Samsung Galaxy S4 Battery Swelling.. Samsung are being very stubborn!

[Anonymous]

I posted a thread about this a good few months ago, and a few weeks ago I finally managed to get my S4 sent off to a repair centre as I've been travelling a lot.

Basically, I was using my S4 more so as a back up phone at this time (it's still under contract for another 4 months), when I went to take it out my drawer to use it I was shocked to see that the screen had come away a little and the home button was completely detached but more shockingly when I picked it up there was a massive bulge at the back - so I managed to take the back case off and seen that the battery had expanded and swelled. I looked it up and seen this was a known issue.

I rang O2 and they said as the battery is no longer under warrenty with O2 I'd have to contact Samsung, so I did. They sent me the packaging to send the phone back to them. I finally got an email a few days ago saying as there was 'physical damage' (the screen and home button) I'd need to pay to get it fixed, which came to just under £110. I was surprised as I made a note saying this is what I found - the battery had clearly expanded and had pushed into the phone and pushed the screen slightly off (the glue has come away) and pushed the home button off - the screen is perfectly intact, no cracks or anything.

I've been on and off the phone with Samsung but they're just not budging, basically the engineer doesn't believe the screen/home button damage was caused by the battery. 

What else can I do? I don't see why I have to pay when the reason the screen and home button are damaged is because of their faulty battery..? I'd be a mug to pay it. 

I've been referred to their complaints department, also. 

[jonsie]

I'm surprised by Samsung and their stance on this. The damage you describe can only be caused by the battery, I fail to see how anything else could cause it and it must be obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse. Let us know what complaints have to say please.

[Anonymous]

The complaints/customer service department have rang me back and they said the repair centre's decision cannot be overturned! And now they're saying the only issue is the home button being detached and the engineer doesn't believe that could be caused by the battery swelling..

They've said there's nothing they can do about it and said they can either send my phone back or I can pay or if I wish I can send a letter of complaint or ring the repair centre.

How rubbish!

[viridis]

Get that letter written,
Ask complaints team for the engineer report and photographic evidence of their warranty claim dispute.
Insist they send you back the phone complete including the battery which could not have caused the issue. (They won't send it back to you) and request an image of the latches that hold the home button in place.
You also require an explication as to how the expanding battery/frame/screen could not have pushed out a small loosely fitted button made of ABS when the frame assembly is stronger but still failed on stress caused by the battery

[MI5]

For Samsung to be saying this, they must firmly believe they are correct.
You could try to get advice from Trading Standards or CAB but if they are only asking you to pay for a repair to the home button, that might be your easiest and quickest option.....

[Anonymous]

Just spoke to a very helpful guy who works for the repair centre and he said that Samsung are actually the one's who make the decision after they send the report back to them. Samsung do this every day and are always palming customers off as Samsung don't want to pay out for the repair. And all Samsung have to do is send them an email to say to fix it as a good will gesture!

So back on the phone to Samsung I think!

[viridis]

This is why Samsung dispute it BTW. 

The black area is where the battery goes and is the expected area of force should a swelling occur.

The blue pcb at the bottom is the USB connector and on reverse of that is where the home button ribbon sits.(you can see the ribbon going into it from the left hand side of the battery void.

Samsung are disputing that the forces placed on the body and display, could cause the button assembly to fail.

With a button located behind a pcb that is screwed into place, they can't see how it could occur.

Just pointing out the disputed area to remain impartial and fair.

[MI5]

Well not our experience of Samsung at all but good luck with chasing this.....

[MI5]

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@viridis wrote:

This is why Samsung dispute it BTW. 

The black area is where the battery goes and is the expected area of force should a swelling occur.

The blue pcb at the bottom is the USB connector and on reverse of that is where the home button ribbon sits.(you can see the ribbon going into it from the left hand side of the battery void.

Samsung are disputing that the forces placed on the body and display, could cause the button assembly to fail.

With a button located behind a pcb that is screwed into place, they can't see how it could occur.

Just pointing out the disputed area to remain impartial and fair.

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In all honesty, I would expect the back to be pushed off first before the whole PCB was bent out of shape....?

[viridis]

I have to agree @MI5
My experience with Samsung has been A+

[viridis]

The only way I can see it, is if when the screen separated from the forward frame, the button was against the glass with some resistance, as the glass adhesive gave, the force literally pushed against the button at the moment of it "pinging off"
That would cause the button to come off with glass leaving the frame and pcb intact.