Tell me about your experience getting your phone replaced under warranty! - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General

What trials and tribulations did you have to go through? What was your end result and were you happy with that end result? Here's a brief outline of what i went through.
I recently bricked my phone and had to spend almost 2hrs at an ATT store making arrangements to get it replaced under warranty. Since i bought my Tilt on Amazon (got a deal w/a new line of service for $50 usd.) Amazon told me to talk to ATT, ATT said talk to Amazon, ATT told me to go talk to the local repair shop. They were closed, and i had no phone cept the paperweight that was my Tilt. Since all this was on a Sunday everything closed early and i ended up buying a cheapo "Go" phone to use.
Called ATT warranty support from work, they said they never even saw the Tilt on my plan but they did see that damn Go phone. Thats when i was told to go to the store and show some ID and what not. Everyone was really helpfull at the store and after waiting on the phone at the store, we eventually got to the people that can replace the phone.
The only thing that sucks now is that i'm getting a refurb as a replacement, but beggars can't be choosers.
I do have a few questions now though. Right now the phone doesn't start up at all, should i worry about ATT spotting what i did wrong? If so should i find a large and powerful magnet in the hopes of corrupting or erasing the data on the phone? I'm just curious what other's went through having to replace their phones and am only partially kidding in regards to magnet thing.
I'd also like to stress that i'm not asking for any criminal malfiesence, just the story you have and how hard/easy was it for you to get your phone replaced. It doesn't have to be an ATT phone either.

I also bought my Tilt through Amazon on their $50 deal last month, and mine experienced the Red Light of Death RLOD within 2 weeks. Took it to the local ATT store, they said I needed to deal with Amazon since the phone was less than 30 days old.
Went to Amazon.com, filled out the forms to return/exchange the device and within two days, I had a new Tilt. I can't believe how easy it was. During those two days, I went back to my old Symbian powered Nokia 6670.
Before I packed up the old Tilt in the box to return, I tested it with the new battery, and it booted up (which allowed me to reset the device)....so for grins, inserted the old battery into the new Tilt and experienced the RLOD, so in my case, my dead Tilt was due to a defective battery.
Lessons that I learned...1. if my new Tilt dies, make sure the guys at the ATT store give me a new battery to try. 2. Keep a spare charged GSM phone in my cars in case if my Tilt dies while I'm out (I was a T-Mobile/Voicestream customer for 10 years before switching so I have a box full of GSM phones). 3. Amazon.com is really easy to deal with.

Snowreaper said:
-snip- I recently bricked my phone -snip-
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And because you broke it, it's AT&T's responsibility to replace it?
That being said, when I first got my 8525 after my Wizard died, I bought it from ebay and it developed a problem. Call up AT&T on the hardware line and tell them that your Tilt won't turn on anymore. If they give you static, ask for a supervisor. You'd be very surprised how well the "supervisor game" works is all situations.

I bought mine from NewEgg & around 30 days in "up" on the d-pad stopped working 90% of the time. I took it to an AT&T store, showed a rep the problem & he gave me the number for the warranty exchange. I called them up, explained the issue & 2 days later I had my newly refurbished phone (verified with ~1 hour inbound & outbound usage each). The new one seems to be working without issue so far.
Overall I'm satisfied with the AT&T support on this considering they don't offer any paid extended coverage on the phone anymore.

Related

AT&T Tilt Red LED When Charging

Last night i left my Tilt on the charger (i use my usb hub and the sync cable to charge it) and i find it this morning with a red led as if it was totally dead and needed to be charged a bit to turn on and it wont turn on at all. I read that thats a chip malfunctioning and the phone needs to be replaced. I got this device brand new and dont have my reciept and i tried calling AT&T and they say i need a receipt. Im not sure about HTC (they arent open today) but I do not want to have to fork out money to mail it to them, wait a month without it. Any ideas? Anyone had a similar situation that could help. Any help would be appreciated.
First I'd pull the battery then re-insert. If it's totally dead, I'd go to a ATT store and see if you could try a different battery. If you bought the phone from ATT I'd expect you would be on their system.
good luck.
actually i got it off craigslist (online classifieds) brand new but ive been telling the ATT stores that i won it off the net for filling out some survey for some sweepstakes and that they did not provide a receipt (pretty sure if i say i bought it from someone not retail they will deny all warranty exchanges) and they said to call AT&T service line. They said it shouldnt be a problem without a receipt but lets hope thats the case. I think i am fully entitled to the warranty as the device still carries its value, it was still purchased at one point. Lets hope they understand that
I had this happen twice actually once with my Hermes and now with my second Tilt just 2 days ago. My tilt was within 30 days of the purchase date from AT&T so I figured I could return it without a problem because I happen to be in California on vacation and I live in NY. I thought since I bought it from AT&T through their Premier site that all my information would be in their computers since I didn't have anything with me but the phone and the charger. So I went to AT&T here in Cali and told them my phone just went dead and the LED went red and wouldn't turn on. I said I was within 30 days and just wanted to exchange the phone. They said okay....BUT... I needed the receipt and of course I'm not going to have the receipt when I'm on vacation so they gave me trouble. Then I went to the nearest Kinkos and printed out the receipt that was sent to my email. I went to a different AT&T store that was closer to the Kinkos and told them what happened and they gave me trouble saying I need the Invoice that came with the phone when it was shipped to me, and there was no chance in God's green Earth that I would have the Invoice. I put up a fight and raised my voice some saying how ridiculous this was since it was already my second tilt and that I called Customer Service before hand and told them what happened and they said I could exchange it no questions asked without anything and that the Customer Service rep I spoke to put a Special Note on my account page for the instore sales reps to see (all of which is true). They saw all of that and gave me a brand new phone and took my old one.
That's my story about a similar problem so I hope it helped.

Refurbished Phones?

So i would like to upgrade from my wizard to a tilt. I can get a Refurbished Tilt for $149 through ATT by extending my contract. I was advised to stay away from refurbs by the the local ATT franchise location. I get the feeling like he would rather have my business. So would you say its worth the savings? Im sure a refurb is as free from cosmetic and software/hardware issues as a new phone?
Your suggestions?
Thank you!
Josh
refurbs are fine, i have one, and plenty other ppl here use refurbs, $150 for a tilt?? you cant beat that
They say any device has a high percent chance of breaking in the first 30 days if it is indeed going to break. So when you get the refurb phone you will also get a 30 days????? warranty too. In theory, if it doesnt' break within that time frame then you should be mostly safe with that phone.
150 buck for a kaiser is an excellent deal. Dont miss it.. Don't bother on warranty or whatever, just dont miss the deal if the device looks okay and works just fine.
Regards,
Carty..
You should have bought it last week for free. I got my BRAND NEW tilt when they first came out for 179. The 150 deal for a refurb will only get cheaper. It's not an amazing deal.
ChumleyEX said:
You should have bought it last week for free. I got my BRAND NEW tilt when they first came out for 179. The 150 deal for a refurb will only get cheaper. It's not an amazing deal.
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I looked last week and it was not free. Where did you see it for free? That would be nice.
ChumleyEX said:
So when you get the refurb phone you will also get a 30 days?????
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90 days, which is nice.
Well there was a post on here somewhere and on ATT's site. Of course it was free after rebate and a 2 year contract.
ChumleyEX said:
You should have bought it last week for free. I got my BRAND NEW tilt when they first came out for 179. The 150 deal for a refurb will only get cheaper. It's not an amazing deal.
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Yep, I got mine for free (actually I'm getting a penny back) through Amazon on their April 24th day.
howdy....it was I who posted that AT&T had the free refurb....great deal....actually, I bought a refurb for 199 and got them to credit the money back after I pointed it out....the sales rep didn't even know about it...it was a 2 day event....when I posted it there was 1 day left so hopefully some people saw it....my refurb phone I belive was never touched as it didn't even have a mark on it....such a deal.....
later
James
I hate refurbs. I got one yesterday through a warranty replacement and it is scratched up beyond recognition. Granted, the 7201 chip was fast, but other than that, it was disgusting. There is a high possibility someone did something awful to/with it..
VirgilWoods said:
I hate refurbs. I got one yesterday through a warranty replacement and it is scratched up beyond recognition. Granted, the 7201 chip was fast, but other than that, it was disgusting. There is a high possibility someone did something awful to/with it..
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That sounds odd -- refurbs are *supposed* to be "like new". Have you contacted ATT?
I got a refurb for $199 on 2/6/08. Yesterday, the screen wouldn't come on (the green power light and bluetooth light were blinking normally). Did a soft reset. It started to boot normally so I set it down to wait for it to finish. When I picked it back up, it had the same problem. Soft reset again. This time it comes up w/ the boot loader screen.
I didn't want to mess w/ MTTY, so I took it in to the store down the street. They sent me to the warranty center about 10 miles away, and it they replaced it no questions asked. I'm pretty sure I now have another refurb, but that's OK.
I was running the latest stock AT&T ROM w/ some HTC software, but nothing exotic.
edgie168 said:
That sounds odd -- refurbs are *supposed* to be "like new". Have you contacted ATT?
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I did, and they overnighted me a new one, which I just got 30 minutes ago.. It's in better condition than my own phone, and I'm anal when it comes to my gadgets!
Refurb Tilt
I'm very happy with my refurbished Tilt. It looks brand new, except for the scratches I caused from drops. I got it for the $150 price with the 2 year contract. It has been unlocked and a HTC rom has been loaded. Its an amazing phone. It has replaced my Moto e680 and my iPod, due to Resco Radio (streaming music over 3G) I've added an 8gb mico sd card, Moto S9 bluetooth stereo headset, and the adapter to charge and audio out to my car stereo through a cassette adapter.
I'm on my second refurbed tilt (the same deal as yours, $149 with the extension of my contract).
My first refurb tilt's screen died and I had to send it back. The weird thing I noticed is that when I received my replacement refurb, it had more plastic protection pieces than my first refurb. I'm not sure what that means, but I've had no issues at all with my second refurb.
VirgilWoods said:
I hate refurbs. I got one yesterday through a warranty replacement and it is scratched up beyond recognition. Granted, the 7201 chip was fast, but other than that, it was disgusting. There is a high possibility someone did something awful to/with it..
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OK im not too sure if it is the same with you guys over in the good ol' US of A but I work for orange and I know that our refurbs are completely new apart from the acutal circuit board. All of the casing, screen, software etc is all put on as new
40-Dan said:
I got a refurb for $199 on 2/6/08. Yesterday, the screen wouldn't come on (the green power light and bluetooth light were blinking normally). Did a soft reset. It started to boot normally so I set it down to wait for it to finish. When I picked it back up, it had the same problem. Soft reset again. This time it comes up w/ the boot loader screen.
I didn't want to mess w/ MTTY, so I took it in to the store down the street. They sent me to the warranty center about 10 miles away, and it they replaced it no questions asked. I'm pretty sure I now have another refurb, but that's OK.
I was running the latest stock AT&T ROM w/ some HTC software, but nothing exotic.
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Click to collapse
Maybe you should look into the Thread for the Sleep Of Death.
My first refurb AT&T Tilt had a completely screwed up keyboard.. The whole area around the right soft key on the keyboard was raised and it was nearly impossible to type any of the keys nearby and the screen pressed the softkey constantly, waking it up and hitting the right softkey on me randomly.
After much fuss with AT&T to actually order a replacement phone for me (TWO times they supposidly did it but didn't in reality!) the replacement seems to be good.
I'd like to find out if folks have trouble SIM unlocking a refurb phone.
No, I didn't have problems getting the unlock code from AT&T. But the code didn't work. After a lot of fuss AT&T told me to go back to the DSC (Device Support Center) and get another refurb (warranty exchange). Now I'm on my 2nd refurb and got another unlock code from AT&T. The code still doesn't work.
Apparently I followed the instructions to the tee. (FYI, I got my original brand new fully paid for Tilt unlocked following the instructions so I know the drill).
So I'd like to find out if any of you have similar experience in unlocking a refurb. Thanks.
i used to think that refurbs were no big problem, but when my original brand new tilt GPS stopped working warranty sent me a refurb to replace it, long story short it didn't work and neither did the other three they sent me to replace each one before, i even got one with a cracked LCD, i would say go to the att store and get a new one where you know that is has never been touched by anyone stupid and you are gauranteed to get a working phone. my att store credited me the money towards the phone when i told them i could get the same phone on newegg for 150, they charged me 150 and i got a free bluetooth headset with it as well. look around on sites like new egg and when you go into the store tell them that you found the phone cheaper elsewhere and ask why you should buy from them and use your upgrade when you can get the phone cheaper online and use your upgrade with att for something else. 9 times out of 10 they let you have the cheaper price

Warranty exchange upgrade to ATT Fuze

ok it seems like everytime i exchange my device something goes wrong with the next one as im sure all of you can attest (on my forth exchange). The last time i brought it in they offered me a different device and of course i turned it down because tilts are the top..but now the fuze is out..how long do you think till they have refurbs avaialble..as soon as the 30 days after it was released is up? (for new device exchanges) or longer because i read in some other posts that people did warranty exchanges on their 8525's and got tilts so just wondering.
i just turned in my old tilt for a new one and asked the tech about the fuze... he said he didn't know the release date but they'll have them a month after the release. not sure on how accurate that is, but hope it helps. cheers
I would say keep your eye on the ATT website...when the Tilt is no longer available they will probably upgrade it then .
sounds right I figured it was probably a month..just hope when I exchange it I don't regret switching.. well hopedully I can test drive it in that grace period they give you with exchange by mail
When I was having problems with my Blackjack after the 4th time they gave me a Tilt.
YEAH JUST A UPDATE U CAN BUY THE ATT FUZE RIGHT NOW. ITS BEEN ON THE WEBSITE. $299 with 2year contract n after $50 MIR
I don't think they'll be handing out Fuzes anytime soon. I am sure they still have plenty of refurbed Tilts left. By the time they are offering upgrades, the 1-yr warranty on the Tilt will most likely be up.
Although I suppose that's not quite as relevant now that you can actually insure any* device on AT&T now.
* Except iPhone
When they stop offering the Tilt, they'll offer the Fuze as an upgrade from a defective item. I had an 8525 that broke 5 times. Everytime they said I had to stick to the 8525. Then on the last time, the CSR said they stopped offering the 8525 so I can upgrade for free to the Tilt.
On a side note, I played with one today and I do not like the phone. All of the features are great, but it feels like a "Klunker". Smaller screen, thick, have to pull the battery cover to get to the SD card. Don't think I'll drop 3 bens on that phone anytime soon. If I am going to spend that much, I'll spend a little more and get a better HTC item. My opinion anyways.
my friends brother told me that i could upgrade to a different phone like the blackberry bold when it got released...but i think my one year is up allready...dammit
god, i thought i was the only one calling into warranty repair every month! lol i felt like such a jackass!
i think i am on my 10th tilt? im out of warranty now but they did me a huge favor sending me another one...and im having a problem with my hardware keyboard and d-pad locking up randomly but rarely..hoping its just the custom ROM and not a hardware issue! haha
as for the fuze being a warranty replacement, dont hold your breath.
whitehooptie said:
When they stop offering the Tilt, they'll offer the Fuze as an upgrade from a defective item. I had an 8525 that broke 5 times. Everytime they said I had to stick to the 8525. Then on the last time, the CSR said they stopped offering the 8525 so I can upgrade for free to the Tilt.
On a side note, I played with one today and I do not like the phone. All of the features are great, but it feels like a "Klunker". Smaller screen, thick, have to pull the battery cover to get to the SD card. Don't think I'll drop 3 bens on that phone anytime soon. If I am going to spend that much, I'll spend a little more and get a better HTC item. My opinion anyways.
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how soon was the tilt released when they offered the switch? i guess i mean how soon do you thin the tilt will take to stop being offered?
Im sure this thread should be in general but I dont see the tilt being discontinued anytime soon Rep says its still has its own uniqueness it will be around for sometime
Agree with AT&T for once
I have to agree that the tilt has that certain "je nai se quoi" for unique-ness. I also played with the fuze and it is uber thick with a seamingly tiny screen (just felt odd in my hands). I think the tilt is at a good point functionally that it has earned a place with AT&T.
Tilt is discontinued after december i heard? (maybe here?)
And simple way around this is have 2 phones and keep one contract a year off. Once i decide on what i want, the wifey gets the old tilt.
My wife has a Palm from ATT that drops calls. We have exchanged it 3 times now. The last time I exchanged it I asked if it was a problem phone. I was told that it wasn't but ATT has a policy that they will not continually make you exchange a problem phone. After 3 or 4 exchanges you can exchange your problematic phone "for a comparable phone". I was told that I could do it the next time if this new phone acted up. You can ask about this policy the next time you have to exchange a defective phone.
I was not told of any restriction on it having to be a refurbished phone. I am sure they only want to send a refurbished phone, but will send you a new one if you truly have problems. I am always polite and jovial when I call and I have not had one problem getting what I want from customer service in 3 years.
I can contest that you can get a NEW one from warranty this is how i got my Tilt I had a defective Palm end of last year after i got it replaced 3 times and continued to have problems i asked if it was possible to get a different phone that would have the problem. The lady said yes i could get and she suggested the Tilt, They wouldnt let me get the I phone (glad now i didnt) and when i got it brand new in the box a day later.
Another jacka$$ who has had about 8 replacement tilts. Twice had defective back-to-back refurbs. CS offered me a comparable, of which there was none at the time. Recently, I asked about the Fuze and they had no refurbs in warranty exchange. They also told me that an "upgrade" would require extending my contract.
very interesting...i did not know they did this...I am currently on my 4th tilt...and my warranty goes up in late December...hopefully they might do the exchange b4 then if not ill wait for something like the HD with a keyboard...
i just called warranty 15 mins ago..they didnt have the fuze but i got the blackberry bold
I spoke w/ a rep Tuesday night. 5th tilt. Two exchanges last week alone. At the time the Bold was not available. However the Bold released when, two weeks ago? Didnt take too long for warranty to offer that phone. For what its worth a warranty rep informed me that when an upgrade is available in the warranty dept they would offer it to an individual after multi. exchanges. Someone call next week and keep us posted (or maybe something else strange will happen to mine, again).

Note 8 ordered from Samsung is only 20 days old won't power on and Samsung doesn't

I have a Note 8 that I have been very happy with. It's 20 days old and last night while using it just went black. When plugged in to power there is not LED or any sign of life. I performed troubleshooting steps for soft and hard resets with and without power cables. I've tried 3 different power cables and cords but nothing. I charged overnight and still nothing. Completely dead. Phone still looks brand new because I bought a rugged case for it. I've treated it like a newborn baby so it must be defective.
I called Samsung support this morning who walked me through all the previous troubleshooting I've performed and confirmed that the phone is defective. Because it is only 20 days old they created a ticket for me and told me to call ecommerce department @ 855-726-8721 and give them the ticket number and they would replace the phone.
Called ecommerce who was happy to help me and all was well until the end of the phone call. I was told that within a week I would get an email with instructions and a label to send my phone back and within 15 days I would receive a replacement phone. I said WHAT!!!
When I purchased the phone I payed for expideted shipping and had it within 3 days. It's 20 days old and defective and now I'm told that it will actually be 3-4 weeks before I get a working phone again. This is the only phone I have. I had to go to a family member's house to call them 3 times for this info.
There is no escalation path available. Support can only support me. ecommerce can only put in a request via internal communication to a returns team and this is the returns team policy. You can no contact the returns team. You can't escalate to anyone because they are all different departments that have no communication with each other. I can't even call the corporate office to complain because they send you back to support. Everyone I speak to understand and they would be frustrated to but can't help me. Even Samsungs employees don't agree with it but can't do anything or put me in contact with anyone to complain.
So now I sit here waiting for what could be a week before I even get a communication from the returns team to get a working phone. I had the note 7 and lived through two replacements before they took my phone. I even stayed with them and bought the S7 edge. Traded it in for the Note 8 because I had faith in the company. After my experience today it is gone. I'm speechless at the lack of concern about me the customer and the attitude that this is our process sorry and you can't complain.
I would return this phone for an iPhone but I already bought a case, wireless charger, memory card and DeX station.
When I bought my phone it said I could get a wirelss charger or cameral but when I called to inquire they said I missed it by a day. Now I see it's still there if I bought a new phone.
My only experience with Samsung customer service and it will be my last. Next time I will go back to an iPhone where I can get real support from people that seem to care and I can talk to.
In this competitive day I can't beleive that Samsung doesn't care about their customers, has segmented departments in to different silos with no communication and doesn't even provide a place for customer to complaing about a process. If I have no way to complain how will they ever know something is broke.
I was mad but now I feel hopeless. I hope I don't have an emergency that will require me to call an emergency service because I don't have a phone. If something does happen and I survive maybe I could sue Samsung.
If anyone has any suggestions for me to help with this situation or some secret to fix the phone please let me know.
Roughly 3 weeks total to have the new phone from start to finish?...i.e. 1 week to get the instructions, and another 2 weeks (15 days) to receive a new phone. Sounds like they were nice and helpful too...some of the two week delay could be quicker depending on shipping. Doesn't honestly sound too bad overall, but I agree it always sucks to have a problem with a new phone. Not giving you the bonus sounds wrong though, if they still offer it online. Hope it gets sorted out soon!
Maybe a surge fried it!
havrek said:
I have a Note 8 that I have been very happy with. It's 20 days old and last night while using it just went black. When plugged in to power there is not LED or any sign of life. I performed troubleshooting steps for soft and hard resets with and without power cables. I've tried 3 different power cables and cords but nothing. I charged overnight and still nothing. Completely dead. Phone still looks brand new because I bought a rugged case for it. I've treated it like a newborn baby so it must be defective.
I called Samsung support this morning who walked me through all the previous troubleshooting I've performed and confirmed that the phone is defective. Because it is only 20 days old they created a ticket for me and told me to call ecommerce department @ 855-726-8721 and give them the ticket number and they would replace the phone.
Called ecommerce who was happy to help me and all was well until the end of the phone call. I was told that within a week I would get an email with instructions and a label to send my phone back and within 15 days I would receive a replacement phone. I said WHAT!!!
When I purchased the phone I payed for expideted shipping and had it within 3 days. It's 20 days old and defective and now I'm told that it will actually be 3-4 weeks before I get a working phone again. This is the only phone I have. I had to go to a family member's house to call them 3 times for this info.
There is no escalation path available. Support can only support me. ecommerce can only put in a request via internal communication to a returns team and this is the returns team policy. You can no contact the returns team. You can't escalate to anyone because they are all different departments that have no communication with each other. I can't even call the corporate office to complain because they send you back to support. Everyone I speak to understand and they would be frustrated to but can't help me. Even Samsungs employees don't agree with it but can't do anything or put me in contact with anyone to complain.
So now I sit here waiting for what could be a week before I even get a communication from the returns team to get a working phone. I had the note 7 and lived through two replacements before they took my phone. I even stayed with them and bought the S7 edge. Traded it in for the Note 8 because I had faith in the company. After my experience today it is gone. I'm speechless at the lack of concern about me the customer and the attitude that this is our process sorry and you can't complain.
I would return this phone for an iPhone but I already bought a case, wireless charger, memory card and DeX station.
When I bought my phone it said I could get a wirelss charger or cameral but when I called to inquire they said I missed it by a day. Now I see it's still there if I bought a new phone.
My only experience with Samsung customer service and it will be my last. Next time I will go back to an iPhone where I can get real support from people that seem to care and I can talk to.
In this competitive day I can't beleive that Samsung doesn't care about their customers, has segmented departments in to different silos with no communication and doesn't even provide a place for customer to complaing about a process. If I have no way to complain how will they ever know something is broke.
I was mad but now I feel hopeless. I hope I don't have an emergency that will require me to call an emergency service because I don't have a phone. If something does happen and I survive maybe I could sue Samsung.
If anyone has any suggestions for me to help with this situation or some secret to fix the phone please let me know.
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That's why I buy from the carrier. Sorry this happened I would be pissed off.
jason504 said:
That's why I buy from the carrier. Sorry this happened I would be pissed off.
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same here; always buy from the carrier if possible
Can you return the items that you bought to the retailer, or are you out of the return period? You might be able to sell them on eBay or craigslist or some place like that to get some of your money back. Then you can get your iPhone.
The only thing that has really ever tempted me about the iPhone is Apple's customer service. They are the kings of customer service. Aside from my phone, everything else that I have is Apple. You know that if you have problems, they will stand behind what they sell and resolution is only a drive down the road (assuming that you have an Apple store nearby. If not, not sure).
of course Apple stands behind their products; when you overcharge for everything, and have the largest profit margins in the electronics world, its easy to provide good service!
Where did you see the promo still ongoing?
Lol.. gee what did they ever do before they had phones...
Seriously, that's pretty good IMO. They are probably factoring the time you take to return the phone to them and the time they ship it to you. Most companies I dealt with for return/exchange will wait for the defective item to be returned first before they send out the replacement. Despite what was said and tested, they will test it themselves to ensure it is defective as well. Once they know it's defective they will ship the replacement. Some have a business supported plan where they will request payment first for a new item and ship immediately. Upon receipt, return instructions and label will be provided for the return. Once returned, they credit your account. So really don't see anything wrong with this. They are doing what other companies I've dealt with are doing from my own experiences.
The only reason why I buy from the carrier is one you don't have to pay for the phone all up front. Especially since I am only keeping it for a year. When the Note9 comes out I can switch this in for the 9. Number 2 is location the carrier stores are all over easy to walk into a store and swap a defective phone out. Or they will ship one overnight. I think Samsung just implementing his no return policy after the Note 7. I read somewhere that Samsung was not replacing phones. Or they are making it really difficult to try to return a phone.
havrek said:
I have a Note 8 that I have been very happy with. It's 20 days old and last night while using it just went black. When plugged in to power there is not LED or any sign of life. I performed troubleshooting steps for soft and hard resets with and without power cables. I've tried 3 different power cables and cords but nothing. I charged overnight and still nothing. Completely dead. Phone still looks brand new because I bought a rugged case for it. I've treated it like a newborn baby so it must be defective.
I called Samsung support this morning who walked me through all the previous troubleshooting I've performed and confirmed that the phone is defective. Because it is only 20 days old they created a ticket for me and told me to call ecommerce department @ 855-726-8721 and give them the ticket number and they would replace the phone.
Called ecommerce who was happy to help me and all was well until the end of the phone call. I was told that within a week I would get an email with instructions and a label to send my phone back and within 15 days I would receive a replacement phone. I said WHAT!!!
When I purchased the phone I payed for expideted shipping and had it within 3 days. It's 20 days old and defective and now I'm told that it will actually be 3-4 weeks before I get a working phone again. This is the only phone I have. I had to go to a family member's house to call them 3 times for this info.
There is no escalation path available. Support can only support me. ecommerce can only put in a request via internal communication to a returns team and this is the returns team policy. You can no contact the returns team. You can't escalate to anyone because they are all different departments that have no communication with each other. I can't even call the corporate office to complain because they send you back to support. Everyone I speak to understand and they would be frustrated to but can't help me. Even Samsungs employees don't agree with it but can't do anything or put me in contact with anyone to complain.
So now I sit here waiting for what could be a week before I even get a communication from the returns team to get a working phone. I had the note 7 and lived through two replacements before they took my phone. I even stayed with them and bought the S7 edge. Traded it in for the Note 8 because I had faith in the company. After my experience today it is gone. I'm speechless at the lack of concern about me the customer and the attitude that this is our process sorry and you can't complain.
I would return this phone for an iPhone but I already bought a case, wireless charger, memory card and DeX station.
When I bought my phone it said I could get a wirelss charger or cameral but when I called to inquire they said I missed it by a day. Now I see it's still there if I bought a new phone.
My only experience with Samsung customer service and it will be my last. Next time I will go back to an iPhone where I can get real support from people that seem to care and I can talk to.
In this competitive day I can't beleive that Samsung doesn't care about their customers, has segmented departments in to different silos with no communication and doesn't even provide a place for customer to complaing about a process. If I have no way to complain how will they ever know something is broke.
I was mad but now I feel hopeless. I hope I don't have an emergency that will require me to call an emergency service because I don't have a phone. If something does happen and I survive maybe I could sue Samsung.
If anyone has any suggestions for me to help with this situation or some secret to fix the phone please let me know.
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It is these stories , that I count my blessings that the two devices bought from Samsung direct aren't defective. I think one thing I've learned for others on here is this. I think next time I'll just buy the devices from my provider, after all I bought a T Mobile one from Samsung direct. The T Mobile service is much better.
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jason504 said:
The only reason why I buy from the carrier is one you don't have to pay for the phone all up front. Especially since I am only keeping it for a year. When the Note9 comes out I can switch this in for the 9. Number 2 is location the carrier stores are all over easy to walk into a store and swap a defective phone out. Or they will ship one overnight. I think Samsung just implementing his no return policy after the Note 7. I read somewhere that Samsung was not replacing phones. Or they are making it really difficult to try to return a phone.
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That's what I used to think, but after buying from Samsung directly I will NEVER again buy from them. There was a problem with the first phone that had to be returned, and the experience, which is not over, has been a nightmare. If it had been through Verizon, it would have been a piece of cake. It completely changed my mind about any perceived advantages (NONE) of buying from company vs. carrier. I've had all generations of the Note, but after this I'm so burned out on Samsung, I'd consider something else. And actually I don't like the 8 any better than the 7 (which I still have). Their e-commerce department which they route everything through is a joke. They have absolutely no authority and the answer for everything is "wait for a link to be sent to you", which has never happened so far. Lesson learned - I'll vote with my feet.
neograndizer said:
Seriously, that's pretty good IMO.
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I think it's horrible. Samsung should offer the option of shipping a new replacement phone immediately for overnight delivery, if OP provides a credit-card number for the value of the phone until the old one is returned. Then Samsung should immediately email a return label for RMA shipping, and cancel the credit-card hold as soon as the defective product is received and verified.
For an expensive new phone that dies within three weeks, anything less than that is a ripoff.
---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 PM ----------
Zeblade said:
Lol[,] gee what did they ever do before they had phones[?]
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Before phones, people didn't organize their social and commercial activity in a manner that depends on phones--and the cost to productivity was staggering.
Honestly, I always keep a spare phone now exactly for this reason and just make sure the SIM size is the same as my current phone. Kept an HTC One M8 as my backup for a while. Better than being forced to A ) be without a phone or B ) be between a rock and a hard place with paying full price immediately to get a new phone so I can get phone calls. With the backup, I can C ) go through insurance, swappa, or w/e I choose patiently.
mcdanielvzw said:
Honestly, I always keep a spare phone now exactly for this reason and just make sure the SIM size is the same as my current phone. Kept an HTC One M8 as my backup for a while. Better than being forced to A ) be without a phone or B ) be between a rock and a hard place with paying full price immediately to get a new phone so I can get phone calls. With the backup, I can C ) go through insurance, swappa, or w/e I choose patiently.
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Very true!
Gary02468 said:
I think it's horrible. Samsung should offer the option of shipping a new replacement phone immediately for overnight delivery, if OP provides a credit-card number for the value of the phone until the old one is returned. Then Samsung should immediately email a return label for RMA shipping, and cancel the credit-card hold as soon as the defective product is received and verified.
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That would indeed be phenomenal service, but it also sounds like an expensive change that would likely be passed on to consumers via increased pricing. It's expensive enough as it is! I think most of us can manage without overnight delivery, but some sort of middle ground would be reasonable and certainly welcome.
sefrcoko said:
That would indeed be phenomenal service, but it also sounds like an expensive change that would likely be passed on to consumers via increased pricing. It's expensive enough as it is! I think most of us can manage without overnight delivery, but some sort of middle ground would be reasonable and certainly welcome.
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It's only a noticeable expense if a large fraction of their phones fail quickly. And the overnight (as opposed to two-day) shipping isn't all that important. Most of the benefit from the process I described would come from its other aspects, which would have little or no cost compared to their weeks-slower process.
Samsung just protecting themselves from people claiming the phone just broke on its own when it's actually water damage or physical damage. Nothing wrong with them looking over your phone before they issue out a new one.
If you watered service you should have bought it from a carrier or bought an iPhone.
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shook187 said:
Samsung just protecting themselves from people claiming the phone just broke on its own when it's actually water damage or physical damage. Nothing wrong with them looking over your phone before they issue out a new one.
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Sure, but if they have your credit-card number before they send the replacement phone, then if they find that the original phone was not really defective, they can insist that the replacement be returned in new condition (and subject to a standard restocking fee), or else charge the customer for a second phone. So they're fully protected.
If you watered service you should have bought it from a carrier or bought an iPhone.
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Why? Any vendor who sells someone a product that turns out to be defective has an obligation to replace it without an unnecessary, punitive delay.

Vodafone UK Scam

Well, kind of...
My s9+ died on Christmas eve (gutted), so in boxing day I took myself to the Vodafone store and got myself a nice shiny new S10+... or do i thought.
First they bought out a new phone sealed in the box. Scanned it through and told me it was already reserved for someone else. No problem, they had "plenty in stock".
This tone he bought out an unsealed Vodafone box. Very defensively, without ne asking, he declared, "don't worry, this box is because some official Samsung boxes get damaged in transit. We move the contents to this box, so it's still the full brand new product". I'm fine with this and sounds ok.
I luckily opened the box to put my sim and sd in to it. I find that the earphones are missing... odd. I then inspect there phone and find there is a huge gap down the side of the screen and the metal, with glue showing... this is clearly NOT a new phone.
I point this out to the guy and he initially said he had processed it, so I'd have to make a claim. Then I pointed out that I have a 2 week cooling off period, and also, if they want ne to leave the side without causing a fuss, they had better get me my proper new phone.
Luckily they did just that. Opened it up and it was a totally different story. Phone had the screen protector on it, all items in there. It was then clear that phones in the Vodafone boxes must be damaged returns and NOT brand new phones transferred to other boxes.
Just a heads up to anyone else who might fall for this trap. If they bring out your ne phone in anything other than a perfectly sealed Samsung box, don't accept it!
riso123 said:
Well, kind of...
My s9+ died on Christmas eve (gutted), so in boxing day I took myself to the Vodafone store and got myself a nice shiny new S10+... or do i thought.
First they bought out a new phone sealed in the box. Scanned it through and told me it was already reserved for someone else. No problem, they had "plenty in stock".
This tone he bought out an unsealed Vodafone box. Very defensively, without ne asking, he declared, "don't worry, this box is because some official Samsung boxes get damaged in transit. We move the contents to this box, so it's still the full brand new product". I'm fine with this and sounds ok.
I luckily opened the box to put my sim and sd in to it. I find that the earphones are missing... odd. I then inspect there phone and find there is a huge gap down the side of the screen and the metal, with glue showing... this is clearly NOT a new phone.
I point this out to the guy and he initially said he had processed it, so I'd have to make a claim. Then I pointed out that I have a 2 week cooling off period, and also, if they want ne to leave the side without causing a fuss, they had better get me my proper new phone.
Luckily they did just that. Opened it up and it was a totally different story. Phone had the screen protector on it, all items in there. It was then clear that phones in the Vodafone boxes must be damaged returns and NOT brand new phones transferred to other boxes.
Just a heads up to anyone else who might fall for this trap. If they bring out your ne phone in anything other than a perfectly sealed Samsung box, don't accept it!
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maybe wanna rename the title of the thread as it seems to imply that Vodafone themselves are behind this scam vs an individual retailer
That's the individual retailer doing that
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You think is just that one store?
I guess it's possible. Then again, my wife took out a new contract with Vodafone late last year. She saw the phone she wanted in store and stated several times that's the one she wants, to remarks of, "good choice" etc.
She took out the contract being led to believe the phone was included. Once all the signatures where completed we sat there waiting for the phone. The agent then told us, it doesn't include the phone and they don't have any in stock, so we'd would have to purchase the phone individually else where.
Although we had the cooling off period, we had already processed the number transfer with the agent there, so it would be messy to back out.
It seems they are all a little underhand everywhere! This was a different store in a city 2 hours away from where I had my experience.
My girlfriend took SIM contract from vodafone. And before she sign contract asked how about network coverage. Agent said it is perfect 4G speed is aprox 40Mb/s. So next day she put sim in phone to try. Ok sim card is activated. But coverage is ****, network speed is crap. Fastest what she got 0.78Mb/s download and upload 0.12Mb/s. To use Whatsapp for calls most been impossible. Ok she lived one week with that sim. Contacted vodafone and CS said we have network issue in your area etc. Nothing changed. After all she went to vodafone store to cancel and that was mess. In store guy spend more than one hour with CS / about 8 times transfered to different department, third CS service cancelled contract and wasn't able to give PAC code to keep number and finally story doesn't ends here. Vodafone for less the 7 days charge her £15. Ofcorse after two month of fighting vodafone refunded £11 from £15. Now she is with EE and no prob at all.
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Nettwerk said:
My girlfriend took SIM contract from vodafone. And before she sign contract asked how about network coverage. Agent said it is perfect 4G speed is aprox 40Mb/s. So next day she put sim in phone to try. Ok sim card is activated. But coverage is ****, network speed is crap. Fastest what she got 0.78Mb/s download and upload 0.12Mb/s. To use Whatsapp for calls most been impossible. Ok she lived one week with that sim. Contacted vodafone and CS said we have network issue in your area etc. Nothing changed. After all she went to vodafone store to cancel and that was mess. In store guy spend more than one hour with CS / about 8 times transfered to different department, third CS service cancelled contract and wasn't able to give PAC code to keep number and finally story doesn't ends here. Vodafone for less the 7 days charge her £15. Ofcorse after two month of fighting vodafone refunded £11 from £15. Now she is with EE and no prob at all.
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To be fair, thay just sounds like bad luck with an outage in the area, but I do agree, most suppliers ate difficult to cancel with.
riso123 said:
To be fair, thay just sounds like bad luck with an outage in the area, but I do agree, most suppliers ate difficult to cancel with.
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Sales involving contracts are a nightmare for retailers to handle returns on, mainly because of obstacles in the way because the seller doesnt have much interest in taking customers out of the contract. The vendor blames the service provider and vice versa. In situations like these, its 99.99999999% likely that the retailer had a rash of returns or maybe even bought a damaged freight shipment on purpose to maximize profits and are having to cover their butts when issues are brought up. Sketchy retail practices to say the absolute least, but still not likely Vodafones doing

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