Recently I purchased Samsung Galaxy Buds Live. Overall, I really like those earphones. They’re very light, battery life is amazing, and I can wear them for hours without even noticing they are in my ears.

As a person that’s very sensitive to have anything in my ears when I’m laying down, I also find buds very comfortable if I decide to go to bed with them (listen something before the sleep etc.).

What’s the problem?

So, you sense there’s some “but”? Yeah, you’re right. The other day I lost one of the wingtips (smaller ones) and the bigger ones don’t fit in my ears. This is where my search for spare parts has begun.

First thing I did was to look in the shop where I purchased them, but no luck. Then, the other day, I went through all IT stores in one of the larger mall’s here in Croatia. No luck unfortunately. Even in “Samsung Experience Store” they looked at me in wonder. Unfortunately, they did not understand my alien language either…

Next step? I went to the official Samsung’s site, opened up the chat, and contacted their support. Of course, they have no clue and direct me to 3 of their official repair shop partners.

Of course, I immediately contact all 3 and I get answer that goes somewhat like:

We have requested this as a spare part but unfortunately it is not available.

So there’s that. Then, as a last straw of rescue, I went online (Amazon etc.) but no luck there either… I found them on Amazon in fact for 7EUR but shipping and import fees would cost me additional 60EUR. At that point, I would rather purchase another pair of buds.. After some time of searching I finally found them on AliExpress, and ordered pack of 5 immediately.

It is astonishing how one company as Samsung, is not capable to provide spare parts, but is able to do sooo much marketing around those buds.

Rant over

So now that I let everything out, I’m sincerely not sure what to think of it all. On one hand, I really like Samsung branded products, especially mobile phones, watches, and buds now. But on the other hand, support is quite bad.

As a contrast, I was previously an iPhone user, had Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, “whole nine yards”, and I was able to purchase everything I needed for those products in a single store. Each Apple reseller in Croatia had everything that I ever needed.

Perhaps I need to re-think my life choices and return to Apple ecosystem next time I change my phone :-)