Defective device return

[TABUCI88]

Here is the story:

I have a Galaxy S7 edge and recently I had an issue manifest where there was a line of vertical pink line going through the screen which would not go away no matter what (dead pixels most likely). My device is under manufacturers warranty, and also I have the total mobile protection so I'm covered no matter if the device is defective or damaged. This is where it gets tricky though. If I return the device for a replacement under warranty, if it turns out the issue was caused by damage they will make me pay the full price for the replacement phone, and on top of that I will not get my old device back for which I'm sure they would still make me pay the leftover amount. (Basically I would have to pay full price for 2 phones and own only one). Same goes for if I return my device for total mobile protection and it turns out the issue was due to manufacturers warranty.

Now I have been in a verizon store and asked the rep that as a customer who is not an expert on mobile devices how in the world am I supposed to know what causes the problem. The rep was not able to provide an answer. I called customer service and asked the same question where the rep told me I need not to worry because if I send it in as a warranty replacement and it turns out to be damaged, they would not charge me right away but send me an email with the findings and allow me to prompt to get my old device back and return the new. This put me at ease however this info turned out to be false as when the replacement device arrived the instructions clearly stated that in case the device returned turns out to be damaged the full price will be charged and there is no option to get the old device back.

Verizon offers on their website an area that supposed to "help" customers determine if their phones are damaged or not by showing some really obvious images of damaged phones and how to identify those issues which is of course completely unhelpful.

I find it unacceptable that Verizon is asking the customers to be able to identify in all cases what causes the defects with the smartphones and I find it unacceptable that there is no option to have the phone checked out by a Verizon tech to at least know the root cause and be able to know what option to  pursue. This way of giving customers a 50/50 chance to be correct or else having to pay full price for a second device is a scam and this system needs to be changed. I'm asking Verizon to identify a solution and let us know how we can be sure that we will not be charged for a second device when our original device is fully covered we just don't know which option to use Total Mobile Protection or Manufacturers Warranty

[Ann154]

You could also work with Samsung directly to have them fix it.