Serious leak shows Samsung made repair shops report customer data, kill devices

How Samsung handles repairs for its devices has come under the spotlight after iFixit announced today that it’s ending its collaboration with Samsung on the company’s Self-Repair program. The company provided many “obstacles” placed by Samsung that in its view go against the right-to-repair.

Samsung hasn’t responded to that yet and it may do so in due course, but now it has a bigger PR crisis on its hands. A serious leak has revealed the contract that Samsung makes independent repair shops sign. It’s not looking good, and it may end up getting Samsung sued.

Samsung wants independent repair shops to snitch on you

A copy of this confidential contract has been obtained by 404 Media. Some of the restrictions that it imposes might be against the law in states that have passed right-to-repair bills. However, it’s unclear what year this contract is from. The Verge hears that it’s from 2023.

It’s only when independent repair shops sign this contract will they receive genuine Samsung spare parts. According to the leaked contract, to maintain this privilege these repair shops have to provide Samsung with customer data, including the name, phone identifier, contact information and the customer complaint details. This is a requirement for every repair job, no matter how big or small. The contract also forbids these shops from doing board-level repairs that require soldering, which is a very common type of repair.

The contract forces these independent repair shops to “immediately disassemble” any Samsung devices that customers have brought in that have been previously repaired with third-party parts. For example, you got the USB-C port on your Galaxy S23 Ultra repaired using a third-party part, but you later take it into an independent repair shop that has genuine Samsung parts to get the display replaced.

That repair shop not only has to “immediately notify” Samsung has you have brought in a device that was previously repaired using aftermarket parts, the shop also has to effectively kill your device by disassembling all of the components. Imagine taking in your device for a routine repair and finding out that the shop had to dissemble your phone in dozens of different pieces just because they’re contractually obligated by Samsung.

The irony is that even if the independent repair shops agree to all of this, they still can’t advertize themselves as an “authorized” Samsung repair center. They will need to jump through several other processes to get that distinction. Experts are of the view that Samsung couldn’t force repair shops to sign this agreement in states with right-to-repair laws.

It’s possible that Samsung may have replaced some of the language in this contract, or will do, before the right-to-repair laws go into effect in several states. Given the litigious nature of consumers, it wouldn’t be surprising if this leak ends up getting Samsung sued, as they won’t like the company making repair shops snitch on them.

Between iFixit and this contract leak Samsung has taken two big blows to its right-to-repair commitment, the optics of it, in just one day. The company hasn’t given as official response as yet but it will most definitely be coming.