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Poll- Galaxy Note Warranty Horror - Any Advice

I wonder if I can interest anyone on this forum about a curious warranty situation. Also I hope I'm not outside the forum regulations on this general call for help. I would greatly appreciate any advice from people who faced similar circumstances.
The Story:
Following a botched repair attempt, I recently Googled around one of Samsung Electronics' warranty sidekick by the name of Anovo. Judging by the many terrible experiences people are having with them, I wish I had researched better before sending off my device. Then again you don't expect a reputable company to send you to the 'dogs'. Anovo honestly are not doing Samsung any 'service' either.
Anyone will know the top end Galaxy Note and the market value to be in the range £400-£500. The second hand value given any damage arguably around £200. I'm guessing this, based on the price of a working screen/digitiser.
Well I sent mine in for repair on 1st June 2012. I had just returned from holiday. The phone had been exposed to the very hot and sweaty conditions of my shirt pocket for several days. After reporting the phone as not powering and dead to warranty department, amazingly, that evening it suddenly came to life. I reported the change of circumstances immediately on their warranty number. I was surprised how courteous and welcoming the customer support rep was. I then used the device for 3 days all features working except main camera and stylus. Even battery consumption was the same. Why 3 days? I was in waiting for the envelope to arrive. I began to wonder if I should actually send it in or sell it. Optimistically I took a split decision to hand it in, hoping that Samsung repairs may correct what I thought in their eyes might be a very simple issue.
Cut a long story short, the phone came back completely dead again. The explanation... the phone is not covered under warranty due to water damage. OK let's say we accept the phone had water penetration given the conditions it was in, can anyone spot the strangeness?
Great! I hope anyone reading can appreciate a repair company is actually supposed to fix/return and not break items. Even if one were to argue 'well in the course of fixing something there is every possibility it can get worse'.
Surely this is why companies take out insurance and accept their liabilities. If it was working when it reached the repair desk, surely it should be returned to me in the same state it was sent?
Furthermore, I could not find any warranty terms and conditions to state that if in the repair process my phone failed, they would remove themselves from blame.
After having returned it to Anovo a second time with the same excuse yesterday, I really don't have much other options except legal. Anovo the shoddy firm that Samsung uses to repair the phones is going to return the item ...dead. The main thing they refuse to admit or discuss... if the engineer took notes that the item was working prior to opening it up.
In the meantime I will do my very best to let others know of the austerity measures others may experience when they return their part working phone under warranty.
PLEASE BEWARE SAMSUNG REPAIR PARTNERS MAY RETURN YOUR PHONE AS COMPLETELY DEAD IF THEY CANT FIX IT OR IF IT FAILS WARRANTY
Any independent comments or advice welcome. Am I justified in my expectation or not?

Unfortunately this "water damage" mallarchy (which I'm pretty certain was all started by apple with the iphone) is pretty standard practice now for most companies. I believe they have litmus strips within the phone which discolour when water gets to a dangerous level, but how accurate they are is anyone's guess.
I know I take my phone into the bathroom when I have a bath to listen to music and sing innapropriately and on more than one occasion I've taken the battery out days later to find worrying amounts of moisture collecting internally. Maybe I've just been lucky.
It does seem a little suspect that they return it completely unworking, and yes, I would definitely get back to them stating that they've sent it back worse off than when you sent it in. If you're in uk, it may be worth having a chat with citizens advice bureau. I find them incredibly persuasive for things like this.
All the best mate, hope you get something resolved satisfactorily.
Sent from my Paranoid Android GT-N7000. It doesn't get much better than this!

HTC One Pink Camera Tint - My experience

Hey everyone! just wanted to share my experience so far.
I got an HTC One m7 last year, and I love almost everything about it, except it began to develop the pink camera tint. For those who don't know, many m7's have a manufacturing/design defect that causes the camera to slowly degrade, and as a result, all low light pics come out with a pink or purple haze across the image.
I took my phone over to the bell store, where I signed a couple documents, and the rep sent the phone over to the repair center. The phone was in "Like-New" condition, and still in warranty.
I waited about a week, and today I got an email telling me that the repair facility was refusing to repair the phone citing physical damage (there was none, maybe a micro scratch!), and to get it back they would charge a $35 diagnostic fee. I don't even really care about the fee (although there shouldn't be one) I just want my phone fixed.
I called Bell and they escalated the issue and told me someone from the repair center would call me in 24-72 hours. They wouldn't give me a number to call, so now I have no choice but to play the waiting game...

bbmaster123 said:
Hey everyone! just wanted to share my experience so far.
I got an HTC One m7 last year, and I love almost everything about it, except it began to develop the pink camera tint. For those who don't know, many m7's have a manufacturing/design defect that causes the camera to slowly degrade, and as a result, all low light pics come out with a pink or purple haze across the image.
I took my phone over to the bell store, where I signed a couple documents, and the rep sent the phone over to the repair center. The phone was in "Like-New" condition, and still in warranty.
I waited about a week, and today I got an email telling me that the repair facility was refusing to repair the phone citing physical damage (there was none, maybe a micro scratch!), and to get it back they would charge a $35 diagnostic fee. I don't even really care about the fee (although there shouldn't be one) I just want my phone fixed.
I called Bell and they escalated the issue and told me someone from the repair center would call me in 24-72 hours. They wouldn't give me a number to call, so now I have no choice but to play the waiting game...
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Click to collapse
Well u are not in USA. I had couple of devices with this deffect fixed under warranty even when warranty was expired. Call the consumer support number in your country and talk to them and tell them u have done your homework and this is a well known deffect and it should be taken care by them. Or wait maybe they will call.I never deal with carriers in this situation s call directly the manufacturer. Good luck.

Well, its been a while now, and it looks like I may have to send the phone to HTC since Bell are a bunch of ********. I eventually got a call, but it wasn't from the repair center, it was from USA's tech support, and the gentleman told me he had no idea what was going on, and that he couldn't help me at all, nor could he offer any type of recourse, or contact information for someone that may be able to help. I am very displeased as you can probably see. Anyway, I wrote HTC a letter complaining about their service. Here's what I wrote to them for your amusment:
Hello,
I recently sent my phone in to repair it's camera that wasn't working correctly. I was denied the repair, citing physical damage (I have documentation from the Bell store stating otherwise) and the device has now been marked down to be shipped back without the repair, when I did not give my consent, nor talk to anyone who had any bit of control over the repair process. I am very displeased at the service that has been given to me, as well I do not appreciate being lied to, or cheated out of the repair I am entitled to.(the phone's camera issue is a widely documented factory defect, just search Google or call HTC about the m7 pink camera issue). As well, I am appalled at how Bell has tried its hardest to evade my asking for help, instead pointing fingers at other divisions of the company and telling me to go talk to them. And finally, I would have liked to call the repair center, or visit the facility directly as I understand it is fairly close to me, but the information I have been seeking was kept secret from me. If you listen to the recording of the support call I made last week, you will hear the agent telling me that the company actively tries to withold this information.
I WANT MY PHONE REPAIRED. Not returned defective. If my phone is returned defective, you can be sure I will not renew my contract with Bell, ever.
Brandon Benyacar
I can only hope they read this letter sooner than later. Anyway, that's my repair experience so far. Lesson learned: Don't by a phone right away, let a few months go by and see if any major problems turn up. also, note to self: Buy extended warranty.
I may post one more time if anything else worth sharing happens. Have a good day everyone!

I'll also post my experience with the purple tint problem. Got my phone in may/june 2013 and got the purple tint somewhere around september 2013. Over time, it got worse in dark settings, but as the phone was still ok during daylight, never bothered too much. This year I finally took the effort to get it fixed. I contacted HTC europe (as I live in the Netherlands) about the problem and they said to just make an appointment; if I had caused the problem, I had to pay 35 euros research costs and if I agreed, an additional fee for the repairs.
As I rooted the phone like a month after I got it (unlocked through HTC dev website), I was kinda 'scared' they would say that would be the cause, but I followed all wonderful steps here to get it S-OFF and in locked/untampered state again and send it off. Made the appointment (UPS came to pick it up) and after a few days I got the email it was ready and repaired. Today (after about 10 days) they delivered the phone back. No charge at all.
So my experience with HTC customer support is fairly positive at the moment. Purple tint is indeed gone. Sadly, my original phone was just fixed and not swapped for an M8, but still no complaints about their service.

PandorasNL said:
I'll also post my experience with the purple tint problem. Got my phone in may/june 2013 and got the purple tint somewhere around september 2013. Over time, it got worse in dark settings, but as the phone was still ok during daylight, never bothered too much. This year I finally took the effort to get it fixed. I contacted HTC europe (as I live in the Netherlands) about the problem and they said to just make an appointment; if I had caused the problem, I had to pay 35 euros research costs and if I agreed, an additional fee for the repairs.
As I rooted the phone like a month after I got it (unlocked through HTC dev website), I was kinda 'scared' they would say that would be the cause, but I followed all wonderful steps here to get it S-OFF and in locked/untampered state again and send it off. Made the appointment (UPS came to pick it up) and after a few days I got the email it was ready and repaired. Today (after about 10 days) they delivered the phone back. No charge at all.
So my experience with HTC customer support is fairly positive at the moment. Purple tint is indeed gone. Sadly, my original phone was just fixed and not swapped for an M8, but still no complaints about their service.
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Click to collapse
Glad to hear everything worked out for you. I contacted HTC a few days back and explained what happened and they said they would be happy to repair my phone at no cost, and agreed with me about Bell's repair process being all sleazy. I just need to wait until my phone gets shipped back from Bell's repair center first.
I think I read somewhere that sometimes HTC will put in a higher quality camera module. do you notice the picture being better than the original? (before the purple tint started)
I really don't want my phone to be swapped for an m8, I like the m7 better. slightly smaller, capacitive buttons, and a more symmetrical speaker grille. Not to mention its super easy to s-off. though I might not mind if they give me an M9! HAHA

well, its been about a month, and after much trouble, I finally got my phone fixed. See, When I got my phone back from Bell, HTC told me to ship my phone to a company called Futuretel, located about 15 minutes from where I live. I shipped it, and a few days later, received an email claiming that the repair would not be covered under warranty, and would cost me $226. they also have a policy that requires them to replace both the camera, and the motherboard at the same time, hence the price.
Their first claim was that my H-Boot date on the bootloader screen tells them that my phone had been tampered with. I did install custom firmware, but I flashed it back to stock, with the date showing January 29 2014, before I even bought the phone(not that they would know that) so I called them out on their claim. Then, they disregarded that claim, and now stated that since was that since my phone was S-Off, I was not entitled to a repair. Everything else on the phone was stock, bootloader locked, tampered flag removed and status showing locked.
talking directly to Futuretel was futile, so I called HTC and explained how refusing a defective hardware warranty because of S-Off is like ford refusing to replace your faulty transmission because you changed your headlights. The two are completely unrelated (unless your mechanic REALLY sucks I supposed). They agreed, but still wouldn't fix my phone.
My father, who isn't really a lawyer, but knows quite a lot for an average guy, wrote up a legal document for me to sue HTC. This isn't his first lawsuit, so he knew exactly how to write it up properly and file it into small claims court. I sent a copy over to HTC, and the next day, they offered to pay for the repair. It probably just wasn't worth it for them to fight it, so they gave in.
I also let HTC know of all the horrible reviews and complaints of this repair facility, with many of the stories online ending in either ridiculous repair costs, refusal of repairs for stupid reasons, or devices being returned with additional damage. HTC said they would do an investigation on this facility. that being said, Futurtel repaired my phone in 2 days time, and returned it in the same condition it left (actually, slightly better condition, my power button was losing its black paint, and they replaced it. small, but good attention to detail).
I powered up the phone to 5.0.2, and firmware version 7.17.666.7 which I believe is the newest version (a google search produced no results). They also replaced my mainboard, so everything was stock, and I had a new IMEI. tested out the camera, and its a night and day difference. Now my pics look the way they were meant to look. Once again, I am a happy customer.
I hope my experience inspires others to fight back, know your rights, and don't take no for an answer. I would love to hear other people's success and failure stories, especially ones pertaining to this pink camera issue.
Now onto installing insertcoin's sense 5.5 ROM. I just like it better than sense 6!

My related experience recently, I acquired almost new imported HTC One from local dealer, and there was Pink Tint, I took it to HTC Service Center in my locality, I had already did OTA updates and the phone is in Lollipop, the support person said, it will take 5500 INR (88 USD) which I agreed, then they said it is imported phone, the camera module might not be compatible they don't have software to calibrate the camera since the phone is in Lollipop (?!), and it is the risk they are not willing to take! they don't even try to repair and say it did not work. Their excuse was once they attempt to install new camera, and it doesn't work the Camera will be completely shut off even day light photos will not be possible. Looks like I had to live with purpley photos!

santhoshr said:
My related experience recently, I acquired almost new imported HTC One from local dealer, and there was Pink Tint, I took it to HTC Service Center in my locality, I had already did OTA updates and the phone is in Lollipop, the support person said, it will take 5500 INR (88 USD) which I agreed, then they said it is imported phone, the camera module might not be compatible they don't have software to calibrate the camera since the phone is in Lollipop (?!), and it is the risk they are not willing to take! they don't even try to repair and say it did not work. Their excuse was once they attempt to install new camera, and it doesn't work the Camera will be completely shut off even day light photos will not be possible. Looks like I had to live with purpley photos!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry, you can always use flash to avoid pinkish photos in the night. I didn't even bother to get mine repaired for free.

Semseddin said:
Don't worry, you can always use flash to avoid pinkish photos in the night. I didn't even bother to get mine repaired for free.
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Click to collapse
the flash helps(thank god its even there), but still, video in low light is practically unusable.
It's not acceptable that HTC can get get away with this(though I found it had more to do with the repair facilities), and you should fight it if you've got the time, especially now that they have introduced that "oops protection" this for the M9. If they can replace an M9 at no charge for dropping your phone onto concrete, then they should at least be able to fix their own factory defect. Even if its out-of-warranty. Its what I believe is fair.
by the way, after they fix, not only are the pictures not pink, but they're less grainy now, and they're not washed out.

I too had this problem since last 1.5 years.. somewhere read online that you can get rid of it by placing your cellphone in freezer for sometime and it will get rid of the pink/purple issue of camera. So I did it.
WHat to do-
1.) I placed my cellphone HTC One(M7) in my freezer nicely wrapped in a small towel
2.) changed my refrigerator setting to the coolest...
3.) kept it in there for almost 20 minutes
4.) Took it out.... and no more Pinkish pics.......
Not sure if its permanent solution as I have tried it today only.... but as of now I am happy to see my camera work as good as new.... NO FAULTS WHATSOEVER.
It worked for me.. hopefully it can work for someone else as well.. please try at your own risk and make sure to cover your cellphone properly before trying this option.

anilkapoor9 said:
I too had this problem since last 1.5 years.. somewhere read online that you can get rid of it by placing your cellphone in freezer for sometime and it will get rid of the pink/purple issue of camera. So I did it.
WHat to do-
1.) I placed my cellphone HTC One(M7) in my freezer nicely wrapped in a small towel
2.) changed my refrigerator setting to the coolest...
3.) kept it in there for almost 20 minutes
4.) Took it out.... and no more Pinkish pics.......
Not sure if its permanent solution as I have tried it today only.... but as of now I am happy to see my camera work as good as new.... NO FAULTS WHATSOEVER.
It worked for me.. hopefully it can work for someone else as well.. please try at your own risk and make sure to cover your cellphone properly before trying this option.
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Click to collapse
Do you really think our phones are designed to withstand below zero temperatures? This is a terrible idea which is most likely only a temporary fix (if your phone survives it).

While not a true "fix" I just edit the effected pictures and add an effect to them. 2 of the effects work well to remove the purple haze in pictures (depending on the picture each effect works better than the other). Not perfect, I understand, but they come out looking quite good.

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!

Must read before you buy oneplus!

Hello people,
If you are thinking about getting any OnePlus product,especially the new OnePlus one or two, please read this before you jump the gun and spend your hard earned cash.I will share my ownership experience with you so that you don't do the same mistake of buying OnePlus as I did.I am attaching the email that I sent to them after my phone gone bad
“Hello OnePlus,
My name is Rajesh Bhuin, a proud owner of Oneplus One 64 GB until one day when the speakers of my
phone stopped working all of a sudden. I searched through your forum and most people told me that it was probably a faulty speaker which is quite common for OnePlus one. So I took my phone to Service Center which is a good 300 Km away from where I live. Upon inspecting my phone, the service guy told me that the fault is with the motherboard and not with the speakers. And the probable reason is due to water damage as the water indicator sticker had become red. So my warranty is now void and it will cost around Rs. 19000 to change the motherboard. I assured him that I have NOT exposed my phone to water by any means.
So after further throughout inspection he told me that there were absolutely no other traces of water inside the phone and the sticker
had changed its color probably because of vapor condensation insidethe phone. He also suggested me to write to you about the issue as itwas not any way my fault.
So I request you to please look in this matter so that my phone can beserviced and I can get the remaining warranty back. You can confirmthe matter from the service guy,I have provided his email id with his permission. Also please let me know if you need any further details.
RegardsRajesh Bhuin
DETAILS:
Model : Oneplus One 64 GB, Sandstone Black
Date of Purchase - 12-04-2015
IMEI – 8658000********
Service Centre Name – TOUCH
Address - 20-H, Park Street, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal
Phone no - 033-44026291
Service Engineer - Gaurav Dey, email id -
Date of Servicing - 24th July
Service Request Number - JS15072400496”
After two days a Oneplus representative the called me. I explained him the situation. I also told him I am willing to pay the sum if they could only change the affected part. He told me that they will look into the matter and will get back to me.The very next day he called me again and told me that they couldn't do anything as the sticker turned red even if the phone was never exposed to any liquid.Also the phone can not be repaired without changing the motherboard!
Well now you know that is how they treat their customers. They say there are always compromises when buying a cheap product.I guess for one plus this is the compromise "NO WARRANTY SERVICE " even though it is not exactly cheap.On paper their product might look good but this is the built quality you get. A flagship grade phone which gets damaged for no reason!. And even if it gets damaged you can not just repair it, you have to buy a new phone. This can happen to you too!Think about it before you buy it.
Thanks for reading.

i just buy its

Dude,this probably will surprise you,but this sh*t happens to "famous" iPhone and Samsung and LG and any other expensive and superb brand too,one to the million but surely happens. You just had a bad luck with the device thats all, i`m using this awesome phone more than a year and its perfect and many others like me too i`m sure about it.

I don't see why you're complaining about OnePlus in particular. It's standard protocol for a warranty to be voided when the liquid detection stickers have been tripped, and this is true for all manufacturers/suppliers. How on earth is a manufacturer supposed to distinguish between someone who honestly hasn't had any water damage, and someone who has had water damage but is claiming to not have had any. They can't. You're expecting them to make an exception for you? Why? You're no more special than any other customer. Sure, you might have be gotten unlucky with this, but you can't expect special treatment just because you say the phone has no water damage, and you can't blame OnePlus for something that is an industry wide standard.

If those liquid markers changed color. You had your phone in a heavily humid area and or talking on the phone in the rain, kept the phone in a steamed up shower, etc. I know all manufacturers have limitations on proper environments and bad environments from temp, humidity, etc.

Pretty sure any phone manufacturer would void your warranty under these circumstances, that's why they have water indicator. How else are they supposed to judge whether you got your phone wet and caused the damage yourself?

rajeshbhuin said:
Hello people,
If you are thinking about getting any OnePlus product,especially the new OnePlus one or two, please read this before you jump the gun and spend your hard earned cash.I will share my ownership experience with you so that you don't do the same mistake of buying OnePlus as I did.I am attaching the email that I sent to them after my phone gone bad
“Hello OnePlus,
My name is Rajesh Bhuin, a proud owner of Oneplus One 64 GB until one day when the speakers of my
phone stopped working all of a sudden. I searched through your forum and most people told me that it was probably a faulty speaker which is quite common for OnePlus one. So I took my phone to Service Center which is a good 300 Km away from where I live. Upon inspecting my phone, the service guy told me that the fault is with the motherboard and not with the speakers. And the probable reason is due to water damage as the water indicator sticker had become red. So my warranty is now void and it will cost around Rs. 19000 to change the motherboard. I assured him that I have NOT exposed my phone to water by any means.
So after further throughout inspection he told me that there were absolutely no other traces of water inside the phone and the sticker
had changed its color probably because of vapor condensation insidethe phone. He also suggested me to write to you about the issue as itwas not any way my fault.
So I request you to please look in this matter so that my phone can beserviced and I can get the remaining warranty back. You can confirmthe matter from the service guy,I have provided his email id with his permission. Also please let me know if you need any further details.
RegardsRajesh Bhuin
DETAILS:
Model : Oneplus One 64 GB, Sandstone Black
Date of Purchase - 12-04-2015
IMEI – 8658000********
Service Centre Name – TOUCH
Address - 20-H, Park Street, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal
Phone no - 033-44026291
Service Engineer - Gaurav Dey, email id -
Date of Servicing - 24th July
Service Request Number - JS15072400496”
After two days a Oneplus representative the called me. I explained him the situation. I also told him I am willing to pay the sum if they could only change the affected part. He told me that they will look into the matter and will get back to me.The very next day he called me again and told me that they couldn't do anything as the sticker turned red even if the phone was never exposed to any liquid.Also the phone can not be repaired without changing the motherboard!
Well now you know that is how they treat their customers. They say there are always compromises when buying a cheap product.I guess for one plus this is the compromise "NO WARRANTY SERVICE " even though it is not exactly cheap.On paper their product might look good but this is the built quality you get. A flagship grade phone which gets damaged for no reason!. And even if it gets damaged you can not just repair it, you have to buy a new phone. This can happen to you too!Think about it before you buy it.
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is so fake.
I had to change my phone and had problems to. They took 1 month to reply, but solved my issue in 1 week. Sent the phone and next week the new phone was back.
My girlfriend, had a small accident with the phone, paid for the repair which is a flat fee, and also was 1 week.
Oneplus doesn't have a repair center. You went there on your own, this things are solved via ticket, and they send you a new phone, while the other goes on repair.
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

600km road trip to get your phone assessed at a repair center? Lol...

Warning: OnePlus Support and RMA denial

Hello my friends!
I haven't been posting on XDA for quite a long time but I thought I had to share this with you. About a year ago, I bought a OnePlus One and I was happy with the device itself and CM 11 and 12 as well. However, this summer in July, the microphones of my OPO stopped working during calls.
I started to do some research and found a few threads on the OnePlus forum and on XDA from users complaining about the same problem. The microphone suddenly stopped to work during calls and the person on the other phone could not hear anything. The only workaround is to switch to speaker mode. Some other users also posted workarounds and potential fixes for the well-known issue. I tried all of them but none of them worked. Here are links to some of the threads I am referring to:
OnePlus Forum
XDA
reddit
So as you can see, this is quite a common problem and therefore probably known by OnePlus. Since none of the mentioned fixes helped
and flashing different ROMS did not improve anything I started to get in touch with the OnePlus customer support. Before owning the OPO I had several HTC and Nexus devices and I already had to deal with the HTC support twice because of two hardware failures. The HTC support was surprisingly friendly and simple to deal with, so I figured, contacting the OP support would not be a big deal. I would be proven wrong in the next weeks...
I first contacted the OP support on the 16th of July. I provided them with a detailed error description, a few pics of my device with a timestamp to provide proof of ownership and the request to repair or replace my phone since it was still covered under the 1 year warranty. Shortly after, I received a reply from the support staff in which they asked me to provide a few more details (OS and Android version, CM or Oxygen, etc) which I did instantly.
Then I was forwarded to a "OnePlus tech specialist" who gave me instruction to flash a version of Oxygen OS and to run a microphone test, which of course I did as well. Like I expected, the issue did not disappear magically and I got a reply that a "OnePlus level 2 tech specialist" would have to connect himself to my PC via a secure software and try to fix my phone. They called this remote session. I had to book an appointment for this remote session.
By this time I was already getting quite angry at Oneplus, since it seemed like they were ignoring my actual issue and my request for a warranty covered replacement or repair. I told them that I did not expect that this remote session would help, since I was quite sure that it was a hardware fault. However, they insisted that I had to book this remote session, which turned out to be quite difficult. There were no free slots for the next two weeks. Luckily a slot was suddenly available in the next week when I checked the booking reservations for the tenth time and I managed to book it. Since the time slot was 11AM I had to take half a day off my work to make it to the appointment. A few minutes before the session should have started; I got an email from support to download the necessary software for the session, which turned out to be Teamviewer! I thought this was a bad joke. Teamviewer was their idea of a secure remote session software. I downloaded it anyways (what other choice did I have?) and waited for the level 2 tech. And I waited. After half an hour I wrote to the support that no one showed up yet although my time slot was already almost over. After almost 30 more minutes the tech finally connected herself to my PC. I told her, that she was not allowed to do anything on my PC without my permission since there was confidential data of my clients stored on the PC, to which she agreed to. The session however was a pure joke. After installing some Qualcomm drivers and rebooting my PC and plugging in and out my device about 100 times, she said that my device was indeed broken and that I would now be forwarded to the RMA department.
Almost three weeks, many pointless arguments with the support and this joke of a remote session, after I started contacting the support, I was finally granted an RMA repair/replacement. I thought that it would now finally be over and I would get back a new or repaired device. WRONG. But more to that later.
I got instructions to prepare the package to ship it to the 1+ repair center in the UK. I was told I would have to fill out an online form for DHL since they would come to my house and pick up my device. I filled out the form and was expecting a phone call to fix a time where they would come by as promised by 1+ and DHL. Well, I was at work on a Monday morning and suddenly without a phone call or any notification, a DHL delivery guy showed up at my house. Luckily someone was at home who gave him the package. However, the DHL guy asked for an address, which the person at home did not know, so they called me. Now I had to explain to the guy that I had no idea what the address was because I never got one from 1+. They said that DHL would have the address. So after around half an hour, I was notified that the DHL guy took the parcel with him after with him after he got a call from DHL who said that they knew the address.
The next day, the same DHL guy showed up at my house again (again w/o calling) because he got another order to pick up my phone which he did already yesterday...
After around a week of silence, I was notified from support that they received my package and ran it through a first stage inspection where they detected a water damage. They told me, they would send it to a secondary inspection to verify if it is really a water damage. I could not believe that my phone really had a water damage because I am very careful with my devices and I knew that I never exposed my 1+1 to water or some sort of steam or extreme moisture in general. A few days later they sent me the second inspection report which of course confirmed the water damage and thus my warranty covered RMA was denied. I told them that this could not be possible because I couldn't imagine how my device would have gotten anywhere near water. The next weeks I was arguing with several support members (they changed their names randomly and I had no idea who would reply anymore). I was basically given 2 options: pay 213€ for a repair or pay 45€ of shipping costs to get back the defect device.
After around 3 weeks (they often ignored me for days) I was so frustrated with the company and the way they treated me that I just wanted to get back my device and hence I paid the horrifying 45€ shipping costs (UK-Austria normally costs 12-20€ for a package of this size).
During those three weeks I was doing some research about 1+ RMA denials and look what I have found:
here: reddit
and here: reddit #2
and here: reddit #3
and here(!): reddit#4
So apparently, many users got their RMA denied because of water damage although they never exposed their device to water. There seem to be two water damage indicators (little white stickers that turn red when they are in contact with water) inside the 1+1, one in the headphone jack and one at the bottom of the phone underneath the buttons. Some people were smart enough to take photos of their white indicators before shipping the device off to RMA repair and received an inspection report with a photo showing red indicators, when they got their RMA denied. So these indicators *somehow* seem to have turned red.
After finding this, I was relatively shocked. I mean, I was mad at 1+ for their incompetent customer service but I couldn't believe that so many people had the same struggle and some even have proof that they were falsely accused of being responsible for the water damage. Unfortunately, I was not clever enough to take my phone apart and take pictures of the water indicators but I cannot imagine that they were red when I shipped the device off. Unfortunately I cannot proof anything.
After talking with two lawyers, we came to the conclusion that pursuing further legal options would be very difficult, considering that the law in Hong Kong where 1+ is located is probably completely different. Furthermore it would cost too much and my chances of winning wouldn't be high since I did not have any evidence except many reports of other people with the same problems from the internet.
Now after more than 2 months of arguing with the support I decided to pay the 45€ shipping costs and I'm probably going to sell the defect device but you can be sure, that I'll never buy anything from this company again. I can't proof anything but their warranty denials seem.... shady.
Now, I really hope that you never have to deal with the 1+ customer support because it is simply horribly. They have no idea what they are talking about, they just send copy and pasted replies and often they don't read your replies at all, they ignore you for days, their procedures are extremely complicated and they deny warranties in many(!) cases without a proper reason. Sometimes even, although there is proof that says otherwise.
If you consider buying a 1+1 or 1+2, be warned because the same thing can happen to you. It happened to many people and it will probably happen again.
If you are going to ship off your device to RMA, be sure to take as many detailed, high-res photos as possible of the outside AND of the inside of the device. Be sure to check the water damage indicators and take a good picture of them. Also write today’s date and your name on a piece of paper and photograph it with your phone so that you can proof that the pictures are yours.
TL;DR
Microphone doesn’t work during calls; contacted 1+ customer support; complicated and pointless tries by 1+ to fix phone w/o RMA; after weeks: RMA granted; shipping difficulties; RMA denied because of water damage; many other users also got RMA denied because of water damage despite of proof that there was no water damage; 1+ RMA denials seem shady (see links);

Yeah they tried to rip me off to. Sent me an invite for OnePlus 2.. I saw the timer only had 3 hours left so I ordered. I started reading about the 1+2 and heard about how many problems they were having. I immediately sent them 4 emails over a day and a half (no later than one hour after order was taken) to cancel. I did everything by their book to cancel the order. I do a PayPal claim and 4 days later they said since the funds were frozen my money was coming back and the order would not be shipped. 10 days go by and it's the last day, so I'm supposed to get my money back from PayPal. The idiots sent PayPal a tracking number to PayPal to stop the claim and showed it as delivered to an old address that I didn't even provide on the order. It was the apartment I stayed in for my first OPO... Someone signed my name a day later and forged it. I am a notary, so I give my notary number to PayPal, they see the forged signature and give me my money back. A week later a guy drops off the OnePlus 2 package at my real address. OP tried to get me to send it back to them and I just did screw you and sold of and made $410. They had so many chances and they withheld my money for two weeks, because they didn't want my order to be canceled. In the end they lost, I don't feel sorry for them one bit, and since PayPal settled it, there's nothing they can do. Should have just canceled instead of ignoring me. They reek of desperation.
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Free mobile app

Wow. This really suprises me. I was actually considering of swapping my S5 or just buy a second phone wich would be OPO, but this cleared my mind a bit. Thanks.

welcome in the club !!!
I will never buy anymore a branded OPO smartphone.

I didn't want to RMA the device (the tales spooked me out of it), so I got the microphone flex on ebay for € 24 . when I proceded to install it, I saw the sticker close to the USB port that had colored red, so at least I knew I saved myself some unecessary stress by doing it myself. those stickers go red easily, I never got my phone out of it's case and didn't even use it once under the rain. But on the other hand, oneplus has no other way to tell who is messing around and who is being honest with RMA requests, all manufacturer do it (except Apple who are known to turn a blind eye on your first RMA if you use their own warranty extention plan)

Its really annoying when u does nothing to u r phone and it get damaged and u have to pay half money of that price of phone
$366 for purchasing and 166$ for repairment for broken screen which i doesn't broke with any fall or damage
It just got automatically when it was in pocket whole day at work
What a quality of hardware it is its crap
Never buy this if u then u will NEVER SETTLE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/1-10-settle-t3197005