Samsung Galaxy - camera module glass cracking

We received the below report via Facebook. Has anyone had this experience or heard anything about it?

Wondering if you’ve been contacted by any other Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra users who’ve fallen victim to random camera module glass cracking?

Samsung is denying it’s a manufacturing defect but they said that about the exploding Note as well. Lots of users on the internet complaining about hairline cracks and more.

I’ve just sent my phone back to Samsung for it’s second assessment after the first deemed it to be ‘physical damage’. This time I’ve been told to ask for a VOC assessment (Voice of Customer). At the time we first noticed the crack it was just three weeks old and had been in a case since it came out of the box, and had not been dropped.

Samsung (via response to my complaint to the CEO’s office) refused to provide detail of the tests performed on my phone to make the assessment of physical damage.

I won’t be holding my breath for them to come to the party to either repair or replace the phone…

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I have done a quick google search. Here are just some of the reports of the same problem the user has.

It seems like is systemic design problem that needs to be reported to the ACCC if Samsung goes into denial.

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Hi Community,

I recently purchased a Samsung S20 Fan Edition as an early combined Christmas and Birthday present on Friday the 27th for my Mum. It appears to have come like this out of the box although I was not there when she opened it.

What I do know for sure is the following:

  1. The protective plastic is still on the phone and shows no signs of any scratching of any kind
  2. The phone has not been set up and still shows the Set up Screen when turned on
  3. There is a hairline fracture on the rear camera bump
  4. It was purchased 3 days ago at time of writing
  5. The phone otherwise seems to be in mint condition
  6. There seems to be evidence of other people with this device experiencing the rear camera glass spontaneously breaking.
    https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S20/Galaxy-S20-FE-broken-camera-glass/td-p/1455488

I am putting this together to raise awareness of this issue. I have gone to JB HiFi where I purchased it and they told me they cannot replace the device until they get confirmation from Samsung that this is a manufacturing issue. The posts in the link above would suggest it is.

Have any of you experienced a similar issue? How did you/would you handle it?

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Welcome to the community @mysterybao

Your situation with ‘a damaged phone in the box’ is probably unusual but JBHiFi has essentially fobbed you off contrary to their responsibility under the Australian Consumer Law. It is their responsibility to honour the warranty, damaged goods, and so on, not Samsung’s.

Without taking sides on how the phone was damaged one avenue you might consider is that talking is ‘idle chit chat’ regarding your rights. Read your rights under the Australian Consumer Law Consumer Guarantees and you will find relevant information regarding acceptable quality and JB’s responsibilities. Deliver a formal letter of demand to JB management and get it receipted.

You will find a significant amount of information on this forum (use the forum search) including links to Choice statements and the ACCC on how to proceed with one, as well as templates.

Please let us know how you go with it.

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Thanks for the reply. When I took it to JB they said they found it hard to believe that the device could be damaged in the box and when I spoke to Samsung they said short of doing an unboxing video I have no proof it came out of the box like this despite everything I have already mentioned above. How would you handle that?

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Read up on your rights and pen a letter of complaint to JBHiFi using one of the tools I previously referenced (from Choice and the ACCC).

A letter of complaint met with a refusal to engage/rectify is often a requirement prior to Fair Trading accepting a complaint.

Keep everything in writing/email and formal including evidence the communication was received (acknowledged email, tracked mail, etc); it would be your evidence if you decide to go to Fair Trading with a complaint.

To support your claim you might do well to make some very high quality photos of the phone from all sides and some that highlight the crack including macro close ups. Put the onus on them to describe how the crack could have occurred considering there are no marks on the phone. (I would stop short of asking for a video of the phone being boxed at Samsung showing it was in perfect order, but I hope that provides a hint of how I might approach it.)

If you are a Choice member you can also get guidance from the Choice Help service, although they are often busy and might not be able to respond quickly.

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I would fire back with the question if they have proof that it wasn’t damaged when they sold it. Do they check every product is in good working order when sold…I would expect their answer would be no.

@PhilT has provided some great advice. Good luck and let is know how you get on…you can also post any questions you may have along the journey as well.

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Serendipitously I have a few years old Samsung S4mini and the original box and paperwork. We keep it as a spare. While this may not reflect their current ‘state of the art’ the box had a seal and an admonishment if the seal was broken it should not be accepted or opened without the selling agent being present to inspect it with the buyer. Nothing in the paperwork looks like a QA tag identifying if or who checked the product when it was manufactured or when boxed.

If they still do not include a QA stamp or tag of some type, I wonder who that was? :wink:

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Would this be addressed to to JB Corporate HQ or the store?

I have already put a complaint forward to fair trading and am recording all my movements to get this fixed.

Regarding proof that it wasnt damaged inside the box they said there was no obvious impact damage to the box itself. Like PhilT said, mine had a sticker to detect when the box has been opened. I do not doubt there are other means that Samsung could do QA on the devices before packing that does not involve QA stickers but no process is 100% perfect and things do sometimes slip through the cracks.

I will take photos and post them here as well as keep things for my own reference.

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It varies by company and depends on the discretion a store manager does or does not have. I cannot advise for JB but going to ‘corporate’ rarely hurts even if they handball it back to the store.

Google thinks the corporate office is at Podium Level, 60 City Rd, Southbank VIC 3006 but worth confirming it.

Names help.

The stickers are not the point. Their records of their QA process are relevant under the circumstances.

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Hi and welcome to the community.

I have moved your posts and subsequent responses to this thread which deals with exactly the problem your mother & you are now facing.

Have a look at the preceding posts and you will see that your mother is not the first with this cracked rear camera glass. It would seem to me that this is a systemic fault with the Samsung S20 phones. Based on that, I would suggest that this is a MAJOR FAULT as explained by the ACCC.

Hope that helps.

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