Database Info

"Lost" Fuze for New Tilt 2 (insurance)

ok i just checked the att website for the new tilt 2 but it isnt out til oct 18. but i seen the the fuze is no longer on there. ive had my fuze sense nov 10. and i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they sent me a phone that was the same value.. do u think it will work??

I posted a thread on this in the Rhodium as well. I have insurance too and had my fuze for about 6 months now and bummed i couldnt of held out for the tilt 2 and i dont have the money to pay 500 bucks for a no contract tilt 2. I wish a carrier would have a exchange program or something instead of this 2 year upgrade. I burn through phones within a year
Anyways what people replied to me was they probably have a lot of refurb fuzes

Interesting
I recently lost my Tilt to a horrible accident involving a puddle and concrete... so I got a Fuze for replacement... and it was refurbished and had the burn-in issue on the screen... I got another refurb Fuze to replace that one... this one is having the same issue - so I am going to keep requesting Fuze's till I get one person to acknowledge my request to get a NEW phone and not a refurb...
That might be a way to get your Tilt 2 if you receive a bad refurb and raise enough cane!

Well, truth be told they likely will have a large backstock of refurb fuzes for a while. If you are a person who's had chronic problems with your phone and it's under warrenty, if you make a fuss about the problems over multiple phones, they may bump you up.

lafastfords said:
ok i just checked the att website for the new tilt 2 but it isnt out til oct 18. but i seen the the fuze is no longer on there. ive had my fuze sense nov 10. and i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they sent me a phone that was the same value.. do u think it will work??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aside from the moral issue of insurance fraud, it should work. Just hope you don't get caught.

ya know - I've about had it with people doing crap like this. Look - if you want a new phone then buy one. If you don't want to pay full price for it then sell the phone you have or wait a few months for the price to come down.
It's creeps that commit fraud like this that cause the detuctibles on these devices to end up being 125 bucks for all the honest people.

....Disgusting....

I just swap out the phone before the 1 year warranty ends and sell it on ebay. Use the money for your new phone.
Mine has a busted flux capacitor anway.

They will have a large supply of Fuze's laying around, they know people will try to do this, I'd love to do it, I think they still even had a stock of the first Tilts around for quite a long time. Just to let you know a couple months back I still had the ability to buy a Tilt through the premier store even though they didn't have them on the regular site. Right now I still see the Fuze on their premiere site. So they most likely have a stock. However, from what I understand how these places work is there's a stock for sale and a stock for warranty, they don't come from one giant stock pile. So if they run out of their warranty stock, maybe you'd be able to pull it off, but who knows, maybe they'd just siphon a couple off the sale stock into the warranty stock (most likely they'd do this so the ones they sell have a backup incase something goes wrong). Thought I'd just through that out there.

well i upgraded to a fuze from the tilt... i broke my tilt and had to use the insurance... they replaced it with a refurb tilt but i kept having problems... it took at&t 4 tilt phones before they upgraded me to a fuze and then i still kept having problems... it took them to send me 3 fuzes until they finally got it right... it wasnt a scam just they kept sending me crappy phones and if i must keep up my end of the bargin and pay ontime then they must step up to the plate and send me a phone that works as well as a new phone.. which they did...

... and everybody is complaining why insurance is so freaking expensive!!!
Beside the fraud fact (DISGUSTING) sell it on eBay, craigslist or one of the other common suspect pages, bunk the money and BUY the TP2 or whatever you want.
I did that with my last two phone which was always a 50% to 75% "off" in terms of the purchasing price of the new phone.

jayhue said:
well i upgraded to a fuze from the tilt... i broke my tilt and had to use the insurance... they replaced it with a refurb tilt but i kept having problems... it took at&t 4 tilt phones before they upgraded me to a fuze and then i still kept having problems... it took them to send me 3 fuzes until they finally got it right... it wasnt a scam just they kept sending me crappy phones and if i must keep up my end of the bargin and pay ontime then they must step up to the plate and send me a phone that works as well as a new phone.. which they did...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before anyone starts dissin anybody, it is a fact that sometimes they just can't get it right. I had a problem with my original fuze and it took them 4 times to send a "decent" one, and by decent I meant a unit without:
-broken/recessed hardware key
-earpiece that's breaking up
-speaker that's breaking up like it's been used for a rock concert
so the last Fuze that they sent, which I'm using now, has a slightly recessed Answer key and crappy speaker. I decided to use it because I don't wanna go through the endless cycle of crappy replacement.
The moral of the story is, they do send out crappy replacements.

tyguy said:
... and everybody is complaining why insurance is so freaking expensive!!!
Beside the fraud fact (DISGUSTING) sell it on eBay, craigslist or one of the other common suspect pages, bunk the money and BUY the TP2 or whatever you want.
I did that with my last two phone which was always a 50% to 75% "off" in terms of the purchasing price of the new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not fraud u dumb ass.. i have that burn in screen and the plastic is coming off the hard keys.. just like everyother fuze

lafastfords said:
not fraud u dumb ass.. i have that burn in screen and the plastic is coming off the hard keys.. just like everyother fuze
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Careful who you talk to and what language you use my friend!
YOU WROTE...
i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...SO WHO's THE RETARD?
Can one who agrees with me notify the admin that this BS thread gets closed? Topics like this were discussed numerous times and answers like lafuckfords - or what his name is - simply don't belong here.

baymon said:
Before anyone starts dissin anybody, it is a fact that sometimes they just can't get it right. I had a problem with my original fuze and it took them 4 times to send a "decent" one, and by decent I meant a unit without:
-broken/recessed hardware key
-earpiece that's breaking up
-speaker that's breaking up like it's been used for a rock concert
so the last Fuze that they sent, which I'm using now, has a slightly recessed Answer key and crappy speaker. I decided to use it because I don't wanna go through the endless cycle of crappy replacement.
The moral of the story is, they do send out crappy replacements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically what happened to mine. I was getting Screen burn in and while I dealt with it for a while, I knew my warranty was about due. I called and asked for a replacement 3 times. Each one was defective.
-The half of the touchpad buttons didn't work on the first one (depressed).
-The second one had a broken slider track so it dragged opening the keyboard.
-The third one the speaker was screwed.
When they wanted to do a phone swap, I thought I'd ask for a Samsung Jack for my wife since her line is eligible for an upgrade. I figured I would "downgrade" to the Jack and use her line to buy a Pure or TP2. The lady said they wouldn't let me downgrade to a lesser phone?! So if I can't go down, perhaps they'd let me go up... so I asked and it worked.
Kinda scared about not having a Dpad on the Pure.
I think its stupid they wouldn't let me "downgrade" to the Jack. I woulda just turned around and signed another 2-year contract and plopped down $350 for the TP2.

my 2 cents in this situation is just save money and then buy it just like what that guy said, best and safe way to get a new device without the risk of violating any terms or law

AT&T exchange policy
well the truth is that, att has a policy that if you exchange a phone 3 times during the year of warranty, at that time you can change model. I did this twice, first with a Palm Treo650 changed it to a palm treo 700, then with the Tilt I was able to change to the brand new released(back then) Fuze, completly free only S&H.

Warranty Exhange

Does anybody know if AT&T is starting to exchange the fuze for the new tilt 2. I'm talking insurance exchange or warranty exchange. Anybody know something about it, or they still have the fuze on stock?????

wisocabeza said:
Does anybody know if AT&T is starting to exchange the fuze for the new tilt 2. I'm talking insurance exchange or warranty exchange. Anybody know something about it, or they still have the fuze on stock?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They still have the Fuze in stock :/
I called so many times, it's not even funny.
Here's something that might pique your interest. Couple of minutes ago, I saw this thread about people impatiently waiting to exchange their Tilt's to Fuze's. The Fuze was available in the Warranty Department approximately three weeks after it was officially launched.
It was an interesting thread to read. It seemed like many were purposely destroying their Tilt's to get them warrantied to Tilt's again, just to "extend" the warranty period since each warranty carries 90 days. The "best method" suggested was removing the USB cable while updating, and then playing dumb about it, lol.

fuze has a 1 year warranty. let me know if anyone has figured out a way. >.>

It's a nightmare trying to get a replacement through Warranty. I'm on my fourth Fuze now, because I have had legit warranty claims. They decided to upgrade me to a Tilt 2, sent me seed stock instead of a new phone kit, so I have a Tilt 2 without a battery or software. I called about that, they were supposed to send me out my new phone kit with a Tilt 2 in it yet again, sent me a Pure instead. Now I'm waiting for them to send me a battery for the Tilt 2 that I already have cause they don't have any new phone kits in stock for the Tilt 2. Though, I'm kind of tempted to try out the Pure, just because I can't hear anything on my Fuze as is and have some very important stuff coming up with work where I need to be able to hear customers. Ugh, AT&T can be a nightmare to deal with. I'm actually really tempted to switch to Verizon, Sprint, or T-mobile right now.

jjensen0331 said:
It's a nightmare trying to get a replacement through Warranty. I'm on my fourth Fuze now, because I have had legit warranty claims. They decided to upgrade me to a Tilt 2, sent me seed stock instead of a new phone kit, so I have a Tilt 2 without a battery or software. I called about that, they were supposed to send me out my new phone kit with a Tilt 2 in it yet again, sent me a Pure instead. Now I'm waiting for them to send me a battery for the Tilt 2 that I already have cause they don't have any new phone kits in stock for the Tilt 2. Though, I'm kind of tempted to try out the Pure, just because I can't hear anything on my Fuze as is and have some very important stuff coming up with work where I need to be able to hear customers. Ugh, AT&T can be a nightmare to deal with. I'm actually really tempted to switch to Verizon, Sprint, or T-mobile right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on my 4th Fuze as well. How did you get them to even send you the Tilt 2? They just kept on saying it's not available yet.

Just got the right CSR that put it through, and you have to be very nice to them. Just asked about comparable phones, he suggested it - it has to be their idea and recommendation. Still trying to get a battery from AT&T, they say they're out of stock, Warranty called a couple stores close by couldn't find one, but on the website it doesn't say they're out, but it's unlikely they'd send me a new one, heaven forbid. I've got three phones in my possession right now, my screwed up Fuze, a new in the box Pure and the Tilt 2. I'm worried they're going to screw up and bill me for all of them full price, even though they have assured me that won't happen. When I worked in collections years ago for them, saw that happen all the time, even when the phones were sent back in time, it was always a pain to sort out.

Being a ex at&t store manager let me tell you how the XBM (exchange by mail) process works.... If you have a defective device that is within its warrant period which is 1 year from the date that you started your contract at&t will switch it out at no cost to you. The phone cannot be water damanged, or physically damanged (there pretty strict about this). I have had customer who there definition of physical damange was different from what at&t thought and they ended up getting charged full price for the phone. so be very careful. They don't usually take anything that has been dropped or have deep scratches. Basically has to look ok where they can sell it again as a refurb or something. Secondly the only way they will send you out a different device is if you had to same problem with your current one. Its call the 3 strike policy. You can't just ask them for a new one you kinda have to play it off like you can't stand the fact that you keep getting messed of phone of that model. Lastly they will give you options to pick from whatever they have in stock that is the best match for what you have. At times they might not have anything and have no choice but to upgrade you to a newer one. I seen it happen a lot where they just upgrade you to a new device. When the 8300 curve came out a lot of ppl i know was calling in lying to say it was messed up just to get the gps verison 8310 which came out 4 months later. I would't advise anyone to do this unless it is a real problem with the phone. They keep records of every return that you do and can terminate your service if they feel like your trying to cheat them. The tilt two is a great phone tho hard to choose. There's some third party website that i might can direct you too if you want a tilt for a good price but you have to be able to upgrade and sign a two year contract. I got mines for free and just had to sign a contract that's it. And it at&t prorating terminations fees it wasn't big deal for me. thanks

and if i have insurance on the account, i pay $5 monthly, does they still have the fuze on stock.

Chances are that they have plenty of refurbished Fuzes in stock. It's not wise to try to scam the system just to get a new phone to have a new phone. It just makes it harder for people with legit reasons to get theirs replaced.

If you want to do a insurance claim instead of a warrant exchange they are two different things. The insurance is handled by a third party called asurion or something like that. Where warranty exchange is done by at&t themselves. If you decide to go with the insurance claim you will have to pay a $125 insurance deductible which is non-refundable. If you want to do the XBM then you wont have to pay anything as long as your phone is not water or physically damanged. If it is like stated above you WILL be charge full price for the phone they will read you a agreement of the terms and condition before they send out your phone. For both of the process above you have to send back your original device unless for the insurance its lost/stolen. Even if you have insurance and your phone is messed up you still would have to pay the $125.

and yes they more then likely have a lot of fuze in stock still. It would take at least a month or so before they will be getting the tilt 2. They will have some in stock but it would be for ppl with the tilt 2. At&t also has a policy where if its under 30 days you have to take it back to where you got it from before they will exchange it thru the mail. So it would be at least 20 days or so of the release date of the tilt 2 before at&t worries about exchanging that out for ppl with the tilt 2.

cant sweet talk em? "hey baby, lookin mighteh fine... fine as wine *wink*"

At&T Warranty Exchange Unfair
la0xboix7o4 said:
Being a ex at&t store manager let me tell you how the XBM (exchange by mail) process works.... If you have a defective device that is within its warrant period which is 1 year from the date that you started your contract at&t will switch it out at no cost to you. The phone cannot be water damanged, or physically damanged (there pretty strict about this). I have had customer who there definition of physical damange was different from what at&t thought and they ended up getting charged full price for the phone. so be very careful. They don't usually take anything that has been dropped or have deep scratches. Basically has to look ok where they can sell it again as a refurb or something. Secondly the only way they will send you out a different device is if you had to same problem with your current one. Its call the 3 strike policy. You can't just ask them for a new one you kinda have to play it off like you can't stand the fact that you keep getting messed of phone of that model. Lastly they will give you options to pick from whatever they have in stock that is the best match for what you have. At times they might not have anything and have no choice but to upgrade you to a newer one. I seen it happen a lot where they just upgrade you to a new device. When the 8300 curve came out a lot of ppl i know was calling in lying to say it was messed up just to get the gps verison 8310 which came out 4 months later. I would't advise anyone to do this unless it is a real problem with the phone. They keep records of every return that you do and can terminate your service if they feel like your trying to cheat them. The tilt two is a great phone tho hard to choose. There's some third party website that i might can direct you too if you want a tilt for a good price but you have to be able to upgrade and sign a two year contract. I got mines for free and just had to sign a contract that's it. And it at&t prorating terminations fees it wasn't big deal for me. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My husband’s Motorola Tundra was in his pocket. The phone started to burn him while it was in his pocket. There were no incoming calls. He immediately removed his phone and set it down for about thirty minutes. He tried to power the phone up but to no avail. I called AT&T to exchange the phone since it was only about eight months old.
I was told by the Warranty Exchange department that if there were any liquid damage the warranty would be void. Upon looking at the litmus indicator I noticed there were pink speckles. I did not want to pay for a phone that was obviously defective and not abused by my husband.
Therefore, I called AT&T again and explained again that the Tundra was not exposed to water. The representative told me that nothing could be done by AT&T until my next billing cycle when the new phone would be charged to my account. I was told not to worry and go ahead and send the phone in and a Commitment Call would be made to clear up the situation on the next billing cycle if AT&T did not hear from me.
I did receive the new Tundra and returned the damaged phone. The damaged phone was returned to me indicating that the liquid damage indicator was removed. I DID NOT REMOVE THE INDICATOR! I was charged $210.
In the meantime, I called Motorola. The Motorola technician told me that the litmus paper could have been activated by a leaky battery.
I telephoned AT&T today and the $210 was reduced by half. I spoke with three levels of representatives indicating that I did not feel paying anything was acceptable by me based on the principle of this matter. Our original Motorola Tundra was only eight months old and obviously defective. I feel that AT&T is basically accusing me of being dishonest because the liquid damage indicator had pink speckles. What other alternative did I have but to send the phone in since we use it in our business. I accepted the reduction for the cost of the new Tundra with hesitation. It is not so much the money but the principle of this issue. I am a very dissatisfied customer.

They're horrible about running over people. I never understood their reasoning... I would see people get full out replacements for nothing, when they hardly ever paid their bill and had like ten charged off accounts, then on the other hand, you would have customers that had been with them ten years through the various names and such, always paid on time, they wouldn't do anything for them. Dollar is number one for AT&T, as with any company, but their practices are kind of screwy, you are at the mercy of whomever you speak to. I got lucky I got a noob. He wasn't burned out yet and I was very patient and nice to him, he genuinely wanted to help. If you get someone that's been there for years, they've been long hardened and are difficult to deal with - they just want to meet their stats and get their shift over with. Call center location can also have something to do with it, people are different in different areas. I would have customers call up, ask which call center I was located and hang up if it wasn't the one they wanted. Then again, I would have people ask which call center I was located at wanting to kill me, too... Anyway... The people don't generally don't care what's right, it depends on how you deal with them, you have to kill them with kindness, you're at their mercy, not really AT&T's. I would still fight for that full credit, too, but kill them with kindness. Customer care can credit more than collections can, and are more apt to hand it out. If you have to go through Warranty for it, that one's generally alot harder, they tend to be a pain in the arse.
I got Warranty to credit me $50 bucks today for a battery which I had to order through the site and they reimbursed me since they couldn't obtain one for me. One day soon hopefully I'll be using my Tilt 2, it sure is a purty paper weight right now.

I'm actually waiting for the Tilt 2.
I'm on the 4th FUZE, and the last time I spoke to them. They said the next time I run into an issue, they should be able to swap out the FUZE for another phone.
I'm still having the same issue with the 4th Fuze, tons of dropped calls.
I'm holding off calling because I really want the Tilt 2. From what I have been told by people on this forum, and the people at AT&T usually the excahnge group gets refurb phones in about 30 days after the release date.
Now the confusing part is... would the release date be the 8th, when the phone hit the Premiere site, or the 18th when it hit the retail channels.
I'm waiting patiently...

Well if i was at&t i wouldn't have to worry about any XBM until 20 days after the release date. I would go by the 8th one b/c if ppl who had there tilt 2 for more then 30 days and have a warranty issue with them at&t would have to switch them out since it is past the 30 day period and under the 1 yr warranty. I would wait a lil longer to be on the safe side unelss your happy with gettin another fuze.

la0xboix7o4 said:
Well if i was at&t i wouldn't have to worry about any XBM until 20 days after the release date. I would go by the 8th one b/c if ppl who had there tilt 2 for more then 30 days and have a warranty issue with them at&t would have to switch them out since it is past the 30 day period and under the 1 yr warranty. I would wait a lil longer to be on the safe side unelss your happy with gettin another fuze.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm FUZE'd out.
Maybe i'll call the 10th and see if they have any TILT2 in stock.

I have had six (6) warranty exchange Fuzes over the last four months. This was for a legit warranty claim.
During my call last week the CSR suggested I get a Tilt2 instead of another Fuze.....then the CSR found out that the Tilt2 was not in stock. The CSR had no idea when the Tilt2 would be in stock and suggested calling each week on Wednesday.....why wednesday?
Anyway, A brand new Pure appeared at my door step today......I called ATT about the appearance of a new phone. Apparently, the CSR sent me the Pure as a replacement device.
I don't want this device and will be returning it for a Tilt2, when they have it in stock.

Molal said:
I have had six (6) warranty exchange Fuzes over the last four months. This was for a legit warranty claim.
During my call last week the CSR suggested I get a Tilt2 instead of another Fuze.....then the CSR found out that the Tilt2 was not in stock. The CSR had no idea when the Tilt2 would be in stock and suggested calling each week on Wednesday.....why wednesday?
Anyway, A brand new Pure appeared at my door step today......I called ATT about the appearance of a new phone. Apparently, the CSR sent me the Pure as a replacement device.
I don't want this device and will be returning it for a Tilt2, when they have it in stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you called today (wednesday)?

g2tl said:
Have you called today (wednesday)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your phone that you want is not in stock they will send you whatever that is close to it.

Opinions on refurb Captivate

Hi, I'm wondering, due to the many shutdown issues people have even with new Captivates, would it be safe to get a refurb Captivate? Even doing exchanges with a refurb would be harder as it cannot be done in a store. And due to the nature of the Captivate, would there be a higher chance that refurbs were those previously having shutdown issues and exchanging would likely make no difference?

I've got a Refurb Captivate and I haven't had a single issue with it. I even upgraded it to Cog 2.3b6 and love it.
Just wish GPS worked better and it had a Bluetooth stack that could handle a wii remote. Of course that isn't a refurb issue, anyway. My refurb works perfectly.

Oh alright. I know someone who had the shutdowns with a refurb Captivate, though not serious. Exchanging refurbs is a problem because stock is so rare. Definitely not as convenient as those who bought from the store and have exchanged over and over. I read on some threads here that flashing Cog fixed the shutdowns for some. Is it possible?

FNHA said:
Hi, I'm wondering, due to the many shutdown issues people have even with new Captivates, would it be safe to get a refurb Captivate? Even doing exchanges with a refurb would be harder as it cannot be done in a store. And due to the nature of the Captivate, would there be a higher chance that refurbs were those previously having shutdown issues and exchanging would likely make no difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ordered a refurb and it did have the shutdown issue. The warranty department told me I needed to ship the old unit back, but tell them to send the new unit to you first.
It was a pain to get a new one, but the new one worked perfectly. Luck of the draw, I guess.

Very annoying with the refurbs
I am on my 4th captivate refurb. AT&T did a one time courtesy and swapped my Bold 9700 for a Captivate refurb. The screen was all scratched so they sent me another one. That issue was cosmetic so I'm not making a big deal about it. The second one they sent me was great for about 2 weeks, after it would shut off randomly with stock and Cog 2.1.6 stable. I brought that to a service center and got it replaced. This one had a problem with the speaker in the front and the back. It was all static and very irritating. Just got my last one a couple of days ago and I have not had a problem yet. Knock knock knock...
Once you're original phone s*#ts the bed, its bad news for you because AT&T/Samsungs quality control of the refurb units is poor at best. But they let you keep swapping them out until you find a good one so just hope for the best.
At the end of the day going to android was the best move I have made yet.

Skoffer said:
I've got a Refurb Captivate and I haven't had a single issue with it. I even upgraded it to Cog 2.3b6 and love it.
Just wish GPS worked better and it had a Bluetooth stack that could handle a wii remote. Of course that isn't a refurb issue, anyway. My refurb works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a refurb and have had no issues aside from unreliable GPS.

I bought a refurb and the first one I got had the random shutdown issues right out of the box. The first night I charged it, the phone was off in the morning and it only got worse from there. I got that replaced and have been good for about two months with it other than the GPS not tracking well.

I have a refurb captivate that worka great. The gps like all the others have issues as mine always say i am 30 meters from my actual location, but other than that its great.
The only real issue i have with it is getting used to the keyboard. I use an iphone 4 for my primary phobe and the captivate for a business phone and switching between the two is slighty awkward, but i will adjust eventually.
The leaked 2.2 froyo rom always is great on the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

bigjimsax said:
I am on my 4th captivate refurb. AT&T did a one time courtesy and swapped my Bold 9700 for a Captivate refurb. The screen was all scratched so they sent me another one. That issue was cosmetic so I'm not making a big deal about it. The second one they sent me was great for about 2 weeks, after it would shut off randomly with stock and Cog 2.1.6 stable. I brought that to a service center and got it replaced. This one had a problem with the speaker in the front and the back. It was all static and very irritating. Just got my last one a couple of days ago and I have not had a problem yet. Knock knock knock...
Once you're original phone s*#ts the bed, its bad news for you because AT&T/Samsungs quality control of the refurb units is poor at best. But they let you keep swapping them out until you find a good one so just hope for the best.
At the end of the day going to android was the best move I have made yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. what do you mean when you say they let you swap them out until you find a good one? Isn't it only for 30 days and the warranty a max of 90 days? And you're supposed to ship it back if you got it online? Is it possible to get a replacement from a service center?

My refurb Captivate works great. It's only given me one unexpected shutoff since I got it in October.

My refurb is working well. The only time it shuts off randomly is if I leave the USB door open. My GPS works well as well.

I must have lucked out, because my refurb came in perfect condition 2 months ago and hasn't had any shut down issues (knock on wood). Plus you can't beat the $50 price tag for a phone of this caliber.

joebw said:
I must have lucked out, because my refurb came in perfect condition 2 months ago and hasn't had any shut down issues (knock on wood). Plus you can't beat the $50 price tag for a phone of this caliber.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure I can, mine was free since I have an employee discount on my account.

Warranty is a year for new devices and 90 days for refurb. Once you get a refurb your warranty is 90 every time you get a new refurb. And yes you can go to an ATT Service Center and get it swapped out. I have not had an issue getting replacements.
I was going to post the link but I can't so PM me for the att answer website for the list of service centers.
wireless.att.com/answer-center/main.jsp?t=solutionTab&ft=&ps=solutionPanels&locale=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB91429
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

VZW sent replacement, I fixed -- Keep original phone, or take Refurb?

I was having issues with my phone (32GB Pebble Blue GS3) making or receiving any calls, spent a day troubleshooting and ended up calling VZW. They couldn't find the issue and sent me a refurb.
I had restored my original phone to stock, reset the flash counter to read NONE, and ready to send it back. Well this morning, I did some more tinkering and ended up fixing my phone. Around lunch, my refurb came.
My original phone has some wear and tear on it, including a couple decent sized nicks on the corner. Part of me wants the clean "new" phone, but part of me wants to keep the original untampered one also. Is there any major reason I should NOT take the refurb? I remember on some of my other phones, the early models tended to overclock better, for example. I've also had refurbs in the past (lost phone) and never had problems with it.
So in short, anything specific with refurb GS3's to be aware of that might sway my decision? TIA

And I guess the other point, there shouldn't be any risk in sending in my phone back to VZW so long as I've returned to stock and the flash counter shows "None". Is that correct?

Personally I'd keep your original. Assuming you bought it new, you know the exact history of the phone, whereas refurbs are always hit or miss - I've had ones that were crap out of the box, ones that died literally days before their warranty ended, and ones that looked new (my Droid X refurb is going 2.5 years strong still, albeit as an alarm clock recently). None of those were GS3's though, so I can't directly comment on their refurb quality.

detonation said:
Personally I'd keep your original. Assuming you bought it new, you know the exact history of the phone, whereas refurbs are always hit or miss - I've had ones that were crap out of the box, ones that died literally days before their warranty ended, and ones that looked new (my Droid X refurb is going 2.5 years strong still, albeit as an alarm clock recently). None of those were GS3's though, so I can't directly comment on their refurb quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback. I'm really on the fence. Now I just played with the refurb, and I'm noticing the home button is more flush, whereas my original protrudes slightly.
Only thing making me want the refurb is, my original has one sizeable (for me anyhow) bump on the corner, where it flattened out a little because it must have been direct impact on the corner. I'm OCD and I hate looking at it. Although I'll have to see if I can stomach this flat home button either. :-\

detonation said:
Personally I'd keep your original. Assuming you bought it new, you know the exact history of the phone, whereas refurbs are always hit or miss - I've had ones that were crap out of the box, ones that died literally days before their warranty ended, and ones that looked new (my Droid X refurb is going 2.5 years strong still, albeit as an alarm clock recently). None of those were GS3's though, so I can't directly comment on their refurb quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I had to get a replacement. Refurb sent, failed out of box. 2nd sent before the 1st replacement made it back to Texas warehouse. Seems to be ok, but I worry.

I think it's hit or miss with refurbs. I went through 5 refurb gnex phones and they were all crap (may have just been the gnex refurbs though). Finally got sent an s3 and the backlight died in an hour of use. Second refurb s3 has been great though.
I'm not sure if they'll even allow you to keep the original one now...they kept stressing to me to put the correct phone in each box (since I had 3 phones at once lol) or else I'd be charged.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Make sure the refurb is indeed a 32 gig. I just had major issues with vzw sending me the wrong model twice! I noticed that the 16 gig model's home button is flush and the 32 gig is raised a bit.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

T-Mobile Z3... dropped/Best way to root new one/Backup old one/Insurance Claim

So I dropped my Z3 on some concrete last night....
Device works just fine but it's ugly. Will they accept the claim provided it's just cosmetic or should I lie and say it is done for? What pisses me off is not the money for the deductible... it's the countless hours I've spent customizing it.
So I'm going to file the insurance claim today. I would like to know the best way to backup my device so that I can restore as much onto the new one as possible. I had the dual backup installed but will never boot into it, maybe ill try to reinstall.
Then as far as the new device... what's the best way to root it? Should I take the update? I have blocked the sony updater on my existing one for fear of it breaking root.
Lastly will Assurant check to see if I rooted my old one? Should I unroot it prior to sending it back.
Thanks in advance for your advice. My big thing is I'm not sending this one in until I get an exact replacement and I can get that replacement rooted. If I can't do that I'll pay $200-300 to get it repaired.

I do not believe cosmetic issues are covered. Granted I did not have insurance (They backdated Jump for me after my 3 refurb so had insurance technically) when I did my exchanges with T-Mobile but they made it clear that cosmetic issues are not considered plus you technically physically damaged it and it was not a factory defect, Unless its affecting the usage of the phone they won't, unless I suppose any damage to the frame affected water proofing, you could make that case if true. In my case of severe light leak on a few of them I convinced them waterproofing was compromised (failed pressure test) so they agreed to replace.
Oh and by the way T-Mobile does not have any new Z3s nor any new ones coming in, you will get a refurb..... And boy does the repair center do a bad job, I had to send 4 refurbs in a row back recently because they had issues ranging from severe light bleed to missing paint patch in bezel which acts like an extra LED near lower speaker on 2 of them to a streak of hot/dead pixels on one....
So basically unless they can get you factory sealed one, you will have to test your luck with refurbs, though depending on how bad your damaged Z3 looks it may well be worth it lol.

abhinav.tella said:
I do not believe cosmetic issues are covered. Granted I did not have insurance (They backdated Jump for me after my 3 refurb so had insurance technically) when I did my exchanges with T-Mobile but they made it clear that cosmetic issues are not considered plus you technically physically damaged it and it was not a factory defect, Unless its affecting the usage of the phone they won't, unless I suppose any damage to the frame affected water proofing, you could make that case if true. In my case of severe light leak on a few of them I convinced them waterproofing was compromised (failed pressure test) so they agreed to replace.
Oh and by the way T-Mobile does not have any new Z3s nor any new ones coming in, you will get a refurb..... And boy does the repair center do a bad job, I had to send 4 refurbs in a row back recently because they had issues ranging from severe light bleed to missing paint patch in bezel which acts like an extra LED near lower speaker on 2 of them to a streak of hot/dead pixels on one....
So basically unless they can get you factory sealed one, you will have to test your luck with refurbs, though depending on how bad your damaged Z3 looks it may well be worth it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assurant always does refurbs, unless they don't have any they will give you a new one. It's at least a z3 they are sending, otherwise I'd tell to them to f*** off and I'd find a way to repair it.
I'm pissed that T-mobile doesn't carry anymore (some still available in stores). I think half the reason they don't sell is the salespeople at the mobile carriers and best buy are always pushing garbage samsung devices. If you go to Europe you can find accessories for any sony phone in any electronics store or airport shop. My friends in Canada say one in four in their group of friends have an Xperia. I have only seen one other out in the real world... and the individual was from Hong Kong.
I would rather purchase direct from Sony, but T-mobiles coverage is still spotty and I depend on wifi calling in some places I visit regularly.
Guy at T-Mobile said cosmetic is covered. The way I see it they'd probably prefer I pay $175 and get a device that's working just fine. I said the screen was cracked... but technically it's the glass on the back.

It's not T-Mobile's fault, they still sell the Z/Z1, reason they stopped sale of the Z3 is due to quality control issues and numerous returns. A rep told me that after I said I want a new one not any more defective refurbs. As I said I am on my 8th lol plus the 4-5 more (new) TMO store itself went through to get me my 4th so make it 10-12 total TMO sent back to Sony just for me...
Don't get me wrong I love the phone but needing that many returns is just ridiculous.....
The international version seems to have much better consistency in production and quality.
However honestly I'm glad I bought directly from T-Mobile they gave me immediate replacements for my first 4 (in Oct-Nov) which were new and 1 day shipping for the last 4 which were refurbs (recently). Sony support asked me to do a software reinstall to get rid of light leak from frame/glass where glue was clearly missing, facepalm. After that they said 3 week minimum turn around time for replacements. TMO reps seemed more knowledgeable.... They even offered to cancel my monthly phone cost and refeund tax if it happened again....
Well anyway, I hope you get a good replacement. Another idea is in the event you get a bad refurb, try to go through Sony and make them give you the international version instead.

abhinav.tella said:
It's not T-Mobile's fault, they still sell the Z/Z1, reason they stopped sale of the Z3 is due to quality control issues and numerous returns. A rep told me that after I said I want a new one not any more defective refurbs. As I said I am on my 8th lol plus the 4-5 more (new) TMO store itself went through to get me my 4th so make it 10-12 total TMO sent back to Sony just for me...
Don't get me wrong I love the phone but needing that many returns is just ridiculous.....
The international version seems to have much better consistency in production and quality.
However honestly I'm glad I bought directly from T-Mobile they gave me immediate replacements for my first 4 (in Oct-Nov) which were new and 1 day shipping for the last 4 which were refurbs (recently). Sony support asked me to do a software reinstall to get rid of light leak from frame/glass where glue was clearly missing, facepalm. After that they said 3 week minimum turn around time for replacements. TMO reps seemed more knowledgeable.... They even offered to cancel my monthly phone cost and refeund tax if it happened again....
Well anyway, I hope you get a good replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As much as I liked the more squarish design of my z1s (though hated the silver accents)... my z3 seemed to be a much more quality device. Scared to try out this refurbed one. I'm charging it up and waiting until I find out the best means for rooting it. Hoping it's not a piece of crap. I remember a friend dropped my z1s, the replacement models vibrator would stop working.
Personally what upsets me most is the bootloaders that can't be unlocked and frustration with rooting. It's so easy on the international versions. And frankly while wifi calling is a nice feature it's a total load that I can't use it on any device and even more upsetting that it isn't compatible with third party messaging apps. I can't get mms to download over wifi calling with anything but that hideous bare bones stock messaging app.
"The international version seems to have much better consistency in production and quality." That right there says it all. If the international version is compatible on your service, why create a dumbed down version?

Regardless it's good to speak to someone that has experience with this, albeit unfortunate experiences. Good luck.

Make sure to check it at night, and look for light bleed and also any LED like effect from missing paint on front glass (That I believe is due to a tool mark), saw this on 3 refurbs.
As I said earlier if it does have issues try the cross model exchange with Sony. I see no alternative devices lol, the Z3 is still the most well rounded device even with the new guys in town.