My son purchased a Note 4 from a company that has turned out to be a scam. The phone only worked for 15 day. We tired to get their help, but they basically shut down and moved on. I filed a complaint with the Florida Attorney general, but it is now clear that we, along with other, have been scammed. Had this been the entire story, I would have nothing more to say, as Samsung had nothing to do with at that point. However, the Samsung webpage make it clear that the reason the phone isn't working is due to a known manufacturing defect, and it takes them all of 5 minutes to fix it. Since it is proprietary software, no one else can do it. So, I took the phone a Samsung Rep working inside the Best Buy. He looked at the phone and informed me that the company that sold us the phone, had “rooted” the phone. We didn’t even know what that meant at the time, and I have verified that the company advertises the phones as “Factory Unlocked”, so again, they lied. We never ask for, paid for, or even wanted a "rooted" phone. He then said that since the phone had been “rooted” he was not allowed to fix it. Ok, annoying but still not Samsung fault. However, I was hoping that there was some kind of paid repair service that would allow me to salvaged our $265.23. So I contacted there Customer Service Reps chat line (I attached the chat), just for information. I never expected them to do anything. I was 100% honest, and I explained what the last Samsung Rep said. The online rep even asked me if we “rooted” the phone, she knew the exact state the phone was in. However after listing to our story, she felt sorry for my son, and agreed to make an exception, as long as I paid a $75 non-warranty repair fee. I agreed and she opened a repair ticket and get if fixed. Then to complete the process, I had to speak o 3 other Samsung employees (two Reps and a Manager). I told all four of these Samsung employees the situation. I was happy to do so, because I was SO HAPPY they were being SO KIND! ALL four of them knew the phone was rooted and all four of them agreed to fixed anyway, for $75. I sent the phone in but it was returned without them even looking at it, with no real explanation. So I called figure out what the problem was. Samsung first attempted to say that they would NEVER make an exception like that. When I sent them the chat logs showing them they did, they changed their tune and claimed that it was a mistake and the four Reps were never authorized to make than kind of exception. So they are claiming that the four Samsung employees all independently lied, and are now refuse do what is right, and fix the phone. I would hate to be one of these Samsung employee, since they are being thrown under the bus right now. They claim that “rooting the phone voided the warranty”. YES I KNOW, that is why I had to pay $75 for a “non-warranty” repair, HENCE THE WORDS “non-warranty repair". They collected money to do it, agreed to fix it for that money, and now refuse to honor their verbal contract to do it. On top of all of this, once it became clear that they wouldn’t back down, I was told that they would credit the fee back to my account within 3 to 5 business days (from March 16th). Today is March 23rd, still no money. As I was still upset and without any other options, I emailed a very nice letter to the CEO. I followed the "a kind work might help you get what you need" mentality I begged him to let Samsung honor its word and allow this exception. I pointed out that it cost them absolutely nothing, and they would be rescuing a 16-year-old Eagle Scout from having his Eagle Scout gift money from being robbed, while making $75. Then a person respond, and she was quite frankly insulting. She again dug her heals in, and pretended that I was lying and they didn't really say what they did. However, she then, pretending to care about us, offered to refund my fee using an American Express gift card, "for my inconvenience". So let me get this straight, on March 23rd, "for my inconvenience" your going to make me use and American Express Gift Card to get back money that you should never have collected in the first place (after all no one was ever authorized anyone to allow the phone to be repaired in the first place), even though you already agreed to refund the CASH to my account by the 21st? What happened to crediting my account within 3-5 days? Another lie? This person, and all others, are refusing to fix a manufacturing defect, based on a third parties actions, and something we didn’t do, never asked for, and they even took money to overlook. It would be no different than a car company refusing to fix a recalled vehicle, based on the fact that the previous owners put non-standard headlights on it. Samsung’s behavior is no different than the company that sold the phone. Samsung sold a defective phone, agreed to fix it for a fee, knowing full well it was rooted, took my money to do it, and now refuses to fix it and or credit my money back. As far as I am concerned, Samsung is just as evil and corrupt as the people who scammed my son out of his money in the first place. In fact, they might even be worst, since they looked us in the face and took our $75 with no intention to do anything with our phone, knowing that my son was already a victim of fraud. Who is worse?.......the con man who knocks out and robs someone, or the guy who comes along and steals the watch of the victim, while claiming to be helping?. They took money to save the day, my son's last dime, and didn't even attempt to help. SHAM ON THEM! We will NEVER buy another Samsung product again for the rest of our live. We will also take every chance we get to tell people how, on top of making exploding phones, Samsung care nothing about its customers, and will do everything it can get out of fixing manufacturing defects. The fact that the phone was rooted, had nothing to do with the manufacturing defect the phone had, so they are using “policy” to fell defective phones. All Samsung cares about is milking the last drop of money from their customers before throwing them away All I can do is hope that someday my story will cost Samsung a sale or two, as this the only justice we will ever get from Samsung.