractive to the casual cell phone user. Perhaps than again it is not, if one considers the hassle of DRM-infected Adobe files.
  
  [related: Adobe has also released a Symbian version of its Adobe reader. Time to fire it up in my Nokia Communicator 9500. -Alex]
  
  Source: Digital Chosunilbo and PDA Live
  
  The news made it to mainstream tech sites today, and I really don't see the good in this. Reading PDF files on a cell phone? God, that must be slooooooow. samsungcellphone.org

  gary 17 Feb 2009, 03:07 - Report

• samsung service

  Two months ago I bought a Samsung Omnia I900 phone at Van Den Borre shop in Aalst (Belgium). When I tryed to start up this phone an error message appeared and it refused all service (crashed software). Next day I brought it back to the shop, explaining the problem. After 5 min. I was again outside with a brand new Omnia and this one works perfect!
  So 10 out of 10 for this service!!!

  yves (yvesdsmail.com) 27 Feb 2009, 01:21 - Report

• bad service

  If a mobile phone is D.O.A. yes, dead on arrival, one should get a replacement on the spot,it was actually the very next day that we took this phone back to the shop, and the guy refused to give us another one. I was fuming mad and only after much argument with him and then further discussions with the manager, did we get a new phone!To tell you the truth this is just one story of many that we have had with faulty mobile phones and other electronic equipment!Belgian services sucks!

  carol 11 Mar 2009, 05:31 - Report

• zjtshek@sinaman.com

  Do not buy samsung refrigerator which is poorly designed! the fridge is desiged in a way that the panel is hot, it is too hot for one to keep one's hand on it, the fridge's temperature is not stable, it either gets too cold that vegi freeze in side or that it is not cold if you adjust the temp by one section. it does not last, and starting to give problems after a year. Even when sent back to the factory for overhaul, it failed to work less than a month's time after being sent back from the factory. Company is trying to drag on till warranty is over in 3 months time. In summary, poor design, poor maintenance, poor ethic, don't buy from Samsung! it is going down hill.

  zshek from cn 23 Mar 2009, 08:27 - Report

• Lousy repair Warranty with Sony Ericson mobile phone in Belgium

  Hello,
  Well I have had a poor customer service from Sony Ericsson in Belgium as well. Wait a month for repair of a glitchy cell phone which goes dead intermittently after two months of very careful use. Just to get it back from the sale of Media Markt in Brussels with mention "unrepaired, come and collect your property..."!!? I really regret buying this Xmas present for my daughter at all. Let's hope for the best when I have a go at the importer directly. One can wonder what means customer service in this go easy little country.

  charles Harper 28 Apr 2009, 02:36 - Report