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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q] Question about returns of damaged devices

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

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

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

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

beepea206 said:
Don't worry about the refurbishes... I've had 5 total in my years with Verizon and have never had serious issues. AND if you have the 'extended warranty' coverage with them, like I do, if the phone wonks out, take it to verizon as a warranty replacement. The only problem I ever had was a wonked modem (hardware) on an old Droid RAZR; I took it to VZ and they warrantied it it, giving me a brand new one. Note, you might get a refurb through the warranty process, but VZ has a lemon rule, so if you have to return 3 of the same device, you can get a different model, brand new.
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Lemon rule is not true. You MIGHT get an employee who is soft and doesn't want to hear you complain about your phone anymore and make you an offer they're not supposed to. If you do, good for you I guess. But there is no lemon rule. Your warranty covers the phone you purchased, not a different model.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

My wife worked as a tech in a store for 3 years and I've personally had a manager tell me that's their policy when I had 3 Droid 2 phones go to crap on me. Maybe it's changed, but vz had a lemon policy that my wife used to have to abide by.

beepea206 said:
My ex wife worked as a tech in a store for 3 years and I've personally had a manager tell me that's their policy when I had 3 Droid 2 phones go to crap on me. Maybe it's changed, but vz had a lemon policy that my ex used to have to abide by.
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I'm a tech in a corporate call center. They don't have techs in corporate stores anymore. I don't know about vendors, but all replacements go through either tech support or customer service. Like I said, you might get someone who just wanted you to go away and offer you something you are not entitled to, and of course there are instances when exceptions are made, but as a policy, warranty covers purchased device.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

flyestAC said:
I'm a tech in a corporate call center. They don't have techs in corporate stores anymore. I don't know about vendors, but all replacements go through either tech support or customer service. Like I said, you might get someone who just wanted you to go away and offer you something you are not entitled to, and of course there are instances when exceptions are made, but as a policy, warranty covers purchased device.
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Must have been something her regional manager had as a customer service policy in those specific stores; she was told it was a company policy, but that could have been a misstatement.
Anyway, to the OP, don't worry about refurbishes.

beepea206 said:
Must have been something her regional manager had as a customer service policy in those specific stores; she was told it was a company policy, but that could have been a misstatement.
Anyway, to the OP, don't worry about refurbishes.
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Click to collapse
Yeah definitely don't worry about "refurbs". Most refurbs are phones that have nothing wrong with them and were sent back because of user error or they wanted a different phone and thought if they said there was something wrong with it they'd get a new one. Refurb really only means it can't be sold as new.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

flyestAC said:
Yeah definitely don't worry about "refurbs". Most refurbs are phones that have nothing wrong with them and were sent back because of user error or they wanted a different phone and thought if they said there was something wrong with it they'd get a new one. Refurb really only means it can't be sold as new.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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I dealt with a similar situation in my old compy shop 10 something years ago. We were resellers for a few brands (Acer, Lenova, some others) and the Acer "refurb" units were pretty much all returns to big box stores from people that decided that the laptop didn't fit their needs. Lenova refurbs, on the other hand, were just that. They were still very reliable, though.

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

Moto G..Root it already.

Guys who fear that rooting will void warranty..
But what makes u think that the Service center guys will look if the bootloader is unlocked or not
Lots of people give phones with CM and other custom ROMs flashed to the SC...and that too with a custom recovery...i think which may be needed by the SC guys for software update,wipe etc etc
i myself gave my rooted phone for replacement.. though reverted back to stock rom
If u guys think why dont i go ahead myself..i only reason im afraid of is ..if they have a particular QC test app or something before RMA procedure..which may auto generate the result such as
Camera - check
Speaker - check
Vibration - check
Bootloader - fail - not eligible for warranty
and they strictly reject warranty for the phone because of that..
guys experienced with the warranty procedure for Motorola phones please reply

I rooted mine. I don't usually have hardware problems. So... whatever

I've rooted mine, just keep in mind that you can't unlock the bootloader without getting an authorization code from Motorola. By requesting this code you accept the warranty loss.
Edit:
Motorola requires you to run "fastboot oem get_unlock_data". This data is used to calculate or read the unlock code from their database. Those lines should also be more than enough to blacklist your phone from warranty.
Bootloader status codes

I think I'll wait for a while this time a least four to five months..
Sent from THE motog

I've rooted previous phones, and I thought I'd root this one too... but it's so close to what I want, and I don't want to screw it up (especially battery life).

leppo said:
I've rooted previous phones, and I thought I'd root this one too... but it's so close to what I want, and I don't want to screw it up (especially battery life).
Click to expand...
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How can you screw up battery life with a root?

James Randi said:
How can you screw up battery life with a root?
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I guess I automatically associate rooting with flashing a different rom. But yes, it's different.

Its a $200 phone and rooting is pretty much a necessity to fully take advantage of your hardware. Flashing ROMs isn't as much of a big deal anymore but rooting is where all the fun comes from IMO. If there's no issues with it after a month or so, just do it.

Well, except for those of us unfortunate individuals who rely on Verizon's rural reach. I've got the Verizon Moto G xt1028, and it's not unlockable. At least, not yet. So those of us who bought the xt1028 are waiting and hoping for a different root method. Or different unlock method. Or both, really. Alas, we're forced to run fully stock until then. I'd so love to put GravityBox and a few other root apps.

At first I bought the 8 GB Variant and unlocked it, rooted it installed a custom ROM and I didn't like it because it didn't have so much space,
so what I did was flash everything Stock back again and lock the bootloader and I traded it against a 16 GB Variant and payed an extra 30€.
Now, I don't really care about rooting and custom roms anymore, I use the Stock Firmware from Motorola, latest of course so I get all official OTAs and all Motorola Apps, they probably know how to make everything for their phone so I'll just use it as it is.

In most cases they'll just look for the splash screen to say the warning message but we all got the logo.bin flashed. Worst case scenario they'll check through fastboot.
On Moto G XT1033

In Europe you warranties don't get void due to locked Bootloaders? Its true in all case?

jaspreet997 said:
In Europe you warranties don't get void due to locked Bootloaders? Its true in all case?
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Click to collapse
You mean unlocked ^^
If you flash software which will could cause a hardbrick or any other hardware failure then, for my knowledge, your warranty might be gone.
The reseller can only refuse warranty if he can proove that damage is caused by rooting, flashing etc.
Law expects that an failure in between six months must be from the beginning.
But after six months you have to proove that this failure was there from the beginning. This can be very tricky.
Only unlocking bootloader or rooting will not void your warranty in the EU. At least not the one which is given by law.
But the manufacturer warranty, which is an additional service of the company, can be voided.
You can read more in this german article which i have translated using microsoft translator.
Francehoaq said:
If warranty is not available then what should i do? thinking..... should i root or not
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Nobody can answer that for you. There are advantages and disadvantages doing this.

mokkami said:
You mean unlocked ^^
If you flash software which will could cause a hardbrick or any other hardware failure then, for my knowledge, your warranty might be gone.
The reseller can only refuse warranty if he can proove that damage is caused by rooting, flashing etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, unlocking the bootloader will not void your warranty. Damaging your phone while trying root it, 'may' void your warranty if the seller/manufacturer can tell, and can prove you caused the damage
mokkami said:
Law expects that an failure in between six months must be from the beginning.
But after six months you have to proove that this failure was there from the beginning. This can be very tricky.
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Thought I should clarify this. If a problem occurs with the phone in the first 6 months, the responsibility lies with the manufacturer to
a) Repair
b) Replace
c) Refund
d) Prove the problem does not exist.
If a fault occurs AFTER 6 months, but before the end of the manufacturer warranty. The manufacturer must:
a) Repair
b) Replace
c) Refund
BUT the manufacturer is within their rights to ask the customer to 'Prove' the fault exists and that they did not cause the fault through misuse etc. Usually this would require an engineer or technician report. In reality sellers will almost never do this.
Note: In the UK (and maybe rest of europe) the sale of good acts requires items last for a reasonable amount of time (not just the warranty period) this is I believe 6 years.
SO technically you could claim for repair even up to 6 years, however the responsibility will be with the consumer to prove the fault was in design and manufacture and I 'believe' that it occurred in the first 12 months since purchase. (Very hard for a consumer to prove this)..
mokkami said:
Only unlocking bootloader or rooting will not void your warranty in the EU. At least not the one which is given by law.
But the manufacturer warranty, which is an additional service of the company, can be voided.
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Click to collapse
Not sure what you mean by 'warranty given by law' vs 'manufacture warranty'. The manufacturer is required to give a limited 12 month warranty on all goods as per the sale of goods act. A lot of manufactures will give an 'Additional' warranty, or a warranty that covers a longer period as standard. Samsung & HTC = 2 years, for example. SO, although they only require to give you 1 year, once you have bought the device, with teh 2 year warranty, you have entered a contract and they must honour the full 2 years...

Actually the first 6months is called workmanship warranty. Its unconditional warranty as long as there no blatant damage to the device. If you have tempered with it, then you go into the standard warranty clauses. Which it is then up to the manufacturer to decide weather they will repair it for you. Sometimes at a discounted price when it is in fact your fault. But if you have blatantly damaged your device, you wont be eligible for a warranty. If its software related though, they could give you the benefit of the doubt.
On Moto G XT1033

I got my phone Touch Screen all broken, unlucked the bootloader, rooted, try a little the cm11, and then, a sent it to repair.
Got a new phone even with the warranty avoided.
Just return your phone the original system, you wont have any problem!
From Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil!

carpasouza said:
I got my phone Touch Screen all broken, unlucked the bootloader, rooted, try a little the cm11, and then, a sent it to repair.
Got a new phone even with the warranty avoided.
Just return your phone the original system, you wont have any problem!
From Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil!
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Click to collapse
Yes same will be the case for India to I guess..
Even I had rooted my previous phone and sent for warranty.. Of was a different manufacturer though.. Different policies..
Sent from THE motog

[quote name="Piyush Rawal" post=54210331]I have. I relocked bootloader and sent it to service center and they either didn't check or ignored bootloader status being 2, however, they fixed it under warranty.[/QUOTE]
Time to root I guess..
Tap-a-talked from the MOTOG

This is my story : I bought a soft bricked moto g xt1032 the bootloader shows device locked status 0. I've tried many methods to bring it to life without luck. I've got the unlock code from the earlier owner. In the next few days my friend who works in a t mobile service will try to recover the phone if he fails I'll send the phone to RMA. Will see what happens

Tomorrow is finally the day I guess
Tap-a-talked from the MOTOG

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.

What are the penalties from flashing things and rooting?

I've read that the act of flashing anything unsigned (like a custom recovery) will cause KNOX to be disabled. I suppose I won't miss it, but what other penalties will occur?
There is no way to re-enable KNOX once it's disabled, correct?
Ultimately the question is: If I install a custom recovery and root the phone, can I restore it to the point that if I sent it back to Samsung, they would think that it was always pure stock?

You can't use Samsung Pay.

palmboy5 said:
If I install a custom recovery and root the phone, can I restore it to the point that if I sent it back to Samsung, they would think that it was always pure stock?
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no, the efuse burns as soon as you flash something unsigned, there's no way to reverse that by software

My understanding is that if you ship back to Samsung, wether Knox tripped or not, depending on your issue, your warranty is still good. Just make sure stock rom on it when you send it in. Knox isn't an anti warranty measure. It's in place for the corporate world to maintain control of company owned devices.

shollywood said:
My understanding is that if you ship back to Samsung, wether Knox tripped or not, depending on your issue, your warranty is still good. Just make sure stock rom on it when you send it in. Knox isn't an anti warranty measure. It's in place for the corporate world to maintain control of company owned devices.
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As far as I know, Samsung won't repair your S6 when it was rooted. The burned eFuse-Chip is in fact a hardware damage caused by rooting from the user --> no more warranty by Samsung! You can check that in several reports online, in magazins and even at Samsung
So rooting your S6 means the loss of warranty (no matter what's the reason why you'll send it in), no KNOX and no Samsung Pay.
That's why I won't buy this phone, even though I love its specs and look. :cyclops:
EDIT: Just got the official answer from Samsung Support: Rooting your S6 will blow the eFuse-Chip and if it does, it's a hardware dmg caused by the user through rooting. That means NO warranty, even if your f.e. volume rockers refuse to work within the two years
I still have the mail in my inbox for those who doubt it (german language / official Samsung Support)

Your mileage may vary. In Australia this is not true. Firstly, the retailer is responsible for warranty not the manufacturer. Secondly if the is no connection between rooting and damage it is irrelevant. I got a no questions warrany swap on a rooted htc one for a microphone failure and returned a rooted s5 for a tradein to an s6. Both were contract phones via an Australian carrier. I imagine the situation is similar in the uk.

I am curious about this too. I haven't rooted my s6 just in case something malfunctions. Anyone have experience having a faulty rooted phone replaced or repaired?
I have the tmobile jump plan with insurance. If I destroy my phone I can get it replaced for $175 rooted or not.

timrichardson said:
Your mileage may vary. In Australia this is not true. Firstly, the retailer is responsible for warranty not the manufacturer.
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In germany the retailer is also responsible for warranty. But, in any case, they send the "damaged" phone to a repair station licenced by samsung. And they check by default before the repair, if the device has been rooted or not. If this is the case, they refuse the repair. And here the trouble begins.
timrichardson said:
Secondly if the is no connection between rooting and damage it is irrelevant.
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Exactly for this case, I asked the official Samsung support. A modification to the Software (root), means a complete loss of guarantee/warranty. Even for hardware parts or other problems, which are in no way related to the rooting (e.g. volume buttons, Home button, power button etc. ).
The destroyed eFuse-chip serves Samsung, as unequivocal proof of rooting (after it has been possible "in the past", to hide a previous root (-> TriangleAway)). Samsung has clarified this now unmistakably.
Sadly that is the reason why I will no longer buy any smartphone from Samsung. No matter how good the hard- or software will be.

I would like to add, I am member on the Tab S forum and there is a couple story's on that forum of people that had rooted their tablets had a problem which resulted in them sending them for repair under warranty which were all fixed under warranty.

maxal said:
I would like to add, I am member on the Tab S forum and there is a couple story's on that forum of people that had rooted their tablets had a problem which resulted in them sending them for repair under warranty which were all fixed under warranty.
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And did they restore the flashcounter/unroot their devices before?
Under the bottom line: The "risk" (if any, samsung stated very clear xD) of having a rooted, somehow dmged S6 and the (very high) chance that there won't be a repair (by samsung/retailer), is to high for me.

Depressed T.Bear said:
And did they restore the flashcounter/unroot their devices before?
Under the bottom line: The "risk" (if any, samsung stated very clear xD) of having a rooted, somehow dmged S6 and the (very high) chance that there won't be a repair (by samsung/retailer), is to high for me.
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They flashed a stock rom using Odin before sending of for repair.

Depressed T.Bear said:
Exactly for this case, I asked the official Samsung support. A modification to the Software (root), means a complete loss of guarantee/warranty. Even for hardware parts or other problems, which are in no way related to the rooting (e.g. volume buttons, Home button, power button etc. ).
The destroyed eFuse-chip serves Samsung, as unequivocal proof of rooting (after it has been possible "in the past", to hide a previous root (-> TriangleAway)). Samsung has clarified this now unmistakably.
Sadly that is the reason why I will no longer buy any smartphone from Samsung. No matter how good the hard- or software will be.
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This is location dependent. In the USA your warranty is still valid unless the company can prove your actions caused the problem. So you could sue Samsung if they refused. This is especially true if it is a common issue.