Database Info

[Q] Returning a rooted/modified phone?

So tomorrow I'm returning my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.
I'll be returning it to the official AT&T retailer from where I purchased it.
For the sole reason of getting an HTC Inspire 4G instead.
Now..
I called the rep who sold me the phone.
He said I can return it, he'll waive the restocking fee and when asked if I have to reinstall the stock rom and fully restore it to factory condition he simply said "Bro, you don't have to. I don't give a f*ck what you have on the phone"
But i'm not sure if this guy is legit or simply doesn't know sh*t.
This phone is rooted, updated, and nearly all the AT&T bloatware removed.
Is there anyway I can be charged with some sort of penalty later on even though the rep said it's ok for me to return the phone in this condition?

Thrashavich said:
But i'm not sure if this guy is legit or simply doesn't know sh*t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol .. prolly the latter ...
if you have the free time on your hands id do it in your place

If I were you I'd flash a stock ROM before returning it to AT&T.

yah i think it 's better if you return it to the same state when you receive it.. flash it with x10's stock rom ... before you return it ... but i dont think they will charge you with the phone being modified

Might as well do it, it's not exactly going to take you that long, then there's virtually no chance of being screwed later.

You should definitely do that. Also, there is a chance that he doesn't care but if the phone gets sent somewhere to be restores and they haave your name on file with he phone and stiff, it might void the return and they could charge you for it and ship the phone back.
I'm thinking of returning the Atrix but I only rooted it so you can't really tell something is done. I'm going back to stock anyway though.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App

Having Withdrawals Already!!!

Ok so today I mow my yard and I plug in my Thunderbolt in to the USB charger on my PC when I come inside my phone is bootlooping. So I think ok whatever I will flash one of the many backup's I made.
So I pull the battery and boot into the bootloader, then when I go into recovery after about 2 seconds the phone powers off and starts bootlooping again??? Ok that's a first for me and I have been flashing and rooting since launch day of the OG Droid, (ok, ok not since the first day but like a month later). So I pull the battery again this time for 30 minutes because I read someone else had something like this happen yesterday. When I put the battery back in same thing! Now I pull the battery for 4 hours...same outcome.
Now I'm thinking RUU time so I grab the stock RUU pull the SD card from my Thunderbolt pop it in my Incredible load the RUU renamed to PG05IMG.zip and put it back in the Thunderbolt. Load the bootloader and flash the RUU. Reboot after it's done and would you believe it...the same thing! the phone won't load past the splash screen before rebooting.
I forgot to mention before trying all this I tried using adb to reboot into recovery and I kept getting "error: device not found" and I know how to use adb.
It's only been about 9 hours since I've been able to use my 2.3.4 GingerBread with parts of 3.0 Sense Thunderbolt and I already having withdrawals how am I going to make the next 2 to 3 weeks while it's being repaired???
Ok end rant...

Go to verizon, swap it for a new one. Warranty case for sure.

bilbobrian said:
Go to verizon, swap it for a new one. Warranty case for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but I rooted it, therefore I have no warranty. I knew the chance I was taking when I rooted it so I'm paying for it to be repaired.

I'm loosing faith in the Thunderbolt. I really feel we are all just a bunch of beta testers.

bunklung said:
I'm loosing faith in the Thunderbolt. I really feel we are all just a bunch of beta testers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Off topic and makes no sense.
//Tap'd on my TBolt while grounded\\

bp328i said:
Thanks, but I rooted it, therefore I have no warranty. I knew the chance I was taking when I rooted it so I'm paying for it to be repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your rooted but if it cant boot up then there is a problem. Just go to verizon and show them. Once they see it cant boot properly they will exchange it or overnight one to you.
I apologize if Im missing something..

bp328i said:
Thanks, but I rooted it, therefore I have no warranty. I knew the chance I was taking when I rooted it so I'm paying for it to be repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may get away with getting it swapped through warranty. But I can't promise you it won't come back at you. Someone may have a solution for you though. Wouldn't give up yet. Sorry I don't.
//Tap'd on my TBolt while grounded\\

chkmate said:
Huh? Off topic and makes no sense.
//Tap'd on my TBolt while grounded\\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*Shrug*
He has a problem, I do too. We both own Thunderbolts. Maybe I should have been more specific.
To each his own. The end.

bunklung said:
*Shrug*
He has a problem, I do too. We both own Thunderbolts. Maybe I should have been more specific.
To each his own. The end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well then relate your problem with his. Just saying "your losing faith in Thunderbolt" tells me nothing. Don't mean to sound like an a$$, just saying. When I read your first comment I got nothing from it.
That being said...I haven't been a Bolt owner for long, but it does seem like a strange issue. You would think flashing a radio or backup would resolve the issue. But hasn't.
//Tap'd on my TBolt while grounded\\

Definitely sounds like a Warranty Issue. I'd try to get it exchanged if no one can come up for a solution to the problem.

I had a G1 back in the day that had some odd problem and I was rooted, Tmo looked at it and wouldn't touch it. So, I called HTC. I told them that I purchased the phone off Craigslist so Tmo couldn't help me, and asked how the warranty works on their end. They said that since the production of the phone started less than a year ago, they knew it was still eligible for warranty even without a receipt. There would be a triage fee if it was found to be a non-warranty issue, and it was something like $40 including the shipping back. I acted dumb when they asked if it was rooted...asked them what that meant? LOL. Sent it in, they fixed it and sent it back to me, no charge. Fast too. I was very happy and that is why I have stuck with HTC since then. It may or may not work for you, but it was painless for me.

bp328i said:
Thanks, but I rooted it, therefore I have no warranty. I knew the chance I was taking when I rooted it so I'm paying for it to be repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Such chivalry is rare in these days.
Applaud. Best of luck!
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

bp328i said:
Thanks, but I rooted it, therefore I have no warranty. I knew the chance I was taking when I rooted it so I'm paying for it to be repaired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't care. Take my word for it. If it never boots they won't care.

I'm actually having this exact same issue. Has anyone found a solution yet or is the only solution to have the phone replaced?

Wow. I thought for sure hbooting the unsigned stock RUU would fix this. How about hbooting a signed ruu? It wouldn't hurt at this point.
Also make sure when you renamed the pgimg05. Zip that there was nothing at the end of the extention. I've heard some people say that windows has been known not to show that full file extension correctly.

raider3bravo said:
Wow. I thought for sure hbooting the unsigned stock RUU would fix this. How about hbooting a signed ruu? It wouldn't hurt at this point.
Also make sure when you renamed the pgimg05. Zip that there was nothing at the end of the extention. I've heard some people say that windows has been known not to show that full file extension correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought hbooting the stock RUU would fix it as well, and yep it was named correctly. It's funny because it would stay on the hboot screen as long as I let it with no issue what so ever but within 2 seconds of going into recovery it would reboot.
I went back to Best Buy today as that is where I bought it to see how much they would charge to ship it out to be fixed. The mobile manager remembered me because I was 1st on the pre-order list. (I'm sure we all remember the train wreck the Best Buy pre-orders became) So any way he really went out of his way to help me. He said he has had 3 other Thunderbolts brought in for the same issue. He was able to send my phone in under their Black Tie program.
I told him I rooted the phone and was willing to pay for the repairs but he said he was pretty sure that the other 3 phones were not rooted. He said that he knew FOR SURE that at least one of the phones was not rooted because the lady that owned it did not have any branches in her family tree, (his words not mine). Since he has seen it 3 times he was not charging me. He only asked that I had the stock hboot on the phone. I had already flashed that in my attempt to get it running.

I'm with cstrife, I managed to destroy my tab with a mix of flashing and charging via outlets in India. It bootlooped for a while then just kind of gave up and began to display a strange download screen when I plugged it in to charge. I brought it to VZW and played stupid, I told them I woke up and it had this weird screen... I had a brand new one at my door the next morning and haven't heard a word from them... It probably just costs more to check it out deep enough to find out its rooted than it does to just give you a refurbished one, gut swap yours, and then send to someone else as a refurbished one...
Sent from my SCH-I800 using XDA App

Had this happen to me and just pulled my SD card, rebooted and it was fine. Not saying it will work for u but give it a shot.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

bp328i said:
I thought hbooting the stock RUU would fix it as well, and yep it was named correctly. It's funny because it would stay on the hboot screen as long as I let it with no issue what so ever but within 2 seconds of going into recovery it would reboot.
I went back to Best Buy today as that is where I bought it to see how much they would charge to ship it out to be fixed. The mobile manager remembered me because I was 1st on the pre-order list. (I'm sure we all remember the train wreck the Best Buy pre-orders became) So any way he really went out of his way to help me. He said he has had 3 other Thunderbolts brought in for the same issue. He was able to send my phone in under their Black Tie program.
I told him I rooted the phone and was willing to pay for the repairs but he said he was pretty sure that the other 3 phones were not rooted. He said that he knew FOR SURE that at least one of the phones was not rooted because the lady that owned it did not have any branches in her family tree, (his words not mine). Since he has seen it 3 times he was not charging me. He only asked that I had the stock hboot on the phone. I had already flashed that in my attempt to get it running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honesty turned out to be the best policy in this case. Congrats.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

MrHawaii said:
Honesty turned out to be the best policy in this case. Congrats.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, now I just have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get it back. What to do with all that time!!!

Stupid enough not to put the phone back to stockbefore returning it to ATT

Hi Guys, this is my story
Recently I have saw a black mark on my screen that would not go away. In addition there were some spots that were also visible.
I have went to a ATT service spot and ask for a replacement, the guy looked at my phone and agreed to give me a refurbished phone.
I am worried about two things:
1. the guy said that if the spots were caused by water I will pay 500$. Truthfully, the phone was anywhere near water but it does look like water damage....
2. The phone that ATT took was rooted.
Do you think that I have a big bill coming on?
* really worried...
Regards
B

borisb said:
Hi Guys, this is my story
Recently I have saw a black mark on my screen that would not go away. In addition there were some spots that were also visible.
I have went to a ATT service spot and ask for a replacement, the guy looked at my phone and agreed to give me a refurbished phone.
I am worried about two things:
1. the guy said that if the spots were caused by water I will pay 500$. Truthfully, the phone was anywhere near water but it does look like water damage....
2. The phone that ATT took was rooted.
Do you think that I have a big bill coming on?
* really worried...
Regards
B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my discussions with the att warranty department (ie. last three days), anything that they can constitute as user damaged, they will charge you 399 dollars for the refurbished phone.
So technically since the phone was rooted, unless the att tech reflashed it before sending it out, you have voided your warranty.

Even if its a HW issue?
What are the chances that they will reflash it? probably zero.....
Has anyone had something like this?

borisb said:
Even if its a HW issue?
What are the chances that they will reflash it? probably zero.....
Has anyone had something like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if its a hardware issue, while the phone is rooted the warranty is voided.
I am not sure never worked at att, but I am guessing they just put it in a box and ship it.

The most they do is wipe user data.
In all honesty, I would argue with them if they do charge. Reason: " the guy at the stand did not check it first. " all blame should fall on him because he furnished you with another phone without checking it first.
ATT rep.. The phone you provided us is no longer under warranty due to it being voided.
You.. The guy at the store gave me a new phone and said everything was ok. Why am I now being charged. Did he break it? .
ATT Rep.. I am sorry for the confusion.........
Something like that, just play really dumb like you have no idea what there talking about, and chances are the will void the charge due to employee negligence.
Now if you signed something agreeing to take the phone with the chance of being charged anyways, you may be **** out of luck. But its worth a shot. I know when it was cingular, our returns department never even checked the phones, the most we checked for was the water mark stickers. And even that was not always checked. When we sent them off to the manufacturer for exchanges we shipped them out in bulk and by doing so they realy couldnt tell what came from who.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk

xKrisx said:
Now if you signed something agreeing to take the phone with the chance of being charged anyways, you may be **** out of luck. But its worth a shot. I know when it was cingular, our returns department never even checked the phones, the most we checked for was the water mark stickers. And even that was not always checked. When we sent them off to the manufacturer for exchanges we shipped them out in bulk and by doing so they realy couldnt tell what came from who.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last part of that has changed since they use imei's now.

I think you will be fine. You giving the Warranty Department too much credit. You will be fine.

i guess it matters on how hard the warranty guyz wana work... hopefully they will get the phone on a friday lol good luck

A year or so ago i was buying a mytouch 3g in a tmobile store and the guy selling me the phone told me about how i could root the phone and wireless tether for free!
I even asked him if it would void the warrenty and he said it wouldnt!

I hope it will be OK.
Do they sent it to ATT o directly to HTC?

mudknot2005 said:
Even if its a hardware issue, while the phone is rooted the warranty is voided.
I am not sure never worked at att, but I am guessing they just put it in a box and ship it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. He taped it up before me (for one of my earlier captivates) and when I asked if they would reset or anything like that, he said it'll go directly to Samsung. Its a good thing I always wipe data before I return any phone.
So my guess is, for phones returned within 30 days that wud come as refurb, they will be within AT&T. But for any hardware issues they won't even bother to look into it and simply return the phone to manufacturer.

I sent a rooted Samsung captivate (told them it had random shut down issue which was a known issue it didn't have that prob gps was crappy) in that was rooted and nothing happened. A lot of times its not cost effective for a manufacturer to check all that stuff. Remember they have to pay a tech by the hour to do all that. Its usually more cost effective to just refurb and either resell or use as a replacement. I'm betting you'll be ok. I wouldn't worry about it until you hear from them. And like the other guy said play dumb.

Carlrobling said:
I sent a rooted Samsung captivate (told them it had random shut down issue which was a known issue it didn't have that prob gps was crappy) in that was rooted and nothing happened. A lot of times its not cost effective for a manufacturer to check all that stuff. Remember they have to pay a tech by the hour to do all that. Its usually more cost effective to just refurb and either resell or use as a replacement. I'm betting you'll be ok. I wouldn't worry about it until you hear from them. And like the other guy said play dumb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T doesn't bother until the manufacturer comes back. I remember reading on Captivate forums where some people got billed full amount after a couple months cos Samsung came back to AT&T charging them.

diablo009 said:
AT&T doesn't bother until the manufacturer comes back. I remember reading on Captivate forums where some people got billed full amount after a couple months cos Samsung came back to AT&T charging them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure it has happened. Not everyone gets lucky. I will say this ATT techs aren't very bright. When i first got my inspire (used from craigslist) i put my sim in and it said it had a sim lock. I called tech support they told me they didn't know what it was. Then tried to tell me it was cause someone tried to root it and failed. I later figured out on my own that it was a bad sim and after having it replaced it worked perfectly. So i wouldn't count on ATT but Htc its a roll of the dice. Keep us posted let us know how things turn out.

Some of you are giving far too much credit to the warranty department. I can't speak for AT&T as I don't work for them...But I do, do tech support for Philips Electronics... In all honesty, 1 out of every 15 people here is technologically advanced. Most people work here because its a job.
The way our warranties work is 2 ways.
1. We either say screw it and send another product
or
2. The product comes in for testing, we test it...If it works, it goes back, if not, we replace it. 99.99% of the time, the people testing the product are not smart enough to look for alterations to the software.
Again, this is how we work here, and I can't speak for AT&T.

tribalartgod said:
Some of you are giving far too much credit to the warranty department. I can't speak for AT&T as I don't work for them...But I do, do tech support for Philips Electronics... In all honesty, 1 out of every 15 people here is technologically advanced. Most people work here because its a job.
The way our warranties work is 2 ways.
1. We either say screw it and send another product
or
2. The product comes in for testing, we test it...If it works, it goes back, if not, we replace it. 99.99% of the time, the people testing the product are not smart enough to look for alterations to the software.
Again, this is how we work here, and I can't speak for AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not only not smart enough but like you said its just a job and they don't even bother to care. Like i said earlier there techs aren't very bright and tried to tell me someone tried to root the used inspire that i had. He even went around and asked other techs that's the only problem it could be he said. After some trial and error I figured it out called tech support back told the lady this time what i figured out she agreed and made note on my account that i could get a free sim. Glad i don't bother believing everything i hear lol and would rather do my own research first.
P.S. Its like that everywhere you go. People are all the same from job to job you see the same things everywhere lol.

BAleR said:
A year or so ago i was buying a mytouch 3g in a tmobile store and the guy selling me the phone told me about how i could root the phone and wireless tether for free!
I even asked him if it would void the warrenty and he said it wouldnt!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if the rep said that they will give you a free phone every 6months you would believe that too?

jaw2012 said:
And if the rep said that they will give you a free phone every 6months you would believe that too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said I believed it, just quoting him

When htc gets the phone they will wipe it and put it back to factory because there is no need of anything on the phone and anything done on the phone software issues could be the problem, so always best from there stand point to have it back to factory. That is exact reason any time u call about anything with pc or phone they want u to restore to factory.

[Q] stock rom or close to stock rom

Hi
can someone direct me to some stock/close-to stock roms for lg g2x? i sold the phone. do you think i need to revert it to unroot and put back 2.3.3 stock rom before sending it out? what would you do?
Thanks,

sold it to a private party? no reason you "have" to do anything to it. the stock rom can be found in the dev section though.

yes i am selling to people on ebay. thats private i guess. i search through the development section but it not easy to spot it.

Second page in the Dev section...
Stock Gingerbread OTA 2.3.3 Rooted flashable zip v1.0.0

Yeah, you WANT to set anything you sell on eBay back to stock....
Why? Because they might take it for tech support after they buy it.
I learned that lesson the hard way 2 or 3 years ago...
When I got my G1, I sold my old HTC Touch Vogue on eBay. It was unlocked and running a Rom from the forums here on xda (NFSFan's I believe)... It stated so *VERY CLEARLY* in the description.
Well, the buyer took it to the Sprint store to activate it. Now, I knew it could be activated because I'd activated it on another line just to make sure. However, the guy at the Sprint store took ONE LOOK at it and refused to activate it since it wasn't running Sprint firmware.
The buyer emailed me back asking for help, and I assured him that it could be activated, and gave him a link to instructions on how to do so, and even gave him my phone# in case he had any questions.
Next thing I know, a chargeback hit my Paypal account for the full purchase price of the phone... apparently the guy took it back to the Sprint Store who again refused to activate it - and this time called his credit card company from the Sprint Store and the rep told them the device was broken.. So they charged back my account...
Thing is, nothing was wrong with the device, and the buyer knew what he was buying. Not only did it get charged back, but Sprint confiscated the device claiming the reason it couldn't be activated this time was that it was stolen (which it certainly wasn't)... so I was out the full sale price PLUS did not get the device returned...
I learned my lesson - NEVER EVER SELL A ROOTED/CUSTOM FIRMWARE DEVICE. Ever. Period. Sell it in FACTORY CONDITION because you never know what kind of idiot is going to get it on the other end.

sorry to hear your unfortunate story. i guess i will unroot it and do a factory rom install

lotherius said:
Yeah, you WANT to set anything you sell on eBay back to stock....
Why? Because they might take it for tech support after they buy it.
I learned that lesson the hard way 2 or 3 years ago...
When I got my G1, I sold my old HTC Touch Vogue on eBay. It was unlocked and running a Rom from the forums here on xda (NFSFan's I believe)... It stated so *VERY CLEARLY* in the description.
Well, the buyer took it to the Sprint store to activate it. Now, I knew it could be activated because I'd activated it on another line just to make sure. However, the guy at the Sprint store took ONE LOOK at it and refused to activate it since it wasn't running Sprint firmware.
The buyer emailed me back asking for help, and I assured him that it could be activated, and gave him a link to instructions on how to do so, and even gave him my phone# in case he had any questions.
Next thing I know, a chargeback hit my Paypal account for the full purchase price of the phone... apparently the guy took it back to the Sprint Store who again refused to activate it - and this time called his credit card company from the Sprint Store and the rep told them the device was broken.. So they charged back my account...
Thing is, nothing was wrong with the device, and the buyer knew what he was buying. Not only did it get charged back, but Sprint confiscated the device claiming the reason it couldn't be activated this time was that it was stolen (which it certainly wasn't)... so I was out the full sale price PLUS did not get the device returned...
I learned my lesson - NEVER EVER SELL A ROOTED/CUSTOM FIRMWARE DEVICE. Ever. Period. Sell it in FACTORY CONDITION because you never know what kind of idiot is going to get it on the other end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Precisely why I deal locally and accept cash only for anything I sell.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

I am at the last step of unrooting the phone. Im using superoneclick v2.3.3. do i power on the phone and plug in usb and click "unroot"? superoneclick (not responding) at Installing BusyBox, adb command type ChangeMode.
the program not responding, did i do something wrong? anyway i can remove the superuser icon in the drawer, it is still there.
I use a different version and it work

tainle said:
I am at the last step of unrooting the phone. Im using superoneclick v2.3.3. do i power on the phone and plug in usb and click "unroot"? superoneclick (not responding) at Installing BusyBox, adb command type ChangeMode.
the program not responding, did i do something wrong? anyway i can remove the superuser icon in the drawer, it is still there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try what was done at this link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1441929

Warranty return after s-off and/or root

Has anyone ever been "caught" and denied a warranty return after s-off and\or root? You hear all of these horror stories of you warranty being void but I personally have never had a problem.
I rooted my original Incredible and got two warranty replacements in the first year. One was for a blown speaker and the other was because I bricked it. When I bricked it I called Verizon and played dumb and said 'I don't know what is going on with my phone but it won't boot up'. They asked me a few questions and then said something like 'wow, I have never seen that before we will send you a new one.'
On my Incredible 4G, I rooted and s-offed (via HTC DEV before they removed it from the list) and got a warranty replacement (I don't remember what the problem was that caused me to exchange it). In fact, when I got the replacement it was obviously s-on and no longer unlockable via HTC Dev so I called Verizon to complain (told them something about being a software developer so I needed a phone I could ROM and develop on) hoping they would give me a HTC One (M7). Of course they did not but my point is no one seems to care about s-off or root.
Each time I have done a warranty exchange I have done it via phone not in the store. They ship me a new phone next day and I send my old one back. I would find it hard to believe that they have someone sitting there opening returned phones, checking for root or s-off, comparing them to the call that originated the return and then following up. Instead, I am sure the process is more like: Get the returned phone, note the RMA and note on the account that the old phone was returned, check for physical damage, throw it in a pile with all of the other returned phones to be formatted, re-flashed, tested and sold as refurbished phones.
I exchanged my weaksauce rooted M8 to the store last Friday due to frequent reboots. The sales guy turned on the screen, set it down, and rang me up a new one. He didn't boot into HBoot to look for s-off, and didn't look for any root checker or rooting application.
My experience is that the 'you will void your warranty' line is a scare tactic and it doesn't worry me one bit. While I am sure s-off and rooting can cause physical harm to a phone (maybe by doing something like overclocking) but I do not believe that the big cell phone companies like Verizon have any process in place to catch this. They do thousands of returns a day and don't care to slow down their return exchange process to check for the 1 out of 1000 rooted\s-off phones they come through.
This is my opinion and experience I would be interested in yours.

dneiding said:
Has anyone ever been "caught" and denied a warranty return after s-off and\or root? You hear all of these horror stories of you warranty being void but I personally have never had a problem.
I rooted my original Incredible and got two warranty replacements in the first year. One was for a blown speaker and the other was because I bricked it. When I bricked it I called Verizon and played dumb and said 'I don't know what is going on with my phone but it won't boot up'. They asked me a few questions and then said something like 'wow, I have never seen that before we will send you a new one.'
I rooted and s-offed (via HTC DEV before they removed it from the list) and got a warranty replacement (I don't remember what the problem was that caused me to exchange it). In fact, when I got the replacement it was obviously s-on and no longer unlockable via HTC Dev so I called Verizon to complain (told them something about being a software developer so I needed a phone I could ROM and develop on) hoping they would give me a HTC One (M7). Of course they did not but my point is no one seems to care about s-off or root.
Each time I have done a warranty exchange I have done it via phone not in the store. They ship me a new phone next day and I send my old one back. I would find it hard to believe that they have someone sitting there opening returned phones, checking for root or s-off, comparing them to the call that originated the return and then following up. Instead, I am sure the process is more like: Get the returned phone, note the RMA and note on the account that the old phone was returned, check for physical damage, throw it in a pile with all of the other returned phones to be formatted, re-flashed, tested and sold as refurbished phones.
I exchanged my weaksauce rooted M8 to the store last Friday due to frequent reboots. The sales guy turned on the screen, set it down, and rang me up a new one. He didn't boot into HBoot to look for s-off, and didn't look for any root checker or rooting application.
My experience is that the 'you will void your warranty' line is a scare tactic and it doesn't worry me one bit. While I am sure s-off and rooting can cause physical harm to a phone (maybe by doing something like overclocking) but I do not believe that the big cell phone companies like Verizon have any process in place to catch this. They do thousands of returns a day and don't care to slow down their return exchange process to check for the 1 out of 1000 rooted\s-off phones they come through.
This is my opinion and experience I would be interested in yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is always a risk, although I personally will send in phones S-OFF even, and never had an issue. (I don't suggest this)
From my understanding, they get so many devices to repair, really all they look at is for water damage and things of that nature.
It would take too long to go through every device they get returned for whatever reason to see if it has been rooted at on point.
I also am yet to know of anyone to get caught and having to pay for the device due to rooting.

I've destroyed one phone (older Samsung 4G) by accidentally installing inappropriate software. It was about 3 days old, bricked it completely. Even the service guys couldn't reflash it. The folks at the store really didn't check anything or ask any questions, They just threw it in the return barrel and gave me a new one. Wouldn't worry too much, unless you return frequently, they shouldn't give you a hard time. After all, what do they care?

This made me think of a question. With this phone being an all-in-one construction, how would they tell if it has water damage?

sitlet said:
This made me think of a question. With this phone being an all-in-one construction, how would they tell if it has water damage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing they're not too worried about water damage with these phones...

They do pay attention in the retail stores though. My account was once flagged for having a rooted phone, galaxy nexus, when I took it in for some issue, I don't remember why. Yes, first mistake was allowing them to have my phone, lesson learned. Luckily I know people who work for Verizon and they had to go in and remove the note which stated my phone was rooted and warrantee was voided.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using xda app-developers app

I went in to return my M8 due to battery issues and the Verizon guy who had to call tech support stated that when they send the phones in if they've been rooted in the past that even if you unroot it and turn S-On they can tell that it's been rooted and that S was indeed On and turned Off. He stated they can tell how many times you do it and boom you get a $400 charge on your account for the price of the phone they gave you and you had a voided warranty.
As hard as that is to believe, I feel like there may be such a thing where they Devs can tell if the phone was rooted, when, and how many times... But i'm no Dev. Someone working for Verizon care to chime in?

kj13569 said:
I went in to return my M8 due to battery issues and the Verizon guy who had to call tech support stated that when they send the phones in if they've been rooted in the past that even if you unroot it and turn S-On they can tell that it's been rooted and that S was indeed On and turned Off. He stated they can tell how many times you do it and boom you get a $400 charge on your account for the price of the phone they gave you and you had a voided warranty.
As hard as that is to believe, I feel like there may be such a thing where they Devs can tell if the phone was rooted, when, and how many times... But i'm no Dev. Someone working for Verizon care to chime in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe they can tell but do they even look or care? My experience is that they don't care. In my case, three times, I have returned a s-off and rooted phone (not to the store, via mail). I didn't bother to try to go back to s-on or un-root. They wouldn't need black magic to tell my phones were tampered with - just turn it on. My point is they don't care and they don't look (at least when you deal with Verizon via phone).
I stand by my claim that it is a scare tactic and they don't even look.

dneiding said:
Maybe they can tell but do they even look or care? My experience is that they don't care. In my case, three times, I have returned a s-off and rooted phone (not to the store, via mail). I didn't bother to try to go back to s-on or un-root. They wouldn't need black magic to tell my phones were tampered with - just turn it on. My point is they don't care and they don't look (at least when you deal with Verizon via phone).
I stand by my claim that it is a scare tactic and they don't even look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried to take a phone in recently for a warranty return. the sales guy at the corporate store takes my phone to the back to test it and comes back a few minutes later to tell me my phone was rooted and the warranty was void. he was nice enough to tell me his manager told him to flag my account, but he didn't. he just said to undo the process and bring it back in.

Abe21599 said:
i tried to take a phone in recently for a warranty return. the sales guy at the corporate store takes my phone to the back to test it and comes back a few minutes later to tell me my phone was rooted and the warranty was void. he was nice enough to tell me his manager told him to flag my account, but he didn't. he just said to undo the process and bring it back in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I say deal with 1-800 Verizon not a store. You get a replacement the next day so long as you can be without the replacement for a day that is the way to go.

Edited.

dneiding said:
That's why I say deal with 1-800 Verizon not a store. You get a replacement the next day so long as you can be without the replacement for a day that is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i wish i would have known that before bothering going into the store. would have saved me an hour. good to know.

Yeah I never go to a store. Complain on the phone then have them ship me a new one. Swap and done.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

blestsol said:
Yeah I never go to a store. Complain on the phone then have them ship me a new one. Swap and done.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you guys all have insurance then right? Otherwise why are your carriers to easily swapping you new phones?

rudyolph said:
I'm assuming you guys all have insurance then right? Otherwise why are your carriers to easily swapping you new phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Warranty claims they will easily swap. I called about a Rezound that would get incredibly hot while charging. They sent me a new phone that arrived the next day. I sent back the old phone with S-Off, rooted, and a custom rom installed. From what I've read all they check is that the phone will power on.

I'll find out soon. Enough just sent an M8 back to BIG RED Monday. I'll update when it shows received and there are no extra charges added to my account.

I have a replacement on the way myself. Hopefully we have no issues. The phone aesthetically is in perfect condition.

I claimed my warranty the other week from a cracked screen and I just flashed a modified hboot before sending it off so that it said locked and s-on

Upgrading my phone at Verizon took me hours to do. While the time passed I talked to the Verizon associate about how I've rooted every smart phone I've ever owned and he didn't seem to mind a bit that those were all their phones, and actually seemed quite intrigued about doing so himself. Anyway my microphone piece won't work during calls, so I'm going to replace mine through Verizon's warrantee claims phone number. I'll post with results.
Unlocked, s-off, rooted with modified hboot that shows status locked and s-on.

Just an update. All seems good no extra charges or calls asking WTF?? Just a message saying thanks for returning the phone and my next bill came. Which is normal.