Database Users

Problems with the mini-USB port

Has anyone here had problems with the mini-USb port breaking off inside the phone? I'm asking because mine just did >_< I unplugged my phone from it's charger and was about to connect it to the computer when I noticed that the usb connector wasn't there anymore >_< *sigh* I guess that I'll be calling Cingular now about HTC's 1 year limited warranty.

Let us know how it works out...since you've upgraded your ROM and can't downgrade I wonder if they'll even notice or make a big deal about it.

I've had exactly the same problem with my tmobile mda vario, plus I only had it just over a month, I took it into the shop and they sent it away, only to ring me up a few days on or so saying that my warranty has been invalidated due to physical damage cause by me, when I have never abused it.
I just hope their warranty is a lot better than t-mobiles as I now have a mda vario which is basically dead, a big shame really
Hope it goes ok.
Russ.

Well I'm not a complete idiot ^_^ I copied all pertinent files off to my mini-SD card and then I played some video to kill my (now non-rechargeable) battery. Also Cingular's warranty on physical problems is a 30-day full refund thing. So I'm going to have to directly contact HTC for the manufacturers 1-year warranty or buy a new phone directly from Cingular >_< Needless to say I'm about to e-mail HTC right now. All-io-all a bad day, first my phone breaks then I pay $450 out of pocket for dental work *grumble*

jorge_culv said:
Let us know how it works out...since you've upgraded your ROM and can't downgrade I wonder if they'll even notice or make a big deal about it.
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I know this is VERY old but I just got my phone back the day before yesterday. I was told that my phones damage wasn't covered by warranty so they charged me $220 US to replace the case and the mainboard. That's about $100 less than I'd have had to pay for a new phone so I guess it's ok. My only problem is that I have to send it back again since somehow they managed to kill 5 keys ('U' 'I' 'K' 'M' and '.') on the QWERTY keyboard.

I have the same problem
I plugged my phone in this morning to charge and heard something snap or click inside so i unplugged it and the usb port came halfway out :S
I only have 19% battery left
Ill get my dad to phone T-Mobile later so i can get it repaired
If i have flashed my phone to WM6 will T-Mobile care and refuse to repair it or just ignore the upgraded rom and repair it for me ?

Ruzza said:
I've had exactly the same problem with my tmobile mda vario, plus I only had it just over a month, I took it into the shop and they sent it away, only to ring me up a few days on or so saying that my warranty has been invalidated due to physical damage cause by me, when I have never abused it.
I just hope their warranty is a lot better than t-mobiles as I now have a mda vario which is basically dead, a big shame really
Hope it goes ok.
Russ.
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i just have mine shipped back to TMobile. Mine wasn't entirely broke off, but it wiggles, and it no longer recognize the usb cable or charger when its plugged in. I hope they don't invalidate my warranty because of that.

Good luck !
T-Mobile sent me my phone back yesterday without fixing it "Damage caused by dropping or crushing"
Tell me how you get on with them when you get your phone back

This subject was discussed THOROUGHLY in the linky in my siggy. Read it.

warranty replacement for 8525

hi guys. i have a cingular 8525 that ive had for probably about a year now. i think im slightly over the warranty but i may be just under it. not sure.
my 8525 has been giving me TONS of problems recently (probably right after the warranty was over, if it is lol) which is just my luck.
i got the red light several times. often times it refuses to charge anymore. and now since yesterday the speaker on the phone stops working randomly.
not just the loudspeaker but the speaker in the handset itself as well, so basically all sound stops, and no its not muted.
anyways i went into a radioshack store and noticed one of the guys working there had the new tilt. he said he got it by returning his 8525 under warranty and they gave him a new one, the tilt.
now, obviously getting a free tilt would be awesome, but at this point id be just as happy if they still replace my current phone. i would like the tilt though lol. anyways, here is the problem.
a few months ago, a friend of mine dropped my phone. the loudspeaker stopped working, and hence no sound was working on my phone. so i opened up the phone and found out that the plug had simply come undone. i found that out from this site. so obviously now my phone is out of warranty it no longer has the void sticker.
does anyone have any help or tips to help? im seriously considering trying to find some sort of void sticker to replace it. but i doubt that would work. would htc take the phone anyway? i dont know. id be afraid to get charged for another phone cuz i have no money right now because of college books etc.
any help as soon as possible would be MUCH appreciated, because i think my warranty is up any day if it isnt already.
thanks guys.

im guessing no one has a reply on this?

It sounds like you're out of luck man. I say it's one thing to upgrade or modify software on a phone, etc, because you can easily restore it before returning it, but it sounds like you're looking for methods to deceive the phone company. That's not cool. So that you don't put yourself in a situation of getting charged like $500 for returning a crapped out phone, look for a used one or something? Some of the things that they look for upon processing a returned phone is the VOID sticker, battery connectors, and any apparent physical damage caused by drops, etc. Don't do it! I'm sure you have several phones sitting around that you can pop your SIM card into to get you by?

well hey im not trying to deceive them in a bad way. so dont get me wrong here. its just that all i did when i opened the phone was plugged the speaker part back in, nothing else. that was several months ago. everything was fine until the past month when the phone started going downhill.
either way, i contacted att they put me through the warranty department, etc. i told them the void sticker came off. theyre sending a replacement phone, and i should get it by the end of the week. how to i restore the os's software? i am aware of downgrading back to att's wm5 version but is that all i need to do? would i need to change any radios, spl versions, etc?
thanks for the help.
oh yea and theyre sending me just another 8525. no tilt.... oh well haha.

unvaluablespace said:
........im not trying to deceive them in a bad way........
oh yea and theyre sending me just another 8525. no tilt.... oh well haha.
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Since when was deception EVER done in a good fashion??
Probably fall on deaf ears anyway since youve got a replacment 8525, lesson to learn here is the VOID sticker really is there for a reason.

um ok whatever. i dont see why i am getting bashed over this when you can find things such as this and more on this site. so we are too guilty to decieve htc over something simple as a speaker plug coming undone, but guilt free when tricking att into using there mediamax plan for basic phones as opposed to there pda plan, because it costs more?
funny that. and the best part is thats not even the sneakiest of things ive come across on these forums. but ok whatever. heh.
all im saying is its one thing because the speaker came unplugged. now if i had tried to completely replace a part, or tweaked with something in the phone itself, rather than just push the plug back in so i originally would not have to bother with a warranty exchange and go through all the trouble. i havent even had the phone for a year yet and its as of recent been going to ****.
but yea.....im a deceptive, lying cheating theiving bastard.
oh yea. and one more thing......given even if i was some sort of a con artist from this.....does htc video drivers come to mind? where as htc makes phones more expensive than an iphone (kaiser) but with the functionality of something of less than half the power? and im the theif? ok.
heh

Chill out man. This is an awesome board with tons of good information, and not some forum to go back and forth. I think all we were trying to say is next time as much as it sucks to do it, just get the warranty replacement. Enjoy your new phone.

im not sure if you received your replacement yet. But when you send your old phone into the warranty department they will check to see if the phone has been opened. The first thing they can check is the screws themselves they will show tampering. But also just when you think you have pulled one over on them you. you get a letter in the mail saying they are billing your account $450 due to your physical damage and tampering with the phone. They wont send your old phone back and you will get your next att bill and it will be $450 dollars higher than you expected. im not saying this will happen but i would watch out for this.
and if you really want to cheat warranty exchange. Do a warranty replacement wait a couple of days after the phone gets there and then call them up and say were is my phone. There policy is to ship out another right away. They will ask some questions but nothing serious and yes will ship out another phone right away. I know this not because i have done it but because i worked for att for 2 years in both csr and tech support.

well thanks for the info. i did not know there was a difference between warranty exchange and warranty replacement they both sound the same to me. anyways i believe the replacement is the one i did, as they sent me a refurbished phone, not a new one, and if thats what some were thinking i really did not care whether it was new or not, just a replacement phone. as for the screws i couldnt see any tampering evidence, the paint all remains intact. im usually pretty careful when it comes to screwing and unscrewing things. lol lets just hope i dont "Screw" myself haha.
oh and i was chill. i was just finding it funny that i was being directed as a theif by the comments. like i said its one thing for a simple plug but its not like i replaced the speaker or tweaked with something.

is the speaker plug easy to find, i had teh same problem dropped it and i can hear it when i shake it, its loose...but im worried its deeper than i can get to

Rooted G1 Won't Power On - HTC Support Conversation

UPDATE : HTC was kind enough to replace the motherboard! Issue resolved! Thanks HTC and everyone who helped me here....
I have dealt with Apple support and they have excellent support, never had to pay for shipping.
Situation : I have a rooted G1 with Cyanogen's 4.0.1 ROM. I was listening to music and stopped the music app. After 3 hours, the G1 won't power on - no LEDs nor backlight nor the vibration. It just lays dead.
Steps taken : Tried pushing the power button to no avail. Removed the battery. Left the phone charging overnight. No dice!
Further steps (HTC Support) : This is where it gets interesting! The guy was more than happy to setup a repair.
REPAIR DISCLOSURE
1. All units will be charged a triage fee of $39.00 or less. This includes
technical assessment and diagnosis.
2. Rooted G1's - minimum of $379 to repair!
3. I should pay for shipping (incoming HTC).
Frankly, these phones are not worth $400 anymore. Any suggestions are really appreciated. Should I consider getting it repaired via HTC?
Thanks in advance! I have been on XDA_Dev Forums for years, never faced such an issue (Windows Mobiles...) but Android device (G1) is posing issues. Please help guys!

Are you still under warranty? If so they'll fix it for free at least that's what I've experienced the last 2 times I mailed mine in. They told me about the 39.00 thing but never charged me. If you aren't under warranty it'll be cheaper to buy a used G1 if they want to charge you 379 to repair.

Or I would unroot the phone

jigdagod : Yes, I am still under warranty. The guy @ HTC says all G1's should still be under warranty. HTC's repair process sounds kinda shady - atleast the way he dealt with me on the phone call. So, my question is : Will they be able to determine that my phone is rooted even though the display doesn't turn on?
nolimit78 : I would love to unroot but since the phone doesn't respond at all (no lights, no nothing!), there is little I could do when it comes to modifying the software in the current situation.
Thanks for the help guys, any more HTC rooted G1 experiences?

I was able to unroot mine before sending it back, but mine was very obviously opened, void sticker removed, and plastics broken. It was ugly. Inside, the fabric tape and kapton tape were gone. They covered everything under warranty. I dont know why they would care if it was rooted- so long as rooting it was not the cause of the damage. And honestly, if it doesnt boot, then they dont know. Just dont tell em. Worst case scenario they charge you the "$39 or less" triage fee, and send it back to you still broken, you will not be out the $380 at any point.
Out of curiosity, you say you let it charge overnight...was the LED normal (orange/green) during the charge? Maybe you killed the battery? It will not boot with a bad battery plugged in or not...I tried! LOL

No LED lights at all. Absolutely no form of light can be seen on the device.
Question : If I take the battery off and then charge the phone without battey, should the phone charge normally?
I hate spending $39 for diagnosis alone. I am spoilt with Apple support! They are lot better IMO!

gospeed.racer said:
I was able to unroot mine before sending it back, but mine was very obviously opened, void sticker removed, and plastics broken. It was ugly. Inside, the fabric tape and kapton tape were gone. They covered everything under warranty. I dont know why they would care if it was rooted- so long as rooting it was not the cause of the damage. And honestly, if it doesnt boot, then they dont know. Just dont tell em. Worst case scenario they charge you the "$39 or less" triage fee, and send it back to you still broken, you will not be out the $380 at any point.
Out of curiosity, you say you let it charge overnight...was the LED normal (orange/green) during the charge? Maybe you killed the battery? It will not boot with a bad battery plugged in or not...I tried! LOL
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How did you unroot your G1 when it doesn't power on? They serviced a phone with warranty seal broken??
Thank you!

Mine powered on, it had a problem waking up. But yes, it was obviously tampered with. I told them I bought it off Craigslist (which I did) and they took care of it.
I suspect the battery due to how it died- it may (MAY) be that it drained too far, and the protection circuitry is keeping it from charging now. Find someone with a G1 and borrow their battery. Craigslist is your friend! Or eBay, can probably get one to your door for $5 Where are you located?

kkiran said:
No LED lights at all. Absolutely no form of light can be seen on the device.
Question : If I take the battery off and then charge the phone without battey, should the phone charge normally?
I hate spending $39 for diagnosis alone. I am spoilt with Apple support! They are lot better IMO!
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Click to collapse
You can't charge the phone lol.... you can charge the battery only. What I found is that you cannot turn on the G1 with it plugged into the charger w/o a battery. If the battery is damaged in anyway, it will not boot. However, you can easily replace it for ~$10 on ebay (I don't remember how much the OEM batteries are, but they are not very expensive)
Do what gospeed.racer says and get a friends G1 battery and test to see if it works (or take it to a T-mo store and ask them if they can check the battery for free)

Tmo store...thats an even better idea! They are everywhere and always seem to have half-charged batteries laying around. Plus they may be able to put in the call for you to get a replacement under warranty

I don't think they can tell at least they didn't say anything to me about it being rooted.

Thanks for clearing it out guys. So, we won't be able to turn it on without a battery (by the charger alone).. That's good to know!
TMo store - I'm hoping they would help. They are not always friendly. Will post my results here. Thanks everyone

If there is no light when it is charging, then another possibility is that the usb port on the phone has loosened from the main board. Stick in the cable and try moving the end around to see you can get the light to come back on.

I also got word from Drizzy that when I sent my phone to HTC they installed "breaker board" mainly a lock board that won't cause interceptions like flashing certain stuff. He said he only read about it he's not 100%. Which to me might be correct because I can only install up to H 6.01 ROM. I tried Hero and other and it won't work at all. Just more info to think about before sending it i to HTC.

I have Hero on mine that was returned from HTC, and they did replace both boards. Just a FYI, more of a YMMV I guess.

Had same problem
Had same problem here
Phone didnt power up ,no lights when charging, nothing
then i just used the AC Charger (Motorola one) instead of using computer usb
and then like magic i see an orange led ,then after like 5min i power up it
i guess sometimes usb volts is problematic
tell me if this helps ya bro

@LowTek : I used different chargers to no avail Thanks for the tip though!
@ gospeed.racer : I visited T-Mo store, tried another battery to no avail! Lucky you! They replaced even though it had Hero on it?! Do you know anyone who works there or what is the trick? Or were you being just lucky
@ jigdagod : Hmmm, breaker board sounds scary! But I will be selling it off if they made it work. Not so impressed with the quality. Might invest in a HTC Hero with 850/1900 bands or worst case, HTC Magic just so that I can test ATT's 3G speeds and post reviews on my blog. I am hoping Google will come up with a solid reason to leave the iPhone at bay!
@ badbob001 : Tried that to but nada
I will be sending it to HTC and hoping that they won't charge me any fee! Thanks a ton guys and I will keep you guys posted for documentation purposes just in case someone goes through the same phase!

kkiran said:
@ gospeed.racer : I visited T-Mo store, tried another battery to no avail! Lucky you! They replaced even though it had Hero on it?! Do you know anyone who works there or what is the trick? Or were you being just lucky
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ok, again I will tell the story. It HAD hero but had a problem waking up. Not all the time, only when sleeping. If I never let it sleep, it was never a problem. I was able to unroot, put it back to rc29, and send it in. It looked stock and was stock. When I got it back, I didnt even boot their rom. I put hero back on it, and no problems there either. Since then I have put many roms on it without any issues.

Thanks all! HTC replaced the motherboard and sent it back! I never expected this from HTC cos' I rooted G1 and put Hero on it. They either ignored the fact or they couldn't figure it out! All in all - a fantastic experience. Now I am off to selling it, haven't even used it for more than 5 days in total. I wish they come out with ATT 3G frequencies, HTC Hero hopefully!

EMERGENCY HELP!! X10 not charging, bad timing!

Hi guys!
I was using my X10 just now and i wanted to charge it cuz i needed to record something for my interview tomorrow. So I decided to plug in the charger, it was at 34% at that time, and everything was fine; the orange light was on and it was charging. Then I was browsing through some stuff and then the phone slipped out of my hand but I caught (kung fu skills ) in time but seemed to grabbed it too hard. I put my phone down for a while and when I went back to check it, the orange light was off and it wasn't charging anymore so I thought i accidentally kicked the charger or something. I unplugged it, and plugged it back and nothing. It doesn't work when I connect it to my laptop either. I tried taking the batteries out, waited a while and plugged it back again and it's still not working funny thing is when I turned the phone back on, it went down from 34% to 21% in about 5 minutes, and I wasn't even fiddling with the phone. I don't know if it's a hardware problem or software problem cuz I might have put too much pressure on the charger port and cracked it or something. I checked it but it seems fine. I really don't know what to do, and the Search function in this forum doesn't work either! I need the phone for tomorrow cuz I have this interview assignment thing...holycrap! what a bad day. Help, please? anyone??

Only real quick solution to get you through that interview is to buy a wallcharger in wich you put your battery. And regarding the damage it sounds hardware related, hope you have insurance! You might get lucky though if you return it for warranty but remember, there's usually a fee if they think the damage was man-made. Good luck with the phone and on your interview!
Sent from my X10i

Tjotte said:
Only real quick solution to get you through that interview is to buy a wallcharger in wich you put your battery. And regarding the damage it sounds hardware related, hope you have insurance! You might get lucky though if you return it for warranty but remember, there's usually a fee if they think the damage was man-made. Good luck with the phone and on your interview!
Sent from my X10i
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I heard about the wall charger before, but what use would it be if I can't connect my phone to the computer anyways I've had the X10 for about 3-4 months now, I hope the warranty service is still covered. Not sure if it'll work especially cuz I'm not the carrier's customer ((

So you need to access stuff that's on the phone? Or you need to access the stuff that's on the phone *with the phone*?
The first one's easy. Just buy a micro sd adapter and you can plug it into your computer (assuming it has one of those ports)
The second one.. need some more info before advising what to do. I didn't get what exactly the information is that you need to access. Is it a recording, notes, pictures, what?

junkk29 said:
I heard about the wall charger before, but what use would it be if I can't connect my phone to the computer anyways I've had the X10 for about 3-4 months now, I hope the warranty service is still covered. Not sure if it'll work especially cuz I'm not the carrier's customer ((
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Click to collapse
A bill of sale is all you need and it can be fixed. have Rogers call the repair depot in Newmarket and make sure they have one, then take a drive they will take a look and swap it out usually in a few days.

Rockjock007 said:
A bill of sale is all you need and it can be fixed. have Rogers call the repair depot in Newmarket and make sure they have one, then take a drive they will take a look and swap it out usually in a few days.
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You mean the receipt for the X10? I still have it but I'm not actually with Rogers. I got my friend that's with Rogers to buy the phone for me in case something like this happens, I don't know if they'll let me or not cuz I rooted my phone and all. I think i'll try and unroot it and put it back to Rogers firmware. Thanks for the advice

I'm from the UK and had exactly the same problem. I had to send it back to SE and they gave me a new unit. I had no proof of puchase though as I lost it awhile ago :/. But all in all it worked out well. They never told me what was wrong with the phone though.

Issue/Resolve of odd phone not booting. *plz read just in case it happens to you*

Hello All, I just found out this info and felt the need to pass it along even if the fact that this is most probably a rare issue.
One day my hero just quit booting into android. Could not use adb (didn't get that far into booting android/wouldnt boot at all). Could not get into recovery, and it only showed the very first white HTC screen with green letters.
Luckily I could boot into hboot, which I used to wipe the phone thinking my recovery/bootloader borked on me. No deal. It wiped/flashed HERCIMG.zip, however STILL wouldn't boot into android.
Took it to the store, and got a replacement. First, they just tried booting the old phone.. same issue, so they got me a replacement hero out, and put in the old battery. Didn't boot.. I thought hmm... Maybe just the battery? So they put a new battery in my old hero. Still wouldn't boot. So they put the new battery into the new hero. Booted! Ok, so they were both borked... but no!
Today I get a text message stating that the carrier is charging me $54 for replacement out of warranty... I thought to myself that is really odd because if they found it was rooted/custom rom/etc (which I wiped from hboot) then they would charge me full price (up to $150). I figured it was spam but decided to call the carrier.
Carrier told me it WAS from them (or rather the warranty company), but it was because they found NO FAULT in the phone, and that price was to rebuild the phone to resell as a refurb?!
They don't send the batteries in with broken phones for warranty. So here is what must have happened:
Battery was shot.
New phone wouldn't boot with old battery
Old phone wouldn't boot with old battery
New phone does boot (and is working fine btw) with new battery(well rather used but different battery because they don't give new batteries with replacement phones.. F*ked up I know..)
Old phone WAS booting with new battery, however since I wiped it, it was building dalvik cache so it looked like it wasnt booting!
I am now disputing the claim because the fault would lie with the store clerk who warrantied the phone and not me. It was his decision not mine.
So bottom line, if your phone is having these same issues, go get a friend's hero, use the battery to see if it works, and if so then that's the issue.

WoW! I can see a charge of a replacement done through a phone call. But the tech made that call not you. I sent one back through a phone call that I had dropped, phone worked but I told them it wouldnt connect to internet. Before I sent it back I downloaded a TON of apps to the point it wouldnt run very well due to memory being full, I am lucky they didnt charge me!
How long before they charged you, its been almost 2 months and no charge for me, yet. lol

btw - the old battery might be 'fine' now as well...
i lost my phone for a couple months, battery dead, put on charger, green light (charged), so tried to boot - nogo...
had replacement phone/battery, put this 'good' battery into old phone - it, eventually, DID boot (you kinda screwed cuz didnt know that no-os=no-boot)...
now, i WAS able to get the old-battery that supposedly was 'full' to start charging on new-phone - but it (battery) was nowhere near full...
eventually both batteries and both phones are now back-to-normal, but if battery dies - i think something gets reset in the phone-that-had-battery-death that wont get fixed immed...
hth, h.
btw - yes, your case is the sprint-techs-fault... but, to-be-fair, he could not have known that there was no-os on your phone... thus, your-fault for taking a not-warrantable (???) phone in for repair ? idk, gl...

hfelton said:
btw - the old battery might be 'fine' now as well...
i lost my phone for a couple months, battery dead, put on charger, green light (charged), so tried to boot - nogo...
had replacement phone/battery, put this 'good' battery into old phone - it, eventually, DID boot (you kinda screwed cuz didnt know that no-os=no-boot)...
now, i WAS able to get the old-battery that supposedly was 'full' to start charging on new-phone - but it (battery) was nowhere near full...
eventually both batteries and both phones are now back-to-normal, but if battery dies - i think something gets reset in the phone-that-had-battery-death that wont get fixed immed...
hth, h.
btw - yes, your case is the sprint-techs-fault... but, to-be-fair, he could not have known that there was no-os on your phone... thus, your-fault for taking a not-warrantable (???) phone in for repair ? idk, gl...
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Interesting... In many ways.
Actually I take back the comment on the in store tech. He actually did his part, and was very nice about it. We both felt it was the phone and the battery. It was just one of those mishaps where it looked like a duck, walked like a duck but was actually a goose.
And there was an os on the phone, not rooted and the HERCIMG.zip I flashed from hboot was the carrier's RUU not a custom rom btw. Therefore making it fully warrantable ry.. heh.

Sheesh this is crazy, I've had 4 herocs none of mine ever had problems but I called and made some random junk up to get new ones cause I'm picky about little scratches and etc lol I know its bad but hey I pay for insurance and my monthly bill is 150 so they can kiss my a$$ . Every time I would fine a scratch that bothered me I would just send it back and say something random, they didn't care and just sent one out 4 different times. I never felt bad I've been with sprint for 4 years never late on my bill and their customer service always treats me like crap or maybe my luck is bad. But my point is nothing was ever wrong with my phones and they never charged me.
Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk

dirkyd3rk said:
Sheesh this is crazy, I've had 4 herocs none of mine ever had problems but I called and made some random junk up to get new ones cause I'm picky about little scratches and etc lol I know its bad but hey I pay for insurance and my monthly bill is 150 so they can kiss my a$$ . Every time I would fine a scratch that bothered me I would just send it back and say something random, they didn't care and just sent one out 4 different times. I never felt bad I've been with sprint for 4 years never late on my bill and their customer service always treats me like crap or maybe my luck is bad. But my point is nothing was ever wrong with my phones and they never charged me.
Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk
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Lol! Well, I guess it's just which way you look at it. I wish I still had my old hero cause I knew exactly every blemish on it (which had VERY few btw) so if I ever had to identify it I could do so easily.
Also, I don't like doing returns unless I have to. But at the same time, I don't pay extra on phone insurance, and your bill is $150/mo?! Damn! What plan do you have? I pay $120 for unlimited EVERYTHING for two phones per month, and the only thing I don't have is mms ($10 extra, but I don't do mms anyways so I could care less).
If your in the south eastern region of the U.S. you should consider checking out Cellular South man, cause no one can beat their plans, and even though you have to sign 2yr contract (they do not have 1yr contracts) you way less in the longrun, and their service is actually quite good (well... depending) but not as bad as what I have heard about sprint at least.