Swelling in your Galaxy S4's battery- here's how to get it replaced in India

Although the S5 is out, Samsung is probably still working hard to get the S4 issues fixed. After a rather late upgrade to Android Kit Kat, you must wonder how important this ex-flagship device is for Samsung. I usually write on cribbing issues, but here's one about a good thing- how I got my Galaxy S4 battery replaced in India.

The battery swelling issue has been well known in case of the S4 and Samsung has acknowledged this issue. In fact, it has been giving free replacements in some parts of Europe. Why not India then? Perhaps, the customers are spoilt kids who couldn't care less for a few thousand bucks?

Weirdly enough, I never found anything online that explained

If you are facing the battery swelling issue, irrespective of whether your device is under warranty (for the battery, it's 6 months from the date of purchase), the service center guys will give the reason of "overcharging". That is an outrageous accusation, but it is hilarious at the same time too! There are certainly checks within the device to prevent overcharging. If you say that overcharging is the cause of a swollen battery, aren't you admitting that a 40000 bucks phone doesn't have a proper internal system to avoid such a basic mishap?

The company policy is to reject all batteries that have been damaged due to overcharging and the service center guys will re-iterate the same fact a hundred times if necessary. What you should do without arguing further, however, is take the name and contact number of the guy you are talking to and the manager of the service center.

Then, register a complaint on the Samsung site here (under both Executive Customer Care and CEO's office). Explain your problem and provide the necessary details. My battery was 10 days out of warranty and I still got it replaced by explaining (very politely) that a swollen battery definitely didn't happen in a matter of one or two days. You will get a call back from Samsung with a solution to the issue. If they call you back promising you that your battery will be replaced free of cost, remember to tell them to talk to the service center guys and explain the procedure to them as well.

More often than not, your battery would be replaced too. Just make sure you let the customer care know.