Samsung phone mishaps test loyalty of repeat customer

Byby Randall Yip and Michael Finney KGO logo
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Samsung phone mishaps test loyalty of repeat customer
A Hayward man swears by Samsung and the Note series of phones. However the company had to work hard to win his loyalty back.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Brand loyalty - It's what any company would covet.

A Hayward man swears by Samsung and the Note series of phones. However the company had to work hard to win his loyalty back.

Abo Mojadidi is constantly on his phone for work.

He's had the Samsung Note for years.

"Being a business professional, I love the Note. It gives you a little more access as far as the stylus pen, said Abo.

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But, he has had several issues with Samsung lately.

Exploding batteries forced the recall of the Samsung Note 7.

"And then I returned that and then I got the replacement and that eventually became recalled."

Samsung blamed overheating batteries for the second recall as well.

Abo switched to Apple, but wasn't quite satisfied so he went back to Samsung last year.

Abo bought the Note 8, but that didn't quite work out either.

The phone froze on him almost as soon as he took it out of the box.

"The phone would actually turn off and restart itself. So it wasn't working properly," Abo explained.

Samsung asked him to return the phone.

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He says he shipped it off immediately after he received the required return label.

Abo says the company received it and then sent the same phone right back, telling him the return period had expired.

He was stunned, especially since he said he still had 7 months left of his one year manufacturer's warranty.

"What am I going to do with a phone that doesn't work, costs over a thousand dollars. Why should I even have it with me?" he wondered.

About the same time, he started getting bills for a phone he was trying to return for a refund.

At this point, I was totally done with it."

That's when he called 7 On Your Side and we called Samsung.

The company told us "We regret the experience that Mr. Mojadidi had. We will carefully review Mr. Mojadidi's experience in an effort to constantly improve our processes."

Abo received a full refund. He used the money to purchase a new phone-another Note 8

"I love Samsung, " Abo said.

He tells us if his experience helps improve customer service, he's satisfied.

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