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Did i just brick my phone?

I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.

Did you flash first the ruu that came with your phone?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

and1kar said:
Did you flash first the ruu that came with your phone?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
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Nope i used the tmous 1.50.

I am pretty sure you forgot to run the RUU, and sadly yes I have to inform you that it is bricked :/

xsteven77x said:
I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.
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Sounds like you bricked it, yes :s

Thanks for the replies guys.

Since i got it from craigslist my only hope is paying htc to repair it i'm assuming?

It should still be covered by the original warranty right?

LooieENG said:
It should still be covered by the original warranty right?
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Just got off the phone with HTC. It is still covered under their warranty. Hopefully since all my void stickers in good standing, I have no physical damage, was able to get the CID back to Tmous and the write secureflag3 went through, there will be no reason to deny it. Here is hoping! I think EXT4 recovery is still on there though. Hopefully it will be so bricked that they will have to reset it and reload the software to be able to do anything with it

Hope you manage to get it fixed!
A question, I have yet to root my XE, but is SUPERCID a must on a sim free phone if you want to flash roms?

the fact is that if it is so bricked that it won't turn on at all they won't check it further. many members achieved to get a new phone as replacement

Just make sure you tell HTC you are the original owner and didnt get it from craigslist.Also DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES Mention any hacking forums like XDA,or ROOT, Just claim that it said "an update was available" so you chose to update and the battery died.I've had free repairs under warranty by using that same advice, A friend of mine mentioned root on his nexus one and they charged him for repair even though it was a month old as he voided the warranty

bonesy said:
Just make sure you tell HTC you are the original owner and didnt get it from craigslist.Also DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES Mention any hacking forums like XDA,or ROOT, Just claim that it said "an update was available" so you chose to update and the battery died.I've had free repairs under warranty by using that same advice, A friend of mine mentioned root on his nexus one and they charged him for repair even though it was a month old as he voided the warranty
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I definitely didnt mention xda or flashing roms or anything, and I told them i received it as an anniversary gift (even though i really did get it from craigslist). Told them i rebooted the phone and it just never came back on. Which really is what happened while leaving out a few details lol.

I wonder what would them HTC guys think if they are already among us

same thing happened to me the other day on my evo 3d...gonna send it in to htc as well...hope they won't know...what are the chances of them getting the phone to turn on??
xsteven77x said:
I think i just bricked my phone. I am trying to return to S-on and after following all the instructions in the main sticky, i wrote the SUPERCID back to tmobile, and put in the writesecuflag 3 command, and rebooted the bootloader. Now the phone will not turn on at all. Won't power on regular and cannot turn it on into the bootloader. When i plug the phone into the computer QHUSB-DLOAD comes up in the device manager as to what it is saying it is attatched as. Adb shows no devices and RUU's cannot find the device. Omg i really hope i didnt hose this phone.
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poktangju said:
same thing happened to me the other day on my evo 3d...gonna send it in to htc as well...hope they won't know...what are the chances of them getting the phone to turn on??
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From everything i read online it really seems hit or miss depending on the technician you get. More often than not they seem to let things slide even if it seems obvious that they should have been able to see it was rooted etc. Here is hoping . I'm gonna send it out tomorrow and will keep this thread updated with developments if anyone is interested in how it went. I have read some HORROR stories about people sending there phone to HTC and it become missing in action for MONTHS. I really pray to christ that does not happen to me.
O/T a little bit, but how come with just about any other "thing" in life a warranty is good and is tied to the object and not to the person. Even though i got this phone off of craigslist, why should that have ANYTHING to do with it. The phone is the phone and the warranty is the warranty regardless of whose possession it is in. I just don't think tmobile should be able to do that. Also i think it's BS that if you buy a brand new phone and it breaks 2 days later, they give you a refurb and not a new one. How do they get away with this ****!

i think im gonna take my chances as well...the person i talked to at htc did say that if the damages were caused by me then i would have a choice to pay them to fix if not i would have to pay $35 to get the phone back...so this could end up costing the shipping to send phone and the $35 to get the phone back.
xsteven77x said:
From everything i read online it really seems hit or miss depending on the technician you get. More often than not they seem to let things slide even if it seems obvious that they should have been able to see it was rooted etc. Here is hoping . I'm gonna send it out tomorrow and will keep this thread updated with developments if anyone is interested in how it went.
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Just wondering how this has progressed. Did you send your phone to HTC? Did they say what the potential repair costs could be?

Well i sent it out on 12/21 and they received it on 12/28. On the tracking website, it says "In repair". From experience, if it is going to have any issues or gonna charge you any money, it says under review until you have spoke to them and made arrangements or paid them. One thing that is pissing me off good is that every day, the day it says it was received is changed. So everyday i have checked, it went from saying received on 12/28, to 12/29, to 12/30, and now 1/1. So i dont know if that is just the way the system works, or if they are trying to sheist me and take forever and a day like some of the horror stories i have read. Not really sure what their is to do but send a replacement since it is hard bricked and cannot be resuscitated even with professional tools from all the research i have done online. In the meantime, i bought a galaxy s 2 and am LOVING it, except for the lack of development in comparison to here in sensation land!

did you get your phone back?
xsteven77x said:
Well i sent it out on 12/21 and they received it on 12/28. On the tracking website, it says "In repair". From experience, if it is going to have any issues or gonna charge you any money, it says under review until you have spoke to them and made arrangements or paid them. One thing that is pissing me off good is that every day, the day it says it was received is changed. So everyday i have checked, it went from saying received on 12/28, to 12/29, to 12/30, and now 1/1. So i dont know if that is just the way the system works, or if they are trying to sheist me and take forever and a day like some of the horror stories i have read. Not really sure what their is to do but send a replacement since it is hard bricked and cannot be resuscitated even with professional tools from all the research i have done online. In the meantime, i bought a galaxy s 2 and am LOVING it, except for the lack of development in comparison to here in sensation land!
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Purchasing a potentially bricked Sensation; Advice and Suggestions?

Hey guys. I have a chance to pick up a mint sensation locally for a cheap price. The seller is under the impression it is bricked. I've read through the threads for a while now but thought I would ask for some help/advice. The seller told me that he bricked the phone by trying to unroot it but has also said he was trying to "flash boot or something." He has made it clear that the phone will not turn on or show any signs of life. He has tried multiple batteries as well.
So, is there any way to ensure it is bricked? I had thought that maybe he messed up flashing a new rom.
If it is clearly bricked, what would be a good price to snag it for?
Would it be possible to buy it and contact HTC in regard to the warranty? What would this cost?
Thanks in advance,
PS; I have read about the inablility to charge after flashing CWM. I'm not sure if CWM was installed or not. I will ask that asap.

Sounds like an inappropriate file was flashed to hboot, in which case it's dead. Short of jtagging there is no way to fix it.

Thanks for the quick reply globatron. That sucks to hear that it probably is fried. Would the HTC warranty cover this type of repair?

MRpeabodyia said:
Thanks for the quick reply globatron. That sucks to hear that it probably is fried. Would the HTC warranty cover this type of repair?
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No, they wouldnt as it was from user error.
Matt

Do you know for sure they wouldn't cover it? All morality aside it could be argued that it wasn't user error considering I'm not entirely sure what the seller did to it.

MRpeabodyia said:
Do you know for sure they wouldn't cover it? All morality aside it could be argued that it wasn't user error considering I'm not entirely sure what the seller did to it.
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Well,morality aside you can always tell them that the OTA update bricked it.If you are a TMOUS customer you can try and contact T-mo first.They are usually easier to deal with than HTC.

NYCguy I read through your thread discussing your dealings with Tmous. I had thought about contacting them but they have been a huge pain for me lately. (Almost to the point of ending my contract). I shot HTC an email out of curiousity so I should hear back from them soon. I've had to replace a phone before via T-mobile and it was pretty smooth. I just don't want to do it all the time as this may look odd on their end.

NYCguy I read through your thread discussing your dealings with Tmous. I had thought about contacting them but they have been a huge pain for me lately. (Almost to the point of ending my contract). I shot HTC an email out of curiousity so I should hear back from them soon. I've had to replace a phone before via T-mobile and it was pretty smooth. I just don't want to do it all the time as this may look odd on their end.

Well I bought my "bricked" sensation. I spoke with the seller for a while and it seems he had rooted it, received notification of the OTA, and attempted to unroot it. He didn't give me specifics on the procedure he used but I'm going to read as much as I can, depending on when my monster child will let me, and attempt to fix this thing. I read about the battery tricks and will try those tonight. Any suggestions as this point guys?

Well after reading and tinkering with this thing for a while it seems I have the dreaded qhsusb brick. I already spoke with HTC and it is under warranty until November of 2013. My new question is, Will HTC be able to tell the device was ever rooted? A rom was never installed so it should be stock. Seems the seller made a mistake in trying to go from s-off to s-on. Just hoping I won't have to pay much to have a new one sent from the manufacturer.
Thanks

MRpeabodyia said:
Well after reading and tinkering with this thing for a while it seems I have the dreaded qhsusb brick. I already spoke with HTC and it is under warranty until November of 2013. My new question is, Will HTC be able to tell the device was ever rooted? A rom was never installed so it should be stock. Seems the seller made a mistake in trying to go from s-off to s-on. Just hoping I won't have to pay much to have a new one sent from the manufacturer.
Thanks
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Well if it's a QHSUB brick that means the phone is truely DEAD.If you can't boot into bootloader,can't charge it and can't connect to a PC,then i don't see how could they tell if it was rooted or not.There is no way for them to tell.You just tell them you bricked it while trying to install the OTA update,or do as i did and contact T-mobile.
Good luck!

Thought I would update this thread for anyone who may stumble across it at a later date. I went ahead and sent my bricked phone into HTC. They repaired the phone and sent it back. I was suprised to see that they didn't send me a refurb.
I have to say that HTC were very easy to work with were quick in returning my phone.

Downgrading after new update? Also warranty and root/unlock questions

As a preface, I got the ATT one x a few days ago, so far I'm really happy with it, but would like to get rid of a bunch of the bloatware and want to get root.
So this morning I woke up to the update message. Now I read up on it the night before on these forums that I should wait to update if I want to root/etc, so naturally I don't want to update quite yet. But here's the problem. The message popped up so fast that I could barely read the message. My thumb must have been right above the accept button, since the message disappeared almost instantly and the process started up. I exited it as far as possible, and it seemed to work. I used apps on the phone, and everything seemed fine. As soon as I locked the phone again, it decided to reboot, initiating the update, all on its own. Even a forced power-off wouldn't stop the wheels turning. And now I feel like an idiot. So is there any way/what is the best way to downgrade or reverse the update?
TL;DR: I accidentally updated the new update, is there, and or what is the best way to downgrade so I can eventually root?
As for my second question, obviously the warranty will be in question if I root/unlock. I've read that HTC will honor the warranty even if it's an unlock, but not a rom flash (even after a return to stock?) If I root/unlock, run into a problem, and return to stock will by warranty be effected? I've never done a warranty return, so would there be a difference if I tried to go through HTC, ATT, or Costco (purchase location)? The reason I ask is because my last phone's (Original Atrix, love it so much) wifi died before the 2 year period, and we had an upgrade on the family account, and this time the One x was purchased with American Express, so I now effectively have a 2 year warranty to cover such problems I might have.
I know that with enough time I could find some of these answers on the forums, but because they are so lively, it's hard to keep track and sift through the forums for information. Thanks for your time and thank you in advance for your help.

In regards to the root on the update there is no way to downgrade or root given your situation at this time but hopefully one of the talented people here on xda wil find a new exploit like they did for the 1.85
As far as warranty goes someone else will.have to let you know.
Sent from my Nocturnalized Beast

same boat
I am in exactly the same boat. I didn't check the MD5 on a download of CR4.5 and it completed wiped my phone (SD Card as well). I was away from my laptop and had to wait days to get it back online. When I finally got it up and running, I was rooting through the one click and in checking the update, it updated to 2.20. So now I'm stuck.
I have my previous unlock token, but I'm not sure if that will do me any good. I don't want to do much until a new RUU becomes available.
misiek93 said:
As a preface, I got the ATT one x a few days ago, so far I'm really happy with it, but would like to get rid of a bunch of the bloatware and want to get root.
So this morning I woke up to the update message. Now I read up on it the night before on these forums that I should wait to update if I want to root/etc, so naturally I don't want to update quite yet. But here's the problem. The message popped up so fast that I could barely read the message. My thumb must have been right above the accept button, since the message disappeared almost instantly and the process started up. I exited it as far as possible, and it seemed to work. I used apps on the phone, and everything seemed fine. As soon as I locked the phone again, it decided to reboot, initiating the update, all on its own. Even a forced power-off wouldn't stop the wheels turning. And now I feel like an idiot. So is there any way/what is the best way to downgrade or reverse the update?
TL;DR: I accidentally updated the new update, is there, and or what is the best way to downgrade so I can eventually root?
As for my second question, obviously the warranty will be in question if I root/unlock. I've read that HTC will honor the warranty even if it's an unlock, but not a rom flash (even after a return to stock?) If I root/unlock, run into a problem, and return to stock will by warranty be effected? I've never done a warranty return, so would there be a difference if I tried to go through HTC, ATT, or Costco (purchase location)? The reason I ask is because my last phone's (Original Atrix, love it so much) wifi died before the 2 year period, and we had an upgrade on the family account, and this time the One x was purchased with American Express, so I now effectively have a 2 year warranty to cover such problems I might have.
I know that with enough time I could find some of these answers on the forums, but because they are so lively, it's hard to keep track and sift through the forums for information. Thanks for your time and thank you in advance for your help.
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BB2DX said:
I am in exactly the same boat. I didn't check the MD5 on a download of CR4.5 and it completed wiped my phone (SD Card as well). I was away from my laptop and had to wait days to get it back online. When I finally got it up and running, I was rooting through the one click and in checking the update, it updated to 2.20. So now I'm stuck.
I have my previous unlock token, but I'm not sure if that will do me any good. I don't want to do much until a new RUU becomes available.
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The ruu is out for the 2.20 on the HTC dev site
If you already have your unlock token you should be fine just run through the steps to unlock then root. Your still stuck with the new hboot so your previous nandroids will no longer work and you can no longer flash boot images from recovery.
Sent from my Nocturnalized Beast

misiek93 said:
As for my second question, obviously the warranty will be in question if I root/unlock. I've read that HTC will honor the warranty even if it's an unlock, but not a rom flash (even after a return to stock?) If I root/unlock, run into a problem, and return to stock will by warranty be effected? I've never done a warranty return, so would there be a difference if I tried to go through HTC, ATT, or Costco (purchase location)? The reason I ask is because my last phone's (Original Atrix, love it so much) wifi died before the 2 year period, and we had an upgrade on the family account, and this time the One x was purchased with American Express, so I now effectively have a 2 year warranty to cover such problems I might have.
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Consensus seems to be that a warranty return to AT&T, they don't normally check for bootloader unlock at all. Technically, they can check, and void your warranty. But to this point, they don't seem to be. This is probably your safest bet. But that warranty is only one year.
Based on various reports by XDA users HTC seems to be much more strict about enforcing their own warranty terms. I would suggest going through AT&T rather than HTC.
For your AmEx warranty, I think that would be handled by AmEx (not AT&T). You should probably check through them, and see what the warranty terms our (might be handled by a 3rd party?). I think only someone that has had experience with the AmEx process could say for sure what would happen in this case. So maybe somebody will chime in.

redpoint73 said:
Consensus seems to be that a warranty return to AT&T, they don't normally check for bootloader unlock at all. Technically, they can check, and void your warranty. But to this point, they don't seem to be. This is probably your safest bet. But that warranty is only one year.
Based on various reports by XDA users HTC seems to be much more strict about enforcing their own warranty terms. I would suggest going through AT&T rather than HTC.
For your AmEx warranty, I think that would be handled by AmEx (not AT&T). You should probably check through them, and see what the warranty terms our (might be handled by a 3rd party?). I think only someone that has had experience with the AmEx process could say for sure what would happen in this case. So maybe somebody will chime in.
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Amex is extremely lax. All they want is a copy of the original warranty and require doing the work at an authorized repair shop. Then they reimburse you, no questions asked.

GroovyGeek said:
Amex is extremely lax. All they want is a copy of the original warranty and require doing the work at an authorized repair shop. Then they reimburse you, no questions asked.
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I kinda figured as much. They aren't in the business of fixing phones, so I guessed they either just farmed it out to a 3rd party company, or just paid up pretty easily. Credit cards (especially AmEx) also often cover things like lost luggage, travel insurance (cancelled flights, etc.) and I don't imagine they go through much hassle confirming that kind of thing either. They must figure that the extra business gained from offering their services (and yearly fees) outweighs the payouts they have to make.
Thanks for clarifying with your personal experience, probably useful to the OP.

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?
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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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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

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.
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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?
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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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.