A mum from Cambridgeshire has been left fuming after Samsung refused to refund her £1,500 smartphone—claiming she returned tins of sardines instead of the device.
Alina Damian-Cretu, 33, bought the pricey Samsung S25 Ultra as a birthday present for her husband earlier this year. Using a trade-in deal, she managed to knock the price down to £800. But shortly after placing the order in late January, she noticed a new promo offering free Samsung Galaxy Buds worth £219 and decided to return the phone so she could reorder it under the new deal.
Alina said she never even opened the phone itself—only the outer box—before sealing it back up with brown sellotape and returning it via a DPD drop-off point.
However, when she followed up on the return, things took a bizarre turn.
Instead of confirming receipt of the smartphone, Samsung told her the package contained three tins of sardines. Yes, really.
“I said, ‘No, that’s not possible,’” Alina told reporters. “Everyone was shocked. I raised a complaint that day.”
Understandably stunned, Alina filed complaints with both Samsung and DPD and also reported the incident to Cambridgeshire Police, who logged it as a potential theft case.
Despite her insistence that she returned the correct product, Alina claims Samsung rejected her refund request after saying their investigation with DPD and their warehouse found “no evidence of tampering.”
“They’re bluntly accusing me of theft,” she said. “Why would I report this to the police if I’d done this myself? You don’t treat customers like this.”
Alina, who rarely eats fish and says sardines aren’t even kept in her house, said the whole ordeal has caused immense stress and left her feeling like she’s been treated unfairly.
“This is a £1,500 phone without the trade-in. You can’t be accusing a customer of this, especially when you can see I placed another order for the same phone the next day.”
Samsung initially told her they couldn’t issue a refund until she returned the device, despite Alina’s insistence that she already had. When asked for proof that the phone was in the box, she admitted she didn’t take any photos at the time.
After media outlets picked up the story, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed they are investigating the matter with their delivery partner and are now in direct contact with Alina to offer her a full refund.
“We pride ourselves on a high standard of customer experience,” the company said, promising steps will be taken to ensure this kind of mix-up doesn’t happen again.
Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the theft report has been filed pending any new evidence, and DPD say their own investigation is still ongoing.
Frustrated and disappointed, Alina—who has been a Samsung loyalist her whole life—says this experience might push her to finally make the switch to Apple.
