Complaint Review: SAMSUNG - San Jose CA

I own a Galaxy S8, bought on october, 2017. It is advertised to be water resistant, up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. I used it several times in the pool with no problems. Last week I took the phone to the pool to take some pictures. Didn't even dive the whole phone, just got slightly wet, and for less than 10 minutes. After I returned home it started to make a noise and the screen turned black. When I took de protective case off, I saw that the back case of the phone was opened.

There was no bad use of the phone, it had no physical damage, was protected by Otter Box case, the best protection there is. It was in perfect condition, and got damaged by the water. But the advertisement says there would be no problem taking the phone to the pool under those conditions.

I called Samsung and they are saying that because the warranty is expired they will charge for the repair even if they analyse and find evidence of manufacturing defect. Even though the problem was only caused because the company told me I could get it to the water, but didn't alert me that they only guarantee that it will be water resistant for one year, during the warranty period.

I feel fooled by the company, see this advertisment: https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-s8/performance/. First, I would not have bought the phone if I knew that the water resistant function was not guaranteed by SAMSUNG. There are other phones in the market that do guarantee and assume responsibility if there is a problem. Second, if after purchasing I was warned that the water resistant function was not guaranteed by SAMSUNG, I would have never taken it into the water. The problem would have been avioded and I would still have a working phone.

So this is a situation where SAMSUNG led me to trust getting my phone to the water, with the promise that it was made to resist that, but then that action damaged the phone, and now SAMSUNG says they have no responsibility on that, because the warranty is expired. Being questioned if the water resistant function was only valid for the first year after purchase, they confirmed that the product also was water resistant after one year, but still denied to have it fixed with no costs.

The problem is even bigger because I live in Brazil, I purchased my Galaxy S8 in a trip in Hawaii. Samsung wants me to send the phone to USA to someone I know, so he can send it to be analysed by a technician, and then I would still have to pay for the repair. There is no commitment by the part of the company that if no bad use is detected they will repair it with no costs. I do not understand either why a company with global activity can`t give support in Brazil, even though there is a Samsung in Brazil.

I give a big warning to all Samsung Galaxy S8: do not trust your phone to be water resistant. If in warranty, backup all your data before getting it to water. If with warranty expired, DO NOT TAKE YOUR PHONE INTO WATER IN ANY CASE. You will risk loosing a $ 550.00 phone.

Still hope someone in SAMSUNG sees how absurd this is and take any action in order to fix my problem free of charge.