Problems with Samsung F480

uuei SG

Recently I bought a Samsung touch-screen phone - the F480.

I was totally bowled over by the sleek, elegant design, the gorgeous touch screen UI and the glossy but solid build.

However, after using it for a couple of days, I realised there's a problem with it.

This model boasts of a special new feature called Widgets, which are essentially simple tools which u can drag and drop around on the standby screen (e.g. calendar, music player, gallery).

To be honest, it was this very feature which totally won me over when I first got to tinker with phone at a particular M1 shop.

So attracted to it was I that I bought the phone on the very same day.

As with all my other phones, I would pour over the user manual in an effort to master all the neat and cool functions of my new phone.

I came across the section on the Widgets and saw that there is this particular Widget called the Calendar Event.

According to the user manual, it's supposed to show the events which u have input in the calendar. And I thought: how wonderful!

However, it turned out that no matter how I tried, I can't get my events to show on the widget. (It has no problem showing incoming smses and missed calls though, but that is really not my concern here.)

After many many futile attempts, I decided to pay Samsung's service centre a visit.

On the first visit, they took my phone and told me that it would take 3-5 working days to fix the problem. I waited an entire week (5 working days + a whole wkend) with no news at all, before I called them for an update.

Their call-in number is a centralised one and the fella who attended to me was plain clueless. He doesn't know what's a F480 or a widget and at one point, he even told me that my phone is being serviced at Suntec when I had sent it in at Toh Guan (after which he promptly corrected himself). He ended off saying that he would check on my phone and call me back soon.

I got a call the next day and went to pick up my phone on the same day.

When I finally saw my phone again, I immediately tried the Calendar Event widget.

Unsurprisingly, it still doesn't work. And so I asked the CSO what was done on my phone, and she said "they" upgraded my firmware.

Ok... I was rather pissed at that point with their sloppy service. They took my phone away for a week when all they did was to update the software; and even after that, they didn't bother to check if the problem was solved. What kind of service attitude is this??

And so I complained, and the CSO said she'd get their engineer to look at my phone again.

That took about 30 min.

Then the engineer came out, looking apologetic and said that a minute ago, he somehow got the widget to work properly but only for a very short while... then he just looked at me blankly.

I waited for him to continue. He looked rather uncomfortable, and then he said they will continue to work on it but meanwhile I should just take my phone back; they will call me when they have a solution.

Plain crap, I thought.

I told him how unhappy and disappointed I was with their poor serivce, and that I'm not taking my phone back until they fix the problem.

With that, I left.

5 days later, my phone is "ready for collection", again.

And guess what?

"Sir, we upgraded the firmware."

"Again??" I said.

Needless to say, the problem wasn't fixed.

I had to explain to the CSO what the issue was AGAIN, before he went in to consult the engineer AGAIN.

10 minutes later, he came back and told me,"Sir, the widget u mentioned is only supposed to reflect smses and missed calls.. It doesn't show calendar events."

WTF?! I can't even describe the emotions that was building inside me...

But I decided that it was pointless to carry on.

I told the CSO that I'm very very upset and disappointed with Samsung, and that he can be assured that I will never buy another Samsung phone again.

And with that, I left.. quietly swearing that I'll never step into that centre again.

BadzMaro SG

it very what..

uuei SG

Sorry, the post was so long that my screen refreshed itself and I was cut off momentarily...

Hmm, I realised my heading was changed without my approval... Is this how things work here?

baby hunter SG