I just got caught out by Samsung's ridiculous returns policy

If you've ever read anything I've written about Samsung previously, then you'll know that I'm a diehard fan. I'm a proud owner of several Samsung products, including my Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy S24 Ultra - one of the best camera phones on the market. But this week, I got caught out and I'm here to make sure you don't make the same mistake.

I discovered that Samsung has a strict clause in its returns policy, and honestly, it’s a bit of a stinger. To cut a long story short, I had been trying to return my Galaxy Book 4 Edge (model NP750XQA) that I had owned for just a few days, and was told that while it's fine to return the laptop, the company would be taking a 20% fee of the refund, simply because I had installed some software on it (how else are you supposed to test it?). I'm now aware there are other retailers that have the same policy, but it isn't something I had considered before.

I purchased the laptop using Samsung's Student Discount, and paid £489.10 in total after savings, as well as a £50 deduction for trading in an old Huawei phone I had lying around. This meant that I'd lose close to £100 if returning this laptop, which is a huge chunk of my budget to begin with. I don't want anyone else to get caught out like I have by this policy, so be sure to always check the returns T&Cs before splashing out on a big purchase from Samsung or other retailers.

For some context on why I wanted to return the Galaxy Book in the first place (which still remains in perfect condition), I bought it for the specific purpose of running a 3D modelling software that I use frequently, called Bambu Studio. I’ve been using this software for several months already with my current Asus Vivobook Pro 15 laptop, but I noticed that the software has been crashing every so often, and taking forever to slice complex models for my 3D printer.

My Vivobook is a fair few years old now, so I thought it might be best to upgrade my laptop. I tested and reviewed the Galaxy Book 4 Edge not long ago for CB with a 2-week loan sample from Samsung, so I already knew that I liked this laptop, and it performed well. Fast forward to last weekend, and I’m gutted to find that after setting up my pretty new Galaxy Book (it really is a stunning laptop), it too crashes when slicing a handful of models using Bambu Studio.

Even when using efficiency mode and tweaking the affinity settings in Task Manager, the problem persisted. Now, I know what you’re thinking - the problem here is clearly the software. I thought so too. But Bambu Studio software only requires Windows 10 (64-bit) or above to function properly, and I really thought the Snapdragon processor would be able to handle it.

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After several attempts of uninstalling and reinstalling Bambu Studio on the Galaxy Book and sighing in frustration, I decided that it might be best for me to return this laptop and see if I can get the same model with a better Snapdragon Elite CPU instead. Turns out, I can, but at a cost.

This means that just a few days of use with a new Galaxy Book will have cost me £97, and I’ll only be getting a £391 refund if I choose to exchange the laptop for a better model. I am already working with a pretty low budget, so this is quite disappointing to discover.

My choices now as a customer of Samsung are either to keep a Galaxy Book that I'm not entirely happy with or continue the hunt for a new laptop and cut my losses. I haven't made up my mind yet, but the return window is approaching fast. What should I do? Let me know in the comments if you've ever been stung by a returns policy like this before.