Samsung Galaxy note 2.

[Homesafe]

Hi, I bought this phone recently and a few weeks later the phone stopped ringing loud and the its speaker wasnt working, however earphones were ok on it, and sound came through fine in earfones.
It was under warranty so I sent it to Samsung for a repair and they have got back to me to say there is going to be a charge of £180 and I will have to pay this.
The problem diagnosed by the engineer is that it was rooted or something,( this is what the girl told me when I phoned up but she didnt know full details)
The repair requires a new rooted PBA, I dont know what this is or what caused it, I certainly havent done anything to the phone that I shouldnt have.
Any advice appreciated.

 

[Homesafe]

Why is it not covered on warranty?

 

[NotAgainFFS]

It would appear that they suspect that someone has installed software that unlocks the phone to some degree. This page explains all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_rooting

 

[Homesafe]

Well this one wasnt rooted at all, even guy I bought it off says it wasnt.
He says they are wiggling out of warranty, why would they do that?

 

[kbdiy]

Well this one wasnt rooted at all, even guy I bought it off says it wasnt.

And presumably he's a fine upstanding citizen who never tells a little porky?

I assume this 'guy' wasn't a high street retailer that you could return the phone to? So you do have to ask the question. Sorry to cast doubt but looking at it objectively you have to see the other side.

 

[NotAgainFFS]

Samsung will probably outsource their warranty work to a third party. These guys will run some tests on your phone to check that it hasn't been tampered with. They can't avoid this because Samsung will check their records to make sure they're not paying for repairs that might be caused by an end-user or an unauthorised repairer.

Obviously, mistakes can happen, but it's unlikely, in my experience, that Samsung would want to wriggle out of warranty repairs.

I would have a chat with the person you bought it from and explain what you've been told. Perhaps he might have installed something and didn't realise that it would root the device. Perhaps you can come to some understanding with them.

I understand that there are, potentially, ways you might be able to "unroot" the device and in that case google is your pal and you need to be careful to not brick the device completely.

 

[Homesafe]

The guy I bought it off said get it back off them and "he knows a repair shop that will fix it same day" he promises that it's not been rooted/unlocked.
I don't know if hes telling porkies, but I know where he lives

 

[NotAgainFFS]

Be aware that if the repair is done by an authorised repairer Samsung's repairer will still knock it back in the future. So if it's a hardware replacement, like a board or something, your warranty will definitely by over and done.

 

[Homesafe]

They have escalated the complaint from me but it probably wont overule the engineers report Ive been told.
They gonna ring tomorrw.