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TLDR summary: Sent a Razr MAXX HD in to Motorola to have a cracked screen repaired with a guarantee that it would be done within 5 business days. For over the next month, I am continually lied to that I'd get a phone back within the next 1-5 days (depending on who I talk to), before they finally reimburse me for a replacement, well over a month later.
Full story:
I'm a huge fan of Motorola phones. My first cell phone after High School was an old school Razr, and outside of a brief dalliance with a BlackBerry Storm (my first smartphone), every other phone I've had was made by Motorola. I got a Droid X soon after release in 2010, loved it, and replaced it 2.5 years later when it was showing it's age by getting a Razr Maxx HD on release day. Totally happy with the Razr Maxx HD... until it accidentally fell out of my pocket onto a rock in a parking lot and cracked the screen. Phone was totally functional still, including all portions of the touchscreen, but it had spiderweb cracks on it so I figured I'd get it fixed.
I was excited to see Motorola offers repair services for things not covered by the warranty. motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/91148/p/30%2C6720%2C8579/kw/ said it would only be $100 and they can do the lens replacement in (at MOST) 5 business days. It's such a routine repair that they had a separate price set up explicitly for it. So on Friday 04/19, I open a case, give them my credit card details, get an RMA number, and ship it via USPS the same day. I pay a few dollars extra to guarantee it gets there by Monday (4/21) morning (and to get tracking), figuring it should be repaired by that Friday (04/26) and I'd have it soon after that. Meanwhile, I reactive the almost 3 year old Droid X.
Then the problems start.
Monday, 04/22, USPS tracking confirms that the phone is received at 9:50am. I get an email from Motorola reminding me to send it in at 2:50pm, 5 hrs later. I figured it hadn't been processed yet. Tuesday (04/23) afternoon, I manage to check the status of my repair (with difficulty) at their website, and it shows it hasn't been received yet. Their website ( globalrepairtools.motorola.com/serviceandrepair/device/index/en-us/trackrepair/ ) has a LOT of problems, working extremely inconsistently, hanging in multiple browsers and sometimes even putting me through and showing me the status of a repair COMPLETELY unrelated to mine (even though I made sure to copy/paste my own RMA number). Wednesday (04/24), it still showed that my phone hadn't been received, so I called Motorola support (for the first time). After checked the tracking details, the representative confirmed it had been received, but had not yet been logged into the system, and said that the original 5 business day timeline was still likely going to happen. Friday (04/26), still no progress.
Monday 04/29, I call back, they note that according to their system the phone was received on 04/27, five days after it had been delivered, and that the 5 business day cycle actually only starts after it's logged into their system. I was assured that because they had records of talking to me on 04/23 and the phone had already been received then, they'd expedite the repair and I'd hear from them soon after with a tracking number for the shipment. Fast forward a couple of days with the same story (promise of an expedited shipment), on 05/03 I call back again and get told that, Lo and Behold, they were having some further "technical difficulties" at their repair facility but the phone should 100% be done by 05/08 (13 business days and 17 calendars days after it was initially received by Motorola), and I'd get expedited shipping from there. They said they'd send me a bluetooth headset for my trouble (something I don't particularly need). I emailed in a complaint to Motorola at this point, and whoever responded to the email simply said "I could see here that you already spoke with one of our agents from our Repair Team. They assured you that you will get your phone by May 08. We'll just have to take their word for it. I'm sure that they will expedite the repair from here. Our system is doing some updates that is why this happened."
Fine. 05/08 rolls around and I still haven't gotten any details... So I call back, pretty early that morning. They tell me (AGAIN!) that they had some problems at the repair facility and now have no ETA whatsoever when my phone might be done (they don't have any idea what's going on with it. My personal theory is they lost it), but they can send me a replacement Razr Maxx HD. I was OK with that option, but the rep says it will take 3-5 business days until I have the device, though he said it was more likely to be 3 than 5. That puts us at 05/15, right around when I had my family coming in for some big personal events, and I didn't want to be dealing with this then (and I wanted a phone with a functioning camera, while the one on my Droid X was broken).
05/10, I get an email that the order for my replacement Maxx HD was being processed. There was no tracking information in that email, though it did say there would be tracking information forthcoming. Now, for the bluetooth headset they mailed me the previous week, I got the email with the tracking # two days after the headset arrived, so I figured this would be a similar story so I should call in for a tracking # (so I could be home to meet the device when it arrived). Monday 05/13, call and there's no details. Still haven't received any email by Tuesday morning, 05/14 (4-5 business days after my conversation early on 05/08, depending on how you count it), so I call again to see if I could get a tracking number, and actually get a representative who says the phone is in a box at the warehouse ready to be picked up by FedEx. They say a tracking number would only be generated once it was picked up (which sounded strange to me). I call again near the end of business on Tuesday and get much the same story, where a second representative gives me the same story about it being in a box.
05/15 (5-6 business days after the replacement was ordered, 18 business days after Motorola received my original phone for repairs). The representative I get this time says there was some kind of mistake the previous day because of technical difficulties at the distribution warehouse and my order was in a status called "booking", but should be shipped within the next few days. I will admit I got angry at this point, but the agent assured me he had contacted the warehouse and it would only be a day or two till they got through the back orders. Note that at this point, they set some kind of flag so every time I call I start out at level 2 support. Which would be fine, except level 2 support has a minimum of a 35 minute hold time throughout the day, so I'd already practically memorized the entirety of Motorola's hold messages. The representative promises to call me back that day no matter what he hears from the warehouse people to give me an update. No call was ever received.
05/16 (25 calendar days after Motorola received my phone): I call again, get told that the phone was through "booking", was actually "picked", and was in a box and ready to be shipped that day. I call in between spending time with my family (who I see rarely) and different events I have to go to. I ask whether they actually talked to someone at the warehouse and got a confirmation that it would be shipped. That representative says she doesn't have any contact information for the distributor against an email address (say what?) but she'd be happy to send them (yet another!) email. She offers to escalate me to their "executive support", but it's already 4pm so they've gone home. I get a promise I'll get called back the next day.
05/17 AM: I call again, get told that it was still "picked", but would DEFINITELY ship that day. I ask if anyone has heard from the warehouse, the answer is no. I inquire as to possible Saturday delivery because it's getting dangerously close to when I'm actually leaving the state/country on a trip that I will need a phone for (because I've paid for a micro-SD card that I'll use abroad and it's my only planned way to keep in touch with my responsibilities back home), and get told by the representative it's probably not possible but I'll definitely get a call back later that day. I have some events planned that evening where I can't touch my phone, so he says he'll leave a VM or an email with details of any updates.
05/17 PM: I get a call from Motorola somewhere around 6pm and they leave a voice mail saying they saw I talked to someone that day already so they don't have anything to add. (say what?) Then I get an email from Motorola that has one word in the subject (HOTDELAY), and it basically says "please call us" and a different number than the one I'd been calling. So I call that number as soon as I'm able, get through to a supervisor for the repair team. Oh my, apparently the distributers warehouse was having further technical difficulties! Amazingly, that phone that I had been assured four (or was it five?) separate times would be shipping "that day" all week, wasn't actually in stock! They won't be able to ship me a phone until late June at the earliest. Needless to say, I flip out, saying that's completely unacceptable. So the supervisor says she'll call corporate and get back to me on Monday (05/20), since they'd already gone home and wouldn't be in on the weekend. She promises she'd call me by 1pm on Monday.
05/20 early PM: Wow. Supervisor actually manages to call me back around 1230pm and gives me the offer that Motorola will give me a Droid 2 as a loaner phone until they get the Razr Maxx HD back in stock. That's right. Not a Droid 4. Or a Droid 3. Or a Droid 2 Global. But the phone that is FOUR MODELS out of date and as old as my Droid X. Needless to say, I tell her that that is not an acceptable option, and the only thing that I'd accept at this point is for Motorola to reimburse me in full for the cost of a phone. She says she'd look into it.
05/20 later PM: I get a call back from the supervisor. Corporate has agreed to reimburse me for a phone. Hallelujah! I ask a few questions. It goes like this: "Will they reimburse me for the full value of the phone?" "Yes." "Will I be reimbursed all taxes and fees?" "Yes, of course, we will reimburse you all taxes". I should have gotten details of all this in writing, but I didn't think of it. I almost cry from joy to finally get this resolved. I go to Best Buy (because they don't have a charge to return phones and at this point, I'm skeptical until the check is sent) buy a phone for full price (because I obviously don't have an upgrade available for myself yet), fax them the receipt with my case number, name, and address written on it, and move on my merry way. I figure I'll call them later the next day to make sure the fax was received and the reimbursement is being processed. I was so excited because I was leaving for my multi state/country traveling on 05/22, and I was relieved to get this huge monkey off my back.
05/21 (the 1 month "anniversary" of Motorola receiving my phone): I get a phone call back from supervisor lady. She is incredulous that I somehow thought they'd reimburse me for a brand new full priced device. Apparently she meant they'd only reimburse me for the purchase price of the original device, so they want my receipt back from October and will only reimburse me for $250 (and for none of the VZW subsidy that I got by signing a new 2 year contract). I can only respond that I never agreed to such an absurd deal and that there is absolutely no way I'd accept 1/3 of the value of the phone that I sent in to be repaired as reimbursement. She says that's the maximum they'd consider reimbursing me, and that me buying a replacement phone myself was my own problem and that I should return it. I request to speak to her supervisor and eventually get forwarded to their corporate consumer advocacy office. Talk to someone from consumer advocacy who says they'd look in to see what they could do for me and we'd talk again later that afternoon.
05/21 PM: Individual from consumer advocacy calls me back. Says there is no way anyone would ever agree to reimburse me the full value of a replacement device, just the subsidized price I paid once. He acknowledges that the device is valued at much higher than that and that I only got that price through a subsidy I (for all intents and purposes) pay back through the contract I'm still liable for, but he says that is irrelevant for their purposes. I tried to escalate to an even higher level of support and get this resolved, but he refused, saying there is no one higher and that I had to take what he offered or leave it. When inquiring about another option (compared to getting reimbursed a fraction of the cost of the device), he changed the story regarding their stock of phones once again and says more will be in stock on 05/22. He also personally guaranteed that mine would be the first one out the door from that shipment. When I said I didn't believe him, he said that given my case history he wouldn't believe himself either, but I had no other choices. He said they'd ship it to where I would be on 05/22-05/23. After numerous complaints from me about the absolutely abhorrent service so far, he (begrudgingly) attempts to offer me another bluetooth headset. After my frank refusal of that, he finally offers to ship me a $100 google play card. All this time, he just patronizes me with "I understand your frustration", and no real apology on behalf of Motorola.
05/22: I get a call back from consumer advocacy. It turns out that no, in fact, there was no stock that came in that day. They offer to send me a Razr M until they can get more HD MAXXs sometime later the following month. I refused, and say (again) that the only option I'll accept at this point was reimbursement for a replacement device, because it's been a month and I'm leaving the country for a few weeks and don't want to deal with this. He says it's not possible. I ask who could make it possible and get told this is a policy of their finance department. He refuses to let me speak to the finance department, but puts me on hold and (lo and behold!) he says that he spoke with them and got approval to send me a check to reimburse me for the replacement. But because they're paying the full amount, I will not get a $100 google play card for my trouble or any other reimbursement. I should be thankful that they deign to pay me back for the device I sent them (and they lost somewhere). I make sure to get this offer sent to me in writing later that day.
05/30: They mail the check. Only took a week. I was amazed. I got it a few days later.
Lessons learned: NEVER utilize Motorola for any kind of repair services. A repair that I could have easily done in 30 seconds (if I could have reasonably gotten ahold of the part without having it shipped from Hong Kong over a period of 2+ weeks) was not only never completed, but ballooned into a whole saga.
I've considered filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but I don't think they could do anything. I don't know what else I can do, so I'm also spreading the story to all the forums I know so people can be warned to not use their repair services. Would have done it earlier but I had the international travel and then a whole bunch of work to do when I got back.
Legal action for my time (I estimate I spent >20 hrs on hold/talking to Motorola) wouldn't be worth it, given that any attorney would charge more per hour than Motorola would ever offer me. To be honest, I'd have been satisfied if they had ever offered me a sincere apology, an honest update on the situation, or maybe even that (paltry) $100 that they had considered offering me but in the end took the offer back. I was over a month without a normally functioning smartphone.Instead, all I got was patronization, dishonesty that I'd get a phone back "soon", and a bluetooth headset.
If any of you are stuck down the motorola black hole, the biggest advice I can give is to call the consumer advocacy office. Insist you be transfered up there if you have to. They are also less than honest and less than useful, but they seemed to at least be able to contact the people that could do something. If they tell you something is not possible, don't trust them. Insist to find out who can make it possible, because it probably is. I'd post the number myself, but I don't know how much I'm allowed to.
Yup, this is exactly why I try to repair stuff myself instead of sending it in.
But thanks for sharing.
That's why I get the best buy warranty. 10 bucks a month but this is my 3rd phone. Each one has been free and taken no longer then a week.
Sent from my PACMAN MATRIX HD MAXX
That's why I take care of my electronics.
Not our finest hour...
Raryn said:
TLDR summary: Sent a Razr MAXX HD in to Motorola to have a cracked screen repaired with a guarantee that it would be done within 5 business days. For over the next month, I am continually lied to that I'd get a phone back within the next 1-5 days (depending on who I talk to), before they finally reimburse me for a replacement, well over a month later.
Really sorry to hear it. We (Motorola Support) are just recovering from a rough patch in repair, and looks like you had one of the worst experiences. It's not typical of our performance and we are working hard to get 100 percent back to our quoted turnaround time.
Again, sorry you had such a crummy experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to say I've read elsewhere of delayed repair times.
I am utterly shocked and devastated they were only willing to reimburse you for the subsidised amount! Who says you have an upgrade or access to one?!!
I am even scared to write about screen issues. My insurance company has a hard enough time keeping my model in stock and I can't afford to have $700+ temporarily out of commission.
Legal action... Maybe small claims court?
I would always remember never count on anyone for anything. You're bound to be let down and stressed. I can tell by the girth of your story you mean what you say.
It looks like Motorola read this. I'm shocked they didn't send you a free accessory or something to help compensate you.
I love this phone and its battery life and laugh every time my friends are tethered to an outlet. But all in all its just a cell phone and luckily you were even offered a loaner to begin with.
Fortunately this is not a story we hear every day and hopefully some xda members will chime in with their positive experiences.
Motorola please port webtop to this device!
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD
That is by far the worst experience I have heard of so far, and by all means if the customer has paid for the device and can prove so, should be entitled to a full refund or at least give the original phone back so the person can find other less stressful means of repair. That is simply unacceptable and Motorola should be held fully accountable if they are going to brand their name on anything. This story makes me upset even gees.
Razr HD
Eclipse V 1.3
Who said you were guaranteed to get it back in 5 days? Their website says 7-10 days after receiving it.
My experience with Moto service was OK. Not great. Just OK. I did get it back quick, 5 business days in fact. Their website and tracking are a pathetic joke for sure.
Like you, USPS indicated that my phone had been delivered but their system didnt show it. I contacted them and they gave me the same spill about the system having problems. I can accept that software systems can have problems sometimes so I wasn't to upset. I figured id give it a few days.
A few days passed and my phone still showed it hadn't been received. I called them and made sure (in a very respectful way) that i was very unhappy that they were having problems. They escalated my case and i talked to a new person. The new person gave me about the same explanation as the first person but assured me they would have it to me a max of 10 days from receiving it. Frustrated I accepted their excuse.
The next day it sowed as received in their system and that they were repairing it.
Two days later it showed as shipped. Funny thing was the "Shipped", emphasis on the "-ED", was for that day at like 1:00 pm. I got the notification that it had "shipped" like at 8:00 am. In addition to the fake ship date there was "NO TRACKING". I was thinking that those as shats marked it as shipped to appease me.
I was about ready to call them again but gave them a chance to make good. Then the next day it showed up all nice and shiny.
They did a good job repairing it. They replaced the whole frame, not just the glass. I know because there was a noticeable scuff on the top right corner that is no longer there.
This was actually for my sisters phone. She borrowed mine because here work requires here to have a phone. Anyway, she might not get it back. :cyclops: Ive quite enjoyed it the last few days.
That's horrible!
Good thing I saw this, I'll keep your experience in mind for if I ever need to get anything on my phone repaired. I can't believe you went through that much trouble. I quite am disappointed with Motorola at this moment.
DIY Motorola Repairs
My company, Simple Phone Trade, specializes in Moto repairs. If anyone else breaks a Moto device send me a message if you want a link to our manuals (XDA won't let me post URLs yet) or need direction with parts and tools.
We don't sell parts or tools and are unbiased/agnostic concerning wholesalers (not to mention experienced and knowledgeable).
If you want to hear a worst case scenario with verizon employees and new hardware defects, here you go. Kudos if you read the whole thing, I don't expect most people to...unless you're one of those people with a faulty battery/camera flash/screen/speaker. Then, enjoy and beware.
What follows is a true story.
Thursday 10/30/2014 12pm – Purchase Droid Turbo #1
– Went to Verizon Store and worked with sales associate John to purchase my new droid turbo. I traded in my OG droid razr maxx for $100 rebate, and then John tried to “sell” me a wireless charger for the device by saying he could waive my upgrade fee to apply towards the product. Having already read about the promotion for waived upgrade fees, and knowing it is not only applicable towards products in store (as John was insinuating) I declined, feeling decidedly like John was trying to take advantage of me and the lack of knowledge I may have about current Verizon promotions.
Friday 10/31/2014 –Full Day with Droid Turbo #1
Used Turbo Unit 1 for 24 hrs, after charging to full. My battery drained unusually fast, so that I was getting less than 20 hours on the battery. I took screenshots of my battery reports during two full discharges to demonstrate to reps that the battery was in fact underperforming, knowing that evidence would be useful because it is hard to just look at a phone and tell it has a battery issues.
Saturday 11/1/2014 – Return Turbo #1 for Turbo #2
11am- Returned to Verizon store. I worked with sales associate “Ross” and brought my concerns to his attention. He also frequently made furtive trips to have whispered discussions with Andre, who I assume is his manager, throughout our conversation about my wanting a replacement unit. They did a “test” on my phone in which they just opened up a call and let it sit for 15 minutes, then said “oh it looks like it drained normally.” As if they know, on a phone that is literally 2 days old. I could tell they were bullsh*tting me, they had no interest in looking at the battery data I had saved on the phone demonstrating the VERY fast discharge, and when I expressed my displeasure, Ross again went and had another whispered conversation with Andre, and he came back and said “we want to help you out….” He proceeded to tell me that they would replace the unit for me. He then went into the back and came out with a box in one hand and another Droid Turbo unit in his other hand—I never saw him take it out of the box. He switched my sim card into the unit he brought from the back, and said I had to keep my current box/etc and did not give me the matching box with the unit. Here is the first time I have a unit that doesn’t match my box/IMEI number information. This is despite me requesting the box to keep the serial numbers consistent.
Saturday 11/1/2014 – Later that Day with Turbo #2
When I get Droid Turbo #2 home and start using it that evening in low light conditions, I see that there is a noticeable change in color from the top left to the bottom right of the screen. It was evident in multiple apps, and although subtle, is very apparent when you utilize a graphic designed to test color and brightness consistency on a display. (I used Display Test app, “viewing angle graphic” which demonstrated clearly the screen was not uniform.) I make plans to go in on Sunday and have it exchanged for a unit with consistent color reproduction.
Sunday 11/2/2014 – 11am. – Returning Turbo #2 for Turbo #3
I return to Verizon for the 3rd time in 4 days. At this point, I am feeling decidedly emotionally raw from my previous experiences in which I felt that employees had ZERO interest in what I had to say or show them. I explain that I’m here to have my device replaced because the screen color is not uniform. They immediately get General manager Steven S. to deal with me, and after taking a cursory glance at my unit underneath glaring overhead can lights at the front desk (where you can hardly see the screen anyways) tells me “He doesn’t see a problem.” I am detecting barely contained hostility at this point—I feel that the employees have labeled me as a “problem” to be dealt with. Another employee, Matthew, hovers nearby the entire time I’m dealing with Steven, making me feel even more ganged up on and adding non-helpful comments from time to time. At this point they have made no effort to get any information from me. I needed to tell them that the flaw is visible in dim light, when the screen brightness is turned down lower, and how you can see it in certain apps, etc, but they took a defensive posture from the beginning as though they had already decided I was wrong.
After nearly 90 minutes standing at the counter arguing in front of MANY CUSTOMERS IN THE STORE, that there was a flaw that CAN BE PERCEIVED, I plead for them to just LOOK more closely at what I’m trying to show them. I am at my wit’s end at this point, ready to cancel my contract.
Steven S. finally goes to get a magnifying instrument resembling a jeweler’s loupe, and looks at the test graphic that clearly shows the non-uniform screen through it. HE AGREES THAT HE CAN SEE THAT THERE IS A NON-UNIFORMITY IN THE COLOR REPRODUCTION ON THE SCREEN!!! This is an important point, because later on I am told that “there was no defect found on the units I returned” by Solutions manager Jeff.
Steve S. agrees to replace the unit as defective and tells me Matthew will get my replacement. Matthew then goes into the back and does not emerge for nearly ten minutes. Just to get my unit from the shelf? When he comes out of the back, again, he is holding another turbo unit in one hand, and the box it may or may not have come out of in the other. Like Ross did for my last replacement, Matthew swaps my sim card into the other unit, but does not give me the new box despite my asking to exchange, again, to keep serial numbers consistent.
At this point they could have given me back the unit I had returned the day before and I would not be any wiser. I’m feeling more and more uncomfortable about the lack of transparency in this process, and the way employees at this store are handling my complaints and concerns in general.
I leave the store, vowing never to return and completely emotionally traumatized and exhausted from the process.
When I get home that evening…
…and start to use my Droid Turbo #3….the flash starts to malfunction. At first it just misses timing on a photo every third or so, making photos oddly red and dark. Then, it’s giving an odd “half flash” instead of a fully bright flash occasionally. Solutions Manager Jeff G, sent me text message following up on my customer experience. I responded:
(Mon, 11:31 AM) “the camera flash has been wonky on two occasions, like it isn’t timed right with the shutter..I’ll wait and see how it works out.” He does not respond.
Sunday 11/3 and Monday 11/4 – Turbo #3 Flash Not working at all, periodically.
As I’m testing the camera over Sunday night and Monday morning, the flash stops working completely on three different occasions. Even when set to “always on” the flash has just stopped turning on. It gives a weak “half flash” the first time you try after it’s been sitting a while, then just never turns on again. This happens on and off as I test the camera in various lighting situations. Clearly a malfunction, by any definition.
Again, I text Solutions manager Jeff G:
(Mon 6:49pm) “Hahah crud. My flash no longer works at all. Apparently it wasn’t going to be ok.”
Jeff G responds:
(Mon 7:06pm) “At this point, any manufacture defects needs to go through Motorola directly. We have exchanged 2 devices already for this line we will not be able to exchange out a 3rd device for the same model. If you are still unhappy with this device we can exchange it for a different model phone and we will waive the $35 restocking fee, however, if you feel this is just a manufacture defect you can reach out to Motorola at 800.734.5870 or motorola . com
So according to the Solutions manager , there is a 3 unit limit per customer on models of the same device, despite experiencing manufacturers defects that employees admitted were in fact manufacturer defects?
I respond:
(Mon 7:06pm) “ I didn’t realize there was a limit on manufacturer defects! What would you recommend? Is a non working flash on a phone that has taken less than 50 pictures a manufacturer defect or a feature of the droid turbo? Because I’d love to have your answer on record.”
Jeff G responds:
(Mon 7:13pm) “After reviewing the devices exchanged the manufacture defects that were reported are not currently listed as defects by Motorola as a result the devices exchanged were done as a courtesy as a Verizon customer. Future defects should be reported to Motorola. Again if you are unhappy with this phone we are willing to make a final exception to waive the restocking fee to exchange the device for a different model.”
So, at this point I am insulted and offended. First of all, the devices I returned were not exchanged as a “courtesy”—I had demonstrated and provided evidence, BEYOND WHAT SHOULD EVER HAVE BEEN NECESSARY OF A CUSTOMER YOU WANT TO BE COURTIOUS TO, that each of the devices I exchanged were not performing as advertised. Secondly, he is flat our refusing to honor Motorola’s manufacturer’s warranty, despite the fact that I have had the unit for less than 24 hours and it is in PRISTINE condition.
Can a Verizon employee (Jeff) arbitrarily and retroactively change the terms of your exchange of a defective device? Verizon is contractually obligated to provide you with a device that functions as described, but instead Jeff is saying “basically, we took care of you because you whined about it hard enough.” This is despite the verbal attestation of multiple employees at the location that the defects were indeed noted at my time of exchange.
Tuesdsay, 11/4/2014 – I call Motorola. (Case # XXX-XXXXX)
I take Jeff’s advice and call Motorola- I still want a functioning Droid Turbo. Talk to Tech support about flash issue, they agree to send a replacement unit no problem. They ask me for the IMEI number. This is where the problems created by the employees at the Verizon Store Maple Village come to the surface.
I give Motorola my IMEI on the box (XXXXXXXXXXXXX) —but it doesn’t match my device info in their computers. (Remember how they would not give me the matching boxes with my exchanged devices?)
So we investigate further. Motorola tech has me dial a number that gives me Droid Turbo #3’s internal number. (IMEI: XXXXXXXXXXXXX) I get put on hold…and apparently escalated to Tier 2 tech support because the number I gave them isn’t matching the numbers they should have in their system. Fraud alarm bells have gone off, something about what he saw in the info attached to the IMEE# of my device.
Motorola tells me that the Verizon employees have done something wrong, and perhaps even illegal, in processing my exchanges. He says that I need to return to the store and request a replacement unit, with the matching box, serial numbers, parts, etc. This effects my warranty, and apparently could be related to illegal practices behind the scenes at this particular Verizon store? He’s vague about the details, but says they need to escalate it. He gives me a case number and says I’ll be contacted within 48 hours during the investigation.
In Summary:
I don’t know what to say at this point. I demand as many replacement Droid Turbo models as is necessary until I receive a unit that functions as designed and advertised, without defect or flaw, and not as a “courtesy as a Verizon customer,” but as a “fulfilment of the contractual obligation Verizon has to its customers.” This does not seem to be an unreasonable request, given that I am paying for a product and service.
Update at time of publishing: My camera flash has not malfunctioned in 24 hrs, I don't know if it was just working out the kinks, was software related, or new battery, who knows. I don't. What I do know is I have 0% expectation that I will get a replacement unit, so I'm probably just dropping the turbo instead of risking having an unwarranty-able device with no Verizon support and a potential faulty flash.
Try to get the district manager's contact info - they will be able to help you out.
That sucks man. I do have a couple things to say (I know you're mad and I don't blame you for being mad but just some insight on the phone issues not Verizon I won't back them up) I got the Turbo as well and as far as the battery goes.....the first day it's going to suck. Smartphones aren't going to be perfect out of the box because they haven't experienced real world scenarios yet. Phone's batteries can take up to 2 days sometimes more to become for lack of a better term calibrated. My battery was the same but I let it do it's thing and now I get over 24hrs if not close to 40. Yes I'm concious about how I use it but it performs really well. Also your IMEI# is under setting>about phone>status. You don't need the box. One final thing and I'm not assuming anything but....there was an update that came basically the same day this phone went on sale. Now I don't know exactly what the update was for but it may or may not have fixed some of the problems you were having.
As far as Verizon....yeah they didn't treat you right. I'm sorry they did that to you and the reason for this post was again to help you. I noticed you joined xda just this month so I'll say this. This site does a really good job at helping people with issues/questions with their phones. Sometimes it's better to look around on the site or other sites to see what if any other kind of problems other users are having. I am here everyday to read up on things that I may have missed. I mean I spent $600 on the phone, I want to know as much as I can about how to fix or take care of it. No it's not on us as users to fix the problem of a company's mistakes. But sometimes it can produce better results. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions or just to let me know what you think.
Can you just return the phone since you are still in the 14 day return period and get something else?
I dont want to sound like an *** because I have sympathy in wanting a "perfect" phone... but none of the issues you are describing sound like 'manufacturer's defects' to me.
A manufacturer defect is something like: the phone doesnt hold any charge, or half the screen is white, or there is no speakerphone.
"unusually fast drain" of the battery is totally subjective. the screen color issues have already been noted as simply being the result of the quality of the screens in general.
Again, I get you're not happy with the phones, but it may just be that your expectations are too high. the whole sim card swap and holding onto the box thing is wierd though.
rajuabju said:
I dont want to sound like an *** because I have sympathy in wanting a "perfect" phone... but none of the issues you are describing sound like 'manufacturer's defects' to me.
A manufacturer defect is something like: the phone doesnt hold any charge, or half the screen is white, or there is no speakerphone.
"unusually fast drain" of the battery is totally subjective. the screen color issues have already been noted as simply being the result of the quality of the screens in general.
Again, I get you're not happy with the phones, but it may just be that your expectations are too high. the whole sim card swap and holding onto the box thing is wierd though.
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Click to collapse
I agree, knowing what I know now about battery new battery cycles, I may not have ever even taken that first one back. In fact, I wish to god I hadn't, because the flash and screen on that one were functioning and consistent (and up to my high standards )
Honestly I am just looking at changing to another model...I just don't think there's another one I want right now, I waited 3 years for the Droid Turbo and I want a good one damnit.
I had some MAJOR issues with Verizon over the past week, spent over 12 hours on the phone with them, spoken with 7 different Reps, until I had enough. I called their Corporate Office......Ezekiel took care of my issues in ONE phone call, AND I was credited for my inconvenience. I've been a Verizon Customer for 8 years, have 7 lines with them, spend, on average, $5500 a year on Service, more if I buy devices (I've bought 4 tablets from them over the past two years my latest being the Note Pro 12.2) and I regularly upgrade my phones out of contract. IF you're having issues again, I'd recommend giving this guy a call, or call their Executive Offices in New York.
I've removed the personalized message and Case Number, but this is the Contact Info for him directly.
If you have additional concerns, please contact me at (770)-521-5633. My office hours are 8:00am– 4:00pm EST Monday through Friday.
Regards,
Ezekiel Fields
Executive Relations
Im perplexed that you didnt just return the phone. There is nothing wrong with our droid turbos but im starting to hate them and i expect to just return them. I dont mind restock fees to get rid of something i dislike
Don't take this too harshly bro but, your being a **** about all of this. If you don't like the Turbo, take their offer to get something else. Otherwise, STFU. They could tell you to piss off but, they are trying to make you happy and you are refusing. They could ignore your emails and calls and tell you you are delusional and let you be stuck with what you have. Here they are though, eating cash hand over fist exchanging phones for you and you persist. If Motorola tells Verizon that your problem isn't a problem, Verizon eats the phone. At $700 a pop, no matter how loyal a customer you are, there is going to come a time when it's just more profitable to let you walk.
Verizon swapping out the phones without visibly removing them from a brand new box, or at least providing you with the original retail packaging, is where I feel Verizon has really screwed up. As a customer, without the original packaging and paper trail, you have no way of supporting any proof of purchase or warranty claims (as you have unfortunately discovered). You also have no way of knowing whether or not those devices are actually new devices. Honestly, given the bull**** runaround they have given you on each occasion, I would seriously not be surprised if each of those "new" phones are actually units other customers have purchased and returned, likely for the same reasons you did. They are probably trying to reduce RMA chargebacks for non-defective units so are betting that either customers perceive faults where there are none, or that some poor schlub will get it and not know any better.
I'd definitely try and get in contact with someone in customer relations, maybe post something on their twitter account, that store is dicking you around.
Otherwise, did you have to pay anything for the phone, or did you use Edge? If you paid something for it, if you did so on a credit card, you may want to contact the card company and see what options you can pursue through them.
Honestly I would just return the phone but not getting a matching imei box after stating your defect is ridiculous. Another thing is that they give you two different ones from the back, what is this? A McDonalds and you exchanging a burger because you didn't ask for pickles. That store is ridiculous and I would take my business elsewhere. I've had a couple instances where I see a problem and they don't believe me and they ask coworkers and they agree because they're buddy buddy and have to be a team. It makes you feel uncomfortable, its not their devices, why do they think returning a phone is a problem. Its not coming out of their pockets, its not their 2 year agreement.
Sent from my DROID TURBO 64 GB
xkape said:
Don't take this too harshly bro but, your being a **** about all of this. If you don't like the Turbo, take their offer to get something else. Otherwise, STFU. They could tell you to piss off but, they are trying to make you happy and you are refusing. They could ignore your emails and calls and tell you you are delusional and let you be stuck with what you have. Here they are though, eating cash hand over fist exchanging phones for you and you persist. If Motorola tells Verizon that your problem isn't a problem, Verizon eats the phone. At $700 a pop, no matter how loyal a customer you are, there is going to come a time when it's just more profitable to let you walk.
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Click to collapse
You sound like the employees at the Verizon store I have been visiting--trolly. (Troll-y?) Sorry bub, I'm not going to be intimidated into shutting up about real issues with a product I pay money for, not by you, or the managers at my verizon store.
And here I go breaking my rule about not feeding your kind.
zachtheowl said:
You sound like the employees at the Verizon store I have been visiting--trolly. (Troll-y?) Sorry bub, I'm not going to be intimidated into shutting up about real issues with a product I pay money for, not by you, or the managers at my verizon store.
And here I go breaking my rule about not feeding your kind.
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Click to collapse
ok
I work for Verizon on the indirect side (non corporate) in Jersey. They totally violated their own return exchange policy. The reason they did what they did..if my logic is correct..is simply give you a different phone without actually processing an exchange because it will make their internal numbers look bad because of how hard VZW Corp is pushing this phone. I got mine day 1 (also from corporate) and my battery also was not perfect day one..but has gotten better. I know the rep I dealt with personally and know he won't try to screw me. I would recommend going to another Corporate store and explaining the situation to them. Be calm and don't be afraid to turn on the poor mes. Don't be angry as anger is simply reciprocated and doesn't force intimidation like everyone thinks..all it does is make people less likely to help you. Avoid that other store like the plague..now and in the future. Any questions..don't be afraid to PM me.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
dano1282 said:
I work for Verizon on the indirect side (non corporate) in Jersey. They totally violated their own return exchange policy. The reason they did what they did..if my logic is correct..is simply give you a different phone without actually processing an exchange because it will make their internal numbers look bad because of how hard VZW Corp is pushing this phone. I got mine day 1 (also from corporate) and my battery also was not perfect day one..but has gotten better. I know the rep I dealt with personally and know he won't try to screw me. I would recommend going to another Corporate store and explaining the situation to them. Be calm and don't be afraid to turn on the poor mes. Don't be angry as anger is simply reciprocated and doesn't force intimidation like everyone thinks..all it does is make people less likely to help you. Avoid that other store like the plague..now and in the future. Any questions..don't be afraid to PM me.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
Thank you for the helpful advice. I hear what you are saying about the anger! Unfortunately it tends to be the only emotion left behind after being so thoroughly run around. That at bitterness
I shared my post with the Michigan district managers via e-mail. I'm hoping that they'll care enough about the fraudulent employee practices to get involved.
I'm with the others here that have said you are being a douche about this. Sorry to hear your third and final exchange from Verizon has an actual defect. The battery, as you already admitted was a mistake to exchange for. The screen was also dumb. If you can only detect a problem with a screen in low light with the brightness turned down there is no problem. That is a "perfect" screen by manufacturer standards. The flash sounds like a real problem and I wouldn't be happy with the phone you have now either, but the problem is that you have already returned tm2 phones which testing showed to be "perfect" and now those phones will have to be refurbished and sold as such at a loss for Verizon. They have to make the call to stop exchanging for the same device at some point because not only are you costing them money, you are depleting the stock in that store meaning they may lose customers because the phone they want is no longer in stock.
As far as them walking out of the back with the phone out of the box, I would interperate that as them pulling out the phone and powering it on before bringing it out to you to make sure that it is functioning properly. I'm not sure why they wouldn't give you the boxes, but as someone else pointed out, there's no reason you needed them. As far as Motorola saying they did something "illegal", I'm calling BS. That isn't information they would share with a customer. They would simply tell you to go back to the store or they would exchange/repair your device.
To the guy who works at an indirect store, I worked at one for quite a while too and I would like to share with everyone else that indirect employees are not told anything about internal exchange practices. I don't know for sure that pulling a phone out of the box before bringing it to the counter is or isn't against policy, but I do know for sure that that isn't something an indirect employee would know.
My Turbos should be here tomorrow and I hope they're only as "defective" as the OP's first 2...
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
I wish i was b.s'ing about Motos fraud investigation--my replacement would be on its way now if it wasn't for this. Tech supp tried to process exchange, ran into "unusual information" associated with my ohones ImEI #, elevated my call to a manager, who asked me more questions, told me verizon employees at the store "really did not take care of me," and that they have to open an investigation into the store's practices, putting my replacement on hold--he said the words suspected fraud. *shrug*
rhouse1983 said:
That sucks man. I do have a couple things to say (I know you're mad and I don't blame you for being mad but just some insight on the phone issues not Verizon I won't back them up) I got the Turbo as well and as far as the battery goes.....the first day it's going to suck. Smartphones aren't going to be perfect out of the box because they haven't experienced real world scenarios yet. Phone's batteries can take up to 2 days sometimes more to become for lack of a better term calibrated. My battery was the same but I let it do it's thing and now I get over 24hrs if not close to 40. Yes I'm concious about how I use it but it performs really well. Also your IMEI# is under setting>about phone>status. You don't need the box. One final thing and I'm not assuming anything but....there was an update that came basically the same day this phone went on sale. Now I don't know exactly what the update was for but it may or may not have fixed some of the problems you were having.
As far as Verizon....yeah they didn't treat you right. I'm sorry they did that to you and the reason for this post was again to help you. I noticed you joined xda just this month so I'll say this. This site does a really good job at helping people with issues/questions with their phones. Sometimes it's better to look around on the site or other sites to see what if any other kind of problems other users are having. I am here everyday to read up on things that I may have missed. I mean I spent $600 on the phone, I want to know as much as I can about how to fix or take care of it. No it's not on us as users to fix the problem of a company's mistakes. But sometimes it can produce better results. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions or just to let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the types of guys that make XDA awesome
I really appreciate the kind words sir. I've always felt this is a place where users are supposed to help each other. And as I have been a person (lurker really) who has used this site since my droid x days I felt the new guy needed some assistance. Again thanks. As far as my on topic point, Verizon didn't help the situation and that sucks but again I feel as users sometimes it's better to try to figure out the problem yourself cuz when you add more people to the mix it can get sloppy. XDA is the place you can always go for guidance.
cstone1991 said:
I'm not sure why they wouldn't give you the boxes, but as someone else pointed out, there's no reason you needed them..
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Stop being stupid. When purchasing a new product, you expect it to come with an original retail manufacturing box. That box and internals should match the product purchased, period. Otherwise there would be no point in manufacturers investing time and money into labeling each box with specific serial numbers, model numbers, etc.
Has for the OP -
I had to exchange my Droid Turbo 32GB BN due to a defect as well, though my Verizon experience was much different than the OP during exchange. When exchanging my unit, I was very professional & civil about my complaint, it can make all the difference in the world.
The Exchange:
I was approached immediately upon entering my local Verizon store and greeted by an employee named Jason. I informed Jason to accompany me to the location of the demo display units and personally began explaining to him the differences between devices.
Jason was very hesitant at first, but I quickly produced alternative examples with more detailed information and replicated the issue in real time. Jason at this point was in agreement with me but not fully committed to exchange the device as he had to get manager approval. This transaction took a total of about 5 minutes, from the minute I stepped into the store.
The manager, Jeff, approached the sales counter at this point and spoke briefly with Jason. Immediately the manager began asking the same questions Jason did before hand. In which case I explained to Jeff the same information provided previously with Jason. This transaction took roughly 4 minutes.
Manager gives the go ahead, but before I let him walk away I immediately ask him if they had the 64GB in stock as they did not have it previously. Manager confirms stock, in which I inform him I am willing to pay the difference minus the restocking fee. Manager agrees, Jason retrieves the new Turbo 64GB in an unopened box and begins activation. I quickly ask to see the device and inspect it before he proceeds to make sure it does not have the same issues/defects. Everything looked fine, I give the go ahead. This transaction took 6 minutes.
At this point, while waiting for the activation process, I strike up a nice conversation with a couple of the employees around the counter (as it was slow for them at the time). I bring up the question of how many Turbo units they had sold in the past couple days. The numbers were surprising, around 23 units locally in two days (not including online). They even went so far as to inform me about the limited edition employee version with red metal trim to match Verizon branding and two of the four employees present were actually using Turbos personally.
Activation goes through, I am handed the retail box that matches the unit sold and a receipt with the cost difference. No restock fee applied, only the upgraded capacity valued. They put my exchanged unit in a box, but I inform them to take it out and reset as I did not perform that. They hand me the phone, letting me take care of the reset. I finish reset and complete our exchange.
I thank Jason for his time, we shake hands. I locate and approach the manager Jeff, thank him for his time and shake hands. I do this, so that at this point I establish a connection. Chances are they don't care and I'm immediately forgotten the minute I leave and that is fine. The point is if I have to come back again, I more likely made a bigger positive impact than running in flipping tables
At this point the total time spent from the moment I enter to exiting the store was roughly 28 minutes, chalk it up to 30 give or take.
Sorry you had a bad experience all around, but a little generosity and professionalism can go a long way. (Not aimed at you specifically, don't get defensive)
TL;DR: They did not treat you properly and you have a right to complain.
Hello all,
Just wanted to share my experience with you all on how long it will take to get a Xperia Z3 TC model SGP 621 fixed/repaired.
When I purchased my tablet, since it is an international model, I had to buy it from the only shop in the NYC area that offered it. Which in itself is hard to believe since you can pretty much find anything in NYC, but in this case, only one shop had it (which shows how hard it is to obtain the Z3 with LTE capability).
So I purchased it and all was well. Was loving it, and using it, till one day, it just stopped working. I was using it fine, checking email, and reading news online, put it down, and when I came back about 30 mins later, it wouldn't turn on. I tried everything. Holding the power button for like 10 seconds. Power + Volume up button for 10 seconds. Connected the power cord. Everything. No response. Heck, even the charging light wouldn't come on, but the Z3TC would get warm to hot when plugged in.
I called Sony care from the number on their website, and explained to the tech what was going on. He emailed me a link to recovery software, and installed it on my Mac, and still, no response. Eventually, he determined I had to send it in to be evaluated/repaired. (Use this day of reference as day zero)
Here's were things go really bad. They told me they would send me a FedEx email label to have it shipped. After almost a week, still no email. I called, they said I cancelled my repair request (which I hadn’t), and then after complaining, he said he was going to get my label expedited. I actually got it the next day, and shipped the tablet out to them the next day. (Day 7)
I used the tracking number, and confirmed that they received it on day 11. I waited an extra week to hear back from them if they started working on it. Nothing. Waited another 5 days, nothing. I finally call them, and they inform me that they haven’t received nothing, but since their repair services has been closed for almost 2 weeks due to the holidays, they have a huge backlog and it’s probably in there. So now I wait again. Finally on around day 30 (after calling, because they don’t contact you), I am told that it has been received, and they are going to work on it. After about another week, I call back. They say there is a problem, and waiting for the parts, but to be patient. I wait another week.
I call again, they say they repaired it and are awaiting final paperwork. I am really happy. I ask what the problem was, they say they have no information, but that it was fixed, and that they are going to ship it back to me as soon as the paperwork is ready. I say ok, and wait another 4-5 days. Finally I call back, and the guy says that they haven’t done any work to my tablet, and were waiting for me to call them back and let them know what I wanted to be done.
*PAUSE*
By now, it’s been like day 49 since my tablet stopped working. It’s going on a month and a half. Note: this is my phone. It’s now been in repair more than twice as long as I’ve had it. I am beyond livid at this point, and believe I have been MORE than patient and understanding in being given the run around.
At this point, and having a verbal back and forth with the 6 or 7th tech I’ve talked to in the past 6 weeks, he suggests I speak to his supervisor.
I start speaking to his supervisor Jerry in customer relations, and we started going at it too. The long and short of it was this. He said they couldn’t give me the same tablet I own, (the SGP 621) because it is an LTE/international model. So what they could do is offer me the U.S. variant (the SGP 612) that was only WIFI capable. I told him this is unacceptable It would be like me buying a premium version of a car, it stops working, I go to the dealer, and they offer me an inferior model, even though I paid heavily for the premium one. After more going back and forth, he told me in order to get it serviced, I would need to contact United Arab Emirates, because that’s apparently where my phone was imported from.
After going back and forth, I asked him why I wasn’t told that in the first place, instead of wasting almost 7 weeks on back and forth with Sony North America? He informed me that, “As a starting point and courtesy, Sony North America has to try to fix and it first.
I was flabbergasted. I was shocked on why they would even need to attempt to fix something, they knew they could never fix. He again repeated it was a courtesy. After this circular argument, I told him FedEx me my phone back. I want it on my desk by tomorrow. Now that I have wasted all this time. At this point I was very angry. And he said he would try to get it back to me by the next day, and he had to call the repair center and bla bla bla. I told him to call them, and we hung up.
The next day, expecting to see my tablet, there was nothing. I was going to call back by the end of the day, but instead Jerry called me back. He informed me that there was good news. That Sony had found the parts, and were going to fix my tablet for me and ship it back to me.
Finally! Good news! I was very happy and pleased by this point. And he told me I should get it soon. I waited about 4 days, and finally a package from FedEx arrived. When I opened it, to my amazement, it was a brand new Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact SGP 621. Shockingly, it was a demo U.S. variant!
First off, I didn’t even know Sony made U.S. Variants of international devices, but this one was totally legit. I was sooooo happy. I tried to write him a letter to give to his boss and team, but unfortunately, I never heard back from him. I told him to send me his email address, and I would have gladly sent a letter for him and his staff to be recognized for their efforts.
After almost 2 months (8 weeks) since this whole debacle started, I finally had my phone/tablet back.
I left out a lot of parts to this story, but this is the jist of it. The long and short of it is this. If you buy an international model of their products, and it breaks or something goes wrong, be ready to wait for it to be serviced (if it can even be serviced). It’s very possible, and likely, that Jerry went above and beyond the call of duty by contacting people high up in the food chain, to get me a rare demo unit that is not available (if ever). In general, if you buy a phone/tablet/whatever from another country, be ready. It is going to be EXTREMELY difficult, if even possible.
In the end, I am very grateful to Jerry, and his efforts. But I think that Sony should have a better system in place for getting you to the right people you need soon, in order to get you back up and running. If it wasn’t for Jerry, I’d still be in limbo trying to find a way to call UAE, and most of all, overcoming the language barrier and even trying to set up a method or way for them to service my broken phone.
Wow, almost 2 months. I would have thought US had better customer support for such things. In my country if they can't get it fixed in 1 month you can ask your money back or a new product.
You were very patient with them, I probably would have called every 2 days.
I had a similar experience in getting my xperia z2 repaired last year for a broken magnetic charging port. It was 2 months of me calling them every week. At first it was waiting for parts, then it was repaired and awaiting paperwork, then it was they cant fix it because its a model intended for taiwan. Finally after a lot of escalation they sent me a an international model replacement. Whole process took 2.5 months when they quoted 8 business days originally. And Yes I gave them my IMEI on the inital phone call and verified with the person that sony USA could service it. Sort of a bitter sweet exp overall, mostly bitter
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
tonysunshine said:
I had a similar experience in getting my xperia z2 repaired last year for a broken magnetic charging port. It was 2 months of me calling them every week. At first it was waiting for parts, then it was repaired and awaiting paperwork, then it was they cant fix it because its a model intended for taiwan. Finally after a lot of escalation they sent me a an international model replacement. Whole process took 2.5 months when they quoted 8 business days originally. And Yes I gave them my IMEI on the inital phone call and verified with the person that sony USA could service it. Sort of a bitter sweet exp overall, mostly bitter
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it fixed under warranty? Was your product an import?
Sent from my SGP621 using XDA Free mobile app
Yes it was an import. Bought off ebay. And eventually they agreed to replace it under warranty. Took quite a few angry phone calls though
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
AirBruce said:
Hello all,
Just wanted to share my experience with you all on how long it will take to get a Xperia Z3 TC model SGP 621 fixed/repaired.
When I purchased my tablet, since it is an international model, I had to buy it from the only shop in the NYC area that offered it. Which in itself is hard to believe since you can pretty much find anything in NYC, but in this case, only one shop had it (which shows how hard it is to obtain the Z3 with LTE capability).
So I purchased it and all was well. Was loving it, and using it, till one day, it just stopped working. I was using it fine, checking email, and reading news online, put it down, and when I came back about 30 mins later, it wouldn't turn on. I tried everything. Holding the power button for like 10 seconds. Power + Volume up button for 10 seconds. Connected the power cord. Everything. No response. Heck, even the charging light wouldn't come on, but the Z3TC would get warm to hot when plugged in.
I called Sony care from the number on their website, and explained to the tech what was going on. He emailed me a link to recovery software, and installed it on my Mac, and still, no response. Eventually, he determined I had to send it in to be evaluated/repaired. (Use this day of reference as day zero)
Here's were things go really bad. They told me they would send me a FedEx email label to have it shipped. After almost a week, still no email. I called, they said I cancelled my repair request (which I hadn’t), and then after complaining, he said he was going to get my label expedited. I actually got it the next day, and shipped the tablet out to them the next day. (Day 7)
I used the tracking number, and confirmed that they received it on day 11. I waited an extra week to hear back from them if they started working on it. Nothing. Waited another 5 days, nothing. I finally call them, and they inform me that they haven’t received nothing, but since their repair services has been closed for almost 2 weeks due to the holidays, they have a huge backlog and it’s probably in there. So now I wait again. Finally on around day 30 (after calling, because they don’t contact you), I am told that it has been received, and they are going to work on it. After about another week, I call back. They say there is a problem, and waiting for the parts, but to be patient. I wait another week.
I call again, they say they repaired it and are awaiting final paperwork. I am really happy. I ask what the problem was, they say they have no information, but that it was fixed, and that they are going to ship it back to me as soon as the paperwork is ready. I say ok, and wait another 4-5 days. Finally I call back, and the guy says that they haven’t done any work to my tablet, and were waiting for me to call them back and let them know what I wanted to be done.
*PAUSE*
By now, it’s been like day 49 since my tablet stopped working. It’s going on a month and a half. Note: this is my phone. It’s now been in repair more than twice as long as I’ve had it. I am beyond livid at this point, and believe I have been MORE than patient and understanding in being given the run around.
At this point, and having a verbal back and forth with the 6 or 7th tech I’ve talked to in the past 6 weeks, he suggests I speak to his supervisor.
I start speaking to his supervisor Jerry in customer relations, and we started going at it too. The long and short of it was this. He said they couldn’t give me the same tablet I own, (the SGP 621) because it is an LTE/international model. So what they could do is offer me the U.S. variant (the SGP 612) that was only WIFI capable. I told him this is unacceptable It would be like me buying a premium version of a car, it stops working, I go to the dealer, and they offer me an inferior model, even though I paid heavily for the premium one. After more going back and forth, he told me in order to get it serviced, I would need to contact United Arab Emirates, because that’s apparently where my phone was imported from.
After going back and forth, I asked him why I wasn’t told that in the first place, instead of wasting almost 7 weeks on back and forth with Sony North America? He informed me that, “As a starting point and courtesy, Sony North America has to try to fix and it first.
I was flabbergasted. I was shocked on why they would even need to attempt to fix something, they knew they could never fix. He again repeated it was a courtesy. After this circular argument, I told him FedEx me my phone back. I want it on my desk by tomorrow. Now that I have wasted all this time. At this point I was very angry. And he said he would try to get it back to me by the next day, and he had to call the repair center and bla bla bla. I told him to call them, and we hung up.
The next day, expecting to see my tablet, there was nothing. I was going to call back by the end of the day, but instead Jerry called me back. He informed me that there was good news. That Sony had found the parts, and were going to fix my tablet for me and ship it back to me.
Finally! Good news! I was very happy and pleased by this point. And he told me I should get it soon. I waited about 4 days, and finally a package from FedEx arrived. When I opened it, to my amazement, it was a brand new Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact SGP 621. Shockingly, it was a demo U.S. variant!
First off, I didn’t even know Sony made U.S. Variants of international devices, but this one was totally legit. I was sooooo happy. I tried to write him a letter to give to his boss and team, but unfortunately, I never heard back from him. I told him to send me his email address, and I would have gladly sent a letter for him and his staff to be recognized for their efforts.
After almost 2 months (8 weeks) since this whole debacle started, I finally had my phone/tablet back.
I left out a lot of parts to this story, but this is the jist of it. The long and short of it is this. If you buy an international model of their products, and it breaks or something goes wrong, be ready to wait for it to be serviced (if it can even be serviced). It’s very possible, and likely, that Jerry went above and beyond the call of duty by contacting people high up in the food chain, to get me a rare demo unit that is not available (if ever). In general, if you buy a phone/tablet/whatever from another country, be ready. It is going to be EXTREMELY difficult, if even possible.
In the end, I am very grateful to Jerry, and his efforts. But I think that Sony should have a better system in place for getting you to the right people you need soon, in order to get you back up and running. If it wasn’t for Jerry, I’d still be in limbo trying to find a way to call UAE, and most of all, overcoming the language barrier and even trying to set up a method or way for them to service my broken phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, had something like this with the z ultra. It wouldnt charge at different angles but they said since it was imported, they arent responsible for it (think i had something like this with a samsung device too). This is why I have insurance with worth ave grou o(google them, legit, i've legit used the warranty for some very expensive repairs and they've always come through just read the fine print carefully) they wont fix mechanical breakdown but they do cover accidental damage so...
Motherf... well, as well as Sony has learned from Apple's pricing, they could certainly learn a little fruity customer service too.
What does surprise me is that they actually try and repair those gadgets. I think it'd just be cheaper for any manufacturer to simply ship a new/refurb one to you after confirming a shopstopper defect and be done with it.
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
I just want to share my sad story with you. I've been on xda for 7-8 years but I didn't want to use my other account. Hope you understand.
Mobicity, The Silence of the Lambs
original article by Mislav Bušić, via mob.hr
Last year, soon after the launch of Nexus 6, I ordered this device from a highly reliable British webshop called mobicity.co.uk.
At the time, they were taking preorders, and due to certain discounts, I managed to buy it at a considerably lower price than in any other store.
I had to wait for almost four months to receive the device I had ordered. To put it mildly,
I was impatient and angry – both at Motorola and at mobicity – mostly because of the lack of information I was getting from them.
However, I had no other choice but to wait patiently.
Finally, I got hold of Nexus and I immediately started a detailed inspection of the device. I ran an out-of-the-ordinary unboxing,
compared it to its main rivals, Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus, and I wrote my review. My dear editor was so pleased with everything that he,
at the very least, wished for his own copy of the device.
In the meantime, we tested various other devices, and I used the Nexus 6 along with my Note 4. At the end of May,
there was a period of three weeks during which I completely stopped using Nexus. Due to circumstances at the time,
I was travelling a lot, so I placed the Nexus back into its original packaging, because Note 4, with its far better camera and battery life,
was simply a better choice when going on a trip.
Since I wasn’t using the Nexus, I decided to pass it along to my editor. Who doesn’t love “the smell of a new smartphone in the morning”?
Since I do backup of all my smartphones almost on a daily basis, I took the box and went straight to the post office.
At the counter, in the post office, I decided to double-check if everything was in place. What followed was utter shock and disbelief.
The battery of Nexus 6 was inflated like a pack of the cheapest crisps. The cover/lid came off and there was no point in sending the device at all.
In the pre-cardiac condition, I called Krešo, my editor, to explain the whole situation. I don’t know who was in a greater state of shock, him or me.
He, because he wasn’t getting his new toy, or I, because I had it and was now left without it.
Since unfortunately, Motorola doesn’t have a representative in Croatia at all, and mobicity offers no European guarantee,
I had no other choice, but to contact more-or-less all domestic service centres in the hope of finding someone who could repair my Nexus.
I decided to log on to mobicity’s webpage to contact their customer service, and I was again confronted with another unpleasant surprise.
My account, which I had used to buy dozens of other devices, had been deleted because it had been a couple of months since my last log-in and/or purchase.
At this point I was furious. I managed to get their customer service email address and I finally managed to explain my problem to them.
What followed was a dozen of emails during the next fortnight in which I tried to explain that the device was kept in a box, in a room, at room temperature,
away from the sunlight, turned off, with no contact to moisture or cosmic dust. In a nutshell, the conditions were more than perfect.
Finally we reached the conclusion that it wasn’t my fault that the battery got inflated.
During the following fortnight we exchanged yet another dozen of emails in which mobicity very politely explained that it would be best if I could find a service centre in Zagreb that would fix my device.
The biggest problem was the non-existence of a telephone contact with the personnel at mobicity so that I could explain the situation more efficiently and quickly.
Unfortunately, their support service is as prompt and effective as the Croatian judiciary system, so you have to wait for a reply sometimes even for a week.
Weeks went by and mobicity kept on insisting on issuing a €50 voucher which would, according to them,
make up for the mental pain and the cost of battery replacement as well as possible broken motherboard or whatever.
No matter how much I insisted on sending my Nexus directly to them to have it serviced, they persistently refused to accept it.
The main excuse was the somewhat strange ban on sending inflated batteries by plane across the European Union.
This sounds logical – the battery might explode and take down the entire plane.
After a few more emails, I came to understand that this ban applies to all types of postal services, not just air mail.
After I had realised that we cannot come to an understanding, I directed mobicity’s customer service to mob.hr, the web portal I work for.
mob.hr actually attracts 200,000 unique visits a month and we cover an area of around 20 million people and, in fact,
we are the highest rated daily blog on mobile telecommunications in ExYu.
Mobicity took this as a threat and almost refused any further cooperation.
Then I politely explained that a threat would mean writing an article in English about their customer treatment and sharing this article on all leading world web portals,
including those in the USA as well as those in the UK, featuring a whole lot of pictures, attached emails and a video in English ready to be uploaded on our YouTube.
Eventually we reached an understanding. They apologized and decided to accept my Nexus 6 and service it if I agree to remove the battery before sending the phone.
That is exactly what happened. I managed to remove the battery (which meant taking the whole device apart), and I sent the device to Great Britain.
I was patiently checking the tracking number and I saw that the package had been delivered on July, 23.
I thought that maybe they would contact me upon receiving the package, and since this didn’t happen, I decided to contact them.
It turns out that if I hadn’t contacted them, my Nexus would remain there for weeks without them knowing about the whole situation.
Didn’t worry about this too much as they assured me that the device would be serviced in a few weeks’ time, so I decided to wait patiently.
Days went by and the only contact I had with the service centre was the “well-organized” customer service. I kept reminding them and sending them emails once or twice a week.
Weeks went by, and so did the first month since they received my device, and mobiycity’s customer service still had absolutely no information about the status of my device – what’s its status,
are they still waiting for parts, did they notice some other misfunctions apart from the missing battery… as if they hadn’t received the device at all.
I kept sending them emails on a weekly basis until they finally responded. Six weeks after they had received my phone,
they replied that the device was being inspected by their technicians – which actually means that they were staring at it wondering where the battery was.
I was furious, but I managed to calm myself down and I contacted the European Consumer Centre (ECC). They informed me that, since the English are involved,
I can do nothing but wait. They were kind enough to offer help and they contacted some of their colleagues in London who might call mobicity and ask them to speed thing up.
In case mobicity turned them down, the story would end here since, legally, there is no time constraint regarding the servicing of the device!
After two weeks I was informed that the battery had been replaced and that the device was being further tested.
In translation, the servicer’s son got hold of it for free for another couple of weeks or even months to play games, and,
in case the battery doesn’t get inflated again after the kid tries all possible games on Android, I will be given my device back.
After 4 (!) months, I received absolutely no news about my Nexus. Dozens of emails, complaints and status requests went by practically unnoticed.
Mobicity sent me generic emails such as “soon”, “we still don’t know”, “we’re waiting for our repair centre to reply” and so on.
At this moment I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get my device back or if it had been given to someone else as a wonderful Christmas present.
If someone did something like this in Croatia, we would be accused of being backward, uncivilised and incompetent. Since all of this took place in the UK,
the cradle of civilisation, it is perfectly clear that there are plenty of incompetent, uneducated and lazy people outside Croatia. Maybe if I hadn’t been cheap,
and if I had offered that PR person at the other side of the email some £10 bribe, maybe he would have checked where my Nexus was and would have told his colleagues to fix my phone.
At least, that’s how it works in Croatia, where you need bribe even to get your driving licence.
About 3 weeks ago, I threatened mobicity with negative feedback article, and gave them deadline till friday to repair my Nexus. Within 24 hours,
they said my device is repaired and waiting to be shipped. Guess what? They still haven’t manage to ship it!
So, to sum up, having a warranty is a wonderful thing without which you shouldn’t buy a device because you could easily have an accident as I did, no matter how careful you are.
Be careful where you buy your device and what kind of warranty it comes with. Well-known webshops are sometimes considerably cheaper than the local retail,
but they come with certain risks involved which you have to be prepared for. Your device will most likely be taken to be serviced,
but be prepared wait for it for a couple of months or even to lose it altogether. All things considered, we do not recommend buying from the mobicity.
This is the risk you run with all sites like this.
Also Admitting to having more then one account is an easy way to have both accounts banned.
Thread closed.