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[Q] AT&T Detecting rooted phones?

I have no reason to believe this as I haven't been able to find any proof of it but...
I read on the Android and Droid forums that Carriers keep a database of users that root their phones and will block your warranty if you try to return it for anything. I've never heard of this happening to, well...anyone. But the point was also brought up that Google is able to tell if the device is rooted due to the fact that they can block the movies tab from showing up in Market on rooted phones, so carriers can do the same. So, my question is... has anyone heard of this happening or had it happen to them?

I'm pretty sure that is all bull****. I work at best buy mobile and barely anyone knows what rooting is. I'm the only one in my department that messes with that kind of stuff and knows which phones are rooted. We also get crazy carrier support and they just tell us to not mention anything about rooting/jail breaking. Same with my friend who is a manager at verizon. He doesn't know how to detect a rooted phone.
So when you bring in a messed up phone for warranty, everyone is trained to just make sure imei numbers match with original receipt and to check the water mark stickers.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App

D-REW said:
I'm pretty sure that is all bull****. I work at best buy mobile and barely anyone knows what rooting is. I'm the only one in my department that messes with that kind of stuff and knows which phones are rooted. We also get crazy carrier support and they just tell us to not mention anything about rooting/jail breaking. Same with my friend who is a manager at verizon. He doesn't know how to detect a rooted phone.
So when you bring in a messed up phone for warranty, everyone is trained to just make sure imei numbers match with original receipt and to check the water mark stickers.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App
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+1, I've returned a stock, rooted phone and even forgot to put the modded battery icon back to stock. No issues.

Go back to stock before you ship back your warranty device and they can't tell. I've done several
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997R using XDA App

Yeah, I didn't believe there was any actual truth behind it. It just wouldn't surprise me if AT&T would start trying doing something like that though. I mean they couldn't even tell I was using my HD2 on a non-smartphone data plan, much less that it was a rooted phone.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App

U escape hd2 cuz its t mobile and its imei is not in thier system
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

Actually, I read that Verizon and Sprint have the ability to verify if the device is rooted, and they keep track of them along with ESNs. From what I have read, it would be impossible to implement this on GSM devices...

good thing I wear my tin foil hat

Pirateghost said:
Actually, I read that Verizon and Sprint have the ability to verify if the device is rooted, and they keep track of them along with ESNs. From what I have read, it would be impossible to implement this on GSM devices...
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Yep, that's what they were saying on the Droid forums. It didn't click that its cdma devices they were talking about, and not GSM. Hopefully they don't find a way to do it. I read that over 60% of all android phones are rooted...that's alot of voided warranties.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App

Sully6789 said:
Yep, that's what they were saying on the Droid forums. It didn't click that its cdma devices they were talking about, and not GSM. Hopefully they don't find a way to do it. I read that over 60% of all android phones are rooted...that's alot of voided warranties.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App
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I believe that the number of rooted android phones would be closer to 10%, rather than 60%. The average person is just not geared into fiddling with their phones the way we in the modding community are. Most of my friends, I'm sad to say, are running around with 4 or 5 year old feature phones, and will happily keep on using those things until they finally give up the ghost.
Another deterrent to rooting is that many people are paranoid about voiding their warranty. If you're into modding, losing your warranty is something that you had to come to terms with long ago. You just accept the fact that whatever happens to the phone is now YOUR problem and move on - but a lot of people can't, so they refuse to make any changes to their phones. In the end, we are a minority of cell phone users, albeit an *enlightened* minority.
-Mike

I agree with most of the guys here. Its impossible for AT&T to detect if your phone is rooted or not. Mostly because there is no function on your phone created to send that kind of info to your carrier. Plus if you are on another carrier like T-Mobile they cant tell your IMEI which means they wont know what phone are you using in first place.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

As a matter of fact, I just did a warranty exchange on my inspire just the other day. I flashed back to stock and s-on before the exchange. But before doing so, I've been on the phone to the warranty department multiple times to troubleshoot the issues I've been having and not once did they mention or even ask if my phone was rooted. If they could detect that my phone was rooted, they would have denied my request for a warranty exchange. And if that were the case, i would think they would explain the denial due to it being rooted.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

I don't believe AT&T can tell if you are rooted unless you are using a custom apn for data. The stock apns are locked down and I have found trying to have three apns will cause issues. When AT&T sees data registering thru "wap.cingular", instead of "phone", they will know a user more than likely rooted their phone. When they see really heavy data usage on "wap.cingular" they will suspect tethering, but can't tell unless they go analyze it. With the stock apns, one can look at usage on their bill and see usage for both apns. Usage for "wap.cingular" will be very small, as it is used only for location services and the occasional mms. The bulk of data will show on the "phone" apn.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

the only thing AT&T cares about is you paying your bill lol

SuicideMyk said:
the only thing AT&T cares about is you paying your bill lol
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Yes, but you are not going to get me to believe AT&T is not thinking, the bigger the bill the better.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

Ultra Droid said:
I believe that the number of rooted android phones would be closer to 10%, rather than 60%. The average person is just not geared into fiddling with their phones the way we in the modding community are. Most of my friends, I'm sad to say, are running around with 4 or 5 year old feature phones, and will happily keep on using those things until they finally give up the ghost.
Another deterrent to rooting is that many people are paranoid about voiding their warranty. If you're into modding, losing your warranty is something that you had to come to terms with long ago. You just accept the fact that whatever happens to the phone is now YOUR problem and move on - but a lot of people can't, so they refuse to make any changes to their phones. In the end, we are a minority of cell phone users, albeit an *enlightened* minority.
-Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish more if the "enlightened " group were female though.. it gets kinda lonely sometimes lol.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

ashies7 said:
Wish more if the "enlightened " group were female though.. it gets kinda lonely sometimes lol.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk
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Lol
Sent from the most interesting device in the world.

They didnt block the Warranty of my phone.
I took my ATT inspire into the AT&Ts repair shop 3 months after i got it because the bottom of the glass on my phone wasn't glued down (or it felt like it wasn't) so i took it in the girl looked it, I was running Inspire Ace (So she might have thought it was a HTC OS) but she took it anyway and gave me a new phone.

SBasham said:
They didnt block the Warranty of my phone.
I took my ATT inspire into the AT&Ts repair shop 3 months after i got it because the bottom of the glass on my phone wasn't glued down (or it felt like it wasn't) so i took it in the girl looked it, I was running Inspire Ace (So she might have thought it was a HTC OS) but she took it anyway and gave me a new phone.
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Well I have this same problem and I'm sure ATT gets a lot of these requests so another person stated it "the money spent investigating these claims would far outweigh the cost of the phone" as this is true as the phone is made literally cents if not less a cent on the dollar in sweat shops around the world. Im going to the ATT tech/warranty shop tomorrow and i would imagine that the legal cost of them trying to prove that the phone had been rooted vs them just replacing the parts or simply doing clean wipe with the technical tools they have at hand far outweigh the legal costs of litigation that they would have to pursue in the US at literally at an exponential cost just for the parts and labor/tech support of the phone. Plus from a business perspective they would lose millions in customers if they gave existing/long-term customers any flack about an expensive phone they paid for along with a long-term plan.

[Q] Sent T-Mobile a Rooted Phone

Since I was having problems with my phone, and it was still under their warranty, I requested a replacement, and when it was sent to me I was careful (or so I thought) to restore the stock recovery as well as the stock rom. After some time I realized that the "stock" ROM to which I had restore the phone I sent to T-Mobile was a modified Froyo build, rooted, with ROM Manager installed. So now I am worried that they may charge me some ridiculous fee because I sent back a device that was not fully stock. From logic or past experience, is TMO going to take any action?

I've sent in a g2x with cm7, didn't get billed or I don't even know if they found out. Could be different for you but that's my experience
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

honestly, most of the time the phone is never powered on again before its disassembled and refurbished.
and even if it is, nobody working on the floor is going to care either way.
most of the time, as long as the phone gets past the rep in the store, your fine.

I think the worst they could do if they found out, was just return it to you and say they're sorry. I don't think they'll just charge you without your approval. When I brought in my phone to check a problem with my data, the first thing the guy there did was check my phone's info like software and stuff to see if it's stock, otherwise they can't help you if it's a rooted phone.

Let us know what happens.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

When I first got my g2x I returned it rooted and running a custom rom. They didn't even power it on they just checked it for water damage. You should be cool. No worries.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA Premium App

My phone short circuited while rooted and wouldn't turn on so I sent it in and am crossing my fingers lol

Success.
I got an email a couple of days ago saying T-Mobile had received my return. I called customer support under the pretense that my phone was acting weird and got her to check my warranty and it was fine. So as per what most people were saying, sending tmo a rooted phone will not root any warranties or incur any action from their part. Can't say much about phones sent directly to the manufacturer or the "premium handset insurance" people, which apparently managed through a third party company that states "any false information given will be processed accordingly."
On a side note, if you check tmo's support website, for most of their recent phones they attached a note explicitly stating an update to 4.0 in the future. For our beloved g2x, however, they wrote a long note stating how the recently leaked 21y update will be available starting may 14th, without any allusion to ICS. To me that just reinforces the notion that the only company that's more pathetic than a LG and nvidia combo is T-mobile and their haphazard and lethargic approach and contributions to today's smartphone community.
Not to say the update is completely useless, however; from my own experience it makes a tremendous improvement in battery life and wifi calling. Not to mention the fact that my phone does not shut down randomly in the middle of the night like it used to at times.
Here's the link to Tmo's announcement
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2362
and the HTC sensation's (for cross reference)
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2392

I bought my G2X on craigslist. It was already rooted and running CM7. I was getting a SIM error (later to be learned it was caused by ICS) I told TMo I bought it on craigslist already rooted. They still sent me a replacement at no cost.

I was charged a $20 warranty replacement fee, wtf! Anyone else? Are they pulling my leg here?

samsizzle said:
I was charged a $20 warranty replacement fee, wtf! Anyone else? Are they pulling my leg here?
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Do you have Premium Handset Protection on your plan?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

luperez said:
I got an email a couple of days ago saying T-Mobile had received my return. I called customer support under the pretense that my phone was acting weird and got her to check my warranty and it was fine. So as per what most people were saying, sending tmo a rooted phone will not root any warranties or incur any action from their part. Can't say much about phones sent directly to the manufacturer or the "premium handset insurance" people, which apparently managed through a third party company that states "any false information given will be processed accordingly."
On a side note, if you check tmo's support website, for most of their recent phones they attached a note explicitly stating an update to 4.0 in the future. For our beloved g2x, however, they wrote a long note stating how the recently leaked 21y update will be available starting may 14th, without any allusion to ICS. To me that just reinforces the notion that the only company that's more pathetic than a LG and nvidia combo is T-mobile and their haphazard and lethargic approach and contributions to today's smartphone community.
Not to say the update is completely useless, however; from my own experience it makes a tremendous improvement in battery life and wifi calling. Not to mention the fact that my phone does not shut down randomly in the middle of the night like it used to at times.
Here's the link to Tmo's announcement
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2362
and the HTC sensation's (for cross reference)
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2392
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you see the G2X ICS notes? o-o

samsizzle said:
I was charged a $20 warranty replacement fee, wtf! Anyone else? Are they pulling my leg here?
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Click to collapse
I was going through warranty replacement proceedings (cuz of screen bleeding, 3rd time) over the phone with a tmo rep and when he said there would be a $5 charge i flipped out (it's the principal, if they would send me a properly manufactured device i wouldn't need to keep returning their ****) he instantly volunteered to waive the fee. I'm about to call and get ANOTHER replacement. Eventually i will get them to replace it with a sensation.

vishousv said:
I bought my G2X on craigslist. It was already rooted and running CM7. I was getting a SIM error (later to be learned it was caused by ICS) I told TMo I bought it on craigslist already rooted. They still sent me a replacement at no cost.
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Wtf?! Really?! But you didnt even buy it feom them... why theyhelp you out like that???

My friend told me whatever phone the SIM card is in is covered by the insurance. That's the only thing I've heard. I didn't ask them (T-Mobile) any more questions.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

vishousv said:
My friend told me whatever phone the SIM card is in is covered by the insurance. That's the only thing I've heard. I didn't ask them (T-Mobile) any more questions.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
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Sweeet! Kudos for playing that one smart. I have sent back a few phones for warranty replacement to T-mo. My 1st was a modded HD2 that registered on their system (so they said) as running android. (it was running android, lol). 2nd was a G2x which was rooted and had a custom ROM. I know for sure they have no way of knowing without you volunteering the information yourself because they ask you have you modded the phone. If you say yes they may use that to deny you flat out but if not they probably will never be notified of such. Devices typically are wiped clean before ever being powered on.

*bump* yea I'm looking to send in my HTC one s for battery life issues and Im wondering fogs sane thing seeibg that I'm rooted and custom viper Rom installed.
had my phone off th3 charger for 50mins now and I'm at 82% Battery wtff

Rooting in EU is allowed...

Hi, I just found quite an interesting directive (31999L0044) of the EU parliament that says that we can Root our phones and will NOT loose the guaranty.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0044:en:NOT
Here you can read it in all languages if you like to...
What it says is basically this:
You won´t loose your guaranty upon rooting our phone... Unless you manage to damage your phone hardware due to overclocking or any other similar improper use (hardware damage based on .apk / ROM you installed etc., which almost never happens). In case there is a hardware problem with the phone which was not caused due to improper use of the phone (like using it in the shower / soldering parts to it / OC / you throw the phone on your girlfriend, she caches it and throws it back, hitting you in the head and it gets broken... and similar) you will get your guaranty, in case you are still in the guaranty window (mostly 1-2 years after you bought the phone).
There is still a risk included in rooting so take care in what you do and do only what you thing you´ll manage to do and the phone manages to survive. Lets hope the companies see it this way also, and if not it´s good to know we have law on our side (at least in this issue).
You might also check this out: Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE): http://fsfe.org/de/de.en.html

The UK's laws go further.
The retailer not the manufacturer is responsible for any repair, replacement or refund on faulty goods.
Goods sold must be fit for purpose and accurately described.
You should get a reasonable amount of use out of products, so a £1000 TV should last at least 5 years, while a £1 water pistol lasting no more than a week of heavy use could be considered reasonable.
If a fault occurs in the first 6 months it is up to the retailer to prove they were not responsible, ie user error caused the issue. After 6 months it is up to the purchaser to show the issue wasn't present at the time of purchase and it occurred through normal use.
Warranties would be banned in the UK if I had my way as they are abused by retailers to shirk their legal responsibilities.
People report a fault a day after the warranty runs out and are misinformed there is nothing that can be done.

And also many many mobile phone shops give out contract phones that previously been sent back to them from others who have not wanted them and I'm not talking a few I'm talking lots. It happened to me!!!. So we not only get ripped off in the UK compared to the guys in other parts of the world we get the left overs as well!!! It is disgraceful how in the UK we get ripped of by these greedy "something or others" and then hear people standing up for them, obviously the people who work in the business!!!!!!"
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Thats pretty cool
Sent from my Wildfire using xda app-developers app

tornado92 said:
Thats pretty cool
Sent from my Wildfire using xda app-developers app
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Sent from my Wildfire using xda app-developers app :good:

That's pretty cool. Though no warranty service has ever been denied for me because I had tinkered with the device.

Narhim said:
Hi, I just found quite an interesting directive (31999L0044) of the EU parliament that says that we can Root our phones and will NOT loose the guaranty.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0044:en:NOT
Here you can read it in all languages if you like to...
What it says is basically this:
You won´t loose your guaranty upon rooting our phone... Unless you manage to damage your phone hardware due to overclocking or any other similar improper use (hardware damage based on .apk / ROM you installed etc., which almost never happens). In case there is a hardware problem with the phone which was not caused due to improper use of the phone (like using it in the shower / soldering parts to it / OC / you throw the phone on your girlfriend, she caches it and throws it back, hitting you in the head and it gets broken... and similar) you will get your guaranty, in case you are still in the guaranty window (mostly 1-2 years after you bought the phone).
There is still a risk included in rooting so take care in what you do and do only what you thing you´ll manage to do and the phone manages to survive. Lets hope the companies see it this way also, and if not it´s good to know we have law on our side (at least in this issue).
You might also check this out: Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE): http://fsfe.org/de/de.en.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey
I read the danish Directive 1999/44/EC i can't find anything, that says that root does not void guaranty.
Can you direct me to where you read that.?
/Keld

I like

From what I read in french, that's not really explained.
It just say that anything done by user can be repaired by the seller, if the cost isn't too high (cost isn't really definite)
Especially if the warranty/user guide doesn't give enough information about the way to use the good bought (this point is good for rooters/custom rom, because manual doesn't explain how to flash an other rom)
After...... It doesn't definite the amount of time to have it repaired..

Also you have to show that you didn't break your phone BECAUS/WHILE you rooted it
I mean, if screen is broken no one will say you broke it during rooting
But if sth isn't solderd right the company will probably say: yeah it broke cus of overheating or sth induced by software (you'll never see the real mistake, cus if you open a phone yourselve your waranty is in the bin xD)
So far
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my MyTouch 4G Slide

Good to know. What about bootloader unlock?

What are the chances :D

So. I bricked my phone when I ruu'd back to the 2.20 update and took the 3.18 OTA update. It bricked my phone because I was rooted with s-on. I called AT&T's warranty center and told my phone stopped working after I performed an update and they sent me a new one. What are the chances that they'll actually know that my phone was rooted? Has anyone else gone through this?

marcur12 said:
So. I bricked my phone when I ruu'd back to the 2.20 update and took the 3.18 OTA update. It bricked my phone because I was rooted with s-on. I called AT&T's warranty center and told my phone stopped working after I performed an update and they sent me a new one. What are the chances that they'll actually know that my phone was rooted? Has anyone else gone through this?
Click to expand...
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If it doesn't turn on at all they won't be able to tell because, well, they can't turn it on.

I'm just guessing but you might be committing some kind of fraud in doing that?
Sent from my One XL using XDA Premium

I bricked my old one x by flashing ice cold jelly RIM meant for the international one x. And I called Rogers and they sent me a new one as my old one x won't turn on. Its been a year now and no calls, no fees, nothing.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app

While AT&T technically reserves the right to refuse warranty service due to modification of the phone; in actual practice I have yet to see a report of them actually doing that. Many folks here have returned rooted and bootloader unlocked phones (even running custom ROMs) for various hardware defects (with the screen still able to turn on, and therefore not difficult to tell it was rooted), with no issue.
That said, I'm usually not a fan of making a warranty claim for a brick resulting from your own lack of research. But the case of SuperCID and OTA/RUU shouldn't be bricking people's phones (its not clear why it does), so its a bit of a gray area, and I'd personally on the fence about calling it fraud (leaning to the side of "not fraud").

I will say this about AT&T warranty. They really don't deal with software. In fact they recieve 5,000 phones that are not really broken. They have a simple check system and if everything passes, then they give you a new phone. Even though I was not in the warranty department, I transferred a lot people there.
Back to the subject, if you tell them you tried to update it and it did not work, most likely they will replace it. As long as it is not water damaged and was not physically tampered with.
Sent from my Carbon-ize Evita using xda-developers app

Herc08 said:
I will say this about AT&T warranty. They really don't deal with software. In fact they recieve 5,000 phones that are not really broken. They have a simple check system and if everything passes, then they give you a new phone. Even though I was not in the warranty department, I transferred a lot people there.
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Click to collapse
5000 phones in a month? In a week?
Very informative, nonetheless. Thanks for the post.

No worries. Since I didn't sign a contract I can talk about it as much as I want . The reason for this is because reps do not fully troubleshoot. As a tech support rep, I made sure to rarely transfer, because it coudld be something as small as a setting
Sent from my Carbon-ize Evita using xda-developers app

I wouldn't say this is fraud at all. The rep on the phone asked me if the phone had any physical or water damage. He said nothing about software modification and if he did, I would have been honest with him. The bricked phone itself was in excellent condition even after 8 months of use. I've always been good at maintaining my phones in the past. If anything, they could use the phone for parts or something.
I did receive my replacement phone yesterday in the mail. I sent out my bricked phone today.

Technically with Google and HTC both having tracking software buried in stock os a real phone software egineer can prolly tell just by punching up your imei what's going on. I did tech support for blackberry business (worst phn in my opinion) and it was possible to pull up there home screen and guide them through setting up stuff. I know some people that do att warranty and they tell me they have never in there location made phone out of warranty from software only physical damage and water strip detector.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

[Q] Question about returns of damaged devices

Hi, and if I'm breaking any etiquette or there's a post someone can point me to, feel free to give me a smack upside the head!
Here's my issue. I've had the S3 since release, and it's been a great phone to me. On my birthday this past weekend, a friend decided to play a prank and was going to do something to my phone (probably change my background to something stupid, who knows.) I noticed my phone missing very quickly, called it using another phone, and in his drunken stupor he tried to "cutely" hide it in his jacket and completely missed the pocket and threw the phone, quite hard, onto the floor. This resulted in a crack screen, but the phone does turn on yet.
Now here's my issue. This phone has been rooted since the instant I was able to, and was running a KitKat ROM at the time of the accident. I did have the extra insurance, which I utilized and filled out honestly without thinking about the fact the phone isn't stock (next day I was still a tad drunk. Mid 30's crisis and all that.)
So now I have to return the phone. What is my best bet? Should I attempt to get it back to 4.3 using these instructions (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2586319) if I can even get into the recovery blindly? Should I damage it more? Am I worrying for no real reason at all? I'm at a bit of a loss here. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks all.

Cowmunist said:
So now I have to return the phone. What is my best bet? Should I attempt to get it back to 4.3 using these instructions (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2586319) if I can even get into the recovery blindly? Should I damage it more? Am I worrying for no real reason at all? I'm at a bit of a loss here. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks all.
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If you filed an insurance claim, don't worry about it. Asurion doesn't check to see the OS, like Verizon does when you try to 'warranty' the device. If it's broken, they sell it for parts or they refurbish it, flash it stock and Verizon is never the wiser to what they had to do to your device.
I speak from personal experience.

beepea206 said:
If you filed an insurance claim, don't worry about it. Asurion doesn't check to see the OS, like Verizon does when you try to 'warranty' the device. If it's broken, they sell it for parts or they refurbish it, flash it stock and Verizon is never the wiser to what they had to do to your device.
I speak from personal experience.
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Great, that's excellent to hear. It's in pretty bad shape, honestly. I generally take good care of my devices, but it's been around the block a few times now. This is the first time I've actually ever had to use my insurance, so I wasn't sure about how they handle it.
I had heard some bad things about the replacement devices they send out due to being refurbishes, but so far the replacement device I've gotten works well. It's battery lasts for quite a bit more than the two I switched between before, too, which is nice.

Cowmunist said:
Great, that's excellent to hear. It's in pretty bad shape, honestly. I generally take good care of my devices, but it's been around the block a few times now. This is the first time I've actually ever had to use my insurance, so I wasn't sure about how they handle it.
I had heard some bad things about the replacement devices they send out due to being refurbishes, but so far the replacement device I've gotten works well. It's battery lasts for quite a bit more than the two I switched between before, too, which is nice.
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Don't worry about the refurbishes... I've had 5 total in my years with Verizon and have never had serious issues. AND if you have the 'extended warranty' coverage with them, like I do, if the phone wonks out, take it to verizon as a warranty replacement. The only problem I ever had was a wonked modem (hardware) on an old Droid RAZR; I took it to VZ and they warrantied it it, giving me a brand new one. Note, you might get a refurb through the warranty process, but VZ has a lemon rule, so if you have to return 3 of the same device, you can get a different model, brand new.

beepea206 said:
Don't worry about the refurbishes... I've had 5 total in my years with Verizon and have never had serious issues. AND if you have the 'extended warranty' coverage with them, like I do, if the phone wonks out, take it to verizon as a warranty replacement. The only problem I ever had was a wonked modem (hardware) on an old Droid RAZR; I took it to VZ and they warrantied it it, giving me a brand new one. Note, you might get a refurb through the warranty process, but VZ has a lemon rule, so if you have to return 3 of the same device, you can get a different model, brand new.
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Lemon rule is not true. You MIGHT get an employee who is soft and doesn't want to hear you complain about your phone anymore and make you an offer they're not supposed to. If you do, good for you I guess. But there is no lemon rule. Your warranty covers the phone you purchased, not a different model.
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My wife worked as a tech in a store for 3 years and I've personally had a manager tell me that's their policy when I had 3 Droid 2 phones go to crap on me. Maybe it's changed, but vz had a lemon policy that my wife used to have to abide by.

beepea206 said:
My ex wife worked as a tech in a store for 3 years and I've personally had a manager tell me that's their policy when I had 3 Droid 2 phones go to crap on me. Maybe it's changed, but vz had a lemon policy that my ex used to have to abide by.
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I'm a tech in a corporate call center. They don't have techs in corporate stores anymore. I don't know about vendors, but all replacements go through either tech support or customer service. Like I said, you might get someone who just wanted you to go away and offer you something you are not entitled to, and of course there are instances when exceptions are made, but as a policy, warranty covers purchased device.
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flyestAC said:
I'm a tech in a corporate call center. They don't have techs in corporate stores anymore. I don't know about vendors, but all replacements go through either tech support or customer service. Like I said, you might get someone who just wanted you to go away and offer you something you are not entitled to, and of course there are instances when exceptions are made, but as a policy, warranty covers purchased device.
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Must have been something her regional manager had as a customer service policy in those specific stores; she was told it was a company policy, but that could have been a misstatement.
Anyway, to the OP, don't worry about refurbishes.

beepea206 said:
Must have been something her regional manager had as a customer service policy in those specific stores; she was told it was a company policy, but that could have been a misstatement.
Anyway, to the OP, don't worry about refurbishes.
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Yeah definitely don't worry about "refurbs". Most refurbs are phones that have nothing wrong with them and were sent back because of user error or they wanted a different phone and thought if they said there was something wrong with it they'd get a new one. Refurb really only means it can't be sold as new.
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flyestAC said:
Yeah definitely don't worry about "refurbs". Most refurbs are phones that have nothing wrong with them and were sent back because of user error or they wanted a different phone and thought if they said there was something wrong with it they'd get a new one. Refurb really only means it can't be sold as new.
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I dealt with a similar situation in my old compy shop 10 something years ago. We were resellers for a few brands (Acer, Lenova, some others) and the Acer "refurb" units were pretty much all returns to big box stores from people that decided that the laptop didn't fit their needs. Lenova refurbs, on the other hand, were just that. They were still very reliable, though.

Ive heard of the "lemon rule" but never had the option. Wat ive heard from am employees its not a policy but they make exception like that to keep customers happy and coming back. Its more of a YMMV type of thing. Honestly i wanna work at a vzw store ill put xda as my reference . Once i was opening up an insurance claim over the fone the lady was nice look up my info amd told me of i had extended warranty wich i did to go tp vzw and ask for a new fone. The lady was nice most reps would of jst taken my money. Is the deductible still $100 for thr S3