Database Develop

ATT Warranty Exchange experiences

Just wondering if anyone can share there experiences with the exchange program through att..like what HAVE you gotten away with and what HAVENT you gotten away with and got slapped with the $500 charge lol

I followed the the warranty return thing on this forum, and I got no problem. I had seriously scratched the screen of the phone. I told the manager before sending it to quote she said its "normal wear and tear." But my speaker of the phone was messed up. On that same phone the void button and some ddamage as I was playing with it, I didn't what it was, until I found out later that its to open up the phone.
So, I got away with two major linear scratches on the screen which made writing with the stylus impossible. And I had damaged the button. But I told the manager of this before I sent it in. Or the High_end PDA department.

pazookie said:
Just wondering if anyone can share there experiences with the exchange program through att..like what HAVE you gotten away with and what HAVENT you gotten away with and got slapped with the $500 charge lol
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what did they find wrong with the phone???
i just sent one they sent me, the first time, i put it into the boot loader and noticed that the SPL was HardSPL, it scared me a little and well the screen cracked while i was looking at it an hour later, the phone rang so i looked and the caller ID and suddenly there was a broken screen on my tilt. not sure if they are gonna say anything about hard SPL but it came that way.
(part of me hopes i was holding someones old phone from this site)
oh yeah and this probably shoudn't be in ROM developement, ask a mod to move it to general

oh im just wondering..i was reading a post about putting the old att spl back on for an exchange and someone replied about how theyve returned 6 tilts with major problems all of which should fall outisde of warranty so i just thought id ask as i have a slight problem myself but its not keeping my kaiser from working and i opened a ticket with HTC directly as they dont screw you if you fall outside of warranty...my usb charger was getting a full contact and i had to bend it up and down to get it to stay charging (shoulda just sent it in then lol) and finally the plastic seperator of the pins broke out and then i bent in a pin a few times and that broke off..so i opened it up and soldered it back in and it eventially popped off again so i was thinking i could just squeeze the plastic piece that broke off back in as it wont come out unless you use needle nose pliers and sliding that pin back in..

I did a warranty return not to long ago. Phone was stuck with the radio from hell 1.65.17.10 and didn't have the friendly FrankKaiser that Jockyw2001 developed. Never had an issue with AT&T saying that I had altered the phone in any way. I flashed back to the original shipped ROM. Change the SPL to 1.56 the original one that it came with. I then re-flashed the original shipped ROM. When the ROM flash completed at 50% I unplugged the phone. This way on the phone will only go to the bootloader.
I actually just did a warranty return again today. Had some scratches on the screen that were really bugging me. There weren't big but definitely a nuisance for me. Told them the phone was stuck on the bootloader, or as I put it in "in this three color screen with Red, green, white." They issued a warranty replacement right away.

AllTheWay said:
I did a warranty return not to long ago. Phone was stuck with the radio from hell 1.65.17.10 and didn't have the friendly FrankKaiser that Jockyw2001 developed. Never had an issue with AT&T saying that I had altered the phone in any way. I flashed back to the original shipped ROM. Change the SPL to 1.56 the original one that it came with. I then re-flashed the original shipped ROM. When the ROM flash completed at 50% I unplugged the phone. This way on the phone will only go to the bootloader.
I actually just did a warranty return again today. Had some scratches on the screen that were really bugging me. There weren't big but definitely a nuisance for me. Told them the phone was stuck on the bootloader, or as I put it in "in this three color screen with Red, green, white." They issued a warranty replacement right away.
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yeah cause we don't know about the magic we can do with the "pretty rainbow screen" come on ATW you let a few little scratches bug you. i'm still waiting for them to send me one that works, i've sent back three and i still have the original that i bought. two broken usb ports and a broken screen good job at&t for being incompetent

Has anybody done a warranty replacement and convinced them to send a new one and not a refurbed?

kareem9nba said:
Has anybody done a warranty replacement and convinced them to send a new one and not a refurbed?
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actually yes, well they say they will be sending it when the get the phones i just sent back. i talked to Christina and she told me that the phone they will send me next will be the tilt as it comes out of the box, including the software cd, usb cable, stylus, battery, and back cover. i will confirm when i recieve it but they tell me it will be brand new

Well, after I figured out my ROM issues. My phone had some problems with continuously soft resetting. I suspect a bad memory block. I made it clear through out my conversation with the rep that I took really good care of my phone and that I don't know how people can throw their 400 dollar phones around like they are nothing. I also made a point to say my battery seemed to be going bad and that I had done some research about Li-Po batteries going bad and that this seemed to be a classic case. I asked if there was anyway she could send a battery with the phone. (Just so you know, when you call warranty replacement, it seems to me they have two options, send a refurb, or send a full kit) So, she said she could send me a full kit and it is otw now. That is a good thing because my phone wont boot now. I think whether you get caught with a bootloader that is different than OEM kinda depends on who receives the phone on the other end. I'm sure they are SUPPOSED to check that, but I'm sure they can get away with not checking it, and I'm sure there is no incentive for checking it.

tubaking182 said:
yeah cause we don't know about the magic we can do with the "pretty rainbow screen" come on ATW you let a few little scratches bug you. i'm still waiting for them to send me one that works, i've sent back three and i still have the original that i bought. two broken usb ports and a broken screen good job at&t for being incompetent
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They could have said F.U., you broke it we are not resposible.
My phone got stuck in bootloader while doing a rom update.Called AT$T, they sent me through three techs, my answer to all there suggestions were " did it ", " did it ".
Three days later, they sent me a refurb ( in perfect condition ), in the box was the phone, a return mailing label/postage, even a new piece of tape to seal the box. Put the phone in,sealed the box, put on the label, dropped it in the mail box. End of story. The new/refurb has worked great ever since.
Could not have been easier or more pleasant.

So far it has been very positive even when my phone was technically out of warranty they replaced my TILT (not a cheap phone)
I have done 4 returns via mail and 1 by going to a local AT&T Warranty exchange center. NO PROBLEMS, I did revert back to original ROM but I am sure they didn't check. store replacement was in and out in 25 minutes. ( 10 minutes after my phone was looked at they just gave me a new one ).
AT&T You do have great warranty service I will give you that.

so all sounds good i should just stick my device in bootloader mode and send it back?

i can only revert back the rom as i cant sspl it so it shows hardspl AND security unlocked at the top..think thatl make a difference?

My miniUSB port was broke, wouldn't charge or sync most of the time. I called AT&T told them what was wrong and they said they'd send me a replacement. Once the replacement got here, I reverted my phone back to at&t ship specs, sent it back to them and all went well.

My girlfriend and I both had the Hermes, unlocked w/ cooked rom. They physically broke to a point it was hard to revert them back, but eventually was able to, we got 2 brand new Kaisers for $50 a piece. I'd love to know if I can 'loose' this phone and get a new kaiser for another $50 then sell the one i've been using for a couple of months for 2 or 3 hundred. If anyone has done this or knows how let me know!

I recently had to send in my Tilt and recieved a refub in the mail and everything went very smooth. Customer service was good and fast.

just returned 2 8525's and they sent me a tilt, first 8525 white screen problem, second one wont continue installing rom above 12%. awesome hardware warranty service.

wow they upgraded you to a tilt, thats amazing

warranty
as long as the phone isnt in more than one piece and the liquid indicator under the battery is white there should be no problem. Keep this in mind also. It all really depends on who receives it when you send it in. Everyone views physical damage, wear and tear, etc in their own terms even though there is a standard measure for it. Some let things go and others will say that a wear and tear scratch is damage. Generally you can get away with a bit as long as the phone doesnt look like a dog to it. No broken screens. No screens with pressure cracks (internal cracks). The screen is usually the biggie.

when i first got my kaiser i joined this site.. days later i BRICKED my phone, i had all types of apps and crap on my ppc. SO i went over to my original at&t shop and the dude called my bluff of "i dunno why, its not working". So i took my device and the next day went to another at&t shop with my brother. I walked in flirted my ass off with the ugliest sales rep i found.. and man this chick was beastly, and was able to swap out my device and get a new 512mb mem. card .. with no problem. i didnt even have a reciept, i just talked my way thru and SHAZAM!

HTC repair Experience

Just wanted to share with everyone my experience I just had with HTC regarding the repair of my beloved Kaiser.
About 4 weeks ago my phone tri-color screened on my me. After several weeks of posting to this forum trying to get a fix I finally called for an RMA#.
Sent the phone off, got a call 3 days later saying they were running it through is diagnostics and would report back to me. 3 days later they called me and said it was being repaired and I owed them $20. Paid them and then 4 days later received a call saying my phone was repaired and it was being shipped out and the guy gave me my tracking number.
So the phone shows up and it has a description of what repairs were done. The replaced the mainboard as well as the usb connector. Loaded on WM 6.1 for me and also replaced the entire key pad on the front of the phone. Keep in mind they only thing I think was wrong with the phone to begin with was I screwed up loading the newer SPL so I could flash the phone.
Not sure if everyone has had such a good experience with HTC but this is the reason I will keep buying the phones as they come out. I honestly thought they were going to charge me $150 plus to do this.
So I will take back my 3G iPhone I got and start using my favorite phone of all time.
Now if HTC will make a phone with a larger screen the world will nearly be a perfect place!!!
Happy flashing,
heat

I think I need them to... sounds like the same problem I have. I'll call HTC today so the process can be started to repair my phone... In the Netherlands I heard less positive reactions to HTC's Service.

yah i sent back a tilt with a broken lcd and red light of death and they didnt charge me a dime..they said there was pressure damage to lcd and the mainboard needed to be replaced and also housing because they stated that they need to break the housing to replace the lcd (which is crap) so they quoted me like 300 or something (i dont remember it was 6 months ago) and i told them just to send it back to me with nothing done to it and i dont hear back from them and a week later they call me saying theyre shipping it back and everything has been replaced and i didnt even get the $29 diagnostics fee so that was awesome and to think i almost sent it in to att through exchange by mail warranty program

I sent my kaiser to their repair service for unresponsive keys on the keyboard.
It came back about 10 days later with a new keyboard, new back cover (the rubber external gsp cover was a bit loose) and a new lcd screen (don't know why).
It was warranty, so I didn't have to pay anything.
Satisfied customer over here

I have a Kaiser with the 3G/HSDPA problem in Spain, at this moment is at the Service centre for three times, each time along one month and return with the same problem. I am very unhappy

Advice re: AT&T Return?

I called AT&T tech support awhile back because of a couple problems I was having.
1st thing I noticed was the backlight settings not holding. I would set it o not turn off. It would stay that way for awhile, then revert back to shutting off at 10 seconds.
2nd problem was the case around the battery heating up when charging.
3rd problem was that the unit seemed to overheat if I used it (mail, internet, basic functions) for more than a few minutes. The display would then shut completely off, I'd have to pull the battery to shut it down, let it cool off then reboot.
Tech support turned me over to warranty repairs, who sent out a new phone.
I put the old one in the buble envelope they provided, stuck their label on and mailed it back.
I received my old phone in the post today with a big dent on the screen, and an arrow sticker pointing to the dent. When powered on, the screen shows a splat where the dent is and cracks widening out from it with no actual display visible.
The screen was in perfect condition when I mailed it out.
Now they want me to pay $500 for the new phone that they mailed me because "physical damage isn't covered".
BUT the phone wasn't damaged before I mailed it in. Obviously, I'm angry. I need to call AT&T and discuss this with them. I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else, and if so, how did you deal with it? Or if anyone has any advice for how to deal with AT&T on this matter?
Thanks,
Kari

this seems odd..att states in their terms once you send out your device it becomes their property and they will not send it back under any circumstances..just keep calling them and calling..it might take you 5 hours of total talk time but you CAN get what you want trust me..i had a broken usb port (from the first version of the tilt that was released which was porly manufactured) which MANY people on xda had similar issues but nothing on att's or htc's side had been documented and they kept telling me "no its not covered blah bla" and finaly after about 4 hours of total talk time (mostly holding and reexplaining the situation 1 million times) i got an elevated elevated elevated personnel who put a note to waive all charges when the device was inspected so dont give up..just demand to be speak to elevated personnel and dont let your guard down make it clear that you sent it in for so and so reasons and why would you send it an obviously physically damaged device...DONT GIVE UP UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT

Well thats a bumer, it all depends on who you talk to, when you call AT&T or the insurance company. I assume you have asurion . But my advice is to call asurion and not at&t because they have nothing to do with at&t , and demand to speak to a supervisor , and forget about the operator and request a transfer. Incase the you still have the envelope to take pictures of it and submit it to the returns claim after speaking with a supervisor. Thats if the envelope shows any external damage you can say it was the S&H carrier . its going to be a tough one but you can win. From my experience with asurion i had never had a problem . i have always reported my phones from at&t and sprint/nextel As lost or stolen , therefore they cannot demand a return on the phone. i have done it for over 4 years and have gotten over 5 thousand dollars in phones some i sold some where really lost or broken, but even if they was broken i still said lost or stolen. hope it helps for your next insurance experience.

Update
Well, I only had to talk to one person and they agreed that the phone was damaged after shipping, and removed the almost $500 charge.
Hurrah and thanks for the advice.

Which story is the truth?
The one here or the one on this Ebay listing?

Could be a coincedence. But if not that's pretty shady.

herecomesthetornado said:
Which story is the truth?
The one here or the one on this Ebay listing?
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They probably buy their red arrows at the same store.

Faulty Kaiser, Problems with HTC repair centre UK

Hi all, I have had my kaiser since july 2008. in october i opened the slide mechanism and one of the keys must have came off into the slide mechanism and the phone keyboard wouldnt shut properly (you could see where the key came off that it had not been properly glued down so this was a manufacturing fault)
About a week before this the phone usb port developed a fault. Sometimes it would not charge when plugged in but most the time it did so i planned to send the phone off for repair anyway.I sent this off about a week later towards the end of october.
I sent it off to the UK repair centre at milton keynes. I waited around a week and then i received an email saying it was not covered by the warranty, and was being charged £35 for the repair which they called part plastic refurbishment. As i did not force the keyboard slider or cause the fault on the charging port i refused to pay this and spoke to somebody in the uk offices to why i was even being charged this amount for something which was not my fault.
He emailed me around a week later explaining that the charge was for the black plastic which surrounds the middle of the phone as it had a deep scratch on it near one of the corners( which was only a scratch no cracks etc and hardly noticeable unless you really looked for it they sent me a photo blown up about 100000 times so i could see it) and could not be fixed without replacing this.
I refused to pay it so they sent me the handset back the middle of december. When i received it back suprisingly the slide mechanism had been fixed the button was still the same, the charge fault was still there plus it had a new fault, When i inserted my SIM card and switched my phone on it told me "the sim is missing" i tried 4 more sim cards (new and used) and it still had the same message.
I phoned up the HTC customer services the same day i received this back to tell them of this fault plus i told them that the slider had been repaired but not the usb or the keyboard they told me to send this back. I sent this back 10 days ago due to the christmas period. I have received an invoice today asking me to pay for the part plastic refurbishment again at a cost of £35 with no mention of the USB, Keyboard or the SIM fault. It just seems to me when you call the call centre its just full of drones who follow a script as i have explained the faults on more than one occasion. Since i have bought this phone HTC has had it in repair more than i have had use out of it. If anyone could give me any suggestions contact numbers email addresses , Advice on where i stand legally on this i would very much appreciate this.
Thanks in advance

the picture HTC sent me
here is the picture that htc sent me

hacka1010 said:
here is the picture that htc sent me
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To be perfectly honest, your phone looks like it has been dropped quite hard on that corner - there is casing damage to the upper half (circled chip) and also a few chips out of the adjacent part of the bottom half. To get those parts to chip like that would take quite a bang. My Kaiser is over a year old and has been dropped loads of times onto hard surfaces (inculding gravel and concrete) and nothind has chipped like that.
Good luck with getting the repairs done. I guess the best approach will be to be a pain in the arse with them - always ask to speak to someone senior - rehearse and learn the UK consumer rights and quote them to HTC reps (but don't get stroppy on the phone). If they say someone will call back, wait until 1 minute after the specified time then call to complain that they didn't etc, etc. I did this with a Hermes (which I'd broken myself) and in the end they gave me a new one to shut me up.

Nexus One swap, Will they charge me for unlocking?

Did any of you here swap your phone with HTC and your phone was unlocked?
My phone's defects are obviously hardware: Power button failing and Screen has a gap around sides, (Dust gathers around screen everyday, have to clean manually).
Can they charge me for unlocking and rooting it, even though these issues are hardware specific? Anyone has a story to share?
During the call, the HTC Rep told me that "we will charge your credit card for any non-warranty problems." Does unlocking count as one?

yes they will charge you for having your phone rooter,cause is out of the warranty that's what they told me over the phone...

I heard some Reps are unaware that HTC honors Hardware warranty. Maybe they said that to you because they are just reading a script that says "unlocking = void" I've read stories here that they still repair though. Is it true?

I just had my Nexus One (unlocked bootloader) replaced through HTC without a charge for a similar hardware defect. When I called, I didn't mention anything about it being rooted, nor did he ask. I received my replacement, HTC received my defective unit, and I was told my ticket was closed with no charge on my account.
The replacement I received has a new defect and I'm currently awaiting another replacement to swap it out as well. I don't think they care, but I wouldn't parade around talking about it. Just be courteous and flash everything back to stock as much as you can.

Ok, thanks for the info! It would be great if they didn't charge me for this.

Please keep us informed on how everything turns out. Several people have said they've had no trouble. It would be nice to get a list if reasons for RMA with success rate. I have a fairly strong feeling as long as it's hardware related and involves no root caused problem (led from n1 torch, speaker from louder music, etc.) the rate would be pretty high. HTC really, in all the times I've had any problems has been one of my favorite call centers to contact.

I have successfully swapped my phone. I had the dust under screen issue and i called them up. Not questions asked about unlocked. I got my phone and they waited a week or so and i saw my ticket was closed. Now im calling back because my replacement one now has dust under the screen also.

Did you guys get these phones new that you are able to do this?
I just bought my N1 used from someone and I'm wondering if this will apply to me if incase i get the dust issue

I have a question regarding replacement swapping as well.
My phone has the power button defect and I'd like to swap it for a new one.
However, I dropped my phone on asphalt recently and there are minor scuffs on 2 edges and a ding on the top left edge. Will this be a problem in swapping?
Will I get charged or something after they receive my phone? The defects are not related to me dropping it.

Coderedpl said:
Did you guys get these phones new that you are able to do this?
I just bought my N1 used from someone and I'm wondering if this will apply to me if incase i get the dust issue
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I got mine on Craigslist. I traded my Iphone 3gs for it. Wonderful trade. Android fanboy since G1, but wanted to see what all the hype was about for the iphone. I never saw it. haha.
So I called HTC. Told them the IMEI they asked if i still live blah blah address(the original owner). I told them nope. Gave them new address and name. They got my CC number and off we go. Got a replacement phone in 2 days. Sent the other one back. Case closed. All is good, until yesterday when I saw just under my replacement one also. Its been 3-4 weeks. Now i'm waiting for another replacement.

I got mine on craigslist too, not that AWESOME of a deal since i pretty much just got the phone (the charger barely charges) and the usb i got from a small cell store at a mall doesnt work...pfftt
so I need: Data cable, charger & car charger.
bleh

futango said:
I got mine on Craigslist. I traded my Iphone 3gs for it. Wonderful trade. Android fanboy since G1, but wanted to see what all the hype was about for the iphone. I never saw it. haha.
So I called HTC. Told them the IMEI they asked if i still live blah blah address(the original owner). I told them nope. Gave them new address and name. They got my CC number and off we go. Got a replacement phone in 2 days. Sent the other one back. Case closed. All is good, until yesterday when I saw just under my replacement one also. Its been 3-4 weeks. Now i'm waiting for another replacement.
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you didn't have to show proof or purchase/receipts?

blt51 said:
I have a question regarding replacement swapping as well.
My phone has the power button defect and I'd like to swap it for a new one.
However, I dropped my phone on asphalt recently and there are minor scuffs on 2 edges and a ding on the top left edge. Will this be a problem in swapping?
Will I get charged or something after they receive my phone? The defects are not related to me dropping it.
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Click to collapse
I'd like to know the answer to this too. My phone has a stuck pixel but I also dropped it and now there is a crack in the screen. I'm wondering if they'll charge me for the swap.

I've had my N1 replaced almost 5 times, so I have some experience with this. Everything was perfect with my first phone except for one dead pixel, which was only visible from certain angles. However, considering the price that I paid for the phone, it wasn't acceptable from my perspective.
I read a lot about people having successes with replacements so I decided to do a swap. My recommendation is to think about doing a swap very carefully. Each time a replacement was sent to me, I found new problems with the phone.
For example, one replacement had a weak vibrate while another had a camera that took oversaturated photos. One of the phones had minor scratches on the screen. Another replacement turned out to be the replacement that was sent to me which I sent back (but with a different sticker and IMEI).
So I think that if the phone is not damaged significantly, such as huge cracks, they will not charge you any fees. So minor scratches on the phone and "normal use" damage is fine.
Also, if you purchased your phone from someone else, you will still be under the warranty and do swaps. I've asked this through the phone twice and both times I was told that they decided to honor warranty transfers.

HTC gave me a new one was well with unlocked bootloader. The problem with my phone was a software issue too. No questions asked.

This is great to hear.
I traded my iPhone 3GS for a N1 on craigslist only to discover it has some sort of hardware problem - Strange rebooting - not sure if it's heat related (doesn't seem so) or bad RAM (I've seen many reports). Went the replacement route (that's another story all together - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=698156) and am awaiting the new unit. Just got my return shipping label, hopefully they wont charge me either!

x986123 said:
I heard some Reps are unaware that HTC honors Hardware warranty. Maybe they said that to you because they are just reading a script that says "unlocking = void" I've read stories here that they still repair though. Is it true?
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I had my Nexus One rooted and it was sent it to HTC for "power button failure" and they fixed it for no extra charge. Came back with a more firm-feeling power button and relocked.

They tried to charge me but after some reasoning with the right person on the phone they dropped the charge. You can also file a ticket with the Google Sales team and they will make sure you are not charged if you have a manufacturing defect unrelated to your phone being unlocked.

I bought mine from someone locally in salt lake, and after I had bought it, i noticed some dust under the screen. When I called HTC, they wouldn't replace the whole unit because there was an engraving on it. But they said they would send me a packing slip and i could send them the phone and they would take it apart and fix it. So hopefully it works.

adamhlj said:
I bought mine from someone locally in salt lake, and after I had bought it, i noticed some dust under the screen. When I called HTC, they wouldn't replace the whole unit because there was an engraving on it. But they said they would send me a packing slip and i could send them the phone and they would take it apart and fix it. So hopefully it works.
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Click to collapse
Hey, I would try calling HTC again and talk to another representative if you want to do a swap for a replacement; sometimes the customer representatives tell you what they know and so they give different responses.
The warranty specifically says:
If you have engraved your phone with a personal message, the device that you receive will not include the engraving, and the engraving on the defective device will not be sent back to you. If you want to keep your engraving, you can opt for the express repair option.
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That is, unless you want to keep the engraving.
Good luck!