I'll get this off my chest straight away...HTC Customer Service is THE WORST I've ever received....EVER!
I'm in the UK and sent my phone, which is less than 4 months old) to HTC in the retail box with the battery and proof of purchase (as specified in their instructions) to have the external speaker repaired. They arranged pick up via UPS.
6 weeks and literally 2 or 3 calls to HTC Customer Service a day for the last 2 weeks (and numerous false promises from HTC themselves), I finally get a replacement (not new but refurbished) phone....wrapped in bubble wrap, in a plastic envelope without the retail box and NO BATTERY!!
After yet another shouting match with C.S. they agree to send a battery, but not retail box and no further offer of warranty on the refurb phone.
I am taking the matter to trading standards, have written an official letter of complaint to HTC and have also emailed BBC's Watchdog.
My question is, if has anyone else received a similar level of abysmal customer service from HTC in the UK, can you please contact me? The more complaints we can muster the better.
I'll let you know what response I get from HTC (though don't hold your breath).
Cheers,
Rich
I don't know whether its my bad luck or whether this is the typical level of customer service people can expect from HTC but I wanted to share my experience so that people might be more careful when purchasing a device in the future.
On June 28th I purchased a sensation from Expansys. Within one week of purchase I realized that there was a problem with the speaker. I returned the unit to them and requested an exchange with a new device, as the unit was a few days old. In order to receive a replacement I needed to wait until the HTC service center examined the device. What I didn't know was that it would take about three weeks for this to happen. So on August 4 I got a replacement.
The second unit run well until the end of October, where a dead pixel appeared. I contacted HTC Cyprus, fearing that the problem might increase over time. They confirmed that it was indeed a problem covered by warranty, but they would need to ship my device to Greece and that it would take approximately 7 - 10 days to have it fixed. After almost a month of waiting and several calls/complains to HTC Cyprus I got my unit back on Friday 2nd December in the afternoon. What appeared strange was that not only did they change the LCD but also a large number of other components which also changed the units IMEI. When I went back home I fully charged the unit and attempted the OTA update. During the update the phone turned off and could not be turned on again! Total brick.
Early the next morning I took the unit back to HTC Cyprus and was told that they would get it sorted by Monday afternoon as it was merely a software issue. On Monday, their technician advised me that the motherboard needed to be replace and hence, the unit would need to be shipped back to Greece. I complained and asked for a replacement and even offered to pay a small amount to have it replaced but I was told that this was not possible and that the only solution was to ship it back to Greece for fixing.
Today, I tried contacting HTC Europe in a desperate attempt to get a replacement. After an hour over internet chat, the best response I got was:
"Jon: We are HTC UK, but do deal with other European countries. Currently it is not possible to replace the handset. If the device is still faulty when returned from repair, then we may be able to replace the device."
Apparently the fact that over a five month period the phone was in service centers for over 2 months was completely irrelevant!
I don't know whether this is the typical customer experience customer should expect when purchasing an HTC unit, but be warned. It can happen to you too, and apart from complaining on forums there is not much you can do!
Yea HTC is nothing like APPLE who in my opinion has the best customer service ever. My sensation had touch screen issues so instead of getting a replacement they fixed it at their repair center took 4 weeks, but I had to pay for it too cause somehow the void seal was broken!!!!! rage!!! If you took a broken iphone to apple store, they would be like :
apple technician: Yeah this phone is like i donno, I dont really know whats going on. Just have a NEW ONE!!!
this is extremely poor service imo. serious complaining required I feel
good luck OP
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I had a great experience when my 2 month old g2 broke. I called they gave me an RMA number. I sent it out on a Monday got it back the next Monday.
timothy918 said:
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I had a great experience when my 2 month old g2 broke. I called they gave me an RMA number. I sent it out on a Monday got it back the next Monday.
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Same experience I had with my G2.
Hey petros did u finaly end up with a working sensation? I wish i had read your post before bying my sensation xe. Do u or did u experience any problems with losing audio during calls?
I would like to explain my big inconvenience with Htc warranty service, that i have bought HTC Desire X Dual Sim (11395-00 rupees ) on 08-06-2014 at Girias Investment (P)Ltd.
When i bought it after four days it has got a slight crack in display after falls down. but performance is quietly brilliant until 17-12-2014 , by the day i have used last i just unplug while charging ,from then on my phone is completely shutting down & not displays anything. then i have given to HOSUR service center, after 7 days HTC service center executive called me and told the estimated cost of rupees 11600-00 to repair.
because i am sending this mail to you I am a warranty customer why should i have to pay for repair over than mobile's purchase cost & one more thing i need to share with you i was using same mobile before i bought it, unfortunately somewhere that mobile got misplaced. i had a great experience with HTC mobile but now iam completely got hurt ,i hope you get the proper response to this entire conversation.
Ramesh.Y
Sorry to hear of your news but this has nothing to do with XDA and this thread is rather pointless. I wish you luck dealing with your issue.
Thread closed
Has anyone ever sent in their HTC device (mores specifically a newly released flagship) directly to HTC for repair? If so, can you share you're experiences as far as cost and quality of repair? Decided to do a water test on my brand new U11 and yes you guessed it... WATER DAMAGE! and didn't help that I dropped it and the back cracked right after! Thanks in advanced
No idea. Mine just arrived in Texas awaiting a repair after being exposed to water for 5 seconds. Curious, what color is your U11? I have a feeling that they were rushing out the Solar Red's because there's no way mine should have failed so easily. It might as well have no water resistance rating.
Paging Dr B said:
No idea. Mine just arrived in Texas awaiting a repair after being exposed to water for 5 seconds. Curious, what color is your U11? I have a feeling that they were rushing out the Solar Red's because there's no way mine should have failed so easily. It might as well have no water resistance rating.
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I got the amazing silver. But yeah I agree! IP67 rated? Doesn't seem like it to me. Keep me updated when you get your repair quote please man. I want to get an idea whether it's worth sending mine in or just cut my losses and buy something else. I read review after review of how horrible HTC repair service is as far as turn around time and repair quality. Though many of those reviews seem to be from overseas I hope we have better service here.
Paging Dr B said:
No idea. Mine just arrived in Texas awaiting a repair after being exposed to water for 5 seconds. Curious, what color is your U11? I have a feeling that they were rushing out the Solar Red's because there's no way mine should have failed so easily. It might as well have no water resistance rating.
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Any updates on cost of repair? sorry to bug I'm trying to get an idea cuz I have someone ready to buy my device.
Where do you live?
I have experience with HTC EU and I know staffs from HTC Taiwan. But if outside these 2 areas, I can't help...
DroidManIc said:
Any updates on cost of repair? sorry to bug I'm trying to get an idea cuz I have someone ready to buy my device.
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They haven't got back to me yet. I'm also a little miffed that they announced the 6GB variant today. HTC really needs to redeem themselves, because i'm about to throw my hands up and just buy a OP5.
Paging Dr B said:
They haven't got back to me yet. I'm also a little miffed that they announced the 6GB variant today. HTC really needs to redeem themselves, because i'm about to throw my hands up and just buy a OP5.
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Yeah I'm on the same boat man. I'm just scared to get an OP5 with Jelly scrolling issue and tbh U11 failed to wow me that's the reason I'm debating so much on a repair or drop $800 the 6GB version. It's a solid device but I just wasn't super impressed.
So a little feedback from Germany maybe. My U11 has been send to repair 3.5 weeks ago. I first contacted HTC to tell them that my unit has a gap between frame and display along the top and that AI guess it wouldn't be water resistant that way. 30 minutes later I got a call back to confirm the issue and 5 mother minutes later an email with a free shipping translucent. They informed me that repairs in general could take up to 14 working day that would be Monday to Friday here in Germany. But they also told me that it might need longer regarding the new flagship, as spare parts haven't been distributed as of yet.
Spare parts finally arrived last Thursday - 14 days after the device arrived at the HTC repair service. It won't cost anything for me as it is a 'defective unit'due to the manufacturing process. Don't have it back as if yet. But the brilliant thing is: HTC is keeping me up with latest information every two or three days and in addition put my device onto the priority list of the workshop. So let's sesle. Meanwhile I'm using its predecessor the HTC 10
Sent from my htc_pmeuhl using XDA Labs
Alpert3 said:
Where do you live?
I have experience with HTC EU and I know staffs from HTC Taiwan. But if outside these 2 areas, I can't help...
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I live in the states so I know my devuce would also be going to Texas for repair. Just in general, good or bad feedback from what you know?
5m4r7ph0n36uru said:
So a little feedback from Germany maybe. My U11 has been send to repair 3.5 weeks ago. I first contacted HTC to tell them that my unit has a gap between frame and display along the top and that AI guess it wouldn't be water resistant that way. 30 minutes later I got a call back to confirm the issue and 5 mother minutes later an email with a free shipping translucent. They informed me that repairs in general could take up to 14 working day that would be Monday to Friday here in Germany. But they also told me that it might need longer regarding the new flagship, as spare parts haven't been distributed as of yet.
Spare parts finally arrived last Thursday - 14 days after the device arrived at the HTC repair service. It won't cost anything for me as it is a 'defective unit'due to the manufacturing process. Don't have it back as if yet. But the brilliant thing is: HTC is keeping me up with latest information every two or three days and in addition put my device onto the priority list of the workshop. So let's sesle. Meanwhile I'm using its predecessor the HTC 10
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Many of the bad reviews I found were from EU more specifically the UK. So maybe just really crappy service in the uk? Lets hope so! Either way keep us updated :good: and hopefully all goes smooth with your repair man. My potential buyer backed out so I have the phone for probably a few more days to decide on possible repair. For now I went out and got my self GS7 Edge, not a Samsung guy but its a solid device.
DroidManIc said:
I live in the states so I know my devuce would also be going to Texas for repair. Just in general, good or bad feedback from what you know?
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I don't know about the states, but in most regions, HTC let a 3rd party repair center to do the job for them. Unlike Apple, HTC as well other companies doesn't have the resources to build repair center in each country. That's why in EU and the UK the feedback of repair experience is pretty awful: you report problem to HTC, HTC report your case to 3rd party repair center, then come back to you and tell you to send the device, etc. The process is complicated and relatively long, that creates mistakes, misunderstandings, as well some other problems.
In EU I believe it's a company called Gordon Electronic who's in charge of the repair. Sony, Asus Acer as well as many companies trust it. But their reputation is not so good.
I sent my HTC 10 to repair the camera module, I sent it twice and at the second time I asked for an expert analysis, and after nearly 3 weeks from the initial report, my phone finally got repaired. It costed me 20€ of shipping fee, and that's it. The result is good, but the process is painful.
Not sure about repair, but I'm having a nightmare of a time with my return of the U11. 3+ weeks and counting on the refund that their website says 5-7 days...
53fireman said:
Not sure about repair, but I'm having a nightmare of a time with my return of the U11. 3+ weeks and counting on the refund that their website says 5-7 days...
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Give the tracking number to your credit card company and dispute the charge.
That's the next try. Thanks
The credit card avenue worked. Thanks. Unreal how HTC can make a decent phone, but have absolutely one of the worst customer service departments I've ever dealt with. Whether over the phone, email, or Facebook, every single person I talked to read from the same exact script about "escalations department" and I'd have the refund within 48 hours or the end of the week. Will never buy another HTC again as much as I loved the EVO, M7, M9.... the U11 was just too big for me and didn't have all the LTE bands, but it was a great phone. Thinking the Pixel 2 even though HTC is rumored to make it, hopefully customer service of Google isn't near as terrible.
53fireman said:
The credit card avenue worked. Thanks. Unreal how HTC can make a decent phone, but have absolutely one of the worst customer service departments I've ever dealt with. Whether over the phone, email, or Facebook, every single person I talked to read from the same exact script about "escalations department" and I'd have the refund within 48 hours or the end of the week. Will never buy another HTC again as much as I loved the EVO, M7, M9.... the U11 was just too big for me and didn't have all the LTE bands, but it was a great phone. Thinking the Pixel 2 even though HTC is rumored to make it, hopefully customer service of Google isn't near as terrible.
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Glad to hear you got your $ back finally. I too will be jumping ship. I was die-hard HTC from the G1 (dream) - M8 then eventually stpped buying HTC because they refused to make flagships w anything bigger than 5.2" screen. I was so excited for the u11 even though I was still skeptical .... Skip forward 1 month and here I am today w liquid damage from about 10s water exposure, a cracked back from one of the most gentle drops ever (because I actually broke the phone's fall w my foot and not only that. The impact w the ground was moke like it just slid from my foot, no hard landing at all) and finally a potential expensive nightmare if I opt to send it in for repair. No thank you. I will too be waiting for Pixel xl 2 or maybe a newer version of the OP5.
So a little feedback on my end regarding my defective device. I sent it in to the repair at 28th of June being about 7 weeks back. HTC support has been great in regard of information. As the U11 has just been released when I sent it in, the workshop received it at the 5th of July and HTC actively informed me that there was a problem regarding the spare parts. Those would be sent from Taiwan an need about two or three weeks to arrive at the workshop in Poland. Well not what I wished but can be accepted. The spare parts arrived at 18th of July with some delays due to TNT not delivering as planned. Well then, now the 10 - 14 day period mentioned for the actual repair after receiving the parts started and waiting did as well for me. I got a little bit impatient as I didn't here any news until the 3rd of August when 12 of the 14 days had already past. So I decided to contact HTC. Prior to this and for the last time on the 19th of July I've been contacted and informed of the current status by HTC nearly every two days, which is really really great. But let's go on: after contacting them they promised to check on the next day and answered my question on Friday the 4th of Augustthat my device is repaired and packed for dispatch at the same evening. The notification with a UPS tracking number came about an hour after that information. And now UPS was the one to fail. They really needed until Monday evening, 7th of Augustto pick it up and another day - yesterday - for the delivery. So finally I got my U11 back. Repairs look really well done and all is working fine and as wished for. No fees as all repairs were covered by the warranty.
Overall I'm very happy and pleased with the service. Only drawbacks are the long time of delivery of the spare parts and finally UPS causing another 1 maybe 2 day delay.
Sent from my HTC U11 using XDA Labs
Please allow me to share my story.
Bought/PreOrdered my HTC U11 from Sprint on 5/31/2017, received it on 6/7/2017. Used, enjoyed and loved the device for about a month when on July 3rd the device got a cracked screen. It was beside me in the couch while I played Fifa 17. Bad combination. My wedding ring did the damage.
I Contacted HTC Support the next day and was told that no parts were available to fix my device and that I should call back in 2 weeks. My phone was still usable and I did use it for 2 weeks.
On July 17 I contacted HTC Support Chat and was told that I could send in the device. I specifically asked about parts/screen availability and I was assured that I would be fixed in 5 - 8 days and "most of that time will be in shipping". A case was created and I was given a ticket which instructions on how and where to ship to.
I wrapped up my device and attached a letter appealing that they fixed it for free because this was my 4th HTC (EVO, M7, M9, U11) and I never used Uh Oh on my previous phones and hoped they could make a concession.... etc.
USPS confirmation shows the phone arrived at the repair facility on 7/20/2017. I did not receive and have not yet received any automated response from the repair facility informing me that the phone was received, being processed, no parts are available or anything. I have been calling HTC Support asking for updates using the Ticket # however that has been unfruitful.
HTC support has "escalated" my case but there is a huge disconnect between them and the repair center, they have no clue whats going on over there. Today is 8/17/2017 and I still have no phone, no ETA, no hope. I've been calling every Thursday and the response is always the same. "I have escalated your case and you will get a callback withing 24 - 48 hours". I received a callback once and it was to say "When I hear something, I'll let you know".
I am rambling because I don't have my phone and I have no clue as to when I am going to get it back. I am back to using the old M9 and I'm not happy, I haven't even reinstall all my applications because I thought the repair would have been relatively quick.
I don't know what else to do ...
Any suggestions?
I'm going to asking for a new replacement phone since mine light bleed issues out of the box. If that is not something they can do then they can have this phone back. With the V30 and Essential phone coming out soon the U11 looks like more and more of a disappointment in my eyes. I have had HTC phone since the Tilt with the exception of the V10 but I can see how as a brand they have gone downhill.
berto1025 said:
Please allow me to share my story.
Bought/PreOrdered my HTC U11 from Sprint on 5/31/2017, received it on 6/7/2017. Used, enjoyed and loved the device for about a month when on July 3rd the device got a cracked screen. It was beside me in the couch while I played Fifa 17. Bad combination. My wedding ring did the damage.
I Contacted HTC Support the next day and was told that no parts were available to fix my device and that I should call back in 2 weeks. My phone was still usable and I did use it for 2 weeks.
On July 17 I contacted HTC Support Chat and was told that I could send in the device. I specifically asked about parts/screen availability and I was assured that I would be fixed in 5 - 8 days and "most of that time will be in shipping". A case was created and I was given a ticket which instructions on how and where to ship to.
I wrapped up my device and attached a letter appealing that they fixed it for free because this was my 4th HTC (EVO, M7, M9, U11) and I never used Uh Oh on my previous phones and hoped they could make a concession.... etc.
USPS confirmation shows the phone arrived at the repair facility on 7/20/2017. I did not receive and have not yet received any automated response from the repair facility informing me that the phone was received, being processed, no parts are available or anything. I have been calling HTC Support asking for updates using the Ticket # however that has been unfruitful.
HTC support has "escalated" my case but there is a huge disconnect between them and the repair center, they have no clue whats going on over there. Today is 8/17/2017 and I still have no phone, no ETA, no hope. I've been calling every Thursday and the response is always the same. "I have escalated your case and you will get a callback withing 24 - 48 hours". I received a callback once and it was to say "When I hear something, I'll let you know".
I am rambling because I don't have my phone and I have no clue as to when I am going to get it back. I am back to using the old M9 and I'm not happy, I haven't even reinstall all my applications because I thought the repair would have been relatively quick.
I don't know what else to do ...
Any suggestions?
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**UPDATE**
8/18/2017 - Missed and returned a call from HTC Support. The Agent in-charge of my case (since it is escalated) advised me that there is an update and that I have a quotation for the repair. Looking back on the call i never got a solid figure but i was told for being so patient they have discounted the repair to circa $92.00 USD. I still have no emails stating this and the tracking website still shows the same status. I was told that I will be contacted either later today or early next week to make the payment over the phone once they apply the discount to my account. Apparently this has to happen first. So I wait.
So, on Fri 23 March I dropped my 6 day old S9+ and smashed the screen.
I immediately call Samsung customer care who say to go to my local Experience Store where they can repair my device on the same day.
I call my local (39 miles away) experience store who state that they can carry out the repair tomorrow morning if I get there first thing.
I then ring the store back to ask how much it would cost me and they state it will be £270.00 to completely repair my device and I also asked again if they are able to repair the following day to which they say that they can.
The following day I travelled to my "local" store and arrive before they open. When looking through the shutter, I see a member of staff, so I ask them if I am at the right place just in case there was another store I had to go to. The staff member asked what I was getting repaired as he might be able to book it in early and when I told him it was my S9+ screen to be replaced he quickly ran to the back to talk to the engineers and came back and apologised that I had been misinformed and that they are unable to do any S9/S9+ repairs at present and they are just swapping the devices over for a new single sim version which I did not want as mine was a Hybrid version. He then suggested I come back when the manager is in in about an hrs time.
I returned back to the store to be told by the same staff member that the current situation is that no stores are able to repair the S9/S9+ devices at present as no had been trained on the process, plus the machines they use to separate the devices have not been calibrated for the new S9/S9+ devices and it may be a month or so before they are ready to accept repairs.
I was then advised to contact customer care tech support who said I need to speak to online sales as my device was a hybrid version who then said they couldn't help and passed me back to tech support where I spoke with a decent agent who actually listened to the situation and immediately booked my device to be picked up by UPS and taken to their repair centre in Norwich. After researching, I found this to be a company called A Novo which has so many bad reviews spanning years, which did not feel me with joy.
On Mon 26 my device was picked up my UPS and tracking showed it was received the following day at A Novo at 06:59am.
Later on Tues 27 I check my online Samsung repair tracking which status has updated to "Device received and booked in and is awaiting repair" which I thought great, progress!!.....well that is what I thought!!
I allow for the Easter weekend to disappear and on Tues 3 April I ring Samsung for an update as the online system had not changed since the previous week. The Customer care adviser contacts A Novo and comes back to me 15mins later apologising for keeping me on hold for so long but there appears to be an issue as A Novo (repair centre) are stating they have not received my device to which both the Samsung adviser an myself found strange as all tracking shows it has arrived at A Novo as my online status shows that and this can only be achieved by scanning the barcode inside the packaging. I was then told to allow for 48hrs so A Novo can locate my device.
I rang Samsung back yesterday (6 Apr) for an update and was still told that my device had 'apparently' not been received. Again both the adviser and myself found that funny so she went to speak with a Manager and came back saying that they are raising a 'Lost in Transit' claim and not to worry as all tracking shows it arrived at the repair centre.
I now have to wait 3-5 working days for the claim to process and I should have a new device just after.
So i'm guessing some toe-rag has pinched my device at the repair centre as it most probably be one of the first S9+'s to come in at their centre.
I'd be livid and extremely upset had that happened to me, I really hope you get this resolved.
Did they ever find your phone?
Sent from my Galaxy S8 using XDA-Developers Legacy app