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Faulty device replacement by HTC?

Hi all,
As it seems most of us suffer from the faults the early version of TP came with.
I myself have a hot GPS that looses connection, my black paint is comming off the alaluminum part of the housing, my speaker volume is way to low to understand the caller,...
As I disvovered all this problems during the first days of testing, I asked the retailer (2call.nl) to take back my TP and replace it with a non faulty one (if HTC has already implemented counter measure for all this faults), or at least a slightly better one (I would continue the exchange process with HTC until I got what I expect for 500 EUR).
Unfortunately not only the TP device is below my expectations, but also the service.
2call refused to take my device back, as I already used it.
For two weeks I am writing mails to 2call and HTC to teach those people in European law (two weeks retun right even without reason).
HTC confirmed this, but can unfortunately not help me directly. Changing my TP has to be done by the retailer, HTC said. All They can do is send it in for repair (to EuroTwice.be).
Now my questions:
Did anybody here managed to get his device replaced by a new one from his retailer (or maybe by HTC directly)?
Any experience with EuroTwice? Are they fast, good organised, reachable by phone and speaking english or german?
I am leaving to Japan in two weeks, and want to get a working TP device before I leave.
With the current service disaster I am in, this however seems to be mission impossible.

If your getting pealing paint then your device has more than enough reason to be replaced. That alone while cosmetic is covered under normal defects and faults. Remind the company of that.
You should get a replacement. If they refuse again threaten youll be in touch with your [Netherlands equivalent] of trading standers as they are breaking eu trading laws.

HTC is perfectly correct, your contract is with the shop that you purchased it from, im not sure about your local law but using UK law it firstly isnt fit for the purpose it was intended, secondly so long as its not down to ware and tear or missuse you can claim its faulty, both of these are grounds for refunds let alone repair. The question usually centres around wether or not it was missused, ie excessive heat applied or water, which is why the store you purchased it from would send it to an authorised HTC centre for repair or replace.
your out side of the distance selling act of 14 days so thats not usable, your only course of action is to demand it retured to the manufacture for evaluation due to manufacture defects, its important to point out to the shop that its not them your enoyed at, if you go barging in with a i know my rights atitude they are unlikely to help you, also speak to the boss during the week, you may have spoken to a part time supervisor pretending to be boss esspecially at the weekend
Failing that, phone their head office making sure you get the names of everyone you speak too, and finally last resort contact your local trading standards office, its important you try all avenues before going there tho.
good luck!

[Q] Question about HTC Global Warranty

Sorry if this can't be asked here.
My question is, what is the extent of the coverage? Any details at all if possible from anyone who's had their phone physically damaged without warranty from the seller.
My situation is: bought a Touch HD from clove.co.uk a month ago, without insurance, and my dog just recently destroyed it . I called the north american service hotline, and heard my case, and suggested I call the hotline for the country my phone came from. Which I'll have to do tomorrow as theyre only open 8am - 8pm eastern time (im in CA).
So please, anyone with a similar experience, please let me know what can be done. Bad news or good news, doesn't matter.
Oh then the guy said "happy holidays".

Hi. Wow expensive chew toy! I will tell you from experience HTC is the absolute worst company I have ever had to deal with especially for warranty! I swear they will do everything in their power to avoid honoring the warranty so be careful how you answer their questions.
One example: I bought a used HTC S710 off ebay that was only 2 months old but had some keys that were not working right after about a month. Seller even gave me a copy of his original receipt showing it was under warranty which had 9 months left by time I realized the problem. First guy I talked to said it had to of been damage I caused or accused me of getting it wet but I didn't think that was the case. I know I didn't do either & it had been working for awhile & either way you'd think it should be covered under warranty within the 1st year or they'd at least look at it. When I brought up if it would be covered under warranty he said it depends on if it was damage I caused or not. Next guy I talked to asked if I had the original receipt & if I was the original purchaser. I said yes & no. Then I was told it was non transferable & only good for the original purchaser. I asked the seller if he'd mind sending it in for me & he said sure no problem. Well the next HTC guy said the warranty was invalid because they knew the phone had been resold. (It seems they take notes when you call in) They said they'd be happy to look at it but it'd be at least $80 & could be $120 for keypad issue & maybe much more depending on what the problem was, it could even hit $200 which is almost as much as I paid for the phone! I asked about buying parts & they send they don't sell to end users. I do some computer support for a company that sells & repairs cell phones (Sprint/Nextel) & had them contact HTC to find out they couldn't buy parts either. Run around left & right. I ended up buying replacement parts on ebay for like $30 & fixed it myself. It was a pain but it worked & I didn't give them my $. I swore I'd never buy another HTC but here I am with a Touch Dual & a Fuze. lol
I've read similar horror stories on the net so I know I'm not alone. Moral of the story is don't rely on HTC to honor any warranty & if they do you are one lucky SOB. I highly doubt they are going to cover yours if it is obvious it was chewed on (or dropped or run over or sat on or got wet etc) as they'll say it was abused & not a manufacturer's defect & therefore not warranty. (Not sure any company will cover such things, that is what insurance is for. lol) Odds are they'll gladly offer for you to ship it to them & they'll fix it for a fee but you might be better off cutting your losses now & selling it as-is for parts & buying a replacement. Along with some raw hide bones for yer pooch.
Good luck!
Bill

Ah, figured as much.
Yeah I don't put any faith at all into manufacturer warranties, I just wish they had hearts . But really, this blows and the irony is that earlier I was telling myself, after weeks of tweaking, that I'd lose some hair if I have to hard-reset anytime soon.
Looks like that statement was taken to the extreme....

sp8805 said:
My question is, what is the extent of the coverage?
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I wanted to buy my device abroad, and lucky me, I called reseller here.
Answer was "Warranty is valid only locally", meaning only in my country for device bought in my country!
And sorry to say, damage caused by a dog is not covered by warranty! At least here...

http://www.crc.id.au/2010/11/25/htc-when-warranties-go-bad/
Adding my bit to the piece. Even when its a genuine fault, they are still hopeless.

Help! Where might I stand with HTC Repair Center (UK)

Hi Peoples,
Thought I'd seek a little advise if I may.
Short Story:
Bought Sensation from Vfone Early July. Exchanged twice due to issues. By the end of July I had to return to (25th July) HTC (dust under screen, unresponsive etc...)
Waited until the 9th August before it was fixed and returned (waiting for parts etc...) 6 days later it sent it back (dust under screen again). That was the 16th August, it now the 5th Sept, and everything has gone quite. Even the repair tracker has been reset, such that it looks like they are still waiting for the device.
My contract is through Vfone, 24mth...
Does any one have any suggestions?

Phone HTC ASAP
Ages ago when I sent off my Blackstone they neglected to contact me regarding the repair and had I not chased them they would have disposed of it which would have lead to a whole new bunch of hassle.
If you no longer want to have a Sensation, you could talk to Voda and ask to swap it for one of the other phones free on the same tarriff (or push for a better deal) as after having several phones with the same fault it is reasonable to expect that future ones will also suffer.
Incidently Voda should be the ones responsible for repairing/replacing your phone, even if that means they send it off to HTC, therefore if you get any trouble from HTC, contact voda's customer service and demand they deal with HTC as you bought the phone from them.
Check out http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governm...merrightswhenbuyinggoodsandservices/DG_194650 and the links it mentions.
Stick to your guns, don't take no for an answer, the law is on your side as the consumer who's not been given a satisfactory product.

Cheers xaccers,
I'll look through the link and call them tomorrow...
Funny thing before today they called me on Friday to let me know that they were sorry for the delay and that they expected the device to be delivered by mid week... Suddenly everything went quite.
Thank again.

So I finally have a resolution.
Simon from the care team called today admitted over the phone that there was a known issue with dust under the screen... Assured me that the XE doesn't have this issue... They are sending one out this week...
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

Bad Experience from HTC Customer Service Centre

I don't know whether its my bad luck or whether this is the typical level of customer service people can expect from HTC but I wanted to share my experience so that people might be more careful when purchasing a device in the future.
On June 28th I purchased a sensation from Expansys. Within one week of purchase I realized that there was a problem with the speaker. I returned the unit to them and requested an exchange with a new device, as the unit was a few days old. In order to receive a replacement I needed to wait until the HTC service center examined the device. What I didn't know was that it would take about three weeks for this to happen. So on August 4 I got a replacement.
The second unit run well until the end of October, where a dead pixel appeared. I contacted HTC Cyprus, fearing that the problem might increase over time. They confirmed that it was indeed a problem covered by warranty, but they would need to ship my device to Greece and that it would take approximately 7 - 10 days to have it fixed. After almost a month of waiting and several calls/complains to HTC Cyprus I got my unit back on Friday 2nd December in the afternoon. What appeared strange was that not only did they change the LCD but also a large number of other components which also changed the units IMEI. When I went back home I fully charged the unit and attempted the OTA update. During the update the phone turned off and could not be turned on again! Total brick.
Early the next morning I took the unit back to HTC Cyprus and was told that they would get it sorted by Monday afternoon as it was merely a software issue. On Monday, their technician advised me that the motherboard needed to be replace and hence, the unit would need to be shipped back to Greece. I complained and asked for a replacement and even offered to pay a small amount to have it replaced but I was told that this was not possible and that the only solution was to ship it back to Greece for fixing.
Today, I tried contacting HTC Europe in a desperate attempt to get a replacement. After an hour over internet chat, the best response I got was:
"Jon: We are HTC UK, but do deal with other European countries. Currently it is not possible to replace the handset. If the device is still faulty when returned from repair, then we may be able to replace the device."
Apparently the fact that over a five month period the phone was in service centers for over 2 months was completely irrelevant!
I don't know whether this is the typical customer experience customer should expect when purchasing an HTC unit, but be warned. It can happen to you too, and apart from complaining on forums there is not much you can do!

Yea HTC is nothing like APPLE who in my opinion has the best customer service ever. My sensation had touch screen issues so instead of getting a replacement they fixed it at their repair center took 4 weeks, but I had to pay for it too cause somehow the void seal was broken!!!!! rage!!! If you took a broken iphone to apple store, they would be like :
apple technician: Yeah this phone is like i donno, I dont really know whats going on. Just have a NEW ONE!!!

this is extremely poor service imo. serious complaining required I feel
good luck OP

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I had a great experience when my 2 month old g2 broke. I called they gave me an RMA number. I sent it out on a Monday got it back the next Monday.

timothy918 said:
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I had a great experience when my 2 month old g2 broke. I called they gave me an RMA number. I sent it out on a Monday got it back the next Monday.
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Same experience I had with my G2.

Hey petros did u finaly end up with a working sensation? I wish i had read your post before bying my sensation xe. Do u or did u experience any problems with losing audio during calls?

Poor HTC Customer Service

I dropped my Sensation and the glass cover of the screen smashed so I sent it back for repair which I fully expected to pay for. What I didnt expect was for them to also charge me for a new Mainboard. I called to query this and was told that the the bootloader had been changed, they had to replace the MB to lock it again in order to provide me with a warranty for the repair.
I explained to them that I thought this was nonsense and I was not fussed about a warranty and just requested that the screen was repaired.
As the phone was dropped, I wouldnt have thought for a minute that the phone would be fixed under warranty so what is their beef?
Was there not a press release from HTC saying that they were going to remove S-On from new devices? Does anyone have a link to this?
I'm now left with the option of paying £260 for the repair or have it returned for £23 which I'm thinking of doing then selling it on ebay.
Pretty gutted and disappointed at HTC

They weren't going to remove S-ON, they have offered the ability to unlock the bootloader. 2 VERY different things
It does seem a bit rubbish they've done that, though. They shouldn't care what else is up with the phone if all you want to do is pay for the repair of the screen

Ah, that makes sense.
Yup, I'm pretty upset to be honest that they've got me over a barrel regarding repair.

de-v8 said:
Ah, that makes sense.
Yup, I'm pretty upset to be honest that they've got me over a barrel regarding repair.
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I'm sorry to say that this isn't really anything new. My experience of HTC customer care in the UK is that they are absolutely awful from start to finish. At one point I swore I would never buy another one of their devices, but briefly owning an Acer and a Samsung revealed problems too.
If you search you'll find various complaints on XDA from people who have sent in phones with one problem only to find they have another on arrival despite careful packaging (the screen is suddenly broken, it is suddenly water damaged etc).
It might just be whoever HTC uses to do servicing and warranty work in the UK and not HTC themselves that are the problem. I don't know enough about this so I am only guessing, but I would suggest it might be worth trying to get hold of someone in HTC Europe/Worldwide and asking them to intervene on your behalf. Just emphasize that you only want to pay for the screen to be repaired and that if some gorilla has broken the main board whilst trying to replace it, that simply isn't your fault (I'm guessing that's what has really happened). Try emailing a tech site like Crave for some publicity? If HTC are insisting on charging everyone who sends in a phone with a broken screen which also has a custom ROM on it for a new main board.....well, that's just plain wrong isn't it?

My sentiment exactly.
I'm not expecting a warranty, although it would be alarming to get the unit back fixed to find another fault.
Surely the whole point is that I've requested a repair that I'm happy to pay for, they're demanding on a much bigger and unnecessary repair to fulfil it.
WRONG

I don't really understand why the firmware would need to be locked to guarentee a screen repair anyway? And why wouldn't they just flash new firmware to the existing phone - why would the main board need to be changed? People flash back to original firmware here all the time. It just doesn't smell right to me, but once again, I am FAR from an expert on the subject. You could just call their bluff and ask for the phone back and pay the return fee.
If you're in email correspondence with them and they haven't already done so in writing I'd ask them to put into writing why replacing the screen requires a new main board; why does new formware have to be flashed to the device to guarentee a hardware repair? Why can't the new firmware be flashed to the existing main board? I'd also exlpain as politely as possible that you are disatisfied with their explanation and ask them for a point of contact directly with someone at HTC to act as an ombudsman, or just tell them that you'll be contacting HTC directly to ask them to interevene.

Sounds like pure scam. It would be equivalent to dropping off your car for a windscreen repair and being told you need a new injection system because the exhaust has been modified. If you don't pay for the new injection system they can't fix the windscreen but you can have your car back unrepaired for $100 fee. Obviously the mechanic would be in court for fraud very quickly if someone took it to the police.
What we have here is some dodgy individuals preying on the general public, I can say this is not typical of HTC service in my country at least. I wonderful if they would even change the mainboard or simply flash an ruu and claim they had done so. Don't know what legal recourse is available in the UK but you should at the least report the matter to HTC global. These scumbags are after all damaging the reputation of the HTC brand and I'm sure that if they receive a number of complaints they will have to do something about the situation.
Sent from my Acer Iconia A500 using Tapatalk

Same story over and over...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=...id=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bad+htc+customer+service

bonesy said:
Same story over and over...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=...id=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=bad+htc+customer+service
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After reading some of those I'm glad I live in a country where that kind of behaviour is illegal under consumer protection laws. Looks like I was wrong when I said that sort of behaviour isn't normal of HTC worldwide. It appears the only reason HTC behave here is that they would get murdered by the legal system, not to mention the negative publicity attached to that.
Sent from my Acer Iconia A500 using Tapatalk

dr.m0x said:
After reading some of those I'm glad I live in a country where that kind of behaviour is illegal under consumer protection laws. Looks like I was wrong when I said that sort of behaviour isn't normal of HTC worldwide. It appears the only reason HTC behave here is that they would get murdered by the legal system, not to mention the negative publicity attached to that.
Sent from my Acer Iconia A500 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
It's really weird because we have a pretty robust Sale of Goods act over here, but even that doesn't sem to count for that much these days. In theory goods have to be fit for purpose and, in theory, last a certain length of time - if not, a consumer should be able to return the item for a refund. These days however, even in retail stores, if something fails outside of 28 days many places insist on having it repaired. Online retailers often insist that one sends a phone back to the manufacturer for repair if it fails after a month which simply isn't right.
We're also fairly well known for putting up with higher prices in the Uk than other parts of Europe and the rest of the world. It's bizarre, but we just seem to take c**p from our retail sector here in the UK, whether it be cars, phones or tvs.
You'd think bad publicity would force the likes of HTC to really raise their game, but it just doesn't seem to (although, unfotunately, the fact that de-v8 has actually managed to get hold of HTC customer support more than once IS an improvement; way better than my experiences in 2008/9).
Tech journalists over here don't help us either. So many just hype the hell out of everything and get on board with the marketing claims manufacturers make about a new chip or a CMOS sensor and don't point out obvious discrepancies or flaws. Well, sometimes they do so belatedly by saying 'oh yeah the HTC Touch Pro always was dog slow because the VGA res. screen and TouchFlo always was too much for the SoC. Of course, a year earlier they had claimed it change one's life for the better ; )
Obviously this doesn't help de-v8 as his scenario is slightly different as it was a paid repair in the first place, but he's clearly being fleeced.

Should have replied sooner.
HTC offered me a full repair free of charge. It pays to stand your ground!
Sent from my HTC Sensation using TapAtalk