I was baited and had to sell my one-year-old flagship Galaxy Note 10 Plus at $35 with Samsung Trade-up Program. I don't believe the charge is a valid charge as I have answered correctly the questions during the online assessment.
1/ When they ask "Is the device free from physical damaged e.g. cracks, dents and bends except for normal wear & tear?" My device doesn't have any cracks, dents or bends, so the answer should be yes as per your description.
The only minor issue is that the adhesive at the backside of my phone is coming off. However, I believe it is a common wear and tear, especially with note 10 series users. There are a lot of complaints on the Internet about the adhesive on this series coming out after a year or two. And yet, they classify it as PHYSICAL DAMAGED to depreciate the value of the phone!
2/ In addition, I offered to be charged the difference in trade-in credit to receive back my phone. The trade-up team refuse to do that as my phone still hold value (Picture 1)! According to their website (https://www.samsung.com/au/tradeup/), they can send back the phone if its value is $0 but why not return it when it is $35?
Picture 1:
It is misleading and somewhat unethical. Samsung is better than this!
With this dispute, I, as a customer, feel that Samsung doesn't protect its customers. If I do the trade up in a physical store, I can know your assessment criteria and the final value of the phone before handing it to your end. With your online trade-up program, I was only informed of the final value and I WAS FORCED TO ACCEPT IT.
Moreover, the support from the Samsung Trade-up team is very unfriendly (for example Picture 1, no name, no closing, no information). I was very polite to email but they hardly reply it. They just want to buy my phone at a very low price and make a profit from it. PLEASE REPLY TO MY EMAIL AND GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE!!!!!!
This was the first time I used your service as I believed it was more convenient to do it online. However, it doesn't seem like what was promised by Samsung.
After I raise the issue with Samsung Facebook, they start with a sample comment "we're sorry... could you send us a message". I contacted them but after some basic conversation, there was no reply from the Trade-up team or the customer care team. They literally ignore the feedback nor provide any solution (picture 2).
For anyone who considers using the trade-up program or buying their devices, please be mindful. I am not the only one who was baited by Samsung and it seems that there are similar complaints about their limited support after purchase. For example, just some complaints I found in the period near my dispute:
https://www.facebook.com/SamsungAustralia/posts/4778838348848015
https://www.facebook.com/SamsungAustralia/posts/4795848530480330 (check the comments)
In the end, I think the solution for this is very simple. As the trade-up program is online, if the final assessment value is different than the one advertised, consumers should have been able to have their phone back and pay all the trade-in amount rather than Samsung refusing to return the phone and force customer to sell at a very low price or even for free (if they determine your phone value is $0).
