Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsCheaper than retail, but at a gamble
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2024
When you buy something that has been renewed or refurbished, you do so with the understanding that the product was returned due to defects, but is being resold at a cheaper cost because those defects were corrected. Right?
That was my rational when I bought this phone in November of 2023, replacing a cheap $70 dollar junk phone offered to me at a discount by my cellular provider. I mean, my friend bought a renewed phone off Amazon and has been very satisfied with it. Mine began giving me issues roughly a month into ownership.
One of the "handy" little security features with this phone is a moisture/debris detector located in or around the charging port. After about a month of owning and using the phone, I was unable to actively charge my phone. The device would give me a warning saying to unplug the device immediately to prevent damage being done to the circuitry. It will not charge the battery so long as the port remains in a "compromised" state. You cannot turn off the sensor in the settings. I've tried clearing the port of this supposed dust and debris to no effect. I've taken it to rooms where we have dehumidifiers, and it still gives me this warning when i try to charge.
The only option left to me was to buy a wireless charging pad, which can cost you up to $100 bucks. I was lucky to have a friend who had one to spare. It's the only way I can recharge the phone without taking it to a repair shop to test/replace the charging port. Most places I've seen online list replacing the port costs $99 dollars for part and labor, but there's no guarantee my local repair shops will abide by that.
I've bought other products from Amazon's "Renew Store" that have been listed as renewed and have not given me issues, such as my bluetooth headset. But for whatever reason, this phone's issues slipped through their quality control. For that, I'm rather disappointed. I'm also very disappointed that Samsung would build ransomware into their phone and list it as a security feature.
More importantly, I am disappointed in myself for simply accepting the phone as it is and using the wireless charger my friend gave me rather than send the phone back and demand a phone that was actually fixed. I will likely end up paying the extra $100+ bucks to have someone else repair the charging port.
Knowing what I do now, would I buy with Amazon Renew Store again? Maybe. Between me and my friend, we've bought 3 products, with 2/3 being a worth while purchase. Those aren't terrible odds, and honestly, I could have probably fixed the situation myself if had brought it up to the seller. I may not have bought the same phone though, if I had to do it over. Samsung knew what it was doing when it added this feature to the phone, especially given they sell you the work-around for an extra $100-200 bucks. Slimey wretches.
