Samsung Support = Horrible

Wow as if asurion wasn't enough for me Samsung has topped my worst customer service experience ever ... EVVVVVVVERRRRRR !!




I was browsing through the site checking out my devices support to see if any updates were available and I found that my phone could in fact be upgraded to Jelly Bean 4.1.2. Stock was 4.0.4 ICS. No big deal a simple upgrade wont hurt anything ...




I downloaded samsungs simple upgrade tool for cricket and followed all instructions to the T .. After I update I loose my internet and mms .. I thought no big deal, Ill just go in and program the settings then Ill update my apn.


Problem is that jelly bean 4.1.2 has removed apn settings and there is no way to update the apn.xml file. I fired up adb and pulled the apn.xml file to investigate the problem. BAM seems that its all loaded with T-Mobile apn settings. I try to push an no go beings its read only.


I contact support and they insist Im wrong and that carrier can only adjust apn settings. That was not the case as my carrier could not write to the phone unless it was rooted. And to add to that there is no root available for jelly bean 4.1.2 for this device.


I explain over and over that the apn.xml file is included and "hard coded" in the firmware update and my carrier cannot update. They tell me to go to best buy and have it flashed by their rep. Skeptical and desperate I jump in and head across town and Hmmmm .. The rep says your device is not compatible with our smart software. I heatedly head back out and go home. Back through live chat again I get another prize winning CS rep. They again tell me Im wrong and insist they did nothing wrong.


Manager time !! Except he was just a goofy as the last two. Finally broke it down to baby steps and he said well you can send it to Plano, TX to have it flashed by tech.


Now I have to call phone support and go through all of it again to have them email me a shipping label. Reluctantly they half arse excepted responsibility and said send it in.


Samsung posted the wrong update and its sad to think that anyone who upgraded by either OTA or upgrade tool is now out of luck. The hassle to get to the point I did (I still have the call to make) is just ridiculous ..


Cant believe they argued me, sent me to best buy, and argued me again (even provided previous chat logs/ID's )




BAD BAD BAD Samsung !! I own to many devices IMO to be treated like crap !!


The simple solution would be to provide a link to original firmware !! And if that's to much for you at least correct the problem and re-post the correct update .. All they have to do is change about 20 lines in one single file and re-compile the update..




RANT = DONE for now

I Agree Samsung is USELESS support

No offense, but I do not think any of the basic workers answering calls will know what your talking about. Some of these jobs are outsourced for $2 an hour workers - how do you think Samsung is so $$$.

In reality, the people that do know what your talking about, cost a lot more than it is worth as a majority of the people call in to ask why the phone will not turn on (have you tried to charge it? What's that mean?.. ) - the answers they can find by searching some index of common problems (so the phone operator can search) if that person is too stupid to use google too.

I have learned to stop expecting "technical" customer service a long while ago.

kyij said:

No offense, but I do not think any of the basic workers answering calls will know what your talking about. Some of these jobs are outsourced for $2 an hour workers - how do you think Samsung is so $$$.

In reality, the people that do know what your talking about, cost a lot more than it is worth as a majority of the people call in to ask why the phone will not turn on (have you tried to charge it? What's that mean?.. ) - the answers they can find by searching some index of common problems (so the phone operator can search) if that person is too stupid to use google too.

I have learned to stop expecting "technical" customer service a long while ago.

Click to expand...

Yup. When my TV died, they were great, but that was a typical

"Does it turn on?"
"No. The light blinks, nothing else."
"Have you tried the steps on our site?"
"Yes."
"We'll send someone out."

type scenario. I'd be surprised if the level 1, even some of the level 2 guys know much more than what's on the support site(s), which is why the typical response is "get someone to look at it". And this is from someone who was basically a L1 support tech at college

I bought one of there products two days ago. the instructions were junk... the label had no device id printed on it and the manual referred me to a section that didnt exist.
I took it back and we laughed (nice women in the customer service though and she had no wedding ring lol )

there monitors ive had three... they all mysteriously blowed up two to three years later. apparently they have implemented a power regulation thats life span is two to three years.

I hate them... I dont even see there brand. its just dead shop space when I walk in and they have a section dedicated to samsung.

loved the galaxy S2 though.... that phone was awesome.
one product in a thousand... well done erm... forgot there brand name?

edit: ok the evo drives are darn fine too... not a huge list of winners though

Item was received and seems they have flashed new software and updated prl .. Now its a waiting game to see what software they installed and why the PRL update I still don't know unless that's just protocol.. usually you can update your own prl on cdma phones ..


second not on support is they still suck !! I have called a couple more times to update my address and they have yet to get it right... I have this bad feeling it wont get delivered due to their mistake..


Custome support has taken a big dump in the last few years IMO .. it hasn't ever been great, but it def has gotten worse !!

UPDATE :

They messed up on updating the phone ... I still cant believe they only updated part of the apn file and left t-mobile settings for internet. Called back got the run around for an addittional two more times and was offered to send it back in. I asked to upgrade shipping to reduce turn around time and they said they would transfer me. After waiting approx 10 min on hold it automatically disconected me.

All they kept suggesting is I take it to my carrier and see if my insurance would cover it. I dont think thats my responsibility to have money come out of my pocket even more so, especially after this billing cycle has been wasted due to their botch on an update.

At one point I felt like I was on speaker phone and being made fun of as I kept hearing chuckles in the background.

this def tops worst of all times for me.. maybe ill consider small claims after all the loss I have sustained.

I think ill take my chances with a new brand .. nice products but CS is far below walmarts asurion crap service..

BobbyBubblehead said:

apparently they have implemented a power regulation thats life span is two to three years.

Click to expand...

That's a typical short life span of bad caps.....

Seems to be common with LCD monitors, likely, because they don't even put a lousy sleeve bearing fan in for cryin' out loud!

And the new plasmas may be worse! A lot of plasmas near the 2012 time frame seem to have mysterious failures.....

(Like I would expect with $10 dollar "500W" PSUs with fake components.)

It's my understanding that when it comes to upgrading smart phones you should go only through your mobile carrier, not the manufacturer.

That's probably why your phone did not auto-update.

Aside from that, I don't like Samsung phones - feels cheap.

Samsung manages to be worse at support than Asus does. That says a lot.

What Samsung phone do you have?

Also, OTA updates will not come from Samsung, so anyone that got their update via OTA came direct from carrier and they got the right version. OTA updates come from your carrier. A bad thing about being myself on ATT, they are soooooo slow to put out OTA updates. Thank god for rooting and being able to manually update.

Your best bet is to use ODIN or whatever app you prefer and, put a recovery software on it, and find a stock ROM for the Cricket model of your phone.

madhatter256 said:

It's my understanding that when it comes to upgrading smart phones you should go only through your mobile carrier, not the manufacturer.

That's probably why your phone did not auto-update.

Aside from that, I don't like Samsung phones - feels cheap.

Click to expand...

I agree that OTA updates is preferred method but when it comes down to it Samsung has this update specifically listed for my carrier. Not to mention that Samsung itself said that even the OTA update has came most likely from Samsung itself. Beings my phone carrier is not the top of the tier of carriers they rely more on manufacturer programmers and updates to push (as they hire them directly rather than outsource) OTA updates.
Either way you look at it.. It def is a problem and error.

sobe said:

What Samsung phone do you have?

Also, OTA updates will not come from Samsung, so anyone that got their update via OTA came direct from carrier and they got the right version. OTA updates come from your carrier. A bad thing about being myself on ATT, they are soooooo slow to put out OTA updates. Thank god for rooting and being able to manually update.

Your best bet is to use ODIN or whatever app you prefer and, put a recovery software on it, and find a stock ROM for the Cricket model of your phone.

Click to expand...

In this caae I cannot say 100% but from the sounds of it this was the case for my carrier. As far as updates goes its not always a bad apple .. In fact my experience with a few at&t phones is I have gotten Samsung direct updates and the phone performs just fine where at&t has not officially released an update. I only assume in this matter that Samsung itself has rights to improve the software and include a basic set of carrier requirements where as a carrier ususally likes to push there own specific package bundles with new apps etc .. Highly likely in most caaes (although it hs gotten better) that carriers do not want to puch most uodates cause that drives sales down on new phones .. The same phone dubbed version 2 with the only difference being new software version will sale higher than the same phone with older software ..












Point being here is that Samsung doesn't want to own up to their mistake .. as small as it may be in an overall perspective they should fix the issue and either put up a stock recovery or fix the update correctly .. they haven't done either one .. Plus their support sucks as majority don't have any real knowledge or background on phone flashing / updating