Before I start, I just want to leave this WARNING… this post is VERY long (and as detailed as I remember what happened). Please understand when attempting to read, and have patience.
Lastly, please understand I tend to get very… moody when I don’t get the answers I seek. Thank you.
-Benie
I’m finally using my Samsung Galaxy S Blaze, without fear once again. It has been quite an annoying two weeks for me because of this.
It all started with my father telling me about Samsung phones got hacked. I thought “that’s just not possible. There’s no way a hacker could get in without downloading a malicious app!”. He claimed he heard it on the news, yet I didn’t see anything. Still, it had me a bit worried.
During the (I think) 5pm news on my local channels, they mentioned it. It was a ‘software vulnerability’ that a hacker can get in and not only steal your personal info, but watch you using your camera and delete everything on your phone. My immediate reaction was, just not fucking use my phone.. ever. They claim Samsung knows about this and would release a fix.
A week later, my mother’s getting a bit annoyed at whoever I’m paying, saying “Why are you paying for something you can’t use?” I told her how T-Mobile can’t do anything about this, as this is Samsung’s problem.
After our conversation, this got me thinking. I’ve been meaning to see when said fix would be released for all Samsung phones (and why the media suddenly stopped talking about it, and has even to this day).
So I found Samsung’s website. There was nothing… NOTHING about this hacking attempt on the front page. This had me very curious, and also angered they weren’t putting more effort into informing their millions of users about this software flaw.
I discovered that Samsung’s support has chat as well, and used it. I asked them if they knew about this. At the time, they seemed they did and said “in a few days”(Keyword: ‘a few days’), a fix would be released. I told them I was too scared to even touch my phone when they said to make sure it’s set to accept software updates.
I then asked them if they would simply give me an email (or some form of notification) that said fix has been applied. They claim they couldn’t. Why? Seriously why?
I then asked T-Mobile. They claim (and still do) that they were never informed about this. They also told me of the times I’m afraid to use it, they would compensate me. At the time I didn’t know how that would be possible, but the person claimed they would look into my history and see when I have and haven’t used my phone. Also claimed they would leave a note on my account for the next agent to read it.
Lastly, was told to try to call Samsung to see if they could give me a second opinion. Curious, I did.
First call, the woman claimed that this whole “hacking attempt” was just the media blowing it out of proportion, and all of this other stuff. Not really helpful, as she never told me about the fix or when it’ll be pushed.
Second call, the woman here agreed with what I was told in chat with Samsung. I asked why(about not knowing when the fix would be released), and she claims that they can’t possibly tell me… how is that possible when they fucking work for the company?!
……………………
A week has passed, which brings me to today. I asked Samsung again in chat, thinking (and hoping) the fix was applied. I never got an answer until 10 minutes later after all of this other crap. Asked me what Android version I use (even after telling them I was too scared to turn it on).
Finally after another five minute delay, the fix STILL hasn’t been released. What happened to this “a few days” I was told a week ago? And then the person has the nerve to tell me to turn my phone on to “troubleshoot”, as if something was wrong with the phone. That… was my boiling point.
I said “There’s nothing wrong with my phone! What’s wrong is Samsung isn’t treating this seriously enough! Millions of Samsung customers need this fix! Where is it?!” The person tries to explain how they can’t push the fix all in one go, due to their servers. Oh wow.. all the sudden NOW you “work” for Samsung, when I was told before they didn’t know when it’ll be released??
I wonder if getting pissed with them, finally made them spill the beans.
I left a not so pleasant review after the conversation, then called Samsung in hopes I would get a non-BS answer… and surprisingly I DID.. and then some! His answer was pure common sense that I should’ve had as a consumer.
He started off by saying “as long as you got a secure connection, you won’t be hacked”. I explained how I use my ISP’s WiFi and with T-Mobile when not. He said both are secured and I should NOT have a problem!
He then continues on, how pretty much anything can have a software bug in it to allow a hacker; even a computer. And how it happens everyday. I explained how the media said what the hacker could do (which is not really something I ever heard happening to a computer).
He said too (as the woman in the first week that I called Samsung) that the media blew it out of proportion. He said how it started is someone found the software bug, got in. It spread. However, the fact it was such an isolated case, that “it just wasn’t a big deal” to Samsung. Which is why they didn’t rush the fix.
An.. isolated.. case? Are you serious? Why.. in the FUCK wasn’t I told this A WEEK AGO?!?!?!
He deeply apologized, and said that maybe those three other agents weren’t informed of Samsung’s statement. Wait.. they made a statement about this?! They actually said something?!
Now everything is coming together. That explains so much, and also makes me happy I get to use my phone again with no worries! 😀 Several times I really, really needed to due to the constant storm chances last week while trying to do that weight loss challenge. Plus now I can listen to my music while I do my daily walk.
So I talked to T-Mobile(just got done) about everything that happened (incase they didn’t have it on record). They assured me how they didn’t have this “hacking attempt” on their records. However, they felt sorry for me (to try to keep me a T-Mobile customer of course). Though the outcome, wasn’t really what I had expected.
The person claimed I would get $5 back as credit for every day that I “chose to not use my phone”.. really? ‘Chose to’? I… meh. No. I’ve been through enough of that.
As for that note, I was never informed if it was there or not. I assumed not, when the person told me how “I was promised”. I ended up only getting $5 at the end… I haven’t used my phone in two weeks, and I only got $5. How is that “every day”? Two weeks, isn’t a day. *deep sigh*… what..EVER!!
However, the person made it better by telling me there would be no tax when I put in the extra $45 to pay for this month’s bill. No tax? FUCK YEAH!! :D… or so I thought.
Went to go and pay for it. Hello.. ‘Tax: $4.15. Grand total $49.15! PAY PLOX!!’ Um, no? Where’s my “no tax” promise?
Final conversation with T-Mobile, asking why is there a tax when I was told there wouldn’t be. The person, exclamation points at the end of nearly every sentence as an ‘attempt’ to make me feel welcomed, gives me an additional $4.15 credit. Now that’s something to exclamation point about!
In one hour from now, the person says the credit should be in the system (aka on their website). So, very nice. Very happy.
.
In conclusion of this very lengthy story… there’s really not much to say. I’m both happy, and pissed (at myself). However, I’ll be calm here.
I should had used common sense on Day 1. The media always likes to make things more serious than they actually are, just for their ratings. And they don’t give a fuck if it’s not actually true.
But given how they phrased the seriousness, wouldn’t you, my readers, do the same thing? Would you? If yes, then you know what I went through. If no… meh. I don’t care.
When it comes to my security (on both my phone and my computer), I take it very seriously (as one should). Not having answers of a fix, and Samsung claiming they don’t know when it’ll be (as if their support agents are separate of the devs working on the fix. They probably are), of course I would be very pissed and worried at the same time.
The fact Samsung said (to me)… nothing, absolutely nothing of what I should do as a consumer, it felt they just didn’t care for their customers. Yet in reality, it just wasn’t a big deal to push the fix quickly. And it took two weeks, to know this. Two. Weeks.
*sigh* Whatever. It’s done. I pray that something like this, never gets mentioned ever again by the media. I want to continue to trust Samsung that they know what they’re doing.
At the end, I’m just glad I can use my phone again, and not worry about this shit. I got enough things to worry about in my life.
As for the refund, I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t given to me if they were just as greedy as I was. Being able to use my phone again, is all that I want.