First of all, if this is against the rules, I apologize. I just want to share an amazing experience I had with HTC with my Titan. Please close if this is not allowed.
As some of you know, there are faulty Titans in which it doesn't update through Zune or at all. Mine was one. Bought it brand new here in the Philippines. Decided to have it fixed and since the model is not released here in my country, htc phils said it had to be shipped to HK global service center. Paid for the shipping and the rest is history(read below).
I sent this to Peter Chou. Found an email address online. I decided to shoot for the moon because I was so pissed.
START
Bought an HTC Titan. I'm here n the Philippines. When Zune told me an update was available, went ahead and updated. There were error codes flyin all over and the damn thing won't update. Tried everything I could to no avail. Researched on the net and found out there's a batch of htc Titans that have the same problem. Since not locally released here in the Philippines, they said I had to send it to global service center. Mind you I bought the phone for Php30,000. That's a lot of money here. I paid another Php1,500 to send it to HK. Now some Ata Lau said he was able to fix it, but I need to send HKD249.10 for HTC to ship it back. Now comes the problem. HSBC said I had to have a HKD account with them, and to open an account, the minimum was 100,000. Do you get where I'm going with this, HTC??? I've walked all over Makati yesterday, changed Php2250 to HKD300, then banks all over said I had to have an HKD account. I was willing to forgive you for the factory deffect. Was willing to pay for shipping one way, and you couldn't send the phone back unless I pay for it? C'mon! you are a multibillion company and you couldn't even pay for HKD249.10? First of all, your product was deffective. If it was mishandled by me, I would understand. But it was practically brand new. You can check the receipt I included it in the box when I sent it to your HK service center. Even if it was a risk buying a unit not locally released, as a consumer/customer, I trusted you guys, HTC, to provide the best products. I've used HTC units for almost forever. I know you manufactured for Dopod, Orange, O2, Qtek and whoever before you decided to sell on your own. I have been a staunch ally and in a way I have been helping market your product here in the Philippines. In my workplace, my friends, family, I have all convinced them to switch to HTC. I know this is all voluntary, still I hope this counts for something. I even dream of working for htc. But after this hell, I think I'll just give up. You can have the damn phone. Thinking of starting a hate campaign against your company. Is there a Steve Jobs in HTC? I heard he did stuff for Apple customers personally. No wonder they have such loyal customers. If Peter Chou read this, would he do the same? I hope so. I wish I could talk to him and recommend some improvements on the company I used to love. If I was an executive of HTC, I would read some of the mails your customers send. I know you would be paid too much just to read mails, but it would mean so much to the community if you did. It shows its not all about business, revenues, profits, its also taking care of your customers. I am a supervisor for a BPO company, and that is what we look for in a person. I hope you do the same.
END
Below is an email I sent to Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. I don't even know if he read the mail personally, but anyway, I sent this email last Saturday. I was really pissed after going back and forth between HSBC Ayala and BPI Buendia last March 9. Mind you I was just walking. Then had to go to a Money changer in Makati Ave so I can have HKD300 for the shipping. Found out I had to have a HKD account before I can send the money. it cost me Php2250 but then I had to had it changed to Php again, which only got me Php1550 inreturn. I might really be stupid, but I have no experience at all of sending foreign currency. htc Hong Kong just gave me their HSBC bank then told me to send HKD249.10. The next day I decided, they could have the phone, I give up. Then again decided to send this email. By Monday morning I got a call from an international #. When I answered a lady named Wendy said they got my letter for Peter Chou. I was like whaaaaaaattttt???? She was apologizing for the experience I had and even thanked me for speaking up and giving them the chance to improve on their service. She even explained that they would love to release the htc Titan here in the Philippines but right now there are still some things they are considering. Then She said she was able to talk to the tech from HK to confirm my phone was already fixed. She said they would forgo SOP and they will pay for the shipping and will return my phone and that I just need to wait 3 - 5 business days. I was kinda skeptic at first. 5 mins after I put the phone down, a rep from htc Phils(Angelo) whom I have always been in contact with since this ordeal called and said asked If I was able to talk to Wendy. Then I asked him who she was. He said she was a Manager for South East Asia. Then I explaind to him that because I was very pissed at them, I sent a letter to their CEO. And I asked, was it possible that they got my letter? He laughed and said maybe they did. Later at night, Angelo called again and gave me a Fedex tracking number. I was like, wow! Still I was thinking, I'll believe it when I get the phone. At around 9:45am yesterday, my Titan was with me. Ten mins after, I got a call from Wendy again. She said she just wanted to make sure that I got the phone and that it was fixed. I told her it was working but I have to wait for the next update to know if the problem was really fixed. I told her how much I appreciated this. She was saying "no we should apologize and thank you for the letter and support again" and that if ever I had problems with the phone, that I contact htc Phils, and in case they can't help me, she said to look for her.
Now, I don't know if this is an isolated case, but I was really amazed by this. Until now I can't believe this happened. How can a company as big as HTC care about one persons' problem? I hope they don't get flooded with requests and all if people read this, but to myself, I keep thinking this was one of the best phone calls I ever got in my life. This could be shallow because it was just a phone, still I appreciated it so much. I waited so long for someone to sell Titan here in the Philippines, then when I was finally able to buy one, it won't update. hehehe...anyway, I just wanted to share my experience to the community. I'm trying to share this to all other sites.
Hi, good one! My team handles customer complaints sent to the CEO here at Orange, and we would treat yours the very same way. Customer is king.
Prerna said:
Hi, good one! My team handles customer complaints sent to the CEO here at Orange, and we would treat yours the very same way. Customer is king.
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Don't take it personally, but I don't agree with Orange's policy of customer is king. My thread for how Orange made me suffer (via CEO office) is flying somewhere on XDA! - I had to quit Orange and even went to small claims courts!
drupad2drupad said:
Don't take it personally, but I don't agree with Orange's policy of customer is king. My thread for how Orange made me suffer (via CEO office) is flying somewhere on XDA! - I had to quit Orange and even went to small claims courts!
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I guess this topic should be moved to the "General topics" section.
Sorry to hear about your story. Although I couldn't say there aren't sometimes cases where no agreement can be found, these are very limited in numbers, and we usually are "large" in our negotiations. I guess your cases relates to Orange UK? Did you consider contacting the local Ombudsman, which can deliver a neutral position on your case? That's what some of our customers do when they find no solution with our services.
Back to enyaj's experience and the email he sent to P. Chou, it is quite evident something had to be done in order to have his phone shipped quickly and at no cost. Still, evident things can be sometimes are to obtain, and an email to the CEO often helps a lot!
nice to hear such stories with happy endings also it is hard to believe that HTC CEO reads emails of their customers.
MaruFas said:
nice to hear such stories with happy endings also it is hard to believe that HTC CEO reads emails of their customers.
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That is why I said "really?" to Wendy when she said they received my letter to Peter Chou. hehehe...
MaruFas said:
nice to hear such stories with happy endings also it is hard to believe that HTC CEO reads emails of their customers.
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it's most probable that his personal assistant read it and forwarded it to Wendy.
Prerna said:
it's most probable that his personal assistant read it and forwarded it to Wendy.
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Yeah I believe this is what happened. Still, they answered it so I'm happy. hehehe..
Related
Got my TP yesterday from Best Buy, and unfortunately it had few issues, biggest being that the left side was separating (you could see the glass move and could hear a click when squeezing it....) Needless to say I was not going to keep it, so I figured I will give a local Best Buy a try to see if I can exchange it...
I walked up to the Customer Service desk and explained the problem. They said no problem, just go to the computer area and get another one, and they will do an exchange. Went back there, and asked for a Transformer Prime. Got a blank stare, then was told that they are not out yet. I proceeded to explain that I already have one and I'm just exchanging it. Another blank stare, then I was assured that what I must have is the Transformer. I finally got tired of this and asked one of the reps to go back to Customer Service with me.
Upon looking at the box, he looked up the SKU and not finding it in the system, he told me that there is nothing they can do, since it's not in their system and he has no idea how I was able to order one. I politely explained that I have the packing slip from BB.com, order receipt, emails from BB, etc. I had two other people look at it, try to pull up the SKU, then telling me the same thing. It was time to talk to somebody that might have a slightest clue, so I asked for a manager. To make a long story short, after a 25 minute discussion where I was basically accused of "doing something funny", he called somebody else on the phone, and after a short conversation told me that he will "issue me a refund, but this is just not right."
I stayed calm and got the refund, then politely explained to the guy that I can't believe how they can treat a customer in this manner. I don't remember the last time being treated remotely like this, and I will certainly let the corporate office know. He could obviously care less...
Anyway, just wanted to vent. Best Buy lost a VERY good customer, as after this whole TP fiasco I'm just done with them. It's a shame that such a large retailer has so little clue about customer service and competency...
Well the TP is not currently sold in stores yet, its an online only product. I can see why there were confused, but they should've know that though.
Dang! I hope my luck is better. I have a Grey 64GB with dock on pre-order from B&H. It's amazing how lame and helpless these sales people can be. They are slaves to the Point-Of-Sale terminal with no imagination or obvious access to resources.
The correct response would be to accept what you said as true, apologize and issue the refund since they have no units in the store to give you.
Bye.
Hmm, who would've guessed Paul Christoforo would get a job at Best Buy so quickly.
Ludikhris said:
Hmm, who would've guessed Paul Christoforo would get a job at Best Buy so quickly.
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Well obviously since his tablet was only purchasable on wwebsite as on the internet, they couldn't find it.
Mine comes in tomorrow from Best Buy. I hope I don't have any issues that I have to do go through them. Maybe I'll just contact my ASUS rep straight up if I have a problem.
jyan_osu said:
Well obviously since his tablet was only purchasable on wwebsite as on the internet, they couldn't find it.
Mine comes in tomorrow from Best Buy. I hope I don't have any issues that I have to do go through them. Maybe I'll just contact my ASUS rep straight up if I have a problem.
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True. Or he could have sold them all on ebay for $150 so there were none left.
Asus packaging really sucks(only booklets is well protected), and BB mailed it in plastic envelope..No wonder there are a lot of problems....
Sorry to hear about the lousy experience. After working in retail, I can deffinently tell you not to threaten with "going to corporate". Just as you said they probably aren't going to care.
Much better to tell the manager on site that you want their District/Regional managers name and phone number. Call the number on the spot if it's during normal daytime hours. This will get you much better results.
District/Regional managers are the normal top dog of the store area, and if you can relay your distress to them in your treatment/experience, results will quickly follow. The store themselves aren't scared of a veiled threat to someone they never directly interact with ("corporate"). But get in touch with their direct boss (the region/district), and that'll put some fear in them...
That doesn't surprise me one bit. Best Buy customer service and return policy is one of the worst I've ever seen.
Now that the competitors (Circuit City, Silo) are gone some long gone Best Buy brick and mortars feel that they can do whatever they want. "Like where else are you going to go?"
but part of this blame also needs to be shared by ASUS for half-ass launching of their product. You don't launch a product to minimum stores unless you want your product to flop.
strange ASUS never revealed the amount of Primes they shipped to US for launch. My guess is under 3,000 units at best.
I was in BB last week, doing other shopping and for the heck of it, asked if they had the dock in yet (they didn't). But all of the BB guys were insisting that the TF Prime was not even out yet and that it had been delayed until Jan. I was like "Of course it's out, I have one!!". Lol... :/
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
The Best Buy clerks at the retailer in my area knew that they were out but had no idea of when they would be in, they checked their internet computers and only saw what most online-shoppers saw the "Coming Soon" message.
Can someone explain to me again why BB stopped their TFP online ordering nearly 2-weeks before Christmas and put-up a "Coming Soon" banner? Do they not realize how many customers they lost in what I can only see as a dumb move. I mean even if you didn't have any TFP in-stock, you could have at least kept it set up as a pre-order to collect potential buyers, but leaving it as a Coming Soon did no good for anyone, not even their own brick and mortar retailers who also used BB.com.
the_game_master said:
Can someone explain to me again why BB stopped their TFP online ordering nearly 2-weeks before Christmas and put-up a "Coming Soon" banner? Do they not realize how many customers they lost in what I can only see as a dumb move. I mean even if you didn't have any TFP in-stock, you could have at least kept it set up as a pre-order to collect potential buyers, but leaving it as a Coming Soon did no good for anyone, not even their own brick and mortar retailers who also used BB.com.
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With the ridiculous amount of issues that it turns out they've had with preorders, stopping them was ultimately the right move.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
It is just truly amazing that a retailer the size of Best Buy can have basic issues like this and how unresponsive they are to fix those issues. I think the mentality here is - it is not effecting enough people, so let's just not talk about it.
Thought I'd give AT&T a call to complain about the battery issue since the firmware update. My thought being that if they don't get enough people complaining about it, they won't push any fixes from Samsung to the devices...
I ended up talking to someone at an obviously out-sourced call center. I told him that since the firmware update, I've had horrible battery life AND that I've had dropped calls more often than before...
After having me sing, dance, pray to the moon, and do strange (and almost sexual) things to my phone, he decided that I should get a replacement battery. (Nevermind that the issue started from a firmware update, that my battery is in PERFECT physical shape, etc) He also managed to insult me when he first asked about moisture exposure, and then had me check the moisture indicators (they were white.)
He then checked into the dropped calls, and tells me that I might be getting dropped calls because I'm not staying perfectly still when on the phone. (I guess tower hand-off is no longer supported with AT&T wireless.) He then claims that I, in the last 2 days, had two phone calls: one for 16 minutes and one for 137 minutes. That's obviously NOT calls I've made. I then read off my call log to him (including the dropped calls.) He, without any warning, then (I guess) puts me on hold. 44 minutes later (I was timing it), I hear a click and fast busy.
It's no wonder that AT&T was rated among the worst for customer service among wireless carriers.
Gary
I know exactly what you mean. I've had similar experiences dealing with their tech support. You get put on hold for huge amounts of time, then out of nowhere, they hang up. I remember one day, I was calling about a warranty replacement for one of my older phones, I was hung up on 4 times. It wasn't a dropped call, each person I asked said the call wasn't dropped but was hanged up, (plus I have never had a dropped call). They really need to step their game up.
If only there were some way to get those damn Wireshark caps of BT-AMP going nuts to someone with a clue...
I've given up hope.
LOL! I think that's how they trained their reps. Either said that "We have no problem with ###." Or hang up if the rep cannot find the answer in the scripts on CD. LOL!
Yeah I jist got off phone with att warranty replacement. I don't know if I'm happy yet.the good news is they are sending me a replacement. Bad new is its refurbished. I told them that I didn't pay $98 for a used phone. Argument didn't get me too far so we shall see what happens. She called it a rare condition Phone. My problem was the defective screen.with black splotches
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
BeenAndroidized said:
LOL! I think that's how they trained their reps. Either said that "We have no problem with ###." Or hang up if the rep cannot find the answer in the scripts on CD. LOL!
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Lol! I worked for an AT&T call center a while back. You just gave me a flashback lol.
Simba501 said:
Lol! I worked for an AT&T call center a while back. You just gave me a flashback lol.
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U r welcome. It must be true then. ROFLOL.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
Simba501 said:
I worked for an AT&T call center a while back.
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Oh. I'm so very sorry. Did it hurt? I'm glad to see you recovered from what must have been a low point in your life. You know, we all hit rock bottom at times, but as long as we get up, wipe off the dirt, and push on - everything will work out.
Gary
I used to work at an AT&T call center and can recommend the following when dealing with them...always call back if you don't get what you want (within reason), never wait on hold for more than 10 min at a time (it's against co. policy to not check in every 5 min), be as courteous as possible given your circumstances. As a personal choice, I never speak to guys because they never help me--I always hang up and call back. If you get someone on the line that's difficult to understand, you can always "request an American agent." The outsourced agents have to try to help you, but if you insist, they have to transfer you. I hope this was at least mildly useful to someone reading this...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
ONE of the reasons I'm moving to Verizon in a few months. Piss poor customer service. Thanks for sharing Gary!
sent from my Galaxy SII
lo-fi_engineer said:
The outsourced agents have to try to help you, but if you insist, they have to transfer you. I hope this was at least mildly useful to someone reading this...
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Really? That IS good to know. I have a conductive hearing loss, and its VERY VERY difficult for me to understand heavy or fast accents. Especially male accents (my loss is at the lower frequencies.)
Then again, half the outsourced agents insist they are in the US (but for some reason, only the ones actually in the US will tell me what state they are in.)
Very good information! Thank you!
Oh, and I'm glad to see that you survived your experience at AT&T. I hear employees at that company are starting to learn from Foxconn employees on how to leave a job. (jump off the roof of the building.)
ATT CS can be quite helpful. You just have to know how to talk and not waste time on an unhelpful agent.
Premier CS has always been American, helpful and always got me what I want/needed.
Red5 said:
Premier CS has always been American, helpful and always got me what I want/needed.
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What's premier CS? Extra customer service that you have to pay for?
If so that's kinda silly. Everyone gets CS, BUT if you want good CS, you need to pay extra ..LOL
sent from my Galaxy SII
No. I have a Premier account (tied in with my company corporate account) so when I call and the system runs my number, it sees that and automatically transfers me to Premier customer support... which has always been American, helpful and knowledgeable. I pay nothing extra.
Hmm good to know. (I've got a corporate FAN applied, so have a Premier account.)
That said, when I have an issue, I just go into a corporate store. My experience is that corporate-owned stores have superior technical support.
I'm wondering if there's a way I can bring the evidence against UCKK6 I've collected into a store and actually have it get somewhere useful...
Red5 said:
No. I have a Premier account (tied in with my company corporate account) so when I call and the system runs my number, it sees that and automatically transfers me to Premier customer support... which has always been American, helpful and knowledgeable. I pay nothing extra.
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ah .. I don't have a premier account which explains the sh*tty customer service.
Well I'm a COR rep at an AT&T store, and I can tell you from experience that AT&T is a horrible company is so many ways.
I won't go into how bad they are to work for, and how horrible they treat their employees. They worry about the dumbrst stuff with their reps instead of worrying about what really counts in this company.
That aside. It's bad enough they treat us bad, but what's worse is they treat the customers bad.
Calling into Warranty is a nightmare, and I always suggest just driving to a Warranty center, which will be muich easier to get your phone replaced with minimal trouble.
Our deposit requirements are higher than any other Cell company. Yes we do have stricter credit requirements than Verizon. I've had customer who've had a few lines for years and never had an original deposit or late on their bills. You go to add a line and it hit's their credit and BOOM, it wants a deposit.
I could go on for an hour about all the crap, but I don't to depress anyone. LOL
The only reason I still work for AT&T is because I have been there so long that I'd hate to start out at the bottom with another company. But there are days I get close to putting in my resume at Verizon, which I think it is much better company in many ways.
On the phone with them now...
me: "My phone is less than 2 months old! I don't want it replaced with a refurbished phone. I want a new replacement."
them: "Sir, it won't be refurbished. it will be reconditioned."
me: "Please explain to me the difference."
them: "Sir, your phone is days more than 30 old, so it has to be reconditioned".
me: "Please explain to me the difference between refurbished and reconditioned. As far as I'm aware, they are the same."
them: "I told you that you have to have reconditioned replacement."
me: "I'd like to speak with an American Agent."
them: "I have no way to transfer you."
me: "I happen to know you can. Please transfer me to an american agent"
them: "there is nothing I can do transfer you."
me: "I'd like to speak with your supervisor"
them: "will you hold for 3-4 minutes while I get supervisor?"
me: "yes"
(5 minutes later)
them: "all supervisors are busy engaging in another calls. will you want to hold 3 4 more minutes?"
me: "yes"
...
(I hung up.)
Rather than mobility, I worked for AT&T/ Bell South's DSL division. It was rough at times, but all customer service is rough. You can't pick your customers (especially not the technologically illiterate) and when handling service-related calls, you often have to clean up after sales agents who lied to customers just to make their quota. It wouldn't be so bad, but corporate was complicit in encouraging that kind of behavior and the people that suffer are the customers and the tech & service suppport agents that they get irate with. I worked the system to keep my metrics in spec because corporate was more interested in how long I spent on a call than whether or not I actually fixed their problem. My opinion was that my primary goals were customer retention and connecting people with things they can actually use instead of worthless upgrades that they couldn't. Needless to say, I was the tier 2 agent you wanted to get bc I treated rules & processes like they were written in sand instead of stone:-D
My manager didn't like it, but his boss's boss liked my effectiveness so it was all good. As far as the job goes, it paid well, the benefits were good, and with such high turnover I got seniority for schedules in <6 months
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Ok so my Titan decided to die today, No warning whatsoever, The screen would not light up and the battery drained rapidly heating up the rear casing to a dangerous level, Not a happy puppy, Due for collection on Weds to be repaired at HTC Huntington, The thing is I do not have proof of purchase as it was bought on ebay and the IMEI codes on the device and box do not match, HTC phoned just now querying the IMEI that I gave saying it was not a valid one for the Titan, Am beginning to wonder if they will now say it is beyond repair or that I will have to foot the repair bill due to no proof of purchase etc, Oh well back to my trusty HD2 for now, So long Titan, It's been emotional........
If you want a new phone you should go to a operator, you pay 20 € more but then you have even a warranty for this .
If my Titan gets stolen within 1 year, I get a new one for free ^^
I am sorry for you and your old titan I pray that it will be fun in the mobile heaven and that it
rings very happily with the other phones there.
It is in a better place now.
Thanks, Yes normally I would go for an upgrade through O2 but am not due until march next year, Not so good having a 24 month contract, The contract phone I did have was a HD7 which I sold to a family member, But I did hate it as it was pre Mango, Hopefully I will get either this one repaired or no doubt buy another but this time make sure its brand new, In the words of Arnie "I'll be back"
Just a question ?
If you got this off ebay did you contact the seller about imei number issue ''IMEI that I gave saying it was not a valid one'' if there is something wrong then you can try for a paypal resolution if the seller cant give you a good reason for this wrong imei number. Worth thinking about ?
Mark
Thanks, I did find out from the seller that the phone had already been a replacement for his original Titan, Makes me wonder if it was a repaired/returned handset,Was meant to be the replacement I received, Its too late now to go for pay pal claim as I bought it early Jan and that normally takes a while to get refund etc, It is currently at HTC repair centre and hopefully being sorted, I haven't heard anymore from them and fingers crossed all will be fine, Using a HD7 currently and the screen seems so small lol
Got my Titan back today, Not bad going seeing as it was picked up last Wednesday 29th, Looking at the repair sheet they basically replaced : FRU-SUB ASSY,SONY,Black,LCM+Touch Window, Generic,L Sponge,P-Sensor,Poron,ETY PCBA-MAIN BOARD with SKU_ID,band 1,5,8,Regional_ID.......? lol and I now have a new IMEI number , In other words they replaced the lot, Happy that I now have it back, Lets hope this one stands the test of time, Thanks for comments and advice.
Good stuff
Happy for you
Mine is currently in Hong Kong because of the update issue. And I'm from the Philippines. Shipping costed a lot. OS just won't update and getting different errors. It was basically brand new. In fairness htc customer service is very good. Someone from Hong Kong called me yesterday and asked what the issue was. Also htc Philippines keeps on calling me for updates Hope they get it fixed or just give me a new one.
Edit: My phone is still stuck in HK. They won't send it back unless I send them the shipping cost. It's in freakin' HKD. How the hell am I going to send them the money? I mean I have the money, just don't know how. Why the hell couldn't they just send the damn phone to any of their retail stores here in the philippines and I'll give them the money. I'm so tired of going back and forth with them I might just give up. They can have the ****in' phone and I'll just start a hate campaign against them. Ironic since I have been a supproter ever since and I have actually convinced a lot in my office to use HTC phones. Really pissed off! Is there someone like Steve Jobs in HTC? Heard he did things for Apple customers out of the ordinary. No wonder they have such loyal fans.
Must admit on both occasions I have had to send HD2 and Titan back I have been very pleased with the repair service and comms and how quickly they dealt with the problems, No doubt thats not the case for everyone, I guess I have been lucky, best of luck and hope you soon get your Titan sorted soon.
Hi,
I've been reading around the NL/WP8 forums here for quite a while and just wanted to share my horrid experience at the MS store at Washington Square.
I'd been waiting and wanting a Nokia WP8 device since the rumors began and with some odd luck suddenly had a work related trip to the US for the first time. On my last day in the US I had a few hours to do some shopping and landed up at Washington Square mall in Beaverton, amazingly appeared before me a MS store :good::laugh: . Went over there, played around with the NL920 & 8x, I was originally a bit concerned after reading so many reviews pointing out the weight issue of the 920. While standing there naturally the sales personal starting chatting with me, I immediately stated I was from overseas and that fact I was very interested in the 920. The first lady mentioned that there's no problem using it overseas, again naturally I was surprised and quite suspicious. I kindly asked if she could verify this with someone "technical", to cut a long story short after about 15 minutes standing there and talking with 3 different MS people, the "higher up" insured me "The AT&T logo is just for sales reasons". Sadly my overseas SIM (& phone) were standard and not the Micro variant so innocently I took their word for it and left there a jolly shopper.
BUT once I got home, replaced my SIM with a Micro SIM via my cell carrier I was amazed to discover that it's locked!
I don't want to sound like an imbecile or an over innocent person, I simply believed what 3 different (and very convincing) sales people told me, it was "just what I wanted to hear" but I still couldn't believe the misleading would be so blatant.
Emailing MS & Nokia was completely and utterly pointless, they didn't even say they'll check it out or even make sure the salespeople are aware of this. They both responded that they basically don't care and tried to blame each other, and just ignored my replies without even a word of response. Such disappointing and non-existent customer service from two companies that really need the consumers to back them.
Just wanted to share this with you people and make sure no one else gets scammed by 'em, it isn't too much fun getting home after 16 odd hours of a long flight and work trip to discover you have a giant wp-Pod (even though it's quite a cool device)..
BTW, really appreciate all the people here trying to find and test out unlocking services and as everyone hoping something new comes up soon.
R.
Unfortunately, I'm not surprised. People in this country (even those who work in the Microsoft Store or other U.S. telecom company) have no idea what the difference is between "unlocked" and "off-contract". They also don't know the concept of frequency bands either.
I was at the U Village Microsoft Store in Seattle, WA a few weeks ago. Just for fun, I asked an employee if the Lumia 920 is pentaband. The employee couldn't answer so he ran off to ask another employee. He started a chain reaction. Pretty soon, 5 or 6 employees tried to answer my question. Eventually they just gave up and said that they didn't know.
This past week at the Bellevue Microsoft Store, I saw a couple looking to buy an unlocked Lumia 920. Needless to say, they had a long discussion with the MS Store employee and weren't really making any progress. Eventually I interrupted and showed the couple my unlocked Lumia 920. I gave them a few options (Negri, GSM Nation, etc.). I also told them that they can go up to a Rogers Store in Vancouver to buy one and have it unlocked for $50.
Moral of the story is to take everything you hear at a U.S. tech store with a grain of salt. Most of the time, they don't know anything. Occasionally, you'll find one who actually knows the stuff, but that's extremely rare.
If you need advice on the phones to buy, you'll have to take your time to do research on the internet and ask people on forums. Most of us know a lot more than retail employees.
I hope your situation works out though. I would continue to talk to Microsoft since they were the ones with misleading information. I don't think AT&T and Nokia can help you, since they're not the ones who sold the phone to you.
This is what I have heard....>The phone would work overseas. As long as you are on AT&T (or their partner).
try this
You can try calling up AT&T, explain what happened and get the unlock code. If you browse wpcentral forums you can find folks got the code.
hawc1506, I completely agree about the research part but simply after reading a few times that people did get unlocked devices from some stores, and the fact I actually took out my overseas SIM and "waved" it a couple of times, I was a bit too much of a "sucker" and believed what I'd heard.
After I responded to the MS rep via mail they just started ignoring my email, and when I spoke with AT&T (via Skype) they basically said that only if I join them I'll have some hope.
Someone sent me an IM saying I should try post a YouTube video of the story and as much as I'm really against that kind of "child play" I don't think that any other common-sense will work with these companies and every time I fiddle with my shinny micro-pod it annoys me more.
Thanks for you comments everyone , I do hope at some point we all find some reasonable way of unlocking these devices (better sooner than later )
Well in desperation (+ 2 recommendations by people) I decided to YouTube my story both to share and maybe that'll be the miracle that will cause MS/Nokia to actually pay attention to a customer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdRMQ4pC884
Please excuse the poor experience, it's my first ever video and Powerpoint doesn't seem to convert the audio
P.S. I reviewed the forum rules and didn't see anything against my video so I hope it won't be a problem.
As was mentioned, this was a misunderstanding on the part of the store and I'm sorry you had to go through it. Unfortunately, as was also mentioned, it is not common for Americans to purchase devices SIM free/unlocked. As such, most places have no idea what that even means. I ended up in a similar misunderstanding once in Italy several years ago where I'd spent €450 to buy a Samsung Android phone, only to discover that there was a common defect with the screen. I wanted to get my money back, but the common policy in Italy is that one can only exchange for other goods. As such, I was pretty much forced to find €450 of electronics on which to spend the credit. Lesson learnt.
Hopefully you'll be able to get it unlocked or re-sell it on eBay.
Hello, fellas.
I would like to write few words about a story between Honor's customer care department and a customer, which is me.
First of all, this is not going to be something short but I would like to say "Thank you" in advance for everyone who is patient enough to read the whole story. I have been using Honor devices for the past 4 years but I had to switch to another brand and I am not sure if I will ever get another Honor device or even suggest a friend of mine to buy a phone from Honor.
4 months ago I bought the Honor View 10 (6/128) but I was a little surprised when I saw Android 8.0 out of the box and I was surprised because meanwhile in the United States the same model was shipping with Android 8.1 out of the box, so I thought it is just a matter of time for us, the European customers, to receive the same update. But even now, the phone is still stuck on Android 8.0.
So I decided to contact Honor on Twitter and to request additional information regarding their software support. So I contacted Honorglobal with the simple question "When will the HonorView10 be updated to Android 8.1?" and they advised me that actually I have contacted the wrong team and I have to get in touch with Honor UK. Lol, why exactly Honor UK? They did not even ask where am I from and where I have bought the phone from, they literally copy/pasted a template to answer me. Anyway, I did contact Honor UK and guess their answer - you do have to contact your local Honor representatives. The funny thing is that Honor Bulgaria was advertising Honor 8 as their most recent phone and they did not have information regarding View 10. So once again, I contacted Honorglobal, they once again copy/pasted me a template and I had to contact Honor UK again.
I decided to send them an email. But after few days of waiting, I had to stick back to their twitter page. One month passed since I initially asked them when exactly the Honor View 10 is going to be updated to the latest Android 8.1. And every single day I was getting more and more frustrated by the total lack of customer support.
I decided to change my tactic and started to, literally, spam them. Every time there was a tweet from Honor UK or Honorglobal (99% of the tweets were regarding Honor 10), I was asking them in a comment regarding the update to Android 8.1. Two weeks after I started the spam tactic, I received a direct message from a page called "Honor Assistance". The message I received was stating the following information:
"There is no hardware difference between the North American model and the European one but the North American region has a priority and all major updates/features are first released for North America and after that for the rest of the world". (In case somebody wants an evidence, I can also provide you with screenshots).
I could not believe what I read. Priority? Like, are you F******* serious?
But anyway, I continued with my spam tactic and after few more days I received a tweet from Honor UK - "The 8.1 update is currently underworks and we do not know when exactly is going to be released, but hey, stay tuned."
What do they actually mean by saying "underworks"? The update is absolutely the same as the one running on BKL-L04 which is the North American model. Either they have released the phone in NA with beta version of the software or they are just joking with their customers.
Suddenly I realized that I have never received an answer to my email, even till now, I am still waiting. More than 2 months for an answer to an email from a customer. I am working as a customer care representative in a pretty big company and no matter how heavy our workload is, even with a quite of a delay, we always have to answer the customer. But it seems Honor's customer care department is not working that way.
A few days ago I noticed that I have not seen any tweets from Honor UK recently and I wanted to check them out, but guess what, they have blocked me. But not only that, an Honor-phone owner sent me a DM and told me that they actually have filtered my comments like a month ago (maybe when my spam tactic started). I was shocked, logged in with my girlfriend's account and that fella was absolutely right - most of the comments were not visible.
The device itself is great, the camera is nice, the hardware (except the display which has so crap refresh rate) is amazing but I am not wasting my money on a phone which is not going to be updated. 4 months and I have not received a single update. I had to manually flash an update from Firmware Finder.
I understand that Honor 10 is the most recent Honor flagship but the internals are pretty much the same as these into Honor View 10. So the software support could be almost identical. But no, Honor 10 is currently a priority for Honor and they are only concentrated on that one. I sold my Honor View 10 yesterday and I doubt that I will buy another phone from that brand.
I understand they have millions of customers and losing a single one (me) is nothing for them, but if you actually care about the official software and customer support, you better think again. You are not going to get it from Honor.
Thank you for reading my boring story and I wish you a wonderful day.
Best regards,
Dennis.
Totally agree with you, this is my first and last honor device.
Thank you
Yeah, I tweeted an answer to HonorUSA that they were happy with a new custom ROM. The tweet was about the site to get bootloader unlock code. No response from them, Honor open source program seems us Honor Open silence program.
It's a very good device but customers care is pretty bad
Santi_SAZ said:
Yeah, I tweeted an answer to HonorUSA that they were happy with a new custom ROM. The tweet was about the site to get bootloader unlock code. No response from them, Honor open source program seems us Honor Open silence program.
It's a very good device but customers care is pretty bad
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Hey Santi,
The reason you didn't receive an answer about the unlock site is probably due to not having information ourselves. The site, as you know is available to obtain an unlock code. For a week or so, while the site was down, I initiated an unlock code request which I worked diligently to respond and provide as much as I could. We did tweet about the site becoming available as soon as it did.
We're working on some things internally and will be making an announcement here in the coming weeks.
I hope to improve the communication and responsiveness on our end on all channels.
To the OP,
Unfortunately, I'm in no position to speak for other regions of Honor. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience though. Hopefully there will be some news soon
-Chris
I mean is spamming really the way to go? As you're a customer service representative yourself I'm sure if you're asked information that you don't my have access too you wouldn't appreciate being spammed
Seriously guys? It's like you really aren't even trying. Not everything is a tweet or an email. Real customer service does and will continue to be on an actual phone with a person. I sent Honor USA a FB message to get their number for support. They DM'd me back in 24 hours with number. I called them and spoke to real person after 1 small transfer asking which phone I had. I had purchased a view 10 also and stupidely let it slide down my leg and onto a tile floor and completely shattering the display. I told them I was disappointed that an expensive phone didn't have basic gorilla glass etc.....even though this was MY OWN FAULT not theirs. She gave me a case number and said they will pick the phone up and send it to their Texas based repair facility all paid for via UPS next day air saver. She quoted it might take 10 days to get it fixed. They picked it up on a monday, it arrived tuesday morning in Texas. They repaired and replaced the entire display and glass (must easier I suspect) and had already shipped it back out to me THAT TUESDAY. I had it in hand by thursday all fixed and brand new looking and no charge, not even for shipping.
I'm sorry I just haven't had one single bad experience with their support yet and I've had a few issues. Maybe try calling for once? Talking like humans should be doing more. Not getting on your case it's just a symptom of this generation that thinks everything is done online completely and that real interaction is never required. If anyone would like the number let me know.
sting12345 said:
Seriously guys? It's like you really aren't even trying. Not everything is a tweet or an email. Real customer service does and will continue to be on an actual phone with a person. I sent Honor USA a FB message to get their number for support. They DM'd me back in 24 hours with number. I called them and spoke to real person after 1 small transfer asking which phone I had. I had purchased a view 10 also and stupidely let it slide down my leg and onto a tile floor and completely shattering the display. I told them I was disappointed that an expensive phone didn't have basic gorilla glass etc.....even though this was MY OWN FAULT not theirs. She gave me a case number and said they will pick the phone up and send it to their Texas based repair facility all paid for via UPS next day air saver. She quoted it might take 10 days to get it fixed. They picked it up on a monday, it arrived tuesday morning in Texas. They repaired and replaced the entire display and glass (must easier I suspect) and had already shipped it back out to me THAT TUESDAY. I had it in hand by thursday all fixed and brand new looking and no charge, not even for shipping.
I'm sorry I just haven't had one single bad experience with their support yet and I've had a few issues. Maybe try calling for once? Talking like humans should be doing more. Not getting on your case it's just a symptom of this generation that thinks everything is done online completely and that real interaction is never required. If anyone would like the number let me know.
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Guess u didnt read his post fully, the customer care mentioned that US is a priority for them, so naturally u had a good experience with thr customer care their.
sting12345 said:
Seriously guys? It's like you really aren't even trying. Not everything is a tweet or an email. Real customer service does and will continue to be on an actual phone with a person. I sent Honor USA a FB message to get their number for support. They DM'd me back in 24 hours with number. I called them and spoke to real person after 1 small transfer asking which phone I had. I had purchased a view 10 also and stupidely let it slide down my leg and onto a tile floor and completely shattering the display. I told them I was disappointed that an expensive phone didn't have basic gorilla glass etc.....even though this was MY OWN FAULT not theirs. She gave me a case number and said they will pick the phone up and send it to their Texas based repair facility all paid for via UPS next day air saver. She quoted it might take 10 days to get it fixed. They picked it up on a monday, it arrived tuesday morning in Texas. They repaired and replaced the entire display and glass (must easier I suspect) and had already shipped it back out to me THAT TUESDAY. I had it in hand by thursday all fixed and brand new looking and no charge, not even for shipping.
I'm sorry I just haven't had one single bad experience with their support yet and I've had a few issues. Maybe try calling for once? Talking like humans should be doing more. Not getting on your case it's just a symptom of this generation that thinks everything is done online completely and that real interaction is never required. If anyone would like the number let me know.
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Apart you're from USA, the priority region, the issue you had is a hardware, not software. ? You already have Android 8.1, we here in Europe are still waiting for the update that came out of the box for you.
ozzfan1989 said:
I mean is spamming really the way to go? As you're a customer service representative yourself I'm sure if you're asked information that you don't my have access too you wouldn't appreciate being spammed
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Actually, you are wrong. When a customer asks me a question and there is not enough information, we are contacting the relevant department for such information and within 72 hours we are forwarding the information to the customer either with a phone call or via email and this is what is right. But copy/pasting the same useless answer "keep checking the social media accounts for more information" is not good at all.
sting12345 said:
Seriously guys? It's like you really aren't even trying. Not everything is a tweet or an email. Real customer service does and will continue to be on an actual phone with a person. I sent Honor USA a FB message to get their number for support. They DM'd me back in 24 hours with number. I called them and spoke to real person after 1 small transfer asking which phone I had. I had purchased a view 10 also and stupidely let it slide down my leg and onto a tile floor and completely shattering the display. I told them I was disappointed that an expensive phone didn't have basic gorilla glass etc.....even though this was MY OWN FAULT not theirs. She gave me a case number and said they will pick the phone up and send it to their Texas based repair facility all paid for via UPS next day air saver. She quoted it might take 10 days to get it fixed. They picked it up on a monday, it arrived tuesday morning in Texas. They repaired and replaced the entire display and glass (must easier I suspect) and had already shipped it back out to me THAT TUESDAY. I had it in hand by thursday all fixed and brand new looking and no charge, not even for shipping.
I'm sorry I just haven't had one single bad experience with their support yet and I've had a few issues. Maybe try calling for once? Talking like humans should be doing more. Not getting on your case it's just a symptom of this generation that thinks everything is done online completely and that real interaction is never required. If anyone would like the number let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did contact the Bulgarian honor representatives but as I mentioned, they are not up to date as three months ago their most recent phone was Honor 8 and they could not provide me with any information but with a suggestion to contact the UK department. If I have to contact the UK department with a phone call, my bill is going to be as expensive as the price of the device itself. The official Honorglobal page suggested me to send an email so I did it and they never turned back to me with anything, not even an automated response. And you cannot put yourself into the shoes of a European customer as your region is a priority for Honor, which they publicly admit. I hope it is clear enough now.
If it weren't for Google's project treble, I wouldn't have bought this phone.
qtoo941 said:
Actually, you are wrong. When a customer asks me a question and there is not enough information, we are contacting the relevant department for such information and within 72 hours we are forwarding the information to the customer either with a phone call or via email and this is what is right. But copy/pasting the same useless answer "keep checking the social media accounts for more information" is not good at all.
I did contact the Bulgarian honor representatives but as I mentioned, they are not up to date as three months ago their most recent phone was Honor 8 and they could not provide me with any information but with a suggestion to contact the UK department. If I have to contact the UK department with a phone call, my bill is going to be as expensive as the price of the device itself. The official Honorglobal page suggested me to send an email so I did it and they never turned back to me with anything, not even an automated response. And you cannot put yourself into the shoes of a European customer as your region is a priority for Honor, which they publicly admit. I hope it is clear enough now.
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Your really mad over a simple software revision? And your complaining about it on XDA out of all places? People on here flash the update themselves ?
Edit: This is coming from a person that has no respect for Huawei after their dumbass desicion to stop providing bootloader unlock codes. @[email protected]_USA any updates on the unlock situation?
nima0003 said:
Your really mad over a simple software revision? And your complaining about it on XDA out of all places? People on here flash the update themselves
Edit: This is coming from a person that has no respect for Huawei after their dumbass desicion to stop providing bootloader unlock codes. @[email protected]_USA any updates on the unlock situation?
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There is big difference between being mad and being disappointed. Everyone here is a customer of a particular brand, in our case, we are customers of Honor/Huawei. As a customer, you expect to receive any kind of support from Honor, if anything occurs and you need such support. I only shared my story to let the people know how bad is Honor's customer support. Do not forget that one of the reasons Apple is an iconic tech brand is their relationship with the customers.
qtoo941 said:
There is big difference between being mad and being disappointed. Everyone here is a customer of a particular brand, in our case, we are customers of Honor/Huawei. As a customer, you expect to receive any kind of support from Honor, if anything occurs and you need such support. I only shared my story to let the people know how bad is Honor's customer support. Do not forget that one of the reasons Apple is an iconic tech brand is their relationship with the customers.
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You're getting disappointed in a phone OEM? Why?
Yo, I used to be on AT&T. United States. Do you realize how long we'd have to wait for an update - minor or major - when every other region in the world already got the update and, in some cases, with extra features?
You're disappointed in 8.0 to 8.1. Why?
Edit: I'm comparing an OEM that sells unlocked phones, "Huawei/Honor" to a US based carrier, "AT&T" -- not 1 to 1. But, concerning updates, which I think is relevant, some Android AT&T branded phones would be hardware identical to other regions, but we'd be almost the last region to get updates -- for even flagship phones.
Sent from my Honor View 10 using XDA Labs
Emailing them is rather useless I emailed them as soon as I heard they will stop giving out unlock codes. I asked them if I could get codes and if not using those codes will void my warranty or not. Such a simple question they never bothered reply to me either.
Siaukea said:
Emailing them is rather useless I emailed them as soon as I heard they will stop giving out unlock codes. I asked them if I could get codes and if not using those codes will void my warranty or not. Such a simple question they never bothered reply to me either.
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If you obtain an unlock code alone, that will not void your warranty. Only after unlocking your bootloader will you void the warranty.