Reports suggest that Samsung’s smartphone trade-in system is borked

Like many of its competitors, Samsung offers its own trade-in scheme as incentive to upgrade to its latest and greatest smartphones. Unfortunately, something somewhere seems to have gone terribly wrong, as a rise in complaints suggest that users are being wrongfully rejected for their eligible devices.

Samsung has often been considered a pioneer for its trade-in system, forgoing rebates and lengthy waits in favour of an instant subtraction of the device’s value when purchasing a new smartphone. The customer is then tasked to send off their handset for evaluation, ensuring that the smartphone meets all requirements.

The company asks participants to send in devices powered on and factory reset, without cracks and ensuring it hasn’t been placed on a blacklist. Depending on the model of smartphone sent to the facility, users can net themselves up to $550 for the latest handsets, while $300, $150, $100, $75, and $50 tiers were offered for select aging devices.

Failure to meet these necessities results in a charge that for many has been an unwelcome surprise, according to Android Police. Cliff Levine states that he traded in a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for an S10 series device, only to be met with a full $550 fine as the device had somehow been registered as a Galaxy S7, a handset ineligible for the trade-in scheme.

Levine is far from alone, as many more occurrences have appeared on the official GalaxyS10 Subreddit. Many have photographic or video evidence of sending their product off for the trade-in, all met with the same fate of Samsung telling them that they had in fact sent in a different device. In one particular instance, a user was told that they hadn’t sent in a smartphone, but a keyboard instead.

In some cases, Samsung has stated that users have not fulfilled requirements as trade-ins are both without power and not factory reset. This is a paradox, given that it’s impossible to check he latter if the device doesn’t have power.

Beyond the proof provided by those that claim to be affected, it’s difficult for us to confirm truth behind the accounts but the sheer number of affected participants suggests that there is something going on with Samsung’s process. The company has yet to respond for comment or offer consolation to those seemingly plagued with the issue.

KitGuru Says: It’s perhaps best to wait if you’re tempted to make use of the trade-in program, at least until Samsung speaks out about the alleged problems. Hopefully those affected aren’t too taken aback by issues, as $550 is nothing to scoff at.

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