My experience with Samsung Note 20 Ultra

 Hello All,

Today I want to share my experience with Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with all you readers.

I have placed a pre-order for the device on August 2nd 2020 on Samsung E-Store with an exchange of my Apple iPhone X (256GB). I got a very good exchange price of Rs.39595 and extra Rs.2000 discount as a  pre-booking offer and paid the rest of the amount (Rs.63404) via credit card.

Once I placed the order, they informed me that they will start shipping the product on 25th August 2020. I got my device on 26th August 2020 at 5:30 PM.

I was very excited getting my device. I started setting up my device and started installing all my applications. 

the very next day on 27th August 2020, I started setting my Banking applications at around 10:30 AM and almost all of them validate the account or the owner of the account by OTP's. That is where I noticed a peculiar issue with my device. I was not receiving any messages (SMS). I was under the impression that the financial institution servers might be down and checked in the Internet and their website if the services were down or not. They was no downtime. I thought it might be a glitch in the carrier signal. All of a sudden, at around 2:35 PM, I started receiving all my messages including the OTP's which I missed in the morning. I thought everything is fixed and was happy using the device.

On 30th of August, I was placing an order on Amazon using my Credit card and to my surprise, I was not getting the OTP's on my device to authorize the transaction. After 4 hours, I started seeing all my messages delivering at once. This is where I was convinced that the issue might be with my device or with my SIM Card.

I have placed my SIM on another device and to my surprise, I was receiving all my messages without any delay. Before going to the Service Center, I wanted to make sure that the issue is with the device. I have performed a reset of the device and it was of no use. The issue still existed. 

On 6th of September 2020, I checked in the internet if any other users are facing the same issue. To my surprise, I was not alone. People round the world are facing similar issues.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Note20/Note-20-Ultra-not-receiving-text-messages/td-p/1412741

Even people who owned Samsung Galaxy S20 series also faced similar issues. 

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S20/S20-ultra-not-receiving-MMS/td-p/1154872

With all the above information, I went to the nearest Samsung Service Center and raised a complaint on the performance of the device and gave them all the details. They told me to handover the handset to them, they will perform a reset using their computer and it should solve the issue. 

Below the Service Request form:

They performed the system level reset and handed over the device to me on 9th September 2020. They said they fixed the issue. On 10th September 2020, I started setting up my device and to my surprise, again I was not receiving any messages. I thought of going to the Service Center again on 11th, however, this time I thought of reproducing the issue in front of them. On 11th at around 10:30 AM, my device stopped receiving messages. I took the device the Service Center and demonstrated the issue in front of them. They again acknowledged the issue and took the device in their custody. They were convinced that the issue is with the device and they were suggesting me that they will be replacing the device for me. However, when they checked the bill, the cost of the device in the bill was Rs.2000 less than the market price. I informed them that I pre-booked the device and there was a discount of Rs. 2000 and hence the difference. They said just due to the difference of Rs.2000 they won't be able to replace the device. I spoke to the Branch Manager and he said that he will be taking logs from the device and will send it to the Samsung R&D center and also see what can be done for the replacement.  I got back my device on 12th September 2020. I have also sent couple of videos where in I was able to reproduce the issue and sent to the Service Center Manager.

Today the date is 20th September 2020. Till now there is no information from the Service Center manager.

In the meantime, on 6th September 2020, I have also dropped a post on Samsung Members app as well and also got a new SIM to see if the issue is with the SIM card. Even with the new SIM card, the issue is the same.

https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-Note/Samsung-Note-20-Ultra-SMS-issue/td-p/5389845

Even here, I see that there are multiple people facing the same issue.

Tomorrow, which is 21st September 2020, I will visit the Service Centre and let’s hope they provide a valid solution for this issue.

21st September 2020:

I received a call from the Samsung customer care and he asked me to handover the device again in the service center for couple of days to check the device. Gave the device to them and I clearly told them that if  I do not get any proper response by 23rd, I want all my money back. He said he will check what he can do.

23rd September 2020:

I got a call from the Samsung customer care and they said they need more time to check the feasibility of replacing the device. I was fine with it and will wait for 2 more days.

26th September 2020

I got a call from the Samsung customer care and they told me that the issue is with the Airtel network only. Samsung will be releasing a software patch by this month end and I have to wait for it.

He also gave me other options.

1. Take back the same device and get 1 year extra extended warranty.

2. Wait for one more week to get the Samsung store e-coupons worth the cost of the device.

Since the issue is a common issue for most of the users and Samsung said they will release a patch, I selected the option 1.

I collected my device on 26th evening and now I am waiting for the patch from Samsung.

Hope they release it this month end. Else I will start my fight again and this time will go for coupons.