I know this is going to sound bad, but here it goes. I'll explain my situation first. My phone is a little physically damaged, I'm also having the common bluetooth, keyboard, reception issues on my Mogul. They wont replace it over the phone. If I take it into the store their going to say everything is working fine, but they aren't using it day in and day out. I know it's having these problems.
So, I'm going to brick the phone. Then they'll have to replace it. I'm cool with getting a new mogul, but dont want a refurb. I didn't pay for a refurb, so why should I get a refurb. Also, my phones only 4 months old.
So, how do I brick my Mogul? Can I just get the stock rom and unplug it when it says not to, or will the techs be able to fix that. Any recommendations please. Thanks.
Try starting a ROM firmware upgrade via active sync/USB cable method. Then at about 1/2 way through unplug that mofo....
good luck
will the techs be able to get it out of the bootloader screen you think?
Flash one of the official older roms onto the mogul, then flash one of the new ones but leave it with the old radio intact. It will be unbootable and they will prob just give up and give you another one. Or you can mess up the bootloader by installing one of those floating around and unplug the phone during the bootloader upgrade. That should do it.
Can I do it with the stock sprint roms? I don't want to void warranty with the nonstock roms. Would they be able to tell? Can you give simple instructions? I've flashed roms, and I've even cooked roms up, but.. It's been a while.. Also, where would I come across these roms. I know I can download the sprint stock roms from their website. All the help is much appreciated!
I also came across microwaving for 5 seconds with the battery out.. Lol.. I processed that for about two seconds.. My luck, I'd get caught. lol.. This sounds so horrible, but they wont even work with me.. What am I paying the $7 TEP for, you know?
Microwaving for 5 seconds??? lol hilarious but that wont get you a replacement. I was paying for the $7 and then i downgraded to the $4 Equipment Replacement plan because the extra $3 i was paying (repair) was for nothing. When my phone went bad, I called them up and they told me I had to go through Asurion (insurance company). When i contacted Asurion, they asked me what was wrong and I told them that my keyboard no longer worked and that my touch screen capability was very limited and would only work on certain parts of the screen. They then advised that I would have to pay $50 deductible to have the phone replaced. I agreed but only under the condition that I would be receiving a new device and not a refurb. The rep agreed and shipped out a brand new one to me overnight for no additional charge. Phone currently works well.
keeepinitgansta said:
Or you can mess up the bootloader by installing one of those floating around and unplug the phone during the bootloader upgrade. That should do it.
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Yeah, that would do it probably.
But once again that can be fixed by competent tech. So yeah, you have nothing to worry about bringing it into a store. They wont know what to do.
i know verizon and alltel both use Asurion as their insurance company for phones... dont know if sprint does but since your still with in the 1 year warranty then sprint/htc will cover it unless it is physical/water damage. then it becomes Asurion relm of coverage. good luck though... if you take it in enough they might just say screw it and give u a new one... but if ur new one has the same issues they will tell you to go and...ya u get the point
Related
If anyone out there in XDA-land has actually warrantied an unlocked or re-locked phone (in store and/or via the 1-800 number), could you please chime in and post your experience (whether you did store or 800 and what happened).
I realize that it may still be too early to ask this question, because the true kicker is whether someone down the supply chain (in store, then in Verizon, then in HTC) noticed and charged back to your account; as there may not have been enough time for bills to generate after such a chain, but I would love to hear of actual experiences.
If possible, there is no need to report back on Amazon or Best Buy or Guy-On-The-Corner They have different policies. This is a Verizon Corporate inquiry. If anyone sent it back to Verizon, did Verizon ultimately charge you for a new Rezound. Thanks
(I realize there is another thread debating whether or not HTC shares with Verizon, and whether Verizon employees are trained to check. This is not that hypothetical inquiry; I am hoping that only people who ACTUALLY did the swap report in).
Thanks!
This is interesting to me. I'm stuck wanting the "normal", for lack of better words, root and s-off method from the community. I knew that the employees don't care about root as long as they can set it back to stock. That's what I heard from my friend that worked there. I don't know about the HTC unlock though.
I did it with my first rezound. (i baught them at bestbuy for their replacement plan) no questions asked. GIVE ME NEW PHONE, they gave, I was happy.
not that this helps right now, but i should be able to give you an idea in a few days. bought my rezound on the 9th and unlocked and flashed that night, data started not connecting at all on the 13th. called vzw tech support on the 17th telling them what was going on, no mention of whether it was unlocked from either side, got my warranty replacement today. gonna send back the old phone tomorrow.
I had the 'can't charge dead batteries issue' the other night. Went to store and replaced with new battery. No problems.
Sent from my Unlocked/Rooted Rezound running CleanROM 2.0/AmonRa
Thanks
treadwayj said:
not that this helps right now, but i should be able to give you an idea in a few days. bought my rezound on the 9th and unlocked and flashed that night, data started not connecting at all on the 13th. called vzw tech support on the 17th telling them what was going on, no mention of whether it was unlocked from either side, got my warranty replacement today. gonna send back the old phone tomorrow.
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Well - You did come closest to answering out of all the other responses PLEASE let us know if you ever get billed for it (which can take months).
When I turned my Charge in to Best Buy for the upgrade plan, the dude actually SHOWED OFF to the other folks how modded that thing was, he was in awe. As much flashing I did on that thing, it should have melted. They don't care, or are not paid enough TO care. Never had a problem at the VZW store either, but those guys are usually idiots anyways.
Local best buy for me looked for a superuser app, didn't see it, then exchanged the phone. Had they looked at the bootloader they would have seen the relocked. Bunch of idiots...lol.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Hmmm
nosympathy said:
Local best buy for me looked for a superuser app, didn't see it, then exchanged the phone. Had they looked at the bootloader they would have seen the relocked. Bunch of idiots...lol.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
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While Best Buy is not relevant (they probably have their own policies), that is kind of disturbing. It means they are looking.
Anyone actually do this with *VERIZON*, would love to hear if they ultimately charge you.
I know this is not exactly the same, but I exchanged my old Samsung Fascinate for a Droid Charge under warranty through Verizon. I restored the Fascinate but forgot to restore the kernel. It showed some hacked version under the system settings and was really obvious.
I sent it back and never heard anything about it...
i'm curious, if they do charge wouldn't that mean they should send me the phone that was broken back since in theory i would have purchased the second phone at full price?
treadwayj said:
i'm curious, if they do charge wouldn't that mean they should send me the phone that was broken back since in theory i would have purchased the second phone at full price?
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No you're paying for the replacement. It sucks.
06stang said:
No you're paying for the replacement. It sucks.
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so basically i could end up paying $850, $650 for the replacement plus the $200* i spent on the one that broke and be stuck under a two year contract?
oi vei
*with new two year contract
YES! That is why I was hoping to hear of people's actual responses with Verizon. Not having much luck with the "actual" or "verizon" part of the inquiry, but it is probably still too early to really know. The phone hasn't been unlocked long enough for people to unlock, decide they need to warranty replace, exchange it with VERIZON, and then get another bill cycle or 2 or 3 to see if they were charged.
... but I keep hoping to hear from anyone who actually warrantied an unlocked phone back to a Verizon corporate store or Verizon 800. As time goes by, maybe we will learn
doh! not exactly what i wanted to hear to start my friday morning.
i will keep y'all updated if i do or do not get charged
Thanks
treadwayj said:
doh! not exactly what i wanted to hear to start my friday morning.
i will keep y'all updated if i do or do not get charged
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Please do. I suspect it will take months (has to get from Verizon store to headquarters as part of however often they ship, then Verizon has to batch all their warranty replacements back to HTC {if that's how they do it} however often they ship, then HTC has to notice {if they ever do} and push back {if they ever do}, and the Verizon has take the pushback and bill). I suspect that this can take months, at which point the question will be moot (because it will be as it will be), but it was a pipe dream of mine to see what actually happens, given the amount of guessing going on.
Good luck!
I don't see from a legal standpoint how they can do anything...soon as the phone is in their possession they are taking responsibility for it no? Therefore if it is not covered by HTC for some reason, it would be there fault.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Well
nosympathy said:
I don't see from a legal standpoint how they can do anything...soon as the phone is in their possession they are taking responsibility for it no? Therefore if it is not covered by HTC for some reason, it would be there fault.
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There was a ridiculous number of acknowledgment clicks re voided warranty through the unlock process. I would consider this situation exactly like if you brought a phone to Verizon saying it won't work, and the somewhere down the line someone finds the water sensor tripped. The dude behind the counter at Verizon is not going to know at the time, but as the phone winds its way through the warranty replacement chain, someone will figure it out; and they probably will charge you for your replacement.
No one would be screaming 'illegal' in that case; and I believe the cases are identical.
Please note - I hope this is not the case; I have not unlocked my phone (despite desperately wanting to run Nils' ROM) because I dont have $650 to start again. BUT, I can easily see the parallel here.
jdmba said:
There was a ridiculous number of acknowledgment clicks re voided warranty through the unlock process. I would consider this situation exactly like if you brought a phone to Verizon saying it won't work, and the somewhere down the line someone finds the water sensor tripped. The dude behind the counter at Verizon is not going to know at the time, but as the phone winds its way through the warranty replacement chain, someone will figure it out; and they probably will charge you for your replacement.
No one would be screaming 'illegal' in that case; and I believe the cases are identical.
Please note - I hope this is not the case; I have not unlocked my phone (despite desperately wanting to run Nils' ROM) because I dont have $650 to start again. BUT, I can easily see the parallel here.
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I don't know how to feel about that either. When an employee of a cellphone provider looks at the available water marks and SAYS your phone is fine and has not received water damage and they are going to replace it for you...anything found afterwords is Verizon's own fault and they will have to deal with. I actually had apple try and pull that once. Had am iPhone where the wifi card was bad, tech at apple looked at their two water markers and said it was fine, that there was a definite issue and shed replace it. Got a call from apple saying the water marker was tripped and I'd have to pay for the replacement. I told them exactly what happened and they left me alone real quick.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
... and there you go. That is the heart of my inquiry.
The initial person (counter at the store) will be irrelevant, and if people turn in Re-Locked phones, will they ultimately get charged by Verizon EXACTLY the way Apple proceeded with you.
Ok to make a long story short, phone went face down on rocks, shattered glass.
Question is to take it to Tmo for warranty, does it have to be stock? Im currently running the ICS leak and have a unlocked bootloader. If I have to go back to stock, I've read something about the new radio being compatible with GB, so do I just get a stock RUU and run that through the bootloader? Are they gonna even check whats on the phone if its just a shattered glass?
Also if anyone that works at Tmo or has replaced their phone for whatever reason can chime in I'd appreciate it. Normally I'm careful with phones so this is the first time I actually have to go and get it replaced/fixed so are they gonna charge me or is it free? lol Also, I pay the 5 or 10 $s a month for the insurance thing.
RXDriv3r said:
Ok to make a long story short, phone went face down on rocks, shattered glass.
Question is to take it to Tmo for warranty, does it have to be stock? Im currently running the ICS leak and have a unlocked bootloader. If I have to go back to stock, I've read something about the new radio being compatible with GB, so do I just get a stock RUU and run that through the bootloader? Are they gonna even check whats on the phone if its just a shattered glass?
Also if anyone that works at Tmo or has replaced their phone for whatever reason can chime in I'd appreciate it. Normally I'm careful with phones so this is the first time I actually have to go and get it replaced/fixed so are they gonna charge me or is it free? lol Also, I pay the 5 or 10 $s a month for the insurance thing.
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TMO warranty only for defective units. Broken glass? It is the insurance claim.
I dont know how much is the deductible but it is not cheap. If you have to file the clain, tell them you drop your phone and some truck ran over it. Put it on ground and run over it yourself. That way don't worry about them checking what on the phone.
RXDriv3r said:
Ok to make a long story short, phone went face down on rocks, shattered glass.
Question is to take it to Tmo for warranty, does it have to be stock? Im currently running the ICS leak and have a unlocked bootloader. If I have to go back to stock, I've read something about the new radio being compatible with GB, so do I just get a stock RUU and run that through the bootloader? Are they gonna even check whats on the phone if its just a shattered glass?
Also if anyone that works at Tmo or has replaced their phone for whatever reason can chime in I'd appreciate it. Normally I'm careful with phones so this is the first time I actually have to go and get it replaced/fixed so are they gonna charge me or is it free? lol Also, I pay the 5 or 10 $s a month for the insurance thing.
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I'd call tmo and tell them you are checking on your insurance deductables and just ask them how much it cost, it may be cheaper to replace the screen yoursef (if you are good with things like that).
Lately my phone has been having what seems to be a hardware problem. The microphone barely works anymore. When talking on the phone, people are always telling me they can barely hear me, it sounds like I'm really far away, etc, even though I'm practically yelling into the phone. Sometimes it works fine and other times it won't pick up my voice at all. Also it cuts in and out in the middle of conversations.
To rule out the possibility of a software issue, I've tried the following:
Flash MeanROM, problem still persists
Flash CM10, problem still persists
Updated HBOOT to 1.19 (S-OFF) and RUU, problem still persits
Thus, I have concluded that it's a hardware issue with the microphone. The phone is only six months old, and the problem/defect has appeared through no fault of my own (always kept in case, never abused, never got wet). Yesterday, I took it to a local Sprint store to see if they would give me a replacement, and being that I do *not* have insurance on this phone, the employee wanted to charge me $35 to look at the phone and then maybe issue me a refurb if they did not find any sign of water damage, etc.
What experiences have others had regarding defective phones and no insurance? Threads on other forums suggest that some have gotten free replacements while others did not. What's Sprint's official policy on this? I do not think I should be held responsible for any fees considering it's a hardware defect. The employee said I can send the phone directly to HTC for the manufacturer warranty but it would take 15-20 days that I'd be phoneless, and my phone is S-OFF, so I'm a little hesitant about doing that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
I think sprints "official" policy would be no insurance=no replacement. Since it is rooted I would imagine your bootloader is unlocked which means u voided your warranty with HTC. My suggestion is it doesn't hurt to try but don't get pissed at sprint if u don't get it.
One workaround would be to get another phone and activate it online chat and ask to get insurance on it. Once u do that wait a day or two and swap back to your evo. The insurance will stay on the line. Then u can take it in and get it looked at for free if it is a hardware defect u should het a free replacement
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
You had the option for Warranty replacement but that could (not sure) very well be gone if you used their unlocking tool & S-OFF.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Genjinaro said:
You had the option for Warranty replacement but that could (not sure) very well be gone if you used their unlocking tool & S-OFF.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
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Can I make it S-ON again? I assume HTC would still be able to detect that I had done this, am I right?
That's a possibility, I'd make the effort to do so. Flash a fully stock Rom (RUU) before it goes back. If it fails, the worse that can happen is that they send it back.
Just be sure to photograph quality photos of the phone (front, back, sides & top) before packaging & sending it off when dealing with warranty exchanges.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Theyll fix ur phone for 35$ if they detect wayer damage, but if they see your phone is rooted they wont fix it, and give ur phone back to you a.s.a.p
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Just flash it all back to stock, and take it in. Sprint provides the 1 year warranty. So they will check it out, if it fails for them you'll get a refurb. Don't need insurance for factory defect.
regalpimpin said:
Just flash it all back to stock, and take it in. Sprint provides the 1 year warranty. So they will check it out, if it fails for them you'll get a refurb. Don't need insurance for factory defect.
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Right now it is back to stock, but the bootloader is still unlocked. I used the utility to make the bootloader look "stock" though, as it says *** LOCKED *** and S-ON however it is really S-OFF. A Sprint employee may not notice this but an HTC tech certainly will. Anyways, the sprint employee must have been misinformed or something. They said I would need to go through the manufacturer for the warranty and not Sprint. I'm going to go back and try to talk to a different employee and see if I can get a different result. Thanks.
What your looking at is the $35 service fee that Sprint charges you. Its basically a convince fee to save you the time of not having to deal with the manufacturer.
Id take advantage of the "advanced exchange program" pay the 35 bucks and take a refurb device. I did this last month. My original unit had a very loose headset jack.
I paid the 35 bucks and got a replacement. 4 days into the replacement the RF died on it. No signal what so ever. Took it back and they immediately replaced that too. BUT i lucked out. They only had white refurbs in stock. I said Nope. mine is black i want black. So i got a new in box unit. That normally isnt the case but with the 35 dollar refurb units, they still warranty that for 30 days..
after that its back to another 35 bucks for a replacement. I think its fair, afterall your not returning a brand new phone to them. Its a device thats been used and in your case rooted and flashed a few times.
I also think there could be gunk or something in the mic port. Wonder if they checked that.
Did you try to use a wired headset to see if that corrected the issue. If so then its definitely a mic issue.
Anyway, the 35 bucks is for the convinces of not having to wait while HTC works on it..
So i dropped my phone in my drive way ( silly me ) and cracked the corner of the shell by the power button and the corner where is says "Sprint" has a little lip that you can feel and see. Not to big of a deal but for future refrences Do i need to go back to 100% stock (or as close as i can get) for the warranty to still be vaild? i am rooted and s-off. I pay for the sprint replace and repair thing. I have heard a lot of diffrent things about this topic. I have heard in the past that you could not be rooted at all or warranty was automaticaly void, but i heard very recently that Sprint warranty will still be good but they will warn you the dangers of rooting or something like that. Is this true?
Every time ive taken my evo 3d in to sprint i have went back to stock with s-off that's because i was on aosp roms.
Now if you're already on a sense 3.6 rom i don't think you need to unless it has UI changes such as color and sprint employees decide to be assholes.
Play it safe, back up your rom return to stock and take it in.
It's always advised to go back to stock. You never know if you are going to get an employee/manager who will be picky about it.
However, you said you dropped it. FYI, that is not covered under the warranty. That actually completely voided your warranty right there. So, if you have any other issues with it from now on, you will have to go through Asurion (insurance) and pay the 100 dollar deductible to get it fixed.
i just finished changing rom and im on stock now so i shuold be good there...thank you guys for the replys and help... Last time i dropped my phone and shatered the screen completly and the techs replaced my screen and fixed something on the inside with no problems and i told the guy i dropped it so maybe the tech at my store is just nice (that was before i had rooted and s-off)
Which is the best stock Rom to use in order to return the phone for service?
PMGRANDS said:
Which is the best stock Rom to use in order to return the phone for service?
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Well, the best stock rom would of course be the stock rom from your carrier.
If you are paying the monthly fee for the insurance, they will repair\replace the phone with a deductible (physical damage). No amount of rooting or flashing would cause physical damage so you would be good to go.
However, to avoid the lecture they are required to give customers who root their devices you would need to restore it factory. When I took my phone in for replacement (digitizer failed on it) I restored it to factory and received a replacement the next day without having to pay anything. This was because it was a defect in the device and not damaged. But you never know if the tech looking at it would be a jerk or not so I say put it back to factory before taking it in.
Is Asurion still giving out Evo 3Ds as replacements? Mine is starting to die out and I am thinking about upgrading to The One Max in the future, but I do not want to wait that long with my failing Evo. I also do not want to get a refashioned Evo as I have been hearing they usually come dead on arrival.
I got my Galaxy S4 about 10 days ago and now as the outlook on unlocking the ME7 firmware is looking bleak, I'm inclined to see if I can get a return to Verizon on my 30 day warranty to hope I get a device with the original firmware. I had upgraded to the ME7 OTA shortly after I got it... I didn't really think twice about it when I was doing it and ended up regretting it that very night when I checked XDA for the first time about my new phone.
So I'm posting to ask for some opinions and ideas about this process... I assume I'm going to have to have some good excuse for the exchange and I'm sure I'm going to have to incur at least the $35.00 restocking fee. So, does anyone with experience with Verizon know the process well? What kind of fees am I looking at? It is worth it to attempt this? Does anyone have any ideas for reasons to tell them for the exchange? I want to just tell them that I updated system software and I'm unsatisfied with the responsiveness of the device after I did this and I'd like to exchange it, but I'm not sure if that'd be good enough for them. What do you all think?
Thanks.
EDIT: By the way, I didn't buy any insurance, if that matters.
If you are under 14 days you can exchange for another phone for $35 or return completely. No excuse needed. You can be unsatisfied changed your mind whatever. Doesn't matter. So yes your reason of not being satisfied is good enough.
Just tell them im either returning it or you can swap it with a new phone. . Either way I'm not keeping this phone. . Nothing wrong with it I just want an older firmware. . Under 14 days your good.
I was in the exact same boat you were in about two weeks ago. I brought my phone in and claimed that I wanted to exchange it for a white version (I had the black one). The sales rep who was doing the exchange was the same guy who sold it to me, (whom I had told of my plans to root it and flash CM10 onto it), and asked if that was really the reason why I wanted to exchange it. I told him that the phone had downloaded ME7, and I was hoping to get a new phone with MDK on it. He brought out another black S4 to me, and charged me nothing. He put it in the system as a failed update. Good guy saved the day!
My take: Go in, tell them your phone updated itself without prompting you, and you'd like a new phone. Don't mention anything about rooting/bootloaders, and if they ask for a better reason, ask to switch to a different color. Chances are you'll end up footing the $35 restocking fee.
Thanks, guys.
I went into a Verizon store today to try to get the exchange and got hassled... the guy insisted that there must be something wrong with the phone in order to exchange the device for an identical model or they would have to charge me the full, unsubsidized price. Of course, if I wanted to get the same phone with the other color it would only cost a restocking fee... go figure. I went on a rant about how that made no sense and that I wouldn't sit there trying to make it crash in front of them because it could take hours. He told me it was impossible, but I could call the Verizon help line and if they think that's a sufficient reason maybe they'd do the exchange.
So I went home, called the help line, got a guy in a minute and five minutes after that they are shipping my replacement device at absolutely no cost. No restocking fee or anything as he said it was a swap-out and the restocking fee doesn't apply. Of course, my only worry is with what the guy at the store said where they might charge me the full price if they find nothing wrong with it. However, the guy on the phone didn't make any mention of that possibility and I told him no lies... I said I updated system software and the phone has been much less stable, it crashed a few times (which is true), and I got advice from others stating they had similar issues with the new system software and that they got a replacement from Verizon. All that considered, is there any chance they might charge my account?
Anyway, I'm hoping they won't and I'm happy for the moment because I'm one step closer to getting a custom rom on my new phone. Hopefully... I still wouldn't know what to do if they actually send me a new device with ME7 on it. Maybe I shouldn't count my chickens until it arrives. I guess I'll know by the weekend if I'm a happy camper or not.
Thanks again for the advice.
Theyre probably starting to catch on with all the returns theyve been having.
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