Why is Samsung picking a battle not worth fighting over an SSD claim?

[Update] Samsung has reached out to us with the following clarification:

Specifically, customers in this scenario receive a refund at the device’s current market value, as determined by the current sale price at Samsung.com/US. This policy applies to all Samsung customers across our product portfolio and is shared with the customer once the refund process is started.

There may be a lawsuit on the horizon for Samsung in the United States by a disgruntled customer who wasn't satisfied with the service provided after he sent back a faulty SSD.

Samsung offered him $330 in refund for the SSD which now costs $949, instead of just offering a replacement which would not just save it from this headache but also avoid the bad press.

The customer in question has a quite a lot of reach. It's Louis Rossmann, a popular tech YouTuber with more than 2 million subscribers.

He had bought a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD which was found to be faulty. He reached out to Samsung to get the SSD repaired or replaced under the warranty terms, but takes issue with the option the company offered him.

Rossmann claims that despite providing Samsung with pictures of the SSD and other details, the ticket was closed within 24 hours and the SSD returned to him because it was “fine.” This prompted him to give Samsung an ultimatum, either replace it or face him in court.

That threat got a response from the company, which offered $330 as a refund, the price he paid when he bought the SSD. Since then, prices have gone through the roof, and the same SSD now retails for almost thrice that at $949.

Rossmann feels that it's not fair for the company to offer the original purchase price when he could have just been given a replacement. In its response to Rossmann, Samsung claimed that “there is a very big shortage of memory products,” and that the warranty service center doesn't have his model of SSD in stock for replacement, and a comparable model isn't available for upgrade as well.

His argument is that there's ample supply of the same SSD at various retailers, just at a higher price, so it's not a question of there being limited supply rather it's just Samsung trying to avoid offering a replacement.

Several users on Reddit have voiced similar frustrations with Samsung's customer service for SSDs. One user claimed they sent their SSD to the company but Samsung claims it never received the product while the tracking number showed it was delivered.

It was also pointed out that the prepaid label Samsung provides for warranty claims doesn't include proof of delivery, so it's essentially Samsung's word against the customer, and it seems the customers' word isn't taken at face value.

Another user mentioned going through this process with three drives this year. No replacement was offered for the drives, with Samsung making a lowball cash offer for each one.

Rossmann appears to be ready to pursue this matter in court, and it remains to be seen whether Samsung will stick to its guns or offer the solution the customer wants.

Since this claim will likely be filed in a small claims court, Samsung will most likely offer current market pricing to Rossmann, because it will surely end up spending orders of magnitude more on lawyers to contest the claim.

Perhaps this is not a precedent Samsung wants to set because it certainly gets quite a few claims relating to its memory products every month.

Replacing them at currently elevated prices will cost the company too much, but Samsung has incredibly deep pockets. One can easily argue that the company shouldn't be doing this because it doesn't do much to inspire confidence in the company's claims that it will stand by its customers.

Yet, this isn't a route that most customers will pick. Most customers aren't YouTubers with a massive following, after all. They'll make their peace with whatever Samsung offers them and just make a promise to themselves that they'll never buy a Samsung product again. This won't be just limited to whatever product they ran into an issue with.

They'll entirely shun Samsung's mobile devices, home appliances, consumer electronics, and other products because they'd rather give their business to a company that doesn't disappoint them with its customer service.

Sure, there might be legalese in Samsung's warranty terms that gives it the standing to make the offers it's making. Is it not better, though, to rule in favor of your customers even when market conditions have shifted to win their appreciation and loyalty than to be rigid and let them down?

There are times where one must pick their battles, and this seems to not be a battle worth fighting.