Returning Samsung series 9. Going with MBA 13 inch

[hcho3]

Long story short, I bought Samsung series 9 about 2 weeks ago. The laptop was great. Intel Graphic card was not. But, I did not buy the laptop for gaming.

So, I was going to keep it. I paid 1449 dollars for it. The price did drop from 1599 dollars. (At least with some retailers)

However, I found out that Samsung treats their customers very differently here in US compare to customers in South korea. (Samsung is a South korean company)

Until 6/30/2011, Samsung is giving away 320HDD, Laptop pouch, Galaxy Laptop bag, and VGA adapter for every single 9 series buyers. This promotion was running by Samsung. When I heard this I was like... "WTF... This company is such a garbage. They discriminate the buyers in US and UK."

I called Samsung USA and they were like, "You are lying..."

No, I don't. I had a screenshot to prove it and they could not explain anything to me.

With New MBA launching so soon, I am returning this laptop. I hate Samsung's customer service so much. The laptop might come with 3 years warranty, but that warranty doesn't worth anything with this kind of crappy service and support for US customers. OS isn't important to me because both OS would do everything that I need to do, but this kind of service and support is just BS. Samsung is no where near apple in terms of customer service.

 

[warfed]

This company is such a garbage. They discriminate the buyers in US and UK."

I guess Apple is garbage too since they don't have B2S sales everywhere in the world.

 

[Oppressed]

That's why they invented the disclaimer "May not be available in all areas.

 

[hcho3]

That's why they invented the disclaimer "May not be available in all areas.

Available in South korea, but not in the rest of the world? Good luck with that. US and Europe markets are way bigger than South korea Market.

 

[michaelz]

Anything can't run os x is worth buying...

 

[orfeas0]

Available in South korea, but not in the rest of the world? Good luck with that. US and Europe markets are way bigger than South korea Market.

Do you know we pay 1800$ for a 1300$ model of macbook pro here in europe?
Do you know apple service sucks here in europe?
Do you know apple doesn't have the back-to-school or refurbished products here in europe?

Samsung is a south korean company, they have better services there.
Apple is a US company, they have better services there.

edit: To be more specific, the basic model of the 11,6" MBA costs 1100euros=1,559.69 USD.
In the US the same model 11,6" mba costs 999$.
Cool huh?

 

[hcho3]

Do you know we pay 1800$ for a 1300$ model of macbook pro here in europe?
Do you know apple service sucks here in europe?
Do you know apple doesn't have the back-to-school or refurbished products here in europe?

Samsung is a south korean company, they have better services there.
Apple is a US company, they have better services there.

edit: To be more specific, the basic model of the 11,6" MBA costs 1100euros=1,559.69 USD.
In the US the same model 11,6" mba costs 999$.
Cool huh?

I see clearly there is B2S promotion logo on UK page. I see refurbished products in UK and even in South korea. The prices are very subjective. I agree that service could be different from country to another, but they were giving away too much stuff in Korea and not in other country. I thought UK was part of Europe. But, since you said Europe doesn't get back to school promo... Okay. I will go google and see if UK is still in part of Europe.

 

[historylover]

Capitalism

I understand the frustration of the person who started this thread, and I really hate using this phrase, but "that's just the way it is". It is common for companies to run promotions in their home countries and not other places, because of tax incentives, love of country, whatever (I don't actually know the reason, I'm just assuming). It's not surprising that refurbs aren't available in Europe, and while I'm a little surprised about Apple's customer service, the prices make sense ... not that they are fair, but they make sense.

Welcome to capitalism, everyone.

For the thread starter: I don't entirely understand why you are returning the Series 9 only because of the promotions, but you should do what is best for your computing needs. I think the Series 9 price vs. the MBA price would be enough to make me go for the MBA anyway.

 

[orfeas0]

I see clearly there is B2S promotion logo on UK page. I see refurbished products in UK and even in South korea. The prices are very subjective. I agree that service could be different from country to another, but they were giving away too much stuff in Korea and not in other country. I thought UK was part of Europe. But, since you said Europe doesn't get back to school promo... Okay. I will go google and see if UK is still in part of Europe.

Ok, refurbished macs are available in europe but only in france and the UK.
The back to school promotion is in SOME (a few...) countries of europe too, and it only started this year.

The thing is, what historylover said. Listen to him.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I don't see it anywhere on Samsung's site.

And either way, are you judging what you buy based off of the case it comes with?

 

[hcho3]

I understand the frustration of the person who started this thread, and I really hate using this phrase, but "that's just the way it is". It is common for companies to run promotions in their home countries and not other places, because of tax incentives, love of country, whatever (I don't actually know the reason, I'm just assuming). It's not surprising that refurbs aren't available in Europe, and while I'm a little surprised about Apple's customer service, the prices make sense ... not that they are fair, but they make sense.

Welcome to capitalism, everyone.

For the thread starter: I don't entirely understand why you are returning the Series 9 only because of the promotions, but you should do what is best for your computing needs. I think the Series 9 price vs. the MBA price would be enough to make me go for the MBA anyway.

Agreed. But, thanks for understanding. It is frustrating. But, that's the way.

To the person above... no. I am not judging based on the case. I am judging based on their customer service.

It was not just one case, but two bags, HDD, two adapters and etc.

It is obviously not on Samsung US webpage because they don't offer it in US. Although, it doesn't say Korea only on the Samsung Korea page. It is right now available in South Korea.

I went their websites already.

 

[macjonny1]

Agreed. But, thanks for understanding. It is frustrating. But, that's the way.

To the person above... no. I am not judging based on the case. I am judging based on their customer service.

It was not just one case, but two bags, HDD, two adapters and etc.

It is obviously not on Samsung US webpage because they don't offer it in US. Although, it doesn't say Korea only on the Samsung Korea page. It is right now available in South Korea.

I went their websites already.

I really think you have no basis for complaint and are being completely unreasonable. You found a promotion in another country and expect Samsung USA to honor that? WTF?

The MBA is a much better machine but that's not the point here.

 

[endhalf]

Dude... So you are returning cca $1500 laptop just because they didn't give you free stuff? I can't tell if you are trolling or not... As someone posted above, the prices of Apple notebooks for Europe are seriously screwed... B2S may be in UK, but not everyone lives in UK... Refubrished models may be availiable in UK, but again, same argument. Same story with applestores - ain't no applestore around here since I'm not from UK or France. Once again... Duude...

If you just want OSX more over the Windows, there's nothing wrong with that... But returning it just because there isn't availiable promo action in USA seems wrong in so many ways...

 

[Hellhammer]

Do you know we pay 1800$ for a 1300$ model of macbook pro here in europe?

Remember that the US price does not include tax whereas the European prices do. For example the base MBA costs 999€ here but due to our 23% VAT, the actual price is "only" $1076. Sure, still a bit more than in the US but not that bad anymore.

Of course, that depends on the country and I can only talk about Finland, I don't know the taxation in Greece.

Do you know apple service sucks here in europe?

That is subjective. My experience has been only positive but I know some people have gotten bad service, though that applies to US as well. We have more resellers here in Europe which handle repairs etc so a lot is dependent on the reseller.

Do you know apple doesn't have the back-to-school or refurbished products here in europe?

I think BTS promo is only in countries that have Apple Online Store. Unfortunately Greece does not (yet) so they cannot offer BTS promo. We have BTS promo here in Finland. Refurbs depend on the country. We don't have them but e.g. UK does. I suspect this has to do with the sales of Macs as we only have 5.5 million people so less Macs sold and thus there would be less refurbs (not enough to maintain a whole store).

 

[orfeas0]

I think BTS promo is only in countries that have Apple Online Store. Unfortunately Greece does not (yet) so they cannot offer BTS promo. We have BTS promo here in Finland. Refurbs depend on the country. We don't have them but e.g. UK does. I suspect this has to do with the sales of Macs as we only have 5.5 million people so less Macs sold and thus there would be less refurbs (not enough to maintain a whole store).

I don't know about us-uk etc, but here in Greece the last 2-3 years macbook popularity has risen A LOT. I think apple should make an apple store (and website ofc) here in greece at max 2 years from now.

 

[Cali3350]

This is a very common practice that affects companies and countries all over the place right now. Microsoft currently offers a free Xbox 360 if you buy a windows 7 PC, only in the USA. Thats fair?

The OP is taking this way to personally, is the way business works.

 

[orfeas0]

This is a very common practice that affects companies and countries all over the place right now. Microsoft currently offers a free Xbox 360 if you buy a windows 7 PC, only in the USA. Thats fair?

The OP is taking this way to personally, is the way business works.

Although he's not wrong about his decision. If you're in the US , better buy a product of a us company than a south korean one. More support, etc.
Btw they give an xbox with every pc???? WOAH!! What's the minimum price for the pc though? I don't think they give an xbox with each netbook?

 

[macjonny1]

WOAH!! What's the minimum price for the pc though? I don't think they give an xbox with each netbook?

$699 is the minimum

 

[entatlrg]

So how was the laptop to use, aside from the service?

 

[jonomo]

SS is not as global as Apple.. so their offers and pricing tend to vary from region to region... especially in Korea, they tend to really rip off their local consumers.. not just in pricing, but by unfair business practices that keep superior products out of reach for most Koreans..

I've worked at SS electronics for several years in the US, and they usually give better deals to Americans than Koreans... not sure if that's the case in other countries...

Honestly, having worked there for 2 years, I'd NEVER buy another SS product...

 

[deuk1219]

SS is not as global as Apple.. so their offers and pricing tend to vary from region to region... especially in Korea, they tend to really rip off their local consumers.. not just in pricing, but by unfair business practices that keep superior products out of reach for most Koreans..

I've worked at SS electronics for several years in the US, and they usually give better deals to Americans than Koreans... not sure if that's the case in other countries...

Honestly, having worked there for 2 years, I'd NEVER buy another SS product...

I disagree that Samsung is not as global as Apple. Apple's iconic Macintoshes shipped with OS X are very uncommon in places other than developed countries. Even South Korea has low respect for Macintoshes, or I should say using Mac OS X in Korea sucks as hell. Almost every Korean websites uses Active X and Internet Banking is really hard to do.
Samsung has more divisions than just electronics, such as cars, insurance, sponsorship (chelsea), construction, and other stuff. Samsung IMO, is a global brand and more global than Apple. How many divisions does Apple have? not much.

 

[cityathrt]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; zh-tw) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

All those promos are the standard way of doing things in Asia. Customers expect to get at least a free mouse, laptop bag, and whatever else they can wring out of the seller. My Asian relatives were horrified at our backwardness when they heard that you only get the machine with a laptop purchase. *shrug. It's a different culture. Calm down.