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Sending Sensation back for dust issue, without original programs

I purchased an HTC Sensation from someone on eBay about a month and a half ago. It works great, but I'm having issues with dust under the glass on the screen. I contacted HTC and they checked on the phone, it is still under warranty. The tech at HTC told me that there would be a fairly hefty (over $100) charge if there was other than original software on the phone. I contacted the seller to ask if everything was original and he confessed that the phone is s-off and rooted. I was not told this at the time of purchase, nor did I know to ask, so I guess I'm the dumb one.
I'm at a loss. I really don't know what that all means. I don't want to do anything to ruin my phone, but I'd like to get the dust problem fixed. It's very annoying and very obvious.
I've looked on the forums here and have read posts about this, but I am far from tech savvy and it's like reading a foreign language. All I can think is that I'll ruin my phone if I try anything and then I'll be out the $400 that I paid for it. Is it even possible to get the phone back to what it was originally if I don't know what was exactly done to it by the other owner? Also, is it going to ruin my phone to have this software on it?
I'd appreciate any help or advice that you can give.
Thank you!
Jen

jengrrl said:
I purchased an HTC Sensation from someone on eBay about a month and a half ago. It works great, but I'm having issues with dust under the glass on the screen. I contacted HTC and they checked on the phone, it is still under warranty. The tech at HTC told me that there would be a fairly hefty (over $100) charge if there was other than original software on the phone. I contacted the seller to ask if everything was original and he confessed that the phone is s-off and rooted. I was not told this at the time of purchase, nor did I know to ask, so I guess I'm the dumb one.
I'm at a loss. I really don't know what that all means. I don't want to do anything to ruin my phone, but I'd like to get the dust problem fixed. It's very annoying and very obvious.
I've looked on the forums here and have read posts about this, but I am far from tech savvy and it's like reading a foreign language. All I can think is that I'll ruin my phone if I try anything and then I'll be out the $400 that I paid for it. Is it even possible to get the phone back to what it was originally if I don't know what was exactly done to it by the other owner? Also, is it going to ruin my phone to have this software on it?
I'd appreciate any help or advice that you can give.
Thank you!
Jen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can flash the stock tmobile rom and then s-on again for warranty returns/services. You can look here for a little more info but if you're not comfortable with the process i wouldn't suggest it.

[Q] AT&T Root Prosecution

Hello all,
Please excuse me if this is common knowledge or if there is another thread that answers my question.
I am somewhat new to the Android community, having bought my first device, a new Nexus 7 in August. I decided to try rooting it, which worked out great, until I accidently deleted the os off of it. ( thanks again to those of you who helped me fix this) I now have an AT&T LG G2, and I wish to root this as well. However, I have some concerns as far as my carrier's ability to charge me. Will AT&T know if I root my device? If it can, can AT&T do anything about it? I am worried especially about extra charges to my plan and/or the refusal of service (i.e. they kick me off of my data plan). Can anyone offer any insight to this? Do I have anything to fear?
Thank you for your help.
Blindpew22

blindpew12 said:
Hello all,
Please excuse me if this is common knowledge or if there is another thread that answers my question.
I am somewhat new to the Android community, having bought my first device, a new Nexus 7 in August. I decided to try rooting it, which worked out great, until I accidently deleted the os off of it. ( thanks again to those of you who helped me fix this) I now have an AT&T LG G2, and I wish to root this as well. However, I have some concerns as far as my carrier's ability to charge me. Will AT&T know if I root my device? If it can, can AT&T do anything about it? I am worried especially about extra charges to my plan and/or the refusal of service (i.e. they kick me off of my data plan). Can anyone offer any insight to this? Do I have anything to fear?
Thank you for your help.
Blindpew22
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it is not illegal to root your Android phone or even jailbreak it if you have an iPhone.
Here is an article with the detailed info:
http://www.slashgear.com/eff-clarifies-laws-behind-unlocking-and-jailbreaking-phones-29267197/
In terms of receiving service from your carrier arises that is a different story. I don’t have AT&T, I'm on Sprint but I think AT&T will much likely give you problems or refuse service from what I have heard. I don't know that for certain as I have never had At&T.
I don't see how you would aquire any additional charges unless you are either going over your data limit or break your phone and they find out your rooted so they don't fix it in which case you are stucjk buying a new phone at full retail.
That being said make sure you understand how to unroot so you are able to if you need to take the phone in for service.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

It's YOUR phone so they cant do anything other then just void your warranty. Do they actively try and find rooted devices? No. Do they gasp if they find a rooted device? No.
All I can say is you paid for the phone, so you do what you want with it. If worse comes to worse and you brick your device playing with it, thats what insurance is for

Wow, thanks for your quick and helpful responses.
Just to reiterate, the only issues I have to worry about is my warranty being voided, and the slim possibility that I can brick my device? I dont need to fear AT&T ending my plan or charging me extra money? Sorry to bother you guys more, but I want to be absolutely sure before I do this.
Thanks again for your time and wisdom.

blindpew12 said:
Wow, thanks for your quick and helpful responses.
Just to reiterate, the only issues I have to worry about is my warranty being voided, and the slim possibility that I can brick my device? I dont need to fear AT&T ending my plan or charging me extra money? Sorry to bother you guys more, but I want to be absolutely sure before I do this.
Thanks again for your time and wisdom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's correct and your warranty is really only voided if they see it is rooted. If you take the appropriate steps to unroot and restore your phone to stock you should be ok if an issue arises. I can't guarantee you will be because you are in fact always taking some risk when rooting.
In terms of extra money, unless your are tethering or in some way exceeding you plan limits: minutes, data, texts etc you won't receive extra fees for simply being rooted.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Yay! That's great news! Thank you so much for your help. It is very appreciated!

frustrated - LG customer support question...

dear all...
called lg for an rma.
sent phone in, it was tested, confirmed wasn't working properly.
agreed to the work that needed to be done. i was charged 168 or so.
they were going to send me a better than new refurb.
i was happy with that.
they sent the replacement phone via fedex.
was due to arrive this past friday. it didn't.
looks like fedex lost the phone.
i spoke with fedex...opened a case number.
they're looking for it.
have in certain words been told by fedex...phone is lost. we'll keep searching, but, it's lost.
advise LG to also file a claim.
spoke with LG. they filed a claim with fedex.
i figured that meant they would cancel that particular phone from my account with them and they would send a replacement.
well, that's not happening.
apparently, i've been told by LG i have to wait 2-3 weeks until the claim goes through before they can do anything.
so, now i'm without a phone for 2-3 weeks.
how inconvenient is that???
i asked LG why they couldn't send me a replacement. according to their first tier customer support - they just can't.
they HAVE to wait for this thing to play out.
no explanation as to why they can't file the claim and send me a replacement.
if fedex finds it...they send it right back to LG.
no one loses in that scenario.
does anyone out there have any advice, suggestions, or experience with this sort of thing?
i'm leaning towards to finding a corporate level email address somewhere and appealing to them in some manner.
i'm pretty bitter about the whole thing, tbh.
any advice is welcome.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tl;dr
being held hostage by LG due to fedex losing a replacement phone LG sent me.
they're telling me it'll be 2-3 wks before they'll even consider sending me a replacement.
anyone have suggestions as to who to contact at LG to get better, more thorough customer service??
cheers!

Blast them on twitter.

tebore said:
Blast them on twitter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah...i'm not at all twittered up. or, facebooked for that matter.
although, the way i feel over the whole thing is definitely tempting me to change my outlook regarding social media.
especially if it may actually make a difference.
thanks for the advice, btw. i appreciate it.
it's seriously frustrating as hell.
tomorrow's tactic is to follow advice from another's thread on reddit. since LGs call center is based in the philippines, if you press 2 on the call in prompt for spanish...you almost always get routed to someone stateside.
not that this will have any effect on LGs policy...but, perhaps i can get someone a little more sympathetic to my plight.
after that...i'll try whatever is next on the list.
may even be social media.
don't you usually have to have a lot of followers and whatnot?

Sorry to say, but I think LG needs Fedex to verify the phone was never delivered. They might think you are running a scam to get two phones. Just a thought, and I am in no way saying you did anything wrong or that it is fair to you. I feel bad for you and hope it is settled soon.

wangdaning said:
Sorry to say, but I think LG needs Fedex to verify the phone was never delivered. They might think you are running a scam to get two phones. Just a thought, and I am in no way saying you did anything wrong or that it is fair to you. I feel bad for you and hope it is settled soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, no...i totally get that aspect. they're putting in their due diligence.
totally get it.
however, since it was lost while with fedex and they have no tracking history of it getting beyond the point of their local warehouse everyone involved knows there was never any customer contact.
so, i had that solidly in my court.
oddly, i received an email from lg this AM saying they received my device YESTERDAY at their facility and it is about to be tested and repaired.
welllllllllll, since i was going to call anyway....
i called. again.
except this time i took the redditor's advice and called the spanish call center.
like he/she said...they speak perfect english and are located in the states.
not sure any of that had anything to do with anything...but, it's worth noting.
also, they were a LOT more pleasant to deal with.
i suppose the spanish speaking call center receives a lesser volume of calls leaving these guys a lot less jaded???
at any rate...i have a promise of a call from LG on monday or tuesday.
the plan is to send me a new device and they'll take over the issue with fedex.
as of today's call...they're hoping i'll have a new device in my hands by the end of next week.
i'm not going to hold my breath - i've had other CSRs tell me "they'll call me back."
however, the new RMA email seems to indicate that they are, in fact, making progress in moving this forward for me.
fingers crossed.
there are always more interesting things going on in these threads...but, i'll update as things move along.
thanks everyone for even bothering to read about these escapades.
xda rocks...OG evo and onward!

Bought a Samsung Galaxy S6.....Now it's locked by RAC! Please help a NOOBIE out?

Hello Everyone, This is my first post here on XDA and I'm hoping you folks can help me out. I bought this S6 from a guy on Craigslist. When I got it everything was fine. I put my sim in a tested it be sure all was well. So I pull my sim out and put it away for a few days to be a birthday gift to my son. So he opens it up, puts in his sim card and goes through the setup. As soon as he was done we get this popup that the phone is locked by Rent-A-Center. Well crap, now what do I do? I bought this in good faith, paid hard-earned money for it, and now it's locked. Of course the seller is no where to be found. And there's not a Rent-A-Center within a hundred miles of me so it's UN-telling where it came from.
I did some research and ran across this thread here. I found what I thought was the latest firmware and flashed it to the phone. But I got no love as it is still locked. I also found a thread on rooting the S6 and followed that but it didn't work either. Now in no way am I a phone guru. My experience so far has been rooting my S5 by searching a thread, downloading what was linked in that thread, and following the step-by-step directions in that thread. With that said could someone help me out with this? I know it's asking a lot to post step-by-step directions and links but that would really help me out.
I should probably add that I can't get into this phone in anyway. After resetting the phone to factory and wiping the cache it then goes to setup. Immediately after setup it locks with the RAC popup and you can not go any further. I can't get to anything such as IMEI, build number, etc.
So with that said I would really appreciate any help you folks can give. I'm stuck at this point.

You're not going to bypass anything. The person you bought the phone from either stole it from Rent A Center, was delinquent on payments, or claimed that it was lost or stolen and the RAC remotely bricked the phone. Just like how people with iPhones can turn lost or stolen phones into permanent bricks regardless of what people try to do, it's the same for Android.
Your best bet is to try and contact RAC somehow and see if they're willing to provide the necessary information to bypass the lock. Otherwise, you're out of money and a phone.

Tacoo said:
You're not going to bypass anything. The person you bought the phone from either stole it from Rent A Center, was delinquent on payments, or claimed that it was lost or stolen and the RAC remotely bricked the phone. Just like how people with iPhones can turn lost or stolen phones into permanent bricks regardless of what people try to do, it's the same for Android.
Your best bet is to try and contact RAC somehow and see if they're willing to provide the necessary information to bypass the lock. Otherwise, you're out of money and a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate your replying to my post. But none of this is a known fact. You are making an assumption. And while it could be true neither you nor I know that it is true. And if it is true then that is on the seller, not on me. What is a known fact (at least by me) is that I have a phone that I bought in good faith. It is locked and I need help.
I have found many posts and videos on the internet of S5's and other phones being unlocked. I found a post here on XDA that the author stated he had experience with this on an S6 that I linked above in my original post. I tried what he said but it did not work for me. That could be because I used the wrong files or just from my inexperience. I did send that poster a message but have not heard back from him.
So with all that said I'm still in the same position. I need help from the folks here on XDA. Anybody got any ideas? Thank you all.

medic265 said:
I appreciate your replying to my post. But none of this is a known fact. You are making an assumption. And while it could be true neither you nor I know that it is true. And if it is true then that is on the seller, not on me. What is a known fact (at least by me) is that I have a phone that I bought in good faith. It is locked and I need help.
I have found many posts and videos on the internet of S5's and other phones being unlocked. I found a post here on XDA that the author stated he had experience with this on an S6 that I linked above in my original post. I tried what he said but it did not work for me. That could be because I used the wrong files or just from my inexperience. I did send that poster a message but have not heard back from him.
So with all that said I'm still in the same position. I need help from the folks here on XDA. Anybody got any ideas? Thank you all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My friend, you have to believe what @Tacoo is saying...with s6, you cannot bypass the RAC. Talking about the s5, you can only bypass it when it has kitkat and s6 is far different from s5 in terms android version and such bugs has being fixed...the only option u have now is to contact the person you bought the phone from to help you with the RAC or return the phone and get your money back. There is no way to bypass RAC in S6

success123 said:
My friend, you have to believe what @Tacoo is saying...with s6, you cannot bypass the RAC. Talking about the s5, you can only bypass it when it has kitkat and s6 is far different from s5 in terms android version and such bugs has being fixed...the only option u have now is to contact the person you bought the phone from to help you with the RAC or return the phone and get your money back. There is no way to bypass RAC in S6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. Android on Lollipop and Marshmallow is like what Apple did with iOS. On iOS, if you put the lockdown on your phone and it gets stolen, even if someone wipes it entirely, the phone is useless without the original owner putting in their Apple ID. Android is the same way now, along with Samsung having their own account layer on top of that.
You can restore and wipe the phone, but chances are that you're not going to bypass this without contacting RAC.

Keep away from theandroiddoctor.com

Hi,
I bought the unlock service for my sm-n920p note 5 phone. The connect my phone remotely. They make somethings then said the phone is unlocked. But my phone is not unlocked. I couldn't use my phone. Then my phone give invalid sim messages.
I couldn't reach support. Open a few tickets but nobody contact me. I reach them via chat but they said me phone is blacklisted and a lot of "mother ****er, **** off, etc". They don't give me money back.
They give guarantee theandroiddoctor_com/imei-guarantee
They said unlock will be permenant.
Please keep away this persons and send this messages to your friends.
Regards,

That stinks man
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Jesushasadroid said:
That stinks man
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My order number is 15288.
I can send a lot of screenshot from my unlocked phone. Why I'm so ungry for $15. I lost totaly $500 for this phone. So $15 is not important for me. I can paid another $15 for permanent unlock my phone.
If you are theandroiddoctor person, you should explain the all process. Why technician close the session after unlock process without my test result. Nobody answer me, nobody answer my support request.
All time they use bad words and their behaviour is not fair.
Regards,

umitgl said:
My order number is 15288.
I can send a lot of screenshot from my unlocked phone. Why I'm so ungry for $15. I lost totaly $500 for this phone. So $15 is not important for me. I can paid another $15 for permanent unlock my phone.
If you are theandroiddoctor person, you should explain the all process. Why technician close the session after unlock process without my test result. Nobody answer me, nobody answer my support request.
All time they use bad words and their behaviour is not fair.
Regards,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because they aren't a true professional shop, they are someone that does this from their home. They don't care about whether your phone works, they only care about getting paid and they didn't do the right thing because they didn't want to pay for messing your device up because they don't have a true business like a true professional would.
That's what you get for trying to save money to get it done and trusting someone that you found on the internet instead of taking your device to a trusted and reputable professional shop, you get what you pay for, it's your own fault for being stupid enough to trust someone you found online.
You made a bad decision and now you're paying the price, get over it, move on and learn a lesson from it. Posting here isn't changing anything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

theandroiddoctor
Droidriven said:
Because they aren't a true professional shop, they are someone that does this from their home. They don't care about whether your phone works, they only care about getting paid and they didn't do the right thing because they didn't want to pay for messing your device up because they don't have a true business like a true professional would.
That's what you get for trying to save money to get it done and trusting someone that you found on the internet instead of taking your device to a trusted and reputable professional shop, you get what you pay for, it's your own fault for being stupid enough to trust someone you found online.
You made a bad decision and now you're paying the price, get over it, move on and learn a lesson from it. Posting here isn't changing anything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding the Note 5, the phone can be restored to factory conditions by downloading Samsung Kies. Once downloaded fire up the software, select "tools" followed by "firmware upgrade and initialisation". Then connect your phone and the software will download all the necessary files, including the latest updates. I know this because they screwed my phone's IMEI during a unlock process, probably hoping they would squeeze more money out of me for a IMEI repair. Kies solved my IMEI problem, and their unlock wasn't affected by the Kies update (their unlock worked). These are unsavoury people who had access to my computer and phone while they carried out their half a job. Hindsight is a wonderful thing....

js6281 said:
Regarding the Note 5, the phone can be restored to factory conditions by downloading Samsung Kies. Once downloaded fire up the software, select "tools" followed by "firmware upgrade and initialisation". Then connect your phone and the software will download all the necessary files, including the latest updates. I know this because they screwed my phone's IMEI during a unlock process, probably hoping they would squeeze more money out of me for a IMEI repair. Kies solved my IMEI problem, and their unlock wasn't affected by the Kies update (their unlock worked). These are unsavoury people who had access to my computer and phone while they carried out their half a job. Hindsight is a wonderful thing....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deleted

Cyberbullying at it's best, STAY AWAY FROM THEM
To add to the OP's experience, here is what i had to go through:
I asked about the process to unlock a galaxy s7 and the online chat support rep sent me a Google pay link. I asked him whether they'd support Paypal and he responded with a barrage of expletives, also threatening to install active x and hack my browser. NEVER EVER USE THIS SITE FOR ANYTHING.

umitgl said:
Hi,
I bought the unlock service for my sm-n920p note 5 phone. The connect my phone remotely. They make somethings then said the phone is unlocked. But my phone is not unlocked. I couldn't use my phone. Then my phone give invalid sim messages.
I couldn't reach support. Open a few tickets but nobody contact me. I reach them via chat but they said me phone is blacklisted and a lot of "mother ****er, **** off, etc". They don't give me money back.
They give guarantee theandroiddoctor_com/imei-guarantee
They said unlock will be permenant.
Please keep away this persons and send this messages to your friends.
Regards,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are racist. Disgusting human being. I had a horrible experience through their online "help" to fix my note 5 blocked on the Samsung Google Account Verification screen.
Disgusting
I am filing a racial discrimination complaint against this Sharena Johnson that sent me a gpay link and their service. What a disgusting person

GOOD NEWS
Just want to let everyone here know that the androiddoctor has been shut down by me. I contacted someone in the higher dept in shopify and i got their website shut down. They messed with the wrong person. Scammed my friend for $40 now they are done.

Here is proof
Attached are photos showing site down and me messaging them before and after.

hec2k said:
Attached are photos showing site down and me messaging them before and after.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude they're still online.
Lets report the site to google and firefox . Maybe they'll mark the site as deceptive
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