Was Samsung really paying customers to stop Galaxy S26 Ultra returns?

It's not uncommon for early buyers of a new phone to return it after a few days. Companies normally don't make any fuss and just take back the device while the customer gets a full refund.

Someone flagged an interesting approach from at least one Samsung customer representative who offered a $250 discount as a refund to one Galaxy S26 Ultra customer who wanted to return the phone if they kept it.

@Phonenurd on X shared a conversation that they had with Samsung customer support about returning the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The support rep offered a $250 discount in the form of a refund to keep the product instead of returning it.

That sounds a bit unusual, you don't normally get discounts on products once you've purchased them, and this isn't something we've seen Samsung do in the past. It's possible that either the support rep here was misinformed or that this offer has quietly been pulled.

The same user followed up with an email from Samsung who, apparently in response to the refund request raised by the support rep, clearly stated that the company is “unable to offer any compensation on Galaxy S26 device orders.” It's unclear if this email is in response to their request or someone else's.

Support reps on the online chat don't exactly have a history of being well informed. Either way, it sounded too good to be true, and as it turns out, it really was.