I am an AT&T customer that uses-- used a rooted G1 from eBay. I called HTC, and they told me the manufacturer warranties on the G1 ended last month.
How likely is it that I could convince someone at the local T-mobile store to help me with a replacement?
I'm assuming not at all likely, but I've read stranger things here on xda. I'm imagining they have the phone's IMEI tied to some grand customer database to show that I'm just some bum with a G1. I do have a friend with T-mobile (and a G1), but if it is tied to the IMEI, they wouldn't just take my phone from her if I paid her?
I'm really not looking forward to buying a whole new phone, but I have accepted that this is probably my only option, so please don't flame too thoroughly.
(I did several searches, but almost none were relevant to AT&T/eBay return combo. Unless I just suck at searching.)
You are right, you have 0 chance of T-Mobile swapping or doing anything at all.
how did it break?
TMobile won't support you unless you bought the phone from them.
I called HTC last week to check on my G1 warranty since TMobile wouldn't support me. I was told (by HTC) that warranty is 15 months. Mine expires next month. Did you give them your S/N to check your warranty?
Though, if it was rooted then your warranty is void. Unless you want to pay for them to fix it for you, don't send it in. I don't know how they know if you rooted or modified anything, but if they find out you will be charged a minimum (triage) fee even if you decide you don't want to pay for actual repairs.
I sent them one that was previously rooted and obviously had been torn apart- no moisture sticker even. Told them I got it that way on Craigslist. Didnt cost me a dime besides shipping (Priority Mail $5) and time. HTC direct rules IMO.
The Triage fee is for them to diagnose it, and is only charged if you are out of warranty, or if it is your fault. The fee also includes return shipping.
I spoke to a rep, and when I gave her the S/N she said it expired on 12.25.9. I'm not sure where she was getting the date considering I bought the phone in May, but it definitely wasn't 15 months. I can't imagine the phone was already 6 months old when I bought it unless it was just sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
I had another idea though. Possibly stupid, but possibly genius, too?
What if I went to T-mo, and bought a phone without a plan. Then switched the motherboards and got a replacement for the broken one. Then I could returned the new one? Is this mad?
Not only is it mad, it would be really obvious what you did since all those void stickers would be removed in the process, as well when found out there would be hell to pay on your end for trying to fraudulantly switch devices like that. As well, the mother board has the serial # on it both physically and electronically, and this can't be changed.
Ah. I guess the good old G1 is going into a drawer somewhere until one day (hopefully) it can be un-bricked.
Since I have to buy a new phone anyway now, would anyone care to throw in their two cents for the Cliq or the X1a as a replacement Android phone under 300 without contract?
You could also get a used G1 off eBay in great condition for about $200. I got mine in perfect like new condition for $200 back in Septemeber, when I was looking they were going typically for about $225-$250 in that condition, but I waited for the best deal(took about a week of watching to get the deal I did). I would assume with the Nexus One coming out and being post X-Mas season, prices are down a bit, but will likely go back up a little come February when tax season starts.
Keep an eye out for a cracked g1 or one with other problems, then re-use the board. I see them on CL for $40-60 regularly (although none right now).
I would talk to HTC and tell them where you bought it and when, it helps if you have the transaction recorded! You should be able to convince them to cover it if you have enough proof. Nothing wrong with using the truth to your advantage.
Depending on where you live, you can find a good number of people selling their G1 on craigslist. I got bored and just did a search now.
$70 w/o battery or cover (sounds sketchy).. $100 in good condition.. $200 unlocked. Seems like the average is $150 around here.
I got mine for 100 brand new shipped from tmobile! The person didn't want it as they got a new phone so you may get lucky and get a brand new one for a real cheap price
I bought a cracked G1 on ebay for ~90USD. I found 2 within 100mi on craigslist, but both were scooped up by someone else within the first hour of being on the list.
I followed the step-by-step guide here to swap the phones' guts and now I have a locked (but not bricked) phone, and a dud.
Maybe I can still fetch a few bucks for the bricked, cracked (screen) phone.
With the Nexus out now I bet quite a few early adopters like me are switching. I got a msg from my buddy today saying once his Nexus arrives the G1 is for sale. He wants $100 for it, pretty average price around here for a working, but not mint, G1
aceo07 said:
TMobile won't support you unless you bought the phone from them.
I called HTC last week to check on my G1 warranty since TMobile wouldn't support me. I was told (by HTC) that warranty is 15 months. Mine expires next month. Did you give them your S/N to check your warranty?
Though, if it was rooted then your warranty is void. Unless you want to pay for them to fix it for you, don't send it in. I don't know how they know if you rooted or modified anything, but if they find out you will be charged a minimum (triage) fee even if you decide you don't want to pay for actual repairs.
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Correction, TMobile will not support you, even if you bought a phone from them.
So, I got the bad bootloop issue.
Chatted with LG USA support online who said I had to reach out to LG Taiwan. LG Taiwan responded that I had to ship my H815 to Taiwan to get it warrantied for the bootloop. And because Taiwan doesn't deal with customers outside of Taiwan regularly, I need to pay for shipping, etc.
Are you f'in kidding me!? AWWW HELL NAW. Someone at LG USA is going to get verbally abused tomorrow over the phone, not chat this time. This will not fly. It'll take a week if not more to get to LG Taiwan, followed by a week or so for them to fix/repair most likely, then another week to come back to me. Not to mention, international shipping isn't cheap.
Screw you LG. You're really pushing me towards the Galaxy S7 or a Nexus phone for my next one.
I gave up. I'm still fighting them trying to get it serviced in the US much quicker, but at this point I have ordered a Nexus 6P and will be switching. I'm done with LG. If I get that phone fixed, I'll just resell it on Swappa and be done with it. See ya LG.
LG USA, who I called this morning, said they might be able to have me ship to the UK instead of Taiwan.........like that helps.
Wow. You guys have ****ty customer support in the US. Never had a problem with the G4, but I got the yellow display spot on the G2 twice. First time it took an hour to change the display, second time they just gave me a new phone. Both times dealt with LG Romania. You know, that country most US citizens have no clue about where it is or that it even exists.
wolfmanro said:
Wow. You guys have ****ty customer support in the US. Never had a problem with the G4, but I got the yellow display spot on the G2 twice. First time it took an hour to change the display, second time they just gave me a new phone. Both times dealt with LG Romania. You know, that country most US citizens have no clue about where it is or that it even exists.
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I was born in Ukraine, so I am very well aware where and what Romania is .
It's because I have a Taiwan phone and live in the US. If I had an H810 or H811, I'd be fine and this would have been replaced already probably. It's terrible customer service and has left a VERY bad taste in my mouth in terms of LG. I can't wait for my 6P to arrive...I'm done with LG. I'll deal without removable battery and no SD card I guess...only reason why I really bought the phone to begin with (G4).
So, you have a Taiwan phone and want a USA service.
You've answered yourself.
Their not denying the service, just want you to send your phone to their services .
It's not LG fault that you bough a Taiwan phone instead of a USA version.
Only in Europe there isn't those differences.
We can buy an EUR version and be able to send it to customers service on almost every country in Europe.
Did you buy a grey import? If you did, not sure what you expect?
IlyaKol said:
LG USA, who I called this morning, said they might be able to have me ship to the UK instead of Taiwan.........like that helps.
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I am in the same boat with a TWN phone.
I think I'll call them up, and if I can get them to have me send it to the UK instead, I think I'll do that. It should cut down on shipping time, if nothing else.
Then I'll see if SquareTrade will pay for shipping as they promised.
I share your frustration with LG.
Yes, it's a TWN model, and yes, they are within their rights to refer me to the TWN repair center.
OTOH, this is an acknowledged wide-spread manufacturing defect on LG's part.
One would think they'd want to make things right and keep the customers.
And no, there is no way I would buy anything from the likes of tropical_mobile ever again. Their claim of "full warranty" is completely misleading.
You've been given full warranty. It's being fixed isn't it?
If you go cheap and buy a grey import, you have to expect this. LG USA and LG Taiwan are separate entities, which is why they have to have it sent to Taiwan.
the_scotsman said:
You've been given full warranty. It's being fixed isn't it?
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Not mine yet. I haven't sent it in yet. My conversation with LG USA ended by them telling me to go call LG TWN on my own. But that was before they acknowledged the problem.
I will try again in the next few days. Even if they simply coordinate things with their Taiwanese brethren on my behalf, it would help. I don't speak Chinese.
If you go cheap and buy a grey import, you have to expect this. LG USA and LG Taiwan are separate entities, which is why they have to have it sent to Taiwan.
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It wasn't cheap.
It was the same price as it was here through AT&T. The difference was no carrier lock (no big deal since they would unlock it) and no bloatware or features deleted by AT&T.
I agree that they are within their rights. I argue that given it's a big manufacturing defect, they could have handled it a little more gracefully.
---------- Post added at 06:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------
As far as tropical_mobile is concerned, what was misleading was the intimation that I would get full warranty here in the U.S., because that's at whom his listing was targeted.
Had I known it means "full Taiwanese warranty", I would have made a different decision.
BTW, I don't even know if LG TWN will honor it, since tropical_mobile themselves are out of Singapore, if memory serves.
Who knows if that will change anything.
I guess I am about to find out.
Really you should have contacted tropical, not LG.
At least in Australia, the place you buy it from is responsible for arranging repair or replacement.
I had to do this with my grey import bought on ebay when I had the screen coating issue.
I arranged it all through the eBay store. never had to deal with LG, as that's what they do.
If in the US, you need to contact the manufacturer yourself, that's rather bad...
Here you go to the seller within the return period, typically 30 days (tropical had something about that in his listing). After that it's manufacturer's warranty, and you have to deal with them directly. I bought mine back in July.
I think it might be different for carrier-branded models, but I have no experience with repairing those.
As far as tropical is concerned, I've read some very unpleasant things about them here, dealing with stuff that was just bought from them and was defective (or some other problem like that).
Regardless, at this point, if I have to ship stuff overseas, I'd rather ship it directly to LG than go through a possibly shady intermediary. Even if tropical is sparkling clean and agrees to get my phone repaired, going through him would only add to the lag (shipping to him, him to TWN, TWN to him, him to me) and increase the possibility of things getting lost in transit.
Anyone who says, "You bought a TWN phone, what do you expect?" is just being straight up silly. It's an LG product. Period. It shouldn't matter what model you have.
And I'd come to grips with being without a phone for a month if I had to send it to the f'in moon and back...what I CAN NOT STAND FOR is ME having to pay for shipping to them. THAT is asinine. It's not my fault the phone broke. It's LG's poor QC. Why should I be punished for that? Especially with international shipping which isn't necessarily cheap relative to domestic shipping.
LG, be it UK, US, Taiwan, etc....should be paying shipping there AND back.
That's like me saying I bought a Japanese car and have to ship it to Japan to get warranty work done on it when there are plenty of Japanese car dealers in the US who can fix it. I just went through this with my Infiniti. They had to ship a dash harness straight from Japan to Albany, NY to my dealer so they could fix my car. Even if you import a car from Japan (mine was produced in Japan, 100% of it), you get it fixed in the US. To me, it's the same stupid thing and should work EXACTLY the same way.
An LG G4 is an LG G4. In 2016, it should not be a problem for LG Corporate to drop ship a mainboard to the nearest LG repair facility (or any US facility) and have my phone fixed within about a week. Hell, ship it straight to me. I'll fix it myself. I've replaced mainboards on a couple of G3's and the G4 is 99% the same.
EDIT: Further more, if LG sold truly unlocked phones in the US, some of us more geeky/nerdy US customers wouldn't need to resort to buy international phones to use Android the way we want to use Android. That's why I decided on the N6P vs say another phone. I can't wait to have TWRP, etc. again. Makes things SO much easier.
IlyaKol said:
Anyone who says, "You bought a TWN phone, what do you expect?" is just being straight up silly. It's an LG product. Period. It shouldn't matter what model you have.
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You bought a device online that isn't your countries native device. It's quite simple really.
Grey imports might be cheaper, but everyone (or so i thought) should know that grey imports are not subject to your own countries warranty details. if you want a US warranty, buy a US LG G4.
It's the same with all grey imports, not just LG.
I don't understand what you mean by 'cheaper' or why it even matters...but how is it cheaper? This phone cost me nearly $700...same as an off contract phone purchased in the US. And now, if I don't get it fixed, I can sell it on Craigslist to someone who is willing to deal with the headache for like $100. I basically paid $100/month to use this phone. Insane. I just paid $615 for the Nexus 6P straight from Google....so actually, the G4 was more expensive than a domestic phone.
And it's not about US warranty vs non-US warranty. I'm still within a year, the ONLY warranty that should matter is manufacturer warranty and that should cover 100% of all manufacturer caused defects and shipping to said manufacturer's repair facility of choice and back to the customer. That is it. Regardless of region.
Again, I'm more mad about ME having to pay shipping than the actual wait time. It's the principle of it. And it pisses me off so much to know that the principle is being completely trampled here. Again, to use my analogy, this is akin to Infiniti USA telling me to ship my Infiniti car to Infiniti Japan (corporate) because that's where the car was put together.
EDIT: For S&G's, I just looked up the shipping info.
Cost: $33.95 (one way)
Time: 6-10 days for most large markets
That's 2 weeks one way (business days), probably 2-3 days for it to get processed/fixed, then 2 weeks back. And if they don't pay shipping back and I have to pay shipping both ways, that's $68 bucks out of my pocket for something that should have never happened but thanks to LG's terrible QC...and evidently customer service...a bunch of us TWN users will have to eat the cost on.
How is that remotely fair?
LG US and LG TWN are somewhat different entities.
You can't expect to buy a device from another country (a device that doesn't exist for sale in your country) and then expect LG US to fix an item they don't even sell.
Using your car analogy, it's like buying a car that is only sold in Canada (unrealistic but easy example), then expecting a US dealer to have spare parts and fix it for you.
This is absolutely common with the vast majority of electronics. I had no idea people were not aware of this?
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are also customs fees which need to be paid on the phone both inbound and outbound. My co-worker sent his G4 to Taiwan for the bootloop problem. He paid for express shipping only to have the phone caught up in customs in Taiwan. After about a week, he finally got it released, but had to pay fees. He told me the overall cost with shipping and customs fees was $180. I have the same phone. No bootloop yet, but if it happens, I don't think I want to invest that additional amount of money to get a fix. Bought the phone for the same reason others did: I wanted a phone without carrier bloat.
the_scotsman said:
LG US and LG TWN are somewhat different entities.
You can't expect to buy a device from another country (a device that doesn't exist for sale in your country) and then expect LG US to fix an item they don't even sell.
Using your car analogy, it's like buying a car that is only sold in Canada (unrealistic but easy example), then expecting a US dealer to have spare parts and fix it for you.
This is absolutely common with the vast majority of electronics. I had no idea people were not aware of this?
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But....but...the car analogy works lol. My dealer didn't have the parts needed to fix my car (built in Japan)...so what happened? They called up Japan and were like, "Yo, homeslice. Ilya over here needs a dash harness. Ya got one? Ya do? Cool, send it over. We'll send you some cash money later. Holla!" That's basically what happened. Had to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive but once it did, my US dealer fixed my Japanese car. I guess I just don't understand WHY LG doesn't operate the same way. Maybe I have different business ethics than the honcho's at LG...*shrug*
You've helped me a lot with my various system.img's...but I just can't agree with you that this is okay or that it should be considered normal.
PD10 said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are also customs fees which need to be paid on the phone both inbound and outbound. My co-worker sent his G4 to Taiwan for the bootloop problem. He paid for express shipping only to have the phone caught up in customs in Taiwan. After about a week, he finally got it released, but had to pay fees. He told me the overall cost with shipping and customs fees was $180. I have the same phone. No bootloop yet, but if it happens, I don't think I want to invest that additional amount of money to get a fix. Bought the phone for the same reason others did: I wanted a phone without carrier bloat.
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Ahh, forgot about customs. F that then. I'll just list the phone for sale as broken needing a new board.
On the flip side, anyone know where I can get my hands on an H815 board? I'd honestly rather pay $100 and do it myself because it would take less time and be less of a headache. I've been trying to find an H815 or even an H810 (AT&T) on Ebay that is shattered or something for around $100 but even the ones with broken screens are going for $200. I just need a board and I can get this phone back to working condition in 10 minutes.
Only one I've been able to find is this, which is way too much money: http://rounded.com/lg-g4-h815-mainboard.html?sl=en
IlyaKol said:
You've helped me a lot with my various system.img's...but I just can't agree with you that this is okay or that it should be considered normal.
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Fair enough you don't agree. But it's just how it works with electronic devices, not just phones. Always has been that way.
I just don't understand you guys.
If I bought an Taiwan or USA variant LG would simply deny the warranty because it's not from Europe.
If the store where you guys bought the phone doesn't want to take responsibility for that its their fault, not LG.
Again, LG isn't denying the repair, so you should be upset with the seller and not the company.
Here on Europe we just contact the seller (online shop) and they arrange everything,or if it's bough on a big Comercial shop we just take there and they arrange everything, or simply we go directly to customer support.
The analogy of cars it's good but these are very different things and can't be compared.
Just choose better the stores you buy from.
patalao said:
I just don't understand you guys.
If I bought an Taiwan or USA variant LG would simply deny the warranty because it's not from Europe.
If the store where you guys bought the phone doesn't want to take responsibility for that its their fault, not LG.
Again, LG isn't denying the repair, so you should be upset with the seller and not the company.
Here on Europe we just contact the seller (online shop) and they arrange everything,or if it's bough on a big Comercial shop we just take there and they arrange everything, or simply we go directly to customer support.
The analogy of cars it's good but these are very different things and can't be compared.
Just choose better the stores you buy from.
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FYI, the seller I bought it from did say they'd accept it for a repair, but they are also in Taiwan.
You're completely not reading what I'm saying and why I think it's wrong to do business that way that LG is doing business. It's okay, we can agree to disagree.
I purchased an lg g4 10 months ago. 3 days ago, out of the blue it was stuck on the logo screen. tried to do a factory reset. went into bootloop. brought it to the seller, who offered to fix but said it can possibly come back, offered a trade in. he soldme a v20 refurb but after I payed, he brought me the invoice and said "oh, we only give 6 months now to lg phone" it didnt really sink in that this phone may be a defective return that was fixed from bootloop. not sure though
im not sure regarding these refurb phones theyre selling, but the g4 gave me the issue after 8 months. im nervous 6 months may not be enough. I dont know if the phone was a return or defective and thus sold cheap with only a 6 month warranty.
I was going to ultimately upgrade to the v20 when the prices came down but this was an impulse buy because I got a pretty good price. I didnt even install a sim yet. just got it yesterday.
not sure if I should return it or demand a 1yr warranty
Which carrier are you on because that makes a difference? If you're on T-Mobile that makes the warranty process a lot easier.
im overseas currently not us
You might want to check the imei and see if it is not marked as stolen too. I dont know whqt was the price he gave you but if it was significantly low, there is a good chance there is something wrong. If it was reported as stolen, then the carrier will block the imei so that it cant be used in the original carrier
thanks for the reply. its a large company actually, they deal with refurb and phones in large quantities for hitech companies. Im certain thtough the phone was a bootloop defect that was repaired. im certain. spoke to the guy and told him I want to return the phone cause im not secure with the 6 month warranty. he said hell check.
I was only going in to see if I can maybe upgrade to the g5. he told me to v20 was $370 after trade in. I payed 400 for my g4 8 months ago. refurbed also. so figure its wort $170 today. so its a decent deal. the v20 looks viscous
itshard to judge regarding the v20 for bootloop because its too new. but how is the g5 vs the g4 for bootloop?
rocketman122 said:
thanks for the reply. its a large company actually, they deal with refurb and phones in large quantities for hitech companies. Im certain thtough the phone was a bootloop defect that was repaired. im certain. spoke to the guy and told him I want to return the phone cause im not secure with the 6 month warranty. he said hell check.
I was only going in to see if I can maybe upgrade to the g5. he told me to v20 was $370 after trade in. I payed 400 for my g4 8 months ago. refurbed also. so figure its wort $170 today. so its a decent deal. the v20 looks viscous
itshard to judge regarding the v20 for bootloop because its too new. but how is the g5 vs the g4 for bootloop?
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v20 doesnt have a bootloop issue. there has only been 1 case that I know of.