HTC screwing my friend over - Nexus One General

Ok so my friend over in Wisconsin has the Nexus 1, since release day worked fine, he recently updated to Froyo, few days later got a red trackball(not rooted), and noticed it wasn't being recognised though usb, and got worried, rang google them had him check the liquid sensors and agreed no water damage, because the sensors or stickers whatever you wanna call them are fine, so it has been sent to HTC now there telling him it has water damage inside the phone and he needs a new screen and main board, funny thing is its never even had a rain drop fall on the phone, so HTC telling him he has to pay $283 to have it repaired.

seems like a job for the consumerist
He may want to have them check if they didn't get the device mixed with someone else...

have him check with his homeowners / rental insurance, the phone might be covered through that route as well, in case HTC doesn't budge.

slowz3r said:
seems like a job for the consumerist
He may want to have them check if they didn't get the device mixed with someone else...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or contact these lol
If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can't or won't solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks:
[email protected] Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit Americas
[email protected] Chairman
[email protected] Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
[email protected] Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC
[email protected] COO of HTC
[email protected] Board Member of HTC
[email protected] CEO
[email protected] VP HTC
[email protected] Chief Innovation Officer
http://consumerist.com/2010/05/reach-htc-executives.html

Demon_man said:
Ok so my friend over in Wisconsin has the Nexus 1, since release day worked fine, he recently updated to Froyo, few days later got a red trackball(not rooted), and noticed it wasn't being recognised though usb, and got worried, rang google them had him check the liquid sensors and agreed no water damage, because the sensors or stickers whatever you wanna call them are fine, so it has been sent to HTC now there telling him it has water damage inside the phone and he needs a new screen and main board, funny thing is its never even had a rain drop fall on the phone, so HTC telling him he has to pay $283 to have it repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean a red trackball? The trackball being lighted up red? If so, I think some apps have a red notification light.
Anyway the thing about the usb not being recognized sounds so similar to an incident of mine. Just last week I realized my N1 could not be recognized by my work computer as a usb device. The charging light is on, but I can't access the sd card and the computer couldn't recognize it as a usb device.
I even tried plugging my phone in and out and tried different usb slots but still no go. I was panicking and even rebooted my phone twice, but my computer still couldn't recognize it.
It was only when I plugged my phone into another colleague's computer that I realized the root cause.
It turns out that Froyo's tethering doesn't work flawlessly with Windows XP SP3. For some reason the local area connection created for the N1 is conflicting with my company's own local area connection. Apparently I turned off tethering on my phone and unplugged it from my computer without disabling the N1's local area connection first and that sort of caused some XP background service to go bonkers. And my computer couldn't detect my phone no matter what until I manually rebooted my computer.
Well I had no problems tethering with my home's Windows 7 computer so I bet it's Windows XP crappy outdated handling with network connections since you had to use a script for XP to enable tethering while Vista and & 7 works out of the box.
Anyway, I don't know if my situation is of any help... but you never know.

Demon_man said:
or contact these lol
If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can't or won't solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks:
[email protected] Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit Americas
[email protected] Chairman
[email protected] Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
[email protected] Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC
[email protected] COO of HTC
[email protected] Board Member of HTC
[email protected] CEO
[email protected] VP HTC
[email protected] Chief Innovation Officer
http://consumerist.com/2010/05/reach-htc-executives.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The whole "well crafted letter" portion wouldn't go well with me

how does one check the 'liquid sensors' ?
I thought these were color changing strips inside the phone...or something similiar

imei
why don't you ask htc to compare imei numbers first from what your friend had in his records/tmobile/att account and the phone that they have on hand. might have been mixed up.

company is probably just trying to screw u over...keep trying and check to make sure its not confused with another phone

agentkalaw said:
why don't you ask htc to compare imei numbers first from what your friend had in his records/tmobile/att account and the phone that they have on hand. might have been mixed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this idea

If you're running into headaches with HTC support and want to escalate the issue to the Google online sales folks, the best way to do that is to use this form to open a ticket:
http://google.com/support/android/bi...ct_type=refund

Hello, I'm Demon_man's friend, decided to make an account here to put in my story and answer a few questions.
I had upgraded my phone to 2.2 with the firmware that was signed by Google and on their servers for those few days, so I didn't need to root my phone for it, and after talking to Google, they were cool with it. On Friday, June 11 I was driving around in my car with my phone sitting on the passenger seat plugged into my car stereo via the 3.5mm jack. When I grabbed my phone I noticed the trackball was glowing red, didn't see any notifications so I turned my phone off and back on. The first thing that tipped me off to a problem was that the trackball would glow red the instant I turned the phone on. Once booted up the trackball was unresponsive. I plugged it in to charge while I slept, charged just fine. The next day I tried to connect it to my computer (WinXP) over USB multiple times, with resets on the computer and the phone each time, and it would never recognize that it was connected on the phone and when unplugged Windows would inform me of a problem with the USB device.
On Saturday and Sunday I was able to use the phone with no more problems going on, so I didn't really think anything of it. On Monday, the phone was unusable because the trackball decided to have a mind of it's own and just select stuff at random so I had to fall back on my old iPhone 2G.
Tuesday I tried to call Google's CS, but was unable to get through because their automated system didn't want to take my IMEI number the multiple times I tried to enter it in so I had to call HTC's CS. After talking to the guy there he transfered me over to Google, but he decided to tell them water damage. After getting that cleared up the Google rep agreed that is was a hardware problem and transfered me back to HTC to set up a device swap.
Got the new phone the next day (Wednesday) got that phone setup to make sure everything was working proper. On Thursday I turned on the broken phone to do the factory reset and sent it on its way to the HTC repair center in Texas. It got there on Friday and they looked at it on Monday. Got an email saying they looked at it and I should log into HTC's service site to review the results. The only thing that told me was that they wanted to charge me $283 with no reason why. I called up HTC CS to get told that they replaced the mainboard and the screen. I asked why the screen was replaced when there were no scratches on it and it worked just fine when I sent it out on Thursday. He didn't have any further information and that someone would get back to me in 24-48 hours. I gave them 24 hours, called back and ended up talking to the same guy I talked to before. He informed me that he didn't have any further information and his supervisor would need to talk to the repair center's supervisor who would then talk to the tech who worked on my phone. Then the tech would talk to his supervisor who would talk to the other supervisor would would then get back to me.
That's completely unacceptable to me, so I tried calling HTC's North American HQ and talked with a Jim Black, Product Support Manager for North America. He called the repair center then called me back saying they told him there was water damage and they would send me pictures within 24 hours.
I told him that water damage would have been impossible because the phone was sitting on the seat of my car at the time things started going wrong, it never has seen a drop of water and I never use it in the rain, so I guess the leather they used somehow turned into water. When I told him that the hardware costs of the phone were a bit under $175, $100 cheaper then what they wanted to charge me his answer was "You wish". It's also worth pointing out that both of the water indicators you can see were both solid white, no red or pink tint at all when I sent it out.
So that's where I'm sitting at now.
(Wow, that was a bit long, sorry about that)
@slowz3r and agentkalaw:
When I get the pictures hopefully I'll be able to verify the IMEI number on the phone to what I have on record.
@britoso:
Generally there is one on the battery and one under the battery on the phone they you can see. There also may be a few inside the case you can't see on some devices.
@SiL3nTKiLL:
Funny thing is I was telling people after I called HTC and Google on Tuesday that I figured they would try to screw me over and claim water damage. I bet I even posted it on Twitter.
@irishrally:
I did call up Google a few hours ago, apparently because it's a hardware problem their hands are tied and it's just me and HTC fighting it out.

Nothing against you R0bbit or any other Cell Phone owners... but don't get too confident and place all blame and responsibility on HTC. I repair around 20 phones daily, and run into all types of devices, from a Nexus One, iPhone, to even a Jitterbug... What you believe is liquid damage is not necessarily from water dripping on the phone or your phone falling into a collection of water.. In fact many phones, and even the NEXUS One, has liquid indicators inside the housing of unit... just because liquid did not come in contact with the other indicators does not necessarily mean the entire phone never came into contact.... also corrosion/liquid damage is not necessarily instant. I've seen phones that I've cleaned/removed corrosion... develop it a week later from the original time of contact.. Usually symptoms show later on with minor liquid damage. Think of it like RUST on a car. I've personally dealt with phones damaged from shower condensation (sorry if that's the incorrect term) because many users like to play music while taking warm/hot showers. Even sweat from your hands can damage the device.. especially the trackball area which I witness more than enough times on Blackberry's and now the NEXUS One due to its proximity to the USB port... The list goes on, but you'll be surprised how very little liquid is required to cause damage to your phone.. take it from a person doing hardware repairs on phones daily. I hope they made a mistake and that in fact your phone was never liquid damaged, but I have to admit, the trackball LED shorting and the USB shorting in an area easily affected by liquid sounds legit. Best of luck!

On Monday, the phone was unusable because the trackball decided to have a mind of it's own and just select stuff at random so I had to fall back on my old iPhone 2G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is certainly a symptom of water damage... everyone might want to just consider the possibility before jumping down HTC's throat so quickly.
OP: I'm not saying that you're lying, but to consider the possibilities.
Today my baby was drooling my nexus one near to the trackball, and starts glowing red, so this is an water damage notification.! it is still functionally but let's see next days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While there is some argument on the various forums as to exactly what the red indicator means, the answer is that it's never good and in at least one case as above corresponded to liquid damage or malfunction caused by liquid in some shape or fashion. HTC isn't there to screw people over and doesn't have a reputation of making these things up. The tech who looked at your phone doesn't get paid more or less for rejecting the device warranty.

R0bbit said:
On Monday, the phone was unusable because the trackball decided to have a mind of it's own and just select stuff at random so I had to fall back on my old iPhone 2G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to point out, I had this *exact* same problem with my first Nexus One in January. Specifically, the problem only occurred when I was connected to and transferring cellular data (EDGE - no AWS 3G was available in my area at the time). The phone would behave as if I was rolling the trackball to the right as long as data was being transferred.
Did a device swap and the replacement worked.

It's widely known that most phones have water sensors. Even water vapor from taking a shower can trigger them. It has happened to me...
If this didn't happen to you and you are sure your phone has not gone anywhere near water... Tell HTC to check again.

Related

Argh! My touchscreen just went dead

MFer. Grrrrrrr.
what were you doing with it at the time. Were you trying to overclock and just passed the limit. it could be some water damage...been taking a bath wit ur phone????. Or you might just get lucky and it could be that the connector for the flex cable has become lose. If you are comfortable with opening electronics I'd suggest downloading the Herald service manual (do a search if you can't find it i'll send you one) and checking out the status of the flex cable. The flex cable can be cut or moved without even opening the phone...all it would take is something like a thin card to slide in bewteen the screen and the keyboard to cause this.
Hope that provides some insight...
Don't give up...it is cheaper to repair the phone than to buy a new one.....unless you were looking for an excuse to get Tytn II
Before you open it and void your warranty, make sure theres NOTHING else you can do about the problem. For example if you have insurance, USE it first, dont try opening it. In the event you mess it up even more opening it, you're DEFINITELY f***ed because you voided the warranty opening it.
I had a touchscreen go dead on one of my Wings.
What happened was, the speaker started giving out, and then all of a sudden the touchscreen died.
I concluded that some moisted go into the phone, thru the earpiece speaker, and mess it up.
duprade said:
I had a touchscreen go dead on one of my Wings.
What happened was, the speaker started giving out, and then all of a sudden the touchscreen died.
I concluded that some moisted go into the phone, thru the earpiece speaker, and mess it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember you posting that u recieved a replacement too?? How did u manage to pull that one off. Working at Rogers even if there was a hint of water damage we would deny the repair saying it'll b cheaper to get a new phone...o how we used to rip ppl off...
Well, the way it got "water damaged" .. was bc I was holding the Wing and a Dasani water bottle in the same hand when I was getting into my car. When I was on the road, I went to use my phone, and the earpiece sounded weird... the sound was all the way up, but it sounded really low and distorted... I also noticed some moisture around earpiece from the condensation off of the bottle.
Again, this is me assuming that's what happened, but the evidence points in that directions, since I had been using my phone all along, because I had been on it because I was about to go out clubbing and what not, so I had made repeated phone calls until I was in my car... plus I noticed the moisture because I remember wiping it off as I went to use the phone.
So It wasn't water damaged to the point where it got submerged, but a little while later, the touchscreen went dead as well... so I'm assuming what happened was, water got into the device thru the the earpiece and that caused a problem with the wiring or something.
As far as the replacement, I just went into the TMO store, and *****ed and complained and told them it was ridiculous that the phone quite working after having it just 3 weeks. Luckily I had my receipts and everything saved. They have a 14 day exchange period, but I've also been with Tmo forever. I originally had Powertel a decade ago, then Voicestream bought Powertel, then Tmobile bought Voicestream...
I've been "loyal" for a very long time, not to mention every single phone on the account (6 lines) is one of their expensive one ...either Wings, Blackberries, etc... not the cheap free phone they offer with their cheapest plan... and I think I have every right to expect good customer service from them.
Well I'm glad that they replaced your phone, being a customer for that long they should have just gave it to you free in the first place. But I refuse to believe that a little condensation caused this because of past exp. My friend dropped PPC6700 i sold him in the toilet and it still worked after.
PS:I hope you weren't talking and driving at the same time, bad things happen when you mix the two as shown in this example.
wow. I definitely need to get hands-free setup in my car!
Maybe he tried to install the tochflo .cab...
A member of my team at work had her wing touch screen go out too. She got a brand new one free with the phone warranty. I guess I gotta look out for my wings well-being.
xavier6303 said:
A member of my team at work had her wing touch screen go out too. She got a brand new one free with the phone warranty. I guess I gotta look out for my wings well-being.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeeargh! And T-Mobile tells me I gotta contact HTC directly because I didn't buy directly from them. HTC on the other hand tells me to send it in, they will "determine if it's a warranty issue", whether they feel like repairing it or sending me a replacement, for free or for an unknown charge, and in any case there will be a $28 assessment charge on my credit card should I be unhappy with their decision.

My Samsung Focus USB/charge port and cable melted!

Earlier this week, my less than 90 day old Samsung Focus suffered an apparently self-induced meltdown (pics below).
The problem started when the phone started repeatedly making the sound that you make when you plug it in to charge or sync it. The phone was not plugged in at the time.
First I unlocked the phone and found that it seemed to be fully functional, but the repeated tone continued - almost as if there was some type of internal short which caused the phone to think it was being plugging and unplugged over and over. I rebooted the phone, thinking that might resolve the issue. After a few seconds up returning to the lock screen, the repeating tone started again.
I unlocked the phone again and noticed that the battery indicator icon was sort of flickering each time the tone sounded. Hmmm, maybe plugging the phone into the Samsung wall charger will help. Plugging the phone in did stop the repeating tones, but after ~30 seconds I smelled a strong smell that smelled like burning electronics.
I picked up the phone, realized that was where the smell was coming from, and quickly unplugged it. After doing so, I noticed that the USB/charge port in the phone was melted, as was the male end of the Samsung USB cable.
I took the phone to my local AT&T corporate store - they had not seen or were aware of a related issue. Since I've had the phone more than 30 days, I was not eligible for an in-store exchange.
The AT&T rep that I was working with gave me paperwork for the AT&T Device Service Center (DSC) in town, and told me that they'd likely be able to take care of my phone under warranty.
I went to the AT&T DSC and relayed the above story to them. After speaking with a technician, supervisor, and manager I was told that they had no record or service bulletins related to the issue. As a result, they could not warranty my phone. The manager told me that my phone fell into the "damaged phone" category, which is not covered by the warranty.
I argued that the damage which occurred to the phone was not due to my negligence (i.e., dropped it in a toilet, ran over it with my truck, etc) , but because I simply plugged it in. To no avail - my Focus was a "damaged phone which was not eligible for warrantly repair or replacement".
The manager said that I had two options - contact the AT&T warranty department who could "assist" me with a replacement phone, but would charge my account the full, no-contract price or submit an insurance claim with AT&T, pay the deductible, and get a "like-new" replacement phone.
I am currently awaiting a phone call from a supervisor with the AT&T warranty department, who is to contact me within 24-48 hours.
This sucks...
Run Around
Contact your state consumer affairs office or the attorney generals office. This phone failed, it was not damaged IMHO. I contacted the warranty center as well for the same problem, but no damage yet. The female Technical Support person I spoke to told me the following:
. This is a known problem and she had MANY complaints about it.
. In a Technical Support meeting, they were told this was a known issue with Microsoft and an upcoming release contains a fix for it.
. They suspect it is caused by a virus invading the phone via internet browsing.
. They won't do a warranty exchange if there is a virus in the phone.
The virus part is absolute garbage. Since, as users, we don't control internet security, they are still responsible IMHO. I contacted my ATT store manager and he assured me they will get me a replacement under warranty, even though mine is 60 days old. I have the extended warranty. Mine only happens occasionally now and the frequency is getting longer between issues.
AT&T has turned into a garbage company since I worked for them nearly 10 years ago. At one time they were the Walmart of cell phone companies, if anything was wrong they would make it right. Now, they avoid satisfying the customer at all costs if it means they have to spend some money.
This is a scary situation b/c I can easily see ATT and Samsung both tryin to sidestep this problem. I haven't seen this problem stated on many other forums but even so, they should try to resolve the issue and not automatically blame it on you. The usual "User error" bs... I try not to keep mine plugged into the wall charger for too long b/c it charges quickly and does get a bit hot if left charging (personal experience). I forgot and had it running an app that could stay in background through the lock while plugged in and that made it get very hot to the touch. Won't do that again. But this issue needs to be addressed b/c it isn't some minor flaw, but something that leaves your new phone useless.
This sounds like a story told many times over the years. You are outside of warranty. You are hosed.
Then, when it gets out in the media that more than one user is having the same issue, magically there is warranty coverage, even for phones that are past the cut off date for a normal warranty.
XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death - warranty period extended.
Cars - it happens all the time.
Some laptops catching on fire
Anyone else think of some more examples?
I've also been concerned about the USB port. On my phone, this is the hardest to use USB port I've owned, and I've owned MANY! You have to fuss with it a LOT to get the cord to insert properly. I am afraid that over time, a pin will get bent due to being tough to insert. I wonder if that is what might have happened here?
unless they can prove your negligence, aka liquid damage or something you purposely did to make this happen, they have to warranty this... i would warranty it, and i used to work for both companies and thats the kind of decision they paid me to make... stand up and dont give in...demand a new unit...its your right...

Sony X10 Customer Service nightmare

I wanted to share with people my worst customer service experience ever.
I recently bought an x10 off of someone online and the in-call speaker (ear piece) started acting inconsistent. It would get quiet frequently and was very hard to hear. And yes, I’m aware there is an issue with the level of sound these things produce.
Since I bought it off of someone I couldn’t return it through the service provider. I called Sony Ericsson (SE) and they told me that the repair should be covered under my warranty. So, they gave me an RMA number and an address of the service centre in Newmarket, Ontario to send it to. The place was Flextronics – Canada.
I was told that I would have the phone back within 10 business days, and that someone would contact me if there was any issues.
After 2 weeks, I called SE several times to get an update and received the rudest reps ever. They all gave me this attitude as if i was bothering them.. One rep said it was coming, while the other told me Flextronics had sent me an email with a quote.
A little upset, I asked why because I thought it was covered under warranty. She didn’t know, so gave me the number to Flextronics.
So, I started calling Flextronics to see what was up. Every time I dialled the extension for SE service department, it would ring twice, beep, and then hang up. So, I started calling other departments in the company and the they just transferred me right back, and I would get disconnected again. Then, I dialled 0 and got the operator, who was almost as rude as the SE reps, and told me to call SE for any updates. I told her I was sick of this back and forth, and can I please talk to someone. So she forwarded me to a supervisor. I left a message, and waited a few days and received no call or email back.
Frustrated, I called SE back and told them my situation. The rep this time was nice, and said he would make note and look into it for me and someone would contact me within 24 hrs.
I waited a two more days, and nothing.
I called Flextronics again, and went through the exact same process. And then nothing.
Called SE back again, this time they told me they can’t do anything until I reply to Flextronics’ quote they sent me. I told them I haven’t received anything from them and have been desperately trying to get a hold of someone there. This rep then said he will escalate it to a supervisor.
Again, a few days passed and nothing.
I called SE back and demanded to speak to a supervisor. The rep was being very rude and tried to avoid the situation. She finally caved and put me on hold for at least 5 minutes. I spoke to a supervisor who was just as rude as her reps and took another 5 min looking into my file, and asked me the same verifying questions again. She told me that the policy states the repair is not covered under warranty because of physical damage.
I told her that this was ridiculous bc the phone was in near mint condition. The only physical damage was that there was a tiny crack in the very bottom left corner of the screen that isn’t even close to the call speaker. And when I say the crack is small, I mean small. It was more like a deep scratch.
Anyway, after trying to defend that the crack had nothing to do with why I brought my phone in for repair, she told me it was up to the repair centre. I said, fine. At this point I just want my phone back. She said she will relay the message.
Waited some more, and then nothing.
I repeated this process for 2 more weeks.
The reps kept telling me that the situation would be taken care of and that the case was escalated. Some reps even told me that the escalations were never processed properly. Arrgghh...
After almost reaching the 5 week mark, I left a desperate message with Flextronics and SE practically begging for my phone back.
There is an obvious discrepancy between the communication between SE and Flextronics.
Finally, after 5 weeks someone actually called me from Flextronics!!!
He explained to me why I had to pay for the repairs. Even though he agreed with me, he said that due to the relationship with SE they can’t fix the speaker unless they fix everything! Including cosmetic stuff!
F’n ridiculous.
He asked if I wanted to try and call SE and dispute this with him. LOL. I was like no way, just give me my phone back.
He said they’ll ship it today and i will receive it tmrw. Let’s see what happens....
Because of this nightmare of the poor quality of the device itself, I will never ever buy another SE smartphone again!!!
i have to say thats a nightmare. i am so sorry that happened to u. i hope this doesnt happen to u again. thanks for the warning about se though. thats people i dont want to deal with. i hope u have better experiences with smartphones.
Sent from XDA Premium from my X10a rooted running 2.3.2 gingerbread rom from rdannar
Here in Austria the SE-CCAs (sitting in Germany) are very nice and competent.
The only thing is, when you bring something in for repair, they always just flash the firmware first and send it back to you so you have to bring it in again, however the snd attempt always worked.
And CC in the US are by principle a nightmare and rude. In the best case they are nice but dont get what you want, because they just hang to their conversation script and dont listen.
On the other side I dont want to know what BS they have to listen to every day.
Quote Sony Erisson"Make it believe"...This's the way of SE treating their customer and provide the poor quality of the products,slow update of firmware and iresponsibility after-sales service.My X10 had been sent to the service centre for changing the motherboard which caused the reboot loop more than 1 month ago but i don't have any news whether it's getting the job done or not.My phone's still under the warranty and i think the warranty would be gone after i take back.Somemore,the xperia arc's coming out soon but i consider Samsung Galaxy S2 which's more powerful with dual core processor.I won't drop into the trap of Sony Erisson anymore...
Update: Failed to deliver once again. Phone has still not been returned as promised by Flextronics. Arrrgghhhh
That sucks for you OP, I would raise hell if I were you, you gotta treat them the same way they treat you to get **** done.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
OP, if I was you, I'd punch those idiots in the face
So, the argument that says "only 10% of SE consumers, you guys, complain against SE 'cause lack of Android upgrades but the 90% of ppl don't care and love SE" dies here. Im pretty sure that 90% of people wouldn't 'love' SE thanks to things like this, no matter if they want Android 2.2/2.3 or not.
I repeat one-more-time: SE, NEEDS to WORK in the human part.
Oh.. I know all about Flexitronics/SE issue. My Phone stopped charging and I sent it into repairs. I too got the runaround and had to be calling in contantly to get any type of headway.
I was informed I would get callbacks, which I never got. Hell they even said I would get a gift for all my trouble - nothing.
My advice is to get someone from Flex and DON'T HANG UP. Refuse to disconnect the call until you talk to a supervisor. Be Polite and never swear - just tell them to put you on hold until a supervisor can speak to you. This will destroy the Rep's Call time stats and they shouldn't be able to just hang-up on you as you have not done anything to warrant such an action.
Good Luck!
Here is my situation with them:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8396874&postcount=48
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8574507&postcount=53
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8593403&postcount=55
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8611836&postcount=59
Yeah dude sorry to hear about that situation, I hope whatever company you buy from next has better service than that.
You didn't mention it on your post, But did they tell you that they have a FLAT FEE OF $185 FOR PHYSICAL DAMAGE? yep, no matter how small that scretch is they'll probably shove that down your throat.
I had my run in with SE Service, luckily for me I had a tad better outcome.
Check out my situation:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=12075634#post12075634
Thepuffytaco said:
Oh.. I know all about Flexitronics/SE issue. My Phone stopped charging and I sent it into repairs. I too got the runaround and had to be calling in contantly to get any type of headway.
I was informed I would get callbacks, which I never got....]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, they are the worst.
Update: On Friday, March 11, a rep from Flextronics called me, same guy who I spoke to previously. He actually said "I recognized your voice so I don't need to speak to you."
Before he said goodbye I demanded to know where my phone was bc he promised I'd have it on Thur, March 10.
His reply was, oh well, if you don't receive it by Monday, call us back. WTF?
Any way, I finally got my phone back UNFIXED.
Long story short:
- Sony Ericsson and Flextronics' customer service sucks
- almost 7 weeks without my X10a, only to get it back UNFIXED
darkgoth678 said:
Yeah dude sorry to hear about that situation, I hope whatever company you buy from next has better service than that.
You didn't mention it on your post, But did they tell you that they have a FLAT FEE OF $185 FOR PHYSICAL DAMAGE? yep, no matter how small that scretch is they'll probably shove that down your throat.
I had my run in with SE Service, luckily for me I had a tad better outcome.
Check out my situation:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=12075634#post12075634
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Click to collapse
They quoted me $108 to fix the screen, so a lot cheaper than $185. But, I refused out of frustration and principle. I bet even if they had fixed the screen and speaker, I'd still have speaker problems.
Good job on your self-repair btw. I would be too nervous to take any tools to my phones. Bad experience in the past. lol
Looks like SE approved service centers are the same, no matter the country. I sent mine 2 times already because of issues related to the USB connector in the phone (not charging and not having stable USB connection via cable). Got it back 2 times fixed partially, now it charges but the connections still is worthless.
So my sympathy goes to you
Dont Buy a Sony Erisson! 35 weeks in repair only to be returned unfixed
I had the same issue Tase.
Im still very annoyed. Im reporting them to the better business bureau as their service is beyond a joke.
I got two X10s. One for my gf and one for me. Her USB port died after a few months so it went back for repair and they swapped it for a reconditioned model.
Mine died after about 9 months went back and got swapped for a reconditioned model which i wasn't really thrilled about. Weeks later my reconditioned model failed. The phone started just turning itself off and dropping calls until finally it wouldn't even come back on.
I work in my home office and my phone is either in my pocket or on my desk so nothing has ever happened to it plus i had it in the plastic protective bumper case as well.
I sent this phone back in April! I waited for a few weeks and kept getting the run around so in the end i said forget it and went and changed phone providers and got a Samsung Galaxy SG2. I didnt want to pay Rogers $50 to use some old piece of crap when i had paid for a Smart phone.
Anyway i still continued to contact them trying to get an idea when it was coming back. I got told the same as you. "Its been escalated" etc.
Another time the guy said he had no idea why it was taking so long and didnt have any idea where the phone was or what was happening. He promised me a call which i never received. I didnt experience any rudeness but every time i waited on hold for ages and was occasionally cut off whilst on hold.
I finally got the phone back this week unfixed! That's what? About 35 WEEKS?!!!!!!
Absolutely ridiculous! How does it take 35 weeks to do that?
Their excuse is that the USB port is broken and they have said this is physical damage and its not covered.
They must have baboons running the place!
I did not break it, the usb is just crap because they cheaped out and is a known problem with the phone. That wasnt the issue anyways. It wont turn on! I can put a fully charged battery in it and it still does not turn on!
The repair centre are a joke. I should have known better. We had two C510a's before this and when they both broke at exactly the same time (due to needing a system update!) and were both sent back mine was sent back unrepaired stating liquid damage when the thing has never been anywhere near liquid. I fixed it myself in 2mins using the proper update software not the pre bundled crap the phone comes with.
I don't know but they works fine in my country. Bring it and they will replace mainboard or even a phone for you such as can't charge... . However, I think the reason is the Flextronic. Also, you should check the phone before buy it from another guy. There must be something wrong so he sells it. And you have to check carefully.
They are pretty renowned for their poor customer service. Check the arc forum to see what I'm talking about
I had similar experiences with Samsung. It can take ages before you get your phone back. Besides, the people in the service centers have no idea what they are talking about.
Just an example. Here they quote that the Galaxy Nexus is a Google device and when you have questions you should contact.......MICROSOFT.......
Microsoft would be the owner of the OS and responsible for firmware updates
maddes1402 said:
I had similar experiences with Samsung. It can take ages before you get your phone back. Besides, the people in the service centers have no idea what they are talking about.
Just an example. Here they quote that the Galaxy Nexus is a Google device and when you have questions you should contact.......MICROSOFT.......
Microsoft would be the owner of the OS and responsible for firmware updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TROLLOLOLOL.
Or maybe cat got its tongue (or something like that)?
I have had 0 issues with flextronics, but I am often in Newmarket and I just drop in and ask them the progress .. they are not able to hang up if you are standing right there. Was this a x10a or the x10i?
Darth Glacious said:
Looks like SE approved service centers are the same, no matter the country. I sent mine 2 times already because of issues related to the USB connector in the phone (not charging and not having stable USB connection via cable). Got it back 2 times fixed partially, now it charges but the connections still is worthless.
So my sympathy goes to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ah ah, not so fast. I have gotten my x10 replaced free of charge not once, but twice for motherboard related problems in the US. I was under warranty and they respected that. After sending number one in for repair they told me that they would rather replace the device as opposed to reparing the damaged one. They sent me a brand new x10. This lasted about a month before it too began to experience random massive overheating, reboots and eventual failure to charge, boot or respond to any input whatsoever. Say what you want, but I have two x10s and a fully charged battery from the one that never had to be replaced didn't work in the damaged phone either. Anyway I called se up again. Of course I was still under warranty, so they replaced it again. This time I got a device that performs admirably, taking the highest overclocks I can throw at it with custom kernels.
This experience has not impressed me with the general build quality of the x10, but it showed me that at least some reps from se are interested in customer satisfaction.
Then again, maybe they outsourced to some of willy wonka's oompa loompa's!
Sent from my X10 using XDA App
Companies almost never hold up their side of the warranty sadly =(. I actually find apple to be one of the better places for customer service . Anyhow i usually just contact Better business bureau if they don't do what they say they'll do. They sort things out for you . One of my friends said just threatening to use BBB works too lol.

Don't pay $100 ins for a broken charger port.

I went into sprint last week because my charging port broke and I couldn't charge my phone. To my surprise they said that it's not a defect or hardware problem and that I would have to claim it on my ins and pay the $100. Well with the 3D coming out soon and me being such a tight A*% with my money, that $100 wasn't going to cut it. So I figured out a way to get a New Refurb phone from Sprint for only $45.
Here's what I did
I called around to some local cell phone repair places here in DFW area. I found this shop in Fort Worth that would replace it for $45. I took it in to get repaired and was told that when the charger port broke it pulled the sync strip off the board. Which means my phone will charge now just fine but I won't be able to sync it up with my pc again. Noway i could live with that.
I know enough about the evo and the hardware to know that the mic is soldered onto the board and that it cannot just be replaced at the Sprint store. Sooooo! I bet you know where I'm going with this? Your right!! I blew out my mic on purpose. How I did this is very easy and truly undetectable. All I did was blow air from my air compressor in the mic hole, maybe 5-10secs. I then opened the voice recorder to make sure it was out,It was.
I took it back to Sprint and told them my mic wasn't working. he said that's a real common problem with Evos. he began to tell me that they repair it and give them 10 mins. I knew they couldn't do it on site. 5 mins later he comes from the back and tells me that the mic was soldered on the board and they have to replace it, which I knew. 2days later Sprint text me and I picked up my new evo for $45.
The bad thing is that you'll have to use your blue tooth or headphones to make calls until the new phone comes in.
we shall not discuss insurance fraud here
cracker0309 said:
I went into sprint last week because my charging port broke and I couldn't charge my phone. To my surprise they said that it's not a defect or hardware problem and that I would have to claim it on my ins and pay the $100. Well with the 3D coming out soon and me being such a tight A*% with my money, that $100 wasn't going to cut it. So I figured out a way to get a New Refurb phone from Sprint for only $45.
Here's what I did
I called around to some local cell phone repair places here in DFW area. I found this shop in Fort Worth that would replace it for $45. I took it in to get repaired and was told that when the charger port broke it pulled the sync strip off the board. Which means my phone will charge now just fine but I won't be able to sync it up with my pc again. Noway i could live with that.
I know enough about the evo and the hardware to know that the mic is soldered onto the board and that it cannot just be replaced at the Sprint store. Sooooo! I bet you know where I'm going with this? Your right!! I blew out my mic on purpose. How I did this is very easy and truly undetectable. All I did was blow air from my air compressor in the mic hole, maybe 5-10secs. I then opened the voice recorder to make sure it was out,It was.
I took it back to Sprint and told them my mic wasn't working. he said that's a real common problem with Evos. he began to tell me that they repair it and give them 10 mins. I knew they couldn't do it on site. 5 mins later he comes from the back and tells me that the mic was soldered on the board and they have to replace it, which I knew. 2days later Sprint text me and I picked up my new evo for $45.
The bad thing is that you'll have to use your blue tooth or headphones to make calls until the new phone comes in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
instead of being a dipster like the OP let me give you all some actual advice.
First my Background
X-Corporate sprint employee
Close ties with management, techs, and sales reps at retail locations.
Charging port failure on the EVO 4G is a known issue, there the corporate store should know this, if for some reason they are stupid, which can and will happen, politely inform them of this, if your not getting anywhere with the rep, politely ask to speak with management to look into this.
if your charging port is broken due to normal use, and not you plugging it in and swinging it around your head like a lasso, you will be covered, even without T.E.P. insurance plan (and unless they changed policy its covered even after the 1 year warranty on the phone)
As a cautionary note, if you bring your phone in to a corporate store, and they take your phone to the techs, and see your phone is damaged beyond repair, it will be flagged and notated in the system as such, and even if you go out and do some crazy stuff like this guy, and bring it back, they will Pull up your device in E-Ticket and see that its DBR and will not fix it anyway.
So guys, if you have this issue, do the smart thing, and handle the issue politely as you cannot expect every rep to know everything.
I wasn't asked for any of my info from Sprint to flag. I was just asked what the problem was and then it was taken to the back. The TECH not REP was the one that came and spoke to me and explained to me what the problem was. He stated himself that he thinks the ports should be covered due to the fact it does happen so often and that the port isn't connected securly enough to the board with the proper temp grade solder.
Is what I did morally right? NO!! But Sprint and other cell phone companies screw over the consumer everyday, but that's ok! So when the consumer finally gets over on the corporation its sooooo BAD!!
In no way is this ins fraud because Asurion was never involved. This was under hardware warranty and being my phone was bought in Jan I really don't think me or anyone else should have to fork out more money for something that's only 5 months old.
2 wrongs dont make a right, and they don't need to ask you for any info other than to just scan your phone.
and I never said that it happened to you, I said it could and properly should happen.
not to mention the solution to the problem was so easy, you just were to lazy or inept to handle it properly.
also, yes, it was still fraud
and now the phone may get refurbed without the original problem being addressed.
If the charging port is pulled clean from the board, solder joints intact, then it's covered under the known issue.
If the solder joints are broken and circuit board is peeled, it's damaged beyond repair.
Unfortunately in our store right now we have no RECON phones so we are swapping with new in box since they are also backordered...mildly frustrating!
Ur story is awesome. I think the 116 dollars a year should be the deductible. I know there are always people that take advantage of the system. I have done it before but I also thinks it sucks for the real problems we get screwed out of with deductibles on top of monthly premium charges.
They should consider your premium as the deductible unless its more than once a year. I can understand water damage or lost/stolen. I just don't think physical problems should be cause for deductible.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sunsparc said:
If the charging port is pulled clean from the board, solder joints intact, then it's covered under the known issue.
If the solder joints are broken and circuit board is peeled, it's damaged beyond repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
The "damaged beyond repair" can be argued as long as there's no obvious signs of abuse and if cust. service gets involved, we both know that we're ordering a replacement for the customer.
Nice!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
They replaced mine for same problem for free. U were just getting dicked around and in turn u went to make trouble for no reason. You did fraud and wasted ur time and money.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
For fun I recently repaired an Evo 4g that had it's USB port violently removed / peeled away. Definitely not worth the time, but it was a fun after-work project!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1110886
Great fraud
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Who cares, insurance fraud or not. It's not insurance fraud if you not playing $7/mo for insurance in the first place. They should have just fixed it the first time he was in the store. Most of the people (techs) I've dealt with in the Sprint stores are complete idiots that won't even read Sprint's policies on Sprint.com. :|
I can tell you the store I worked at, all of our techs had 4+ years experience, knew everything, and made sure we knew what we needed to know as well.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fraud
yes its still fraud.
Alanmw86 said:
I can tell you the store I worked at, all of our techs had 4+ years experience, knew everything, and made sure we knew what we needed to know as well.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fraud
yes its still fraud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA ha ha
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint EVO Replacement
I have been a customer of Sprint 12+ years and my experience with repair/replace of devices seems pretty typical. Some repair centers have treated me fine and one other consistently work at screwing me over. As with all new devices, there are manufacturer issues which have nothing to do with the user (bad screens, charging ports, non-functioning buttons etc.). As a corporate customer I always had a rep that would take care of an issue even if the local operation couldn't/wouldn't. I have not abused their staff nor have I abused my equipment in any way, I still have a perfect functioning Samsung i300, PPC6600 and Touch (Don't ask why I keep them around, I don't know). Each one of these needed some repair over the 2+ years I had them activated. Sprint has had many repairs centers around Metro Atlanta over the years, closing or consolidating and re-opening them from time to time. It has been my experience that you have to avoid some repair centers, those that take your device out back and come back to you withing 10 minutes with the "Wet" battery story - I have never had any of my devices ever get water or moisture on them except one and I willingly paid the deductible for that one. Recently I had the not charging issue on my EVO purchased June 4, 2010, 9+ months. Because I had to take it to the local/nearest repair center which I had problems with in the past I was apprehensive but confident I had done nothing wrong or abused the device. The tech took it out back, came back 45 minutes later and informed me that I had abused the charging port on the device and that it had come unsolder-ed and would have to go through Assurance to replace it, to which I asked her to show me. I insisted that was a defect as opposed to abuse and got nowhere. It took some insistence that I believed I should not have to pay ANY deductible. She ask her superior and was granted a one time exception to their policy to replace my (Abused, according to her) device. I have since then gone to what was my local Sprint store with my son for a new phone. This store, near our mall had closed and the independent repair center a half mile away had taken over the Sprint space. I recognized an employee who had previously worked in that store for Sprint and we stuck up the conversation about my recent repair and the trouble I had. He informed me that Sprint was well aware of the charging port issue and if I had brought it there there wouldn't have been any problem replacing it at all. He checked my device and discovered that the battery had become over heated and swollen, most likely due to the charging port problems. He ordered a new one at no charge as Sprint was aware of this also.
Moral of the story, sometimes you may have drive to a different repair center or take unscrupulous measures or insistence to get a problem resolved with big companies who aren't able or willing to do the right thing on their own, Sprint being no exception.
This charging port issue, which mine phone has, is another reason I'm leery about getting another HTC phone. I think the quality of their phones is highly overrated.
Everyone keeps saying that the broken charger port is a known issue with Sprint, but I recently did not have any success from this angle.
I took my phone to a local Sprint repair store and the tech opened the phone and said my charger port had came off the motherboard. It looked like a clean solder break to me, and he said he wasn't allowed to fix it and it wasn't covered.
I then called customer service and they also said it would not be covered by warranty. I mentioned that this is supposed to be a known issue with HTC EVOs and they said it wasn't. I spoke with her supervisor, and she also insisted that it was not a known issue. I then spoke with another supervisor who insisted this wasn't a known issue.
Is there something that I'm doing wrong? How can I get them to acknowledge this?

Terrible experience with LG

Hi All,
I need to ask you all something and I used to go on this a while ago for my Galaxy phone but now I have a big problem with my new phone LG G3. Here goes:
Had my G3 for about 8 months, got it the day it came out for Verizon. Recently started noticing i was no longer able to long press icons, long press snapchats, and use the screen in various ways. Called LG since its under warranty they said send it in and theyll repair it.
Went and used their label and put into an box and sent it. One week later they received it and very quickly a package was sent out to me, even seemed like they didnt receive the package before the new one was sent. Well, by week 2 they sent back the WRONG PHONE. It was an optimus phone. Here's where it gets bad.
Calling their customer support and being on hold for very long periods of time, they said multiple times that I had in fact gotten the correct phone and me telling them no its not, they finally realized and said oh ok you received the wrong phone. They then told me even my other phone would be returned to me 'as is' because of 'Liquid Damage'. This is an all out lie, they sent me a blurry photo(attached) of the innards of a phone with 'corrosion' around the outside saying thats the water damage.
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. I took care of my phone like a baby, had a big case, not a scratch or blemish on it it has never been near or in the water ever. I tell them that they say well there's nothing we can do and they will be contacting me about instructions for sending back the wrong phone and how they're going to first find, then get my old broken phone back to me.
I could not believe the mess this has become. Going on 3 weeks now without a phone and even when I do get it back, which will be for weeks at this rate, itll still come back broken and with the lie that I had water damage.
Even funnier (more suspicious) the phone that they sent me also says 'Sent back unrepairable -- liquid damage'. So they did it to this guy, and me, and it all seems a bit too easy for them to just get phones and send them back saying its liquid damage and making it up so they dont repair them.
Going to be a month without a phone and even when I do get it back its still broken, what should I do? Guess just go to my insurance and get it replaced, which means I need to pay the deductable and who knows the hurdles going that route..great..
Anything you guys think I can do? This is a very disappointing and frustrating situation which Im sure Im not alone in.. Thanks
ErikP343 said:
Hi All,
I need to ask you all something and I used to go on this a while ago for my Galaxy phone but now I have a big problem with my new phone LG G3. Here goes:
Had my G3 for about 8 months, got it the day it came out for Verizon. Recently started noticing i was no longer able to long press icons, long press snapchats, and use the screen in various ways. Called LG since its under warranty they said send it in and theyll repair it.
Went and used their label and put into an box and sent it. One week later they received it and very quickly a package was sent out to me, even seemed like they didnt receive the package before the new one was sent. Well, by week 2 they sent back the WRONG PHONE. It was an optimus phone. Here's where it gets bad.
Calling their customer support and being on hold for very long periods of time, they said multiple times that I had in fact gotten the correct phone and me telling them no its not, they finally realized and said oh ok you received the wrong phone. They then told me even my other phone would be returned to me 'as is' because of 'Liquid Damage'. This is an all out lie, they sent me a blurry photo(attached) of the innards of a phone with 'corrosion' around the outside saying thats the water damage.
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. I took care of my phone like a baby, had a big case, not a scratch or blemish on it it has never been near or in the water ever. I tell them that they say well there's nothing we can do and they will be contacting me about instructions for sending back the wrong phone and how they're going to first find, then get my old broken phone back to me.
I could not believe the mess this has become. Going on 3 weeks now without a phone and even when I do get it back, which will be for weeks at this rate, itll still come back broken and with the lie that I had water damage.
Even funnier (more suspicious) the phone that they sent me also says 'Sent back unrepairable -- liquid damage'. So they did it to this guy, and me, and it all seems a bit too easy for them to just get phones and send them back saying its liquid damage and making it up so they dont repair them.
Going to be a month without a phone and even when I do get it back its still broken, what should I do? Guess just go to my insurance and get it replaced, which means I need to pay the deductable and who knows the hurdles going that route..great..
Anything you guys think I can do? This is a very disappointing and frustrating situation which Im sure Im not alone in.. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest you take this issue to social media. Tweet them and post your experience on reddit. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I tried for 2 weeks to send my G3 back due to ghosting i was seeing on the screen, after 7 different calls and chats to customer service about my shipping label that they INSISTED they had emailed me (which to this day i still have not received) i simply gave up. From the sounds of your story it sounds like it was maybe for the better i never sent it in!!! Love the product, but VERY unimpressed with customer service.
Wickidmasshole said:
Love the product, but VERY unimpressed with customer service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES. I guess they lied to you and me my friend. I bit the bullet paid $99 through insurance and my new phone will be here today. Just end this nightmare! LOL
I posted this same story on a bunch of forums, I think I will take to social media also. They need to be called out on lies and terrible, awful, dirty tricks customer service!!
Great phone though thats why its so disappointing. Thanks for the replys guys!!
AFAIK you could let an authorized LG workshop analyse the problem and get it fixed and eventually sue LG for breaking the local and international guarantee laws. First things first: menace to do this. Then make the action (because you are sure you never put water or vapor on your phone, you're in right).
If I were you the first thing is to notify consumer association (here in Croatia we have consumer association which warns a various state institutions about consumer problems). Then I would go straight to the service workshop where you sent your device without notice of your arrival no matter how much far is that from your town and force them to open your device infront of you and to show damage which is caused by some liquid. Take the photo with you printed in color which you received from them as evidence and compare it with your device's mainboard. Of course try to be nice and patient but resolute in your intention and with no retreat without solution in your favor. If they decline your request to replace device for a new one then tell them that you'll report whole case to state institutions which have jurisdiction of such matters and do not forget to take your device with you except if they willing to give you a confirmation which is signed and stamped which confirms that you left them your LG G3. If you do that I believe that you will get a new device very soon with apology. Trust me and be firm in your intention! Good luck!

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