Samsung will give free GearVR in India for Galaxy Note 7 delay, refunds for pre-booking also available
Samsung has announced the Galaxy Note 7 in India on back in August and it was supposed to go on sale starting September 2nd. The company had also begun taking pre-orders in the country between August 22nd and August 30th. Given the global recall, the shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 in India have been delayed and at present there is no definite timeline.
To make up for the delay, Samsung India is now offering the GearVR for free to all those who pre-ordered the Note 7 alongwith Rs. 3300 in credits which can be used to buy apps from the Oculus Store.
The company further confirmed that the delay in sales is due to an internal investigation into the battery cells being used for the variants made in India and identify issues. Earlier, the GearVR was being offered at a discounted price of Rs. 1990 on pre-book while almost every other region was getting it or some other freebies including the Gear Fit 2 or a 256GB memory card for free. Now, this would bring Indian buyers on equal footing.
All who pre-ordered the Galaxy Note 7 in India will get a Call, SMS or email informing about the status and the new offer. T}hey would need to activate their phone within a stipulated time to avail the free GearVR. If you don't want to buy the Galaxy Note 7 anymore, there is a provision for a refund where you would need to contact the online shopping portal or store where you placed the order.
Samsung still hasn't given a definite timeline as to when the Galaxy Note 7 will be back on shelves in India but given that the company's current top priority is getting all the defective batteries replaced from shipped units, we may have to wait till October.
Here's the official statement:
At Samsung, we are committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident reported by our valued customers very seriously. In response to recent cases reported globally of the new Galaxy Note7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue. Since our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have delayed the sales of Galaxy Note7 in India.