@nappyboz92 Did you just get the phone? Is it new or used? If used, you will need to talk to the previous owner about providing the account information. If they won't or can't, you should return it.
You friend has to log the phone out of their Google account, remove the phone from their Google account AND their Samsung account, and then you should be able to set it up as your own. If they are unwilling to do that get your money back from them and go buy something else. No reason why they shouldn't do it, it was probably and oversight that they didn't, or they didn't know they had to. Probably thought just factory resetting it would be sufficient. They can remove the device from their accounts either by logging in on a computer or another device, or you can hand them the phone to log in and then log out of the accounts. It is a security measure to prevent stolen/found phones from being used by anyone other than the original owner. Unless the phone is signed out of all accounts, it is unusable by anyone else who does not know those credentials.
