Related
deleted , move along
TLTR !!!!!
I read it. Sorry to hear about your EVO man.
I got my EVO through Craigslist new in box because all the Sprint stores in my area who had them in stock wouldn't sell them to people not adding a new line of service. (Which is another story in and of itself)
When I brought it in to Sprint to activate they let me add insurance and told me that I'd still be covered under warranty for a year. I would be steamed if I was in your shoes too.
Thankfully I have a HW revision 0003 and my EVO hasn't yet to display any of the known issues.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/13/htc-evo-suffering-from-glass-separation-issues/
Just a short while ago I worked as a CSR for AT&T. Your friend got really lucky because 99.9% of the time a broken iPhone, even with a known issue, means you're SOL. In my experience, Sprint is much more flexible.
I mean you guys have any suggestions for me at this point? I know its just a phone and all but damn. i posted this on sprint forums, androidforums.com,xda, ppcgeeks, and of course my phone calls and visits to the repair center at MACOM
You bought the $7 plan for this very reason-- a more-than-likely behaviorally caused ding. (yes I read your post, but look at this from someone else's point of view. You had/used the phone how long before you saw this?)
Pony up the deductable and get a new phone. You realize you're costing yourself way more than $100 in grief and wasted time?
Lastly, just in case this is a defect and a recall is issued, keep your documentation on your calls to CS, claim filed, and out of pocket money. At that point you should be able to recoup your deductible among other things.
illogic6 said:
Just a short while ago I worked as a CSR for AT&T. Your friend got really lucky because 99.9% of the time a broken iPhone, even with a known issue, means you're SOL. In my experience, Sprint is much more flexible.
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Sure, bro. Sure.
00_MACKIE_00 said:
Ok, this is going to be a long post, full of detailed information regarding my purchase of an Evo. I will be posting this on every forum I am a member of and there are alot that I post on.
A buddy of mine contacted me to tell me he had bought an Evo on launch day from Best Buy. He activated it on 6/6/2010 from a Best Buy in Kentucky. He was told " The Evo has push to talk". Well he later found out that it did not in fact have push to talk and he needed that feature for his Sprint business account. He was outside his 30 day "happiness" window so he had to buy a different phone. He decided to put his Evo on Ebay and sell it to try and get some of his money back for his Evo purchase. He let me know he listed it on Ebay and provided me a link to it. I ended up winning the auction on 8/15/2010. I received the phone on 8/21 and received original box, original everything. Even had a cover. Phone looked and smelled BRAND new. I quickly called Sprint to activate it and within 10 min I was sporting my new Evo. Added my insurance/repair $7 dollar fee like I do with all my phones.
All was fine until 9/5/2010, I noticed on the bottom left of the screen over the home button, the screen appears lifted and a little dust had gotten under it. Ok no big deal to me at this point. I do keep my phones in mint condition but I was just going to monitor this situation. 13 days later is when I called Sprint asking for an explanation. I called the customer service line and explained the situation with the phone. They immediately started blaming me for it. I guess maybe they thought I used a screwdriver and lifted the screen, who knows. The girl told me she was in Charlotte, NC and that she had never heard of a screen separating from the adhesive and to go to the repair center.
On 9/17/2010, I went to MACOM here in Florida. A nice gentleman greeted me at the repair window and asked how he could help me. I said well I called customer service and explained to them that the phone screen seemed to be coming up and to pay you a visit so you could investigate. 4 screws later my Evo was in several pieces and then put back together. He asked me where I got the phone so I told him. He looked up my account and said "you’re inside your 30 day window according to the calendar here and you should go home and call customer service back". I told him I had no intention of being given a brand new phone. To me , that would be dishonest and I live by being honest and I teach my kids to be honest to people regardless of the situation. He handed me his business card, said call Sprint and call me back if you have problems. Seems he was trying to push me into a brand new Evo. I lay no blame on this guy; he was trying to do the right thing. He told me he could have it replaced but it would be a refurbished phone which I am ok with.
I arrive home on 9/17 from MACOM and about 7pm I start making some phone calls. I have been upfront with Sprint about the terms of my purchase. The first lady I spoke to said she understood my issue and that she would get someone on the phone to help me after we talked 10 minutes or so. She asked if I minded being put on hold and I said absolutely not. I waited for about 7 or 8 minutes or so and another lady got on the phone from a different department. I had a really hard time understanding what her name was, who she was with, etc etc due to the heavy accent. From what I could understand, she was from advanced exchange it sounded like. She asked for my telephone #, verified my pin and all that good stuff and asks me the reason for the call. I then had to go into the WHOLE story again. 10 minutes later she asked me where I bought the phone. I said I bought it off Ebay from a SPRINT customer, not some random power seller. She then told me well there is nothing she could do and that was there anything else she could do for me. I said I guess not and told her to have a lovely weekend. She then said I could always file a claim with Assurion and pay a $100 deductible for this obvious defect.
After speaking to my wife, I felt I needed to call back. Around 8:30pm or so I called back to customer service and once again explained the situation. I asked her over and over to tell me if I had done something wrong, or this was somehow my fault. She completely denied any knowledge of a screen separation issue and proceeded to tell me she was going to talk to her supervisor about it and placed me on hold. She came back on the line in short time and asked if it would be ok if I received a call back. I said ok and told the lady to have a nice evening. About 45 minutes or so later my phone rings. I go to answer it using the slider and because my screen is acting funny due to part of it being lifted, somehow the call was dropped and she left a voicemail and her name and phone number. I immediately called back off my house phone and received her voicemail. I left a message and asked that she call me right away. I have not received another phone call.
Remembering the conversation with MACOM, I woke up on 9/18, loaded up the kids and drove on over. The same gentleman was there again. He remembered me from the night before. I told him I had called customer service and had gotten nowhere. The tune quickly changed from ordering a refurbished phone to having to call his district manager but however the district manager was off and on his motorcycle for the day and it would be evening before he could have a chance to talk to him and it would be next week before he could get back to me. He was very nice and polite and told me to have a good rest of the weekend and he would get in touch with me.
Now that I have laid out the facts, I am now going to state my opinion on this. First off, Sprint denying the screen separation is a joke within itself. Searching on Google using the search criteria "evo screen separation" shows 6,700,00 results found. How could people not know about it that work for Sprint? The repair guy at MACOM had heard about it, but nobody else? How is that even possible? My next complaint is about the way I purchased it. If I was not tempted by all the Sprint commercials about the EVO and not being able to actually find one in Florida, I would not have had to go buy one of Ebay. I bought it from a valid Sprint customer not some guy on Ebay looking to make a few bucks. Sprint still should honor my purchase and either fix my phone or give me one that works, isn't that what I pay the TEP for?. I guess anyone who is buying either a barely used or brand new phone off Ebay should just stop doing it now before you run into a situation like what I am dealing with. I am a premier customer with Sprint; I have 3 lines as well so I consider myself an important customer. Plus it helps in the years I have had service, I have never missed a payment, been late, or anything. Sprint should not allow you to buy a phone from anywhere and activate it successfully if they do not want to honor an obvious manufacturing defect. This will not cost any money for Sprint to replace my phone because I am sure it would be sent back to HTC as a defect. I am not editing this post until there is a resolution so that the public sees what I have had to deal with. Once Sprint provides a resolution, I will then have this post removed and I will once again be a happy Sprint customer.
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I've had better luck. I was once placed in this exact situation. Brought my phone into Sprint to have it repair the lifting of screen. In-house techs repaired it, no questions asked (or blaming). One hour later, they called me back and issued me a new one, as their investigation determines hardware version 0002 was a manufature defect. Perhaps it's all based on locations, reps, your attitude towards them, etc. Where I'm from everyone one's laid back, reps are always friendly and don't really have to put up with too much of people's ****, because non really gives them **** to begin with. They even accept rooted phones too, where as I read that many other users have to unroot before bringing their phone into Sprint for replacement/repair.
If you don't mind paying a deductable ($100 max), call into customer service and request a replacement.
And to the dude who was previously on AT&T with iPhone, sure buddy. SURRRREEE. If you EVER had service with them, you of all people should know that AT&T & Apple will put you through hell. I should know, that's why I dropped AT&T & the iPhone 2G.
illogic6 said:
I read it. Sorry to hear about your EVO man.
I got my EVO through Craigslist new in box because all the Sprint stores in my area who had them in stock wouldn't sell them to people not adding a new line of service. (Which is another story in and of itself)
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That is actually illegal, they have to sell it to you, I actually did the same and had to mention that it is illegal to not sell it, after mentioning that they budged and sold it to me.
Back on your situation with your EVO, I would recommend posting on consumerist as that is more their territory. They have the phone numbers for executive customer support also, they WILL fix your issue ASAP. http://consumerist.com/2007/05/sprint-sets-up-consumerist-reader-executive-customer-service-hotline.html
tbh, I feel no simpathy since you being "honest" has nothing to do with the situation. You didn't steal the phone, the phone was defective therefore it's not like you were doing anything wrong. You should of returned it and gotten a replacement. There's been hundreds if not thousands of people that have done the same with the screen lifting issue.
Also if you didn't know before, google is based on keywords, it doesn't take the phrase and search for it. About 5million of those results were for the word "evo", other million were for "screen", and so on. Out of those results, only about 20-30 were for the evo issue. I've been doing SEO for a long time, so when it comes to google I know what I'm talking about.
Also sprint doesn't care if you took it apart, or if it came apart by itself, because they will tell you in the end to return it because of the issue. They know people do it, and it's perfectly okay, since you're not "cheating" anyone. The 30 day thing is made for a reason, it's not made for you to screw them over. Also the insurance that you put on the phone is made for a reason.
Either you're not telling the whole story, or you were too ignorant to return the phone.
Btw, side note for you. Check out the app TiKL for push to talk on your EVO.
sent from VooDooPhone
As a Sprint retention supersvisor, let me ask you something which I would have asked you if you were on my call. What makes you think SPRINT is responsible for a phone your purchased from somebody on Ebay wether it be a Sprint customer or not? You are LUCKY they even allow you to use TEP on a phone that was not purchased from them. Now, here's what we can do, make a claim, pay the $100 and have it replaced or go back to the store and speak with the idiot that told you to call in.
Let me put it in perspective for you, when your car breaks you take it to the mechanic right? You don't just call Ford and they fix it over the phone or send you out a new truck to your home. There is NOTHING someone over the phone can do, the repair center has to do it all, granted most the time they send you something over the phone or break policy it's to shut the customer up and get rid of them. The store has to fix it, if they can't fix it, make a claim for you through the warranty or asurion. I really don't understand why this is so hard to understand. And please don't take this the wrong way it is not an attack on you personally, but it is definitely an attack on what should be common sense.
6ixtynin9 said:
I've had better luck. I was once placed in this exact situation. Brought my phone into Sprint to have it repair the lifting of screen. In-house techs repaired it, no questions asked (or blaming). One hour later, they called me back and issued me a new one, as their investigation determines hardware version 0002 was a manufature defect. Perhaps it's all based on locations, reps, your attitude towards them, etc. Where I'm from everyone one's laid back, reps are always friendly and don't really have to put up with too much of people's ****, because non really gives them **** to begin with. They even accept rooted phones too, where as I read that many other users have to unroot before bringing their phone into Sprint for replacement/repair.
If you don't mind paying a deductable ($100 max), call into customer service and request a replacement.
And to the dude who was previously on AT&T with iPhone, sure buddy. SURRRREEE. If you EVER had service with them, you of all people should know that AT&T & Apple will put you through hell. I should know, that's why I dropped AT&T & the iPhone 2G.
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That is what he said, with AT&T you're **** out of luck
i have had an evo since the day it came out, and about a month and a half ago i dropped it on the ground. the screen shattered, and i didn't have insurance. at the time the sprint guy said it wasn't a big deal, because the cost for repair was about the same either way. i paid about $130 and it was fixed half an hour later.
lately, about a month and a half later, i noticed some weird issues with the touchscreen. it was jumping around as if i had my finger on it when i wasn't touching it. i formatted the sdcard, did a factory reset, wiped everything, and loaded a stock rooted rom on it. it was fine for a couple hours, then i noticed the issues again. random scrolling, opening apps when i wasnt touching the screen, etc. i noticed the Y and G keys are now not working. i downloaded a screen test app that records where you have touched the screen with a white line. while sliding my finger up and down all across the screen, there is a noticeable band running vertically across the general area of the Y and G keys that does not record any touch activity even if i slide my finger there.
i took the phone to a sprint store and showed them. they asked if i had insurance and i said no. they said "well you could get insurance and then have it repaired for $35." i asked "why should i have to pay to have something repaired that i didn't break? the replacement screen is obviously defective." the guy said "well you should have insurance." and i again said "why do i need insurance for something that went bad on its own?" and he said "you had the repair done over 30 days ago so you'll have to pay to have it repaired again."
i have no idea why i should have to pay for repairs for a phone, regardless if i have insurance or not, when i didn't do anything to damage the phone. im going to go to the actual repair store here in chicago, but i doubt theyll say anything different. if they can't repair it for free, im seriously considering switching to a different phone company. this ridiculous service/repair policy along with the horrible battery life (the guy actually asked how my battery life was and tried to sell me an extended battery, and also tried to sell me a case... neither of which i care about), ridiculous $10/month fee, and lack of built-in tethering makes me want to switch back to tmobile which was a great company when i had the G1.
does anyone have any tips they can give me to get this fixed for free? or is that a hopeless idea?
thanks.
When you had the repair done, I'm sure there was a warranty period on the repair itself. Do you have any documentation showing what that timeframe is? It seems to me that if the screen repair warranty is up, you may be stuck paying for the new repair. Have you tried calling sprint with *2 and explaining the situation? I went through a similar situation with the screen developing a large white spot. It took many calls to *2 until somebody was willing to work with me. Try that. If you are not getting the answers you want, hang up and call right back. My persistence worked out eventually, but like I said, it was a time-consuming ordeal. Good luck.
i understand that there was a warranty associated with the last repair, but it still doesn't make any sense to me that a problem i am having with the screen has nothing to do with anything i did. the shattered screen is not the problem (the screen did not get shattered again, which was what the original repair was for). the touchscreen is simply not working properly. am i supposed to get insurance, pay for that each month, and then pay $35 now and again every 45 days if the problem continues? doesn't make much sense to me, but that seems to be how sprint operates. i will take your advice and call *2 after i get turned away at the actual repair facility that i'm on my way to now. thanks for your advice.
Go to another store and show them the problem but do not mention anything about the screen being replaced before, unless they noted your account. Hopefully they could replace it/fix it under warranty
Welcome to Sprint's "screw the customer" routine. Ive dealt with similar issues in the past.
Like others have said, the repair they did should have a warranty to it, just like if you go to get your car fixed, it usually has a 90 day warranty on the fix itself. Go back to where they fixed it, and talk to the manager. Explain your situation, that the repair obviously was faulty.
If that doesnt work, call *2, and ask to speak to account services. Explain your situation to them, how you are not at fault here, and shouldnt be treated this way as a valued customer. Tell them you will cancel your service if they dont help you resolve this issue. When you tell them that, they will bend over backwards to keep you, and hopefully send you a repacement phone.
I would say your best bet is calling *2 several times and trying to get a person who will help. Usually if you bounce around enough you may get lucky. Although, I have noticed that over the last 6 months they have really tightened down and become less willing to make exceptions. But these situations is what the insurance is for. If your phone was defective in the first 30 days, Sprint would repair it or replace it for free regardless of insurance, after that it's on the customer if you don't have insurance, regardless of the issue. If you had insurance right now you could get it replaced free with no deducible. I had a similar problem with my original EVO that I had since launch day last month. The touchscreen would just start clicking in the middle of the screen all on it's down. I have the insurance, so they replaced it with no questions asked. Your situation is sort of like a laptop, they only come with a certain warranty, and then if it breaks after that it's on you to fix it unless you have extra insurance or an extended warranty regardless of why it malfunctioned. I'm not a big fan of extra insurance either, but on a phone it is really worth it. Also, I am pretty sure ALL phone companies have the same sort of policy when it comes to fixing phones, so I doubt going to a different carrier would help you any. If your phone breaks without insurance through any provider after 30 days its coming out of your wallet. I would say, you might as well get the insurance and pay the $35 to get it fixed. That sounds like a good deal to me, because last night I broke the glass on my second evo, and with insurance the deductible to replace the phone is $100... so $35 sounds like a deal to me. If you don't want to do that, the only other option I see is going on eBay and buying a new screen/digitizer for $49 and putting it in yourself.
wmblalock said:
I would say your best bet is calling *2 several times and trying to get a person who will help. Usually if you bounce around enough you may get lucky. Although, I have noticed that over the last 6 months they have really tightened down and become less willing to make exceptions. But these situations is what the insurance is for. If your phone was defective in the first 30 days, Sprint would repair it or replace it for free regardless of insurance, after that it's on the customer if you don't have insurance, regardless of the issue. If you had insurance right now you could get it replaced free with no deducible. I had a similar problem with my original EVO that I had since launch day last month. The touchscreen would just start clicking in the middle of the screen all on it's down. I have the insurance, so they replaced it with no questions asked. Your situation is sort of like a laptop, they only come with a certain warranty, and then if it breaks after that it's on you to fix it unless you have extra insurance or an extended warranty regardless of why it malfunctioned. I'm not a big fan of extra insurance either, but on a phone it is really worth it. Also, I am pretty sure ALL phone companies have the same sort of policy when it comes to fixing phones, so I doubt going to a different carrier would help you any. If your phone breaks without insurance through any provider after 30 days its coming out of your wallet. I would say, you might as well get the insurance and pay the $35 to get it fixed. That sounds like a good deal to me, because last night I broke the glass on my second evo, and with insurance the deductible to replace the phone is $100... so $35 sounds like a deal to me. If you don't want to do that, the only other option I see is going on eBay and buying a new screen/digitizer for $49 and putting it in yourself.
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Under the new Sprint policy revealed here on XDA, isn't a non-TEP screen replacement, or anything else, $35 per job?
Update:
I went to a Sprint repair store (can't go to the original one because I moved across the country). They took the phone to the back room and came out five minutes later. The guy said "the tech said to get that touch screen test app off your phone because it isn't a good representation of what's wrong" ... I said "okay, well that section of the screen is clearly not accepting touch input" and he said to call a 1800 number to do a factory reset (?!) so I left and called that number and it was disconnected. haha.
I called *2, went through a bunch of menus, and it told me to call some 1800 number from a different phone. I got some guy who walked me through a factory reset which of course did not work. He said he would connect me to tech support, who I thought I was already talking to. Told her the problem and that the reset didn't work. She said it was a hardware problem and I said yes, and said I know it isn't her fault but that I didn't think it was fair for me to pay for a defective screen. She said she was making some notes in my account and was going to transfer me to an escalation manager. That person listened to my complaint again which I tried to word in a polite way. I didn't threaten to cancel my account but was ready to say something. I told her I would like to have a replacement phone since this one seems to have issues. She asked if it had been replaced before, I said no. She asked for my mailing address and email and put me on hold for about five to ten minutes. During that time, I got an email outlining my exchange order.
The exchange order notes that I could have to pay $75 to $125 for the replacement as well as some other fees, but she never mentioned anything about me paying at all so I'm prepared to call up and complain again if they try to charge me. I mean, I realize that's a policy but they never mentioned fees on the phone. I mean, i might as well have paid the $35 if I didn't mind fees.
Another thing to note is that when the guy at the store came out of the back room he had the battery cover off my phone and said the sensor showed it had gotten wet. I have never gotten it wet, and he said it was my fault if I kept it in my pocket. I will call and complain again if they charge me for returning a wet phone, because its not my fault if its such a poor design that minor sweat or pocket humidity can make it malfunction! I don't mean to nitpick but come on HTC...
one thing i HATE about calling any tech company getting shifted around to this person then to this person etc etc
wrb123 said:
i have had an evo since the day it came out, and about a month and a half ago i dropped it on the ground. the screen shattered, and i didn't have insurance. at the time the sprint guy said it wasn't a big deal, because the cost for repair was about the same either way. i paid about $130 and it was fixed half an hour later.
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Did you ask them what kind of warranty they provided with the repair?
No, I didn't (and still don't) think it mattered. If I break something, like I did, I expect to pay for it or have insurance cover it. Since I didn't have insurance, I was okay with paying. While I don't expect a repair to last forever, I think it is reasonable to expect the phone be repaired to like-new condition or with a new screen. Then, if I use the phone normally, with or without insurance, I expect the phone to function normally for at least the length of the contract.
Expectations and reality are two different things. Why don't you call the store and ask them how long they warranty their repairs and go from there.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I don't know what this guy is talking about! First with how much this phone cost why wouldn't you have insurance on it! It only equals 85 bucks for the year way less then the price of a new or used phone even with the 100 you have to pay to get a replacement your still making out good! I jumped in the pool with my phone and even though it still worked I got a replacement for a 100 no hassles! And my screen went hay wire on the replacement and when they couldn't repair it I got another one for free! I dropped my phone and damage the front facing camera took it to the Sprint store and got it fixed for free! So stop being cheap and get insurance
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I am already getting a replacement phone for free, without insurance, if you read the entire thread.
As far as "being cheap" and "just getting insurance" you are citing two incidents where you caused damage to your phone. I agree that you or I should be expected to have insurance to cover damage to our phones that we cause. I am talking about a screen defect (I didn't drop my phone a second time and crack the screen a second time - the screen stopped accepting touch input in a huge area). people should expect more from electronics manufacturers and the phone companies that essentially work with them by accepting and promoting new phones. Electronics used to last, even when they had moving parts. Now we have a generation of people who are fine with devices that frequently go bad and having insurance to cover it. It seems to me Sprint and HTC are the cheap ones, pumping out thousands of the next "iphone killer" with poor batteries, screens, usb ports, etc.
The "issue" you are having with Sprint is that they no longer cover in warranty repairs at no cost. The phone comes with a 1yr warranty thru HTC. If you would like free in warranty repairs call HTC. Good luck with that one by the way. Normally you are responsible for shipping the device to the manufacture and you would be obviously without your phone for the duration of the repair. The manufacture usually inspects the phone much more closely as well. When I worked at another carrier we used to receive photos of corrosion internally of equipment that they determined was not repairable. Even though the external indicators showed no such damage.
If you have TEP $7/month you would receive replacement equipment for in warranty repairs if it can not be repaired by an in store technician. TEP covers all manufacture warranty and non-warranty items in house. If it is board level damage, water damage, lost stolen, or broken beyond repair it will be replaced by asurion for the $100 deductible.
Any warrantied item without insurance will cost $35 for sprint provided repairs. Exception being software updates. If the phone is out of warranty all repairs, software updates, etc will cost $35.
The incident when my phone went on the fritz and was doing the same screen things yours was I got a replacement free of charge!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
My "issue" is also that sprint was providing in warranty repairs for one year when I bought this phone. Now they're trying to change that and then saying "oh just get insurance because its a good idea and would cover this." No. I'm getting a free replacement which is what I deserve. There is another thread that explains this change in policy.
bnick007 said:
The "issue" you are having with Sprint is that they no longer cover in warranty repairs at no cost. The phone comes with a 1yr warranty thru HTC. If you would like free in warranty repairs call HTC. Good luck with that one by the way. Normally you are responsible for shipping the device to the manufacture and you would be obviously without your phone for the duration of the repair. The manufacture usually inspects the phone much more closely as well. When I worked at another carrier we used to receive photos of corrosion internally of equipment that they determined was not repairable. Even though the external indicators showed no such damage.
If you have TEP $7/month you would receive replacement equipment for in warranty repairs if it can not be repaired by an in store technician. TEP covers all manufacture warranty and non-warranty items in house. If it is board level damage, water damage, lost stolen, or broken beyond repair it will be replaced by asurion for the $100 deductible.
Any warrantied item without insurance will cost $35 for sprint provided repairs. Exception being software updates. If the phone is out of warranty all repairs, software updates, etc will cost $35.
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That's a good explanation of what changed. It actually used to be like this way back in the day wth Nextel before the merger - you could get a warranty replacement for free, or you could pay $35 for the convenience of walking into the store and picking it up the same day. I'm not sure when it changed to free warranty repairs but you have to pay more for out of warranty repairs (first it was $35 or $55, depending on what's wrong, then later $99 for dumbphones and $119 for smartphones), but now it's essentially back to how it was to begin with.
Overall, It's probably a better value, and you're probably still better off without insurance. Think about it this way - suppose you keep a phone for 2 years, and it breaks once a year - once under warranty and once out of warranty. With the new plan, that's a total cost of $70 ($35 + $35). With the old plan, the first repair would be covered and the second wouldn't. so that'd be $119. Now obviously, that's a hypothetical, you probably don't need to get it repaired that often. but personally, I find that I generally don't need any repairs until I've owned it for a year or so anyway. So it's better for my purposes, although others might disagree.
Regarding TEP - in the long run you're not saving money unless your phone is lost or stolen, and even then you're out $100 for the deductible. Suppose you're phone is stolen once in the same hypothetical 2 yr period (since after 2 yrs you could get a discounted upgrade): You'll save $449.99 on a new phone at MSRP, but you will have paid $268 in premiums and the deductible. If your phone isn't stolen / water damaged / completely destroyed, you're out $168. I don't know about you, but in the last 11 yrs that I've owned cell phones, I've never had that happen - I've needed repairs, but have never been in a situation when I'd need to place an insurance claim. And the $35 you'll save on a repair with tep is only 5 months' premium - surely nobody needs a repair every 5 months!
The bottom line is that all insurance is a losing proposition in the long run - if it weren't likely that you'd pay more in premiums than you get in claims, insurance companies wouldn't make any money. Personally, i only insure those things that I absolutely can't afford to replace out of pocket - my car, house, health life, etc.
Anyhow, sorry to go on like that, but it's just a topic that's been bouncing around in my head recently.
(and a bit of fair disclosure, I'm a Sprint Nextel employee, but what I write here is purely my personal opinion)
Raheem387 said:
The incident when my phone went on the fritz and was doing the same screen things yours was I got a replacement free of charge!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Good deal
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Good luck, I have to wonder though if the fight, frustration and possible disappointment is really worth it.
Two quick questions about the insurance terms an conditions.
1. If you report it stolen or lost or whatever, do they send you a brand new phone after you pay the deductible or is it a refurbbed one?
2. If report it lost and order a new one, and you find the lost one(or you never actually lost it) do they deactivate the original one somehow?..or track it somehow?....or do they just accept your deductible and let you do whatever you want with them?
They send you what they have in stock at the moment. The longer a phone has been out the more likely you are to get a refurbished one.
The insurance company can't track it or do anything with it, you can do what you want with it and T-mobile won't care.
I advise reporting it lost, if you say it's stolen you have to submit to them a police report.
Good luck, let us know your results.
T-Fanatic said:
They send you what they have in stock at the moment. The longer a phone has been out the more likely you are to get a refurbished one.
The insurance company can't track it or do anything with it, you can do what you want with it and T-mobile won't care.
I advise reporting it lost, if you say it's stolen you have to submit to them a police report.
Good luck, let us know your results.
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Thank you. Helpful information. Have you personally reported lost phone before?
T-Fanatic said:
They send you what they have in stock at the moment. The longer a phone has been out the more likely you are to get a refurbished one.
The insurance company can't track it or do anything with it, you can do what you want with it and T-mobile won't care.
I advise reporting it lost, if you say it's stolen you have to submit to them a police report.
Good luck, let us know your results.
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I'm not sure but I'd be surprised if T-Mobile didn't blacklist lost /stolen phones.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Jaskwith said:
Thank you. Helpful information. Have you personally reported lost phone before?
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I have not personally, but I worked at T-mobile up until a couple of weeks ago.
Your insurance isn't through t-mobile, so they don't care if you now have another one all of the sudden. Your insurance will only allow two phone replacements in a year because they can't actually blacklist or stop the phones.
T-Fanatic said:
I have not personally, but I worked at T-mobile up until a couple of weeks ago.
Your insurance isn't through t-mobile, so they don't care if you now have another one all of the sudden. Your insurance will only allow two phone replacements in a year because they can't actually blacklist or stop the phones.
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Wrong! The phones can be blacklisted. Honestly if you do find its best to report it BC if you start using that old one or sell it then asurion can and will prosecute for insurance fraud.
sk337sk337 said:
Wrong! The phones can be blacklisted. Honestly if you do find its best to report it BC if you start using that old one or sell it then asurion can and will prosecute for insurance fraud.
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I just have a question, cause I'd like people to be clear about what they're saying.
How would Ausrion even know if you sold it?
I mean, I could understand you finding the phone and using it again..cause maybe that could be tracked. (Maybe.)
But what could be done about selling it? That makes no sense.
Unless you try to sell it by posting "Selling my supposedly lost phone" on the TMobile forums.
nguyendqh said:
I just have a question, cause I'd like people to be clear about what they're saying.
How would Ausrion even know if you sold it?
I mean, I could understand you finding the phone and using it again..cause maybe that could be tracked. (Maybe.)
But what could be done about selling it? That makes no sense.
Unless you try to sell it by posting "Selling my supposedly lost phone" on the TMobile forums.
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I am not sure what they actually do, but in theory it's pretty easy.
You claim the phone is lost
TMobile blacklists the phone's IMEI
Someone tries to register the phone on the TMobile network
TMobile and/or Asurion go after the account holder for the associated SIM
They show they bought it from you
No profit
chrisjs81 said:
I am not sure what they actually do, but in theory it's pretty easy.
You claim the phone is lost
TMobile blacklists the phone's IMEI
Someone tries to register the phone on the TMobile network
TMobile and/or Asurion go after the account holder for the associated SIM
They show they bought it from you
No profit
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The phone can be unlocked to use on any provider.
So...wouldn't selling it as an unlocked phone give you a better chance?
And you could sell it to a friend and have them say they bought it from off the internet or at a pawn shop or anything.
I just don't think it's that precise. (Who knows maybe it is.)
Anyway. I'm not trying to prove there's ways around it. I just wanted to understand the statement better.
And is blacklisting a phone's IMEI a new thing? Cause I've had phones stolen in the past that ended being in use by other people. Nothing ever happened there. (And I know that because I found out who stole the phone.)
*Just curious by the way, not trying to start a heated conversation or anything.
Thank for the info!
The insurance companies are NOT as dumb as you think they are. Insurance fraud is a booming business and companies are always looking to minimize their losses against fraud.
I know this because one of my specialty fields includes loss prevention and fraud. They can and will blacklist your IMEI number and despite your noble efforts to sell to a friend who magically ends up buying that very same phone off craigslist [unbeknownst to you ] will get you in trouble.
Do the smart thing and heed the advice given here by people who know. Don't try to fool businesses or people who have been around the block way longer than your ingenious plan of trying to net an extra phone.
You're better off slipping in the Taco Bell parking lot and claiming an injury.
CBConsultation said:
The insurance companies are NOT as dumb as you think they are. Insurance fraud is a booming business and companies are always looking to minimize their losses against fraud.
I know this because one of my specialty fields includes loss prevention and fraud. They can and will blacklist your IMEI number and despite your noble efforts to sell to a friend who magically ends up buying that very same phone off craigslist [unbeknownst to you ] will get you in trouble.
Do the smart thing and heed the advice given here by people who know. Don't try to fool businesses or people who have been around the block way longer than your ingenious plan of trying to net an extra phone.
You're better off slipping in the Taco Bell parking lot and claiming an injury.
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Think I could get some more detail about slipping in the parking lot of Taco Bell?
Asurion watches your account and tracks people down if they see someone you talk/text has the imei of your "lost" phone. Trust me don't lie to insurance companies
But if you sell it on Cl and report it lost at a bar...? What can they prove?
sk337sk337 said:
Asurion watches your account and tracks people down if they see someone you talk/text has the imei of your "lost" phone. Trust me don't lie to insurance companies
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Sent from my MT4G running Gingerbread
So they actually blacklist imei numbers?
Sent from my MT4G running Gingerbread
Jaskwith said:
So they actually blacklist imei numbers?
Sent from my MT4G running Gingerbread
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Yes they do.
Sent over HSPA+ using XDA app.
Jaskwith said:
So they actually blacklist imei numbers?
Sent from my MT4G running Gingerbread
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I also noticed your sig says your MT4G is running Gingerbread. Wanna explain?
Sent over HSPA+ using XDA app.
Well its cm7... basically gingerbread.
CBConsultation said:
I also noticed your sig says your MT4G is running Gingerbread. Wanna explain?
Sent over HSPA+ using XDA app.
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Sent from my MT4G running Gingerbread
Better not do that. Just don't lie to insurance companies
I'm not advocating fraud, but last time I checked the two big US GSM providers (AT&T and T-Mobile) don't utilize an IMEI blacklist. I checked because I had a phone stolen from me and I asked T-Mobile to blacklist the IMEI and they told me that they can't (or won't) do that. They said the best they could do was deactivate the SIM card to prevent the thief from running up my bill. After doing some digging, I discovered reports of many AT&T customers with the same experience.
moto211 said:
I'm not advocating fraud, but last time I checked the two big US GSM providers (AT&T and T-Mobile) don't utilize an IMEI blacklist. I checked because I had a phone stolen from me and I asked T-Mobile to blacklist the IMEI and they told me that they can't (or won't) do that. They said the best they could do was deactivate the SIM card to prevent the thief from running up my bill. After doing some digging, I discovered reports of many AT&T customers with the same experience.
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that is absolutely true. USA gsm carriers have 0 interest in blacklisting for obvious reasons = more money in their pocket. You get to buy a new phone for more money and whoever steals/find the phone gets to pay the company even more money.
I have no idea what insurance companies will do, though, but I've reported a lost phone, which I'm sure someone is still using, got a replacement and never heard word of it being tracked down or something.
Best advice I have is call assurion and ask if, in case your phone gets lost, if they'll do anything to retrieve it. My guess would be a resounding NO unless you have a police report, a subpoena and a lot of time to waste on this.
I sold a phone on Ebay to somebody in Cyprus.
The buyer claims he never received it and filed a claim, I lost 300 bucks and a mint HD2.
I found out the buyer now sold a similar phone on Ebay too, approx 3 or 4 weeks after I shipped mine. I was able to get my IMEI number from T-Mobile (very helpful, I was impressed).
Can I find out where my phone is ?
Buyer ID was " closedosier " now he changed to "gericy"
IMEI 357779030232175
Kinda sounds like they pulled a fast one on you and actually got the phone then sold it but told you they did not get the phone. Could T-Mobile not track it with the IMEI? I wish I knew of a definite way for you to track it via the IMEI. I did find this on Google though, here is the whole list Google pulled up. best of luck man.
Did you tell tmo to block the imei too while you were on with them? That's about all you can do, since its involving separate countries.the main prob with that is most countries have their own blacklists, so it may not do anything, but with a hint of luck the buyer gets it blocked and complains. You don't get it back but at least the seller loses out and gets a dodgy seller review.
Just gonna have to claim on your postal insurance, (please tell me you sent it "signed for",, if not,, well,, no comment)
TMobile cannot block it since it is not their phone anymore, I already asked, I have to file a Police Report.
I mailed it Priority with tracking, but it stops at when it leaves the USA, no tracking to Cyprus. Insurance was declined since USPS does not publicize well they don't have insurance for some countries, and guess what....Cyprus is one of them.
If the guy that bought the phone from by buyer/thief has actually my phone, I feel sorry for him too, he'll get a surprise very soon since the IMEI will be reported as stolen, and he'll get scammed.
Blimey, I think I'd go into the theft business too,, no proof of delivery?? Its a wonder anyone sends anything there at all!
All hail the British post office!
samsamuel said:
Blimey, I think I'd go into the theft business too,, no proof of delivery?? Its a wonder anyone sends anything there at all!
All hail the British post office!
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Yeah it sounds like the person that bought/stole the HD2 knew of the no tracking and knew they could get away with it. That sucks that a world wide company like USPS can not do anything else for you. I think you should press the matter with USPS myself.
T-Macgnolia said:
I think you should press the matter with USPS myself.
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definitely....
USPS cannot do anything since there is no tracking and no insurance, I already went this route.
My only alternative, now that I have an IMEI is to file a theft report with the police dept. here then I can open a case with FBI and IC3 which are federal agencies working on international frauds.
I won't see my money back, but at least the phone will be listed as stolen, IMEI on blacklist, and will never be able to be registered.
I just feel sorry for whoever bought the phone from my buyer/thief
I won't see my money back, but at least the phone will be listed as stolen, IMEI on blacklist, and will never be able to be registered.
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Shame those blacklists aren't global, if it goes outside of Europe/us it will probably work. Most stolen phones end up in Africa or the middle/far east where they couldn't care less.
As for the new buyer, did you email him to let him know to check the imei? (I already pointed him in the direction of this thread, fingers crossed it will black list and he'll complain about the seller.)
Next time be sure to inform the buyer that there is no insurance offered and no refunds. I've sold an hd2 to a similar place where insurance wasn't offered and made sure to tell him this.
It's not your fault if it gets lost in the mail. You sent it.
Also, if they didn't like it. You could have easily sold it to someone else.
Sent from my HD2 using XDA app
I found out the new Ebay ID for the guy is gericy
Beware of this person.
Apparently this guy does not know what the law is. Guess what, after I posted this thread on XDA he contacted me begging to remove, and claimed the fact that he "forgot" the claim, and he was "away" for a while.
He doesn't understand he broke the law and he should be punished. Try to rob a bank then when the cops find you return the money and say I'm sorry, you still go to jail. This is exactly what he did.
He refunded the money to me after making him reverse the neg feedback he left on Ebay, but then I found out he uses different IDs, probably to avoid consequences.
To all out there be careful if you buy anything from gericy
Cool, result!
samsamuel said:
Cool, result!
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Amen brother !! Don't underestimate the power of XDA !!!! It can catch thieves too.
Hah yea, shame it couldn't catch my burglar who took my xdaIIi and plasma telly. (tho it did get blocked so I assume it got thrown.)
AWESOME MAN!!!!
Glade you got your money back and keep pressing the issue. Dude should have to pay the consequences of his actions. Never under estimate the power of being persistence and the power of the internet.
Not sure you can do much other than what you already plan to do.
Also, I am not sure why would you risk sending your phone outside of US without the proof of delivery - $300 is $300 ... lot of money if you ask me...
Anyhow, best of luck and next time DO NOT SELL IT INTERNATIONALLY!
Oh man where do I start, I'm sure you all know that our power buttons have a very short life span on them well mine just kicked the bucket. No worries I say to myself I have insurance with Asurion, but look what I am having to go through. I tried to file a claim and it was denied because of 3 different reasons 1st, wrong type of claim 2nd, no coverage and 3rd, some one called in to Asurion and posed as me and filed a claim as a lost/stolen device and Asurion replaced it for this mystery person. Now I could take care of the first 2 reasons and have done so but I'm still trying to get a clear answer on the third reason. These are emails with a person who has Asurions office of the CEO in the signature so its not just a supervisor I think I'm a bit above that now but take a look you wont believe it!
First complaint to them
I called Asurion and tried to make an insurance claim as the power button on my phone is malfunctioning & I was informed that they could not submit the claim as the phone was reported "stolen". I did not make this claim & when I asked for further detail about the claim I was informed that no further information could be given unless subpoenaed by a lawyer. As a customer I have a right to get a copy of the claim made on my account. I need Asurion to prove that the replacement phone was sent to the address on my Asurion or Team Mobil application otherwise legal action will be pursued . I am disappointed at the way this issue has been handled. Please advise as to when I can expect a copy of the claim.
Response
I am with Asurion’s Office of the CEO. I received the feedback email you sent. First, I’d like to thank you for sending your comments in regard to personal information.
I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused. The agent who advised of the information is correct. Being that these are legal documents, to received detailed claim information or copies of the claims, you must subpoena this information. You are correct in your statement regarding being a customer, you have the right to this information, it's just that in order to obtain this information, that is the process.
I can advise you that none of the claims attempted have been completed. Unfortunately, the person who made these attempts gave your name so there isn't another name listed.
The address where you can send the information is as follows:
P.O. Box 110656
Nashville, TN 37013
This will need to be put this to the attention of the legal department.
Please let me know if you have any questions
Me back to them now
I understand everything you have told me but the last bit of you're statement. You said that none of these claims have been completed. By that do you mean none of the claims I have tried to file recently? Or the claim that was filed in June 2010 for a missing phone? If you mean the claim for a missing phone was never completed then why can't I file a claim on my phone now?
Response
When I say none of the claims filed have been completed, that is in reference the initial issue of the fraudulent claims attempted in which you are trying to gain information. If the phone you received from Asurion is malfunctioning, you carrier now holds the warranty on their equipment. You will need to contact them for assistance to get another replacement device.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Me back to them now
Thank you for responding so quickly. I have to admit now I am truly confused, you are stating in the 2 previous emails sent to me that the claim I am trying to gain information about has never been completed. If that is true then why am I unable to submit a claim now? Previously when I spoke with multiple representatives and supervisors for your company I was told that the claim I am trying to gain information on was accepted, completed, processed or whatever verbiage you all use, and a replacement phone was shipped out. Now I ask you again if this is not the case then why am I unable to file a claim currently?
The whole reason I am communicating with you now is because I was told by multiple representatives and supervisors for your company that the claim I am now trying to gain information on was processed as a legit claim and a replacement phone was shipped out. My questions for you at this point now is what is the status of this "mystery" claim? Has a replacement phone been shipped or not? If not why do your records show otherwise?
Response
The claim you referenced last year is valid. You advised that the phone you received is malfunctioning and that is why I referred you to your carrier. Malfunctions are covered under warranty however they are handled by T-Mobile. If you are asking questions about the claims mentioned in your first email where you advised those were not attempted by yourself, those claims have not been completed and nothing has been shipped. You requested to have detailed claim information and you were advised on how to obtain that.
There is no need to a new claim to be filed because if this is done so, there will be a deductible required. As I advised previously, if the phone is only malfunctioning, you can have that checked out and possibly replaced by T-Mobile.
So now it seems like nobody knows what the hell is going on so I sent one final email back and asked for the information to be told to me as a child so I could be 100% sure.
Last email to Asurion
That is how this whole issue was started. Yes, I did try to make my very first initial claim online as a malfunctioning phone and at that time my claim was rejected and I was given the instructions to contact my carrier T-mobile for further assistance. I contacted T-mobile and was informed that since I did not buy the phone from them directly I would have to contact Asurion to have the phone replaced using my insurance, the phone I have is an HTC Nexus One purchased directly from Google. I called Asurion again and spoke to a representative and explained the issues I was having with my phone. The rep told me I filed the claim wrong and it should be done as a damaged phone, she then started another claim and told me it will be reviewed and I would be contacted by phone or email with the outcome within 24hrs. I received no call or email and had to call in myself to speak with another rep who informed me that the claim was denied because I was not paying my monthly premiums and no longer covered with insurance, I contacted T-mobile again and confirmed I was in fact covered and should be able to file a claim. So I called Asurion again and spoke with a rep who verified that I am covered and that we would have to file another claim, the rep started the claim and told me that I would have to fill out an additional affidavit form. The form was sent to me via email and I faxed the form back the next day. I was told that upon receiving the form it would take 3 hours for review and I would be contacted afterwards by email or by phone, I never received a call or an email once again and had to call in to find out that my claim was denied again because somebody had filed a claim on my phone as a missing device and a replacement phone was sent out to this "mystery" person.
I pleaded with the rep there has to be something wrong here it is impossible for someone to have done this legitimately, the rep was incredibly rude and told me that there was nothing they can do and I would have to find other means of replacing the phone. I was then escalated to the supervisor and again coldly told the same thing by the supervisor. I was then escalated to the manager and got his voice mail, I left a message and was never called back or contacted in any way. At this point I was highly frustrated and called T-mobile again to see if they could do a 3 way call with the Asurion agent to get to the bottom of this. After an hour on the phone with both reps I accomplished nothing but hearing again that my claim was denied because somebody had filed a claim on my phone as a missing device and a replacement phone was sent out to this "mystery" person. This is when I decided to write my complaint and now I am trying to resolve this issue with you. You are now telling me that there has not been a claim filed on my phone for a missing device and a replacement device has not been shipped out.
So now that you have the whole story and know that almost every time I have spoken with someone there before you I have gotten different answers you have to forgive my hesitance. If you could just tell me like I am a child please.
1. If no claim has been filed on my phone as a missing device and a replacement device was not shipped, why were the reps so adamant in telling me otherwise?
2. Since you are telling me that this "mystery" claim was never completed and a replacement device was not shipped I am going to file another claim as a damaged phone can you ensure that it will be completed this time? (I am basing this question off the information given to me by you that the "mystery" claim was never completed)
3. Who would I have to contact about getting the deductible waved for what I have had to deal with? (I am also basing this question off the information given to me by you that the "mystery" claim was never completed)
So moral of the story is I'm not posting this for sympathy or empathy but to warn my fellow android and t-mobile customers is
GET INSURANCE THROUGH YOUR AUTO/HOME INSURANCE PROVIDER, STAY AWAY FROM ASURION(sorry for yelling again)
Report them to the better business bureau
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Contact your Attorney Generals office and tell them about the scam these guys are running.
Dealt with them once before years ago. Never again.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App
They already have I think a lawsuit against them for not informing customer that by getting this insurance they were receiving refurbish cellphones instead brand new cellphones for what the consumer paid for. Unfortunately All insurance companies will always benefit them rather than the customer. What I would think you should do call again and make them give you all your reports and paper work go to court and file a small lawsuit for the money you paid them since day one file every single complain Just to at least F**ck with them.
They had (past tense) a lawsuit for sending phones that cost less than the deductible, the insurance is quite clear that you can receive new or refurbished equipment (it's in pretty plain text in the brochures and in the terms) Also in the terms.. an arbitration clause... you have to try arbitration before you can take them to court or your court case will just be thrown out Plus if there's been a benefit paid at any time the insurance was had (which I think I read there has), I doubt any court would give full restitution of the premiums, so I wouldn't try that..
Input
Thanks for the input guys. After speaking with 4 reps in the OCEO (office of the CEO) they finally agreed to replace my phone for me . . . well almost. They no longer carry the Nexus One so they have agreed to let me purchase any phone and they will refund the difference minus the $130.00 deductible. So I thought about it and I'm grabbing up a G2X today. I can't wait to get this phone from T-mobile and cancel this sh***y insurance and take out a personal line for the phones value with my insurance company.