So my wife is the proud owner of a Galaxy S4 and I was stoked to have finally convinced her to get rid of her POS iPhone. Unfortunately she had the phone for about a week before our daughter got a hold of it and promptly dropped it on the concrete. Since my wife was not sure if she wanted to keep your iphone or the S4 in the beginning, at that point the phone was neekid (case arrived the day after it was dropped!). Needless the say the screen shattered and there were some groovy dings in the chrome bezel and no we did not have insurance.
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Original Damage.
So I started doing research into different companies that would do the repair. I came across a company in VA called Rockit Repairs (www.rockitrepairs.com). After talking to them on the phone and reviewing their work on FB I felt comfortable with sending my wife's phone there to have it repaired. Needless to say, this was a huge mistake. I will give them credit for standing by their word but so far the only thing they have done is screw me over.
The first problem I had was with return shipping. I paid an extra $20 to have the phone overnighted back to me. It took them three days from when they told me the phone had been shipped before I got an actual tracking number. Obviously they had not shipped it until then. That was a Saturday so I did not receive the phone until that Tuesday. When I called them on it they offered to refund my overnight shipping.
The repair job itself was horrible. First of all there were to scratches on the LCD underneath the front glass. One went about half length of the screen and the other was about 1/3rd the length of the screen. There were over a dozen pry marks in the chrome bezel and there were all sorts of crap between the front glass and the LCD. Some of which was dust and others that were bigger - possibly food crumbs.... IDK. Portions of the touch screen were not as responsive as they should have been. I called them again and I talked to a guy named Jim who said he is the one that did the actual work. Jim apologized and said that he did not see this when he sent it (I don't know how) and to send it back so they could do it right.
All that stuff you see on the screen, yeah that is actually under the front glass.
So I sent it back and they said they had to order a LCD, overnight, from their supplier. The next day I get an updated saying the phone was repaired and shipped and I was even given a tracking number. Again, they couldn't even get the shipping right because they were suppose to overnight it but sent it 3 day priority. How can you trust a company that can't do something as simple as ship a package correctly? Because of their error in shipping, I didn't get the phone back for 4 days (weekend).
The second time we got the phone back it looked much, much better. Everything looked great. I originally though that they must have replaced the entire front assembly this time because the chrome bezel was replaced as well. However, my excitement didn't last long. When I got the phone home, I pulled the battery to look at the serial number to make sure it matched the box. It did but it was obvious that the sticker had been peeled up at some point. Since the phone was working and looked great I just let it go. I assumed that there was a screw under the sticker that they had to remove. I was far from right.
Six days after we got the phone back the LCD started to get lines through it, or it would just not turn on, or it would be all white, or the colors would be reversed. Basically the LCD was shot. At this point I was done with Rockit Repairs. I told them to refund every penny or I would do a chargeback via my credit card company. They did not argue at all. That same day I took the phone to a local repair shop to have them figure out what is going on. Now you may ask why didn't I go to this place originally and that is a valid question. When I talked to them on the phone I didn't really like their attitude. I don't know if I caught the dude on a bad day or what but I didn't get a good vibe from him. Anyway, we started talking about what was going and I asked about the sticker under the battery. This is where it gets fun.
By the end of the day the phone was completely unusable.
The repair tech at the local shop, First Class Cell Phone Repair, told me there was no screw under there and that most likely this other shop had created a Frankenstein phone. That they probably took a parts S4, maybe a water damaged phone or something along these lines, and replaced some of the internals with the parts from my wife's phone and slapped our serial number sticker on this other chassis. I cannot confirm that they did do this but I do know that I never agreed to this and at no point was it ever even discussed with me. The local shop is going to see if they can determine the issue with the phone and they are going to take pictures of everything they see. If they are of the opinion that they Frankensteined my phone, well it won't be a good day for Rockit Repairs.
The odd thing is, this company seemed legit. They have a nice public facebook page with over 2200 likes. Lots of stories about repairs and satisfied customers. Local papers doing write ups about their shop. They seemed for real. But seriously, they have screwed up every step of this process and had lied to me and did some extremely shady things. Maybe their regular customers are idiots? If anyone who reads this needs their phone fixed, don't send it to Rockit Repairs.
Anyone else have any experience with this shop?
So I just got off the phone with Rockit Repairs and they clarified their repair process the 2nd time around. He explained that the part he ordered was the entire chassis and not the LCD (even though in the reply on my ticket said only LCD). I don't know where they ordered the part from but I have found vendors that do sell the chassis for the S4 and it is essentially the front glass, lcd, housing for the logic board and the other internal workings.
They did apologize profusely and stated that they had never had issues like this before but seriously, even if the repair was done right the first time the shipping issues and being lied to about the shipping issues would be enough for me to never do business with them again.
How old is your daughter? $600+ phone without insurance is a very expensive "play toy" regardless of how she got her hands on it. A case wouldn't have made a difference from the looks of the phone. Good luck with your repair process.
scott14719 said:
How old is your daughter? $600+ phone without insurance is a very expensive "play toy" regardless of how she got her hands on it. A case wouldn't have made a difference from the looks of the phone. Good luck with your repair process.
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She is 2 but we don't let her play with out phones. I have an old busted HTC phone that she plays a few games on but not our phones. My wife just left it on table and then walked away. Trust me, she feels pretty stupid about it.
berdo said:
She is 2 but we don't let her play with out phones. I have an old busted HTC phone that she plays a few games on but not our phones. My wife just left it on table and then walked away. Trust me, she feels pretty stupid about it.
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Sorry to hear that. Kids seem to be able to get into everything. I've seen parts (Digitizer and screen) available for around $200 - $250 US and videos on youtube showing how to replace the part(s), but it's something I would rather have someone else do as well.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I wouldn't use Facebook as a source for accurate information on a company reliability since i believe they can pretty much edit every post and delete any that don't agree with what they have to say.
I have insurance myself for my s4 and indeed for my son's iphone 4s. but sadly it still cost about $200 with insurance to replace his iphone when he dropped it into the ocean. Apparently there are other companies not affiliated with the carriers who offer better insurance but I haven't looked into it. I figure It's worth it to have insurance for the first 6 months but after that, the $200 replacement cost isn't worth it. Especially since you can buy a brand new Nexus 4 for $299.
acruxksa said:
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I wouldn't use Facebook as a source for accurate information on a company reliability since i believe they can pretty much edit every post and delete any that don't agree with what they have to say.
I have insurance myself for my s4 and indeed for my son's iphone 4s. but sadly it still cost about $200 with insurance to replace his iphone when he dropped it into the ocean. Apparently there are other companies not affiliated with the carriers who offer better insurance but I haven't looked into it.
You can buy a brand new Nexus 4 for $299, something to think about.
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I agree FB isn't the best place to go. I did google searches and searched for info on XDA but nothing really anywhere that was all that helpful. Really I based my decision off talking to them on the phone. They stated all the things you want to here, like the number of S4 repairs they have done, what their turn around time is, if the stand behind their work, etc.. I know they have multiple employees because I have talked with about 4-5 different people so they are obviously generating enough business to have that many employees. I don't think they are a chop shop, I just think they screwed up and were not honest about it until I pushed them for more info.
The local shop says the ribbon cable was pinched which is causing the LCD to short out. To fix I have to replace the entire LCD screen again. Does anyone have any suggestions for who to send it to? The local AT&T store recommended a place called Digital Doc http://digitaldocrepair.com/. They appear to be a franchise with 6 different locations.
if you broke your screen.the best option is Samsung USA.its under 200 and you still have full warranty.who knows u might get lucky and they repair it free.don't use these stupid small repair shops.they are lookin to rip people off.
I just thought I would throw in my two cents here and suggest you buy the digitizer/lcd/frame as a single assembly on eBay and then do the repair yourself. I've repaired many Samsung phones and I've found that taking the phone apart is very easy but it's really a pain to replace just the digitizer or just the LCD without getting any dust or smudges between them. On top of that you have to make sure the seal is damned near perfect or you'll accumulate dust in there over time. It's better to buy that as a single unit IMHO.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+IV+Teardown/13947/1
If you search eBay for "Galaxy S4 LCD Frame" a respectable price is in the range of $180 - $200. Be sure to read the description and not rely only on the pictures!
Let me translate for you. You sent your phone to Jim Bob who knows a little about Facebook. Jim Bob also watches Youtube and saw where you can replace the glass on your phone and says to himself "Hey I can do that, and make money doing it. I know how to make a facebook page to advertise". Unfortunately pulling the glass from the LCD is a lot harder than it looks on Youtube. No one showed where those tutorials are using a phone where it was already done once and the second time is much easier since the original adhesive has been removed. So JB screwed it up while doing it in his basement while eating Cheetos. The easy fix was just to buy a new LCD with digitizer that doesn't have your imei number on it. So JB tried to remove your sticker and put it on the new frame but no one told him they use a tamper proof material and adhesive that makes sure it's obvious when it has been removed. And now you have it back.
Unless they specifically told you that certain parts wouldn't be removed, or if removed would only be replaced with OEM parts, I can't see that you have any legit legal grounds to complain, other than poor workmanship.
Sorry for your luck.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I had a busted SIM Card reader on my old Galaxy S2Skyrocket.
I took it to http://www.bobknowsphones.com/ and they quoted me 60 to replace it. Brought it in and left in 15 minutes with a replaced sim card and a functioning phone.
They are local in Atlanta but get great recommendations and I think they have mail in service for those not local.
Good luck on your repairs.
navalynt said:
I just thought I would throw in my two cents here and suggest you buy the digitizer/lcd/frame as a single assembly on eBay and then do the repair yourself. I've repaired many Samsung phones and I've found that taking the phone apart is very easy but it's really a pain to replace just the digitizer or just the LCD without getting any dust or smudges between them. On top of that you have to make sure the seal is damned near perfect or you'll accumulate dust in there over time. It's better to buy that as a single unit IMHO.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+IV+Teardown/13947/1
If you search eBay for "Galaxy S4 LCD Frame" a respectable price is in the range of $180 - $200. Be sure to read the description and not rely only on the pictures!
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This is actually what I am doing. I purchased a frame assembly from Amazon actually (though the seller is on eBay as well and has a 99.5% rating with other 7200 feedbacks) but I will not be doing the work myself. I will have the local repair shop do the work. I am a Sys Admin by trade and have no problems digging in and doing the work myself but considering the phone is so new I would rather have them do it and have the work warrantied. That way if they screw it up it is on them.
BigMc71 said:
Let me translate for you. You sent your phone to Jim Bob who knows a little about Facebook. Jim Bob also watches Youtube and saw where you can replace the glass on your phone and says to himself "Hey I can do that, and make money doing it. I know how to make a facebook page to advertise". Unfortunately pulling the glass from the LCD is a lot harder than it looks on Youtube. No one showed where those tutorials are using a phone where it was already done once and the second time is much easier since the original adhesive has been removed. So JB screwed it up while doing it in his basement while eating Cheetos. The easy fix was just to buy a new LCD with digitizer that doesn't have your imei number on it. So JB tried to remove your sticker and put it on the new frame but no one told him they use a tamper proof material and adhesive that makes sure it's obvious when it has been removed. And now you have it back.
Unless they specifically told you that certain parts wouldn't be removed, or if removed would only be replaced with OEM parts, I can't see that you have any legit legal grounds to complain, other than poor workmanship.
Sorry for your luck.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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I hear what you are saying but I don't think this is an accurate description of the company I went with. While I am not defending them, they are definitely not some newb in his mom's basement thinking he can do something because he saw it on youtube. The company has two retail locations with about 5-7 employees. They have been in business for over a year and expanded from 400sq ft office to an 1100 sq ft office in a small time frame to deal with all the work they are getting. All of this info I found via a local paper who did a story on them, not from their facebook page. All this information lead me to believe they were actually capable. I do believe that their tech has a video posted on XDA of him removing the front glass on a S4, being one of the firsts to do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbJEpe79PDQ
I did my research. More than just facebook. I think they are a capable repair shop but they are not exactly up front about what they are doing and open with their communication when the eff up. Either way I will never use them again.
This is why I went the Samsung route and gave them $200 bucks, flat. They fixed it in under a week and shipped to and from with 2 day shipping. Professional and perfect condition. They replaced what seems the mid-frame, AMOLED, and digitizer. No dust, scratches, or bubbles.
But they upgraded me to MF3 :crying:
pejhod said:
This is why I went the Samsung route and gave them $200 bucks, flat. They fixed it in under a week and shipped to and from with 2 day shipping. Professional and perfect condition. They replaced what seems the mid-frame, AMOLED, and digitizer. No dust, scratches, or bubbles.
But they upgraded me to MF3 :crying:
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You know this sounds stupid, but it never occurred to me to send it to Samsung. Even when I called AT&T to ask them where I should send it to they never suggested Samsung. Now I feel really stupid. It is my wife's phone and she doesn't root/custom rom so she would care less about the firmware. Pretty effing stupid.
How did you set that up, did you just call 1-888-987-HELP or did you go to a samsung retail location?
pejhod said:
This is why I went the Samsung route and gave them $200 bucks, flat. They fixed it in under a week and shipped to and from with 2 day shipping. Professional and perfect condition. They replaced what seems the mid-frame, AMOLED, and digitizer. No dust, scratches, or bubbles.
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berdo said:
You know this sounds stupid, but it never occurred to me to send it to Samsung. Even when I called AT&T to ask them where I should send it to they never suggested Samsung. Now I feel really stupid. It is my wife's phone and she doesn't root/custom rom so she would care less about the firmware. Pretty effing stupid.
How did you set that up, did you just call 1-888-987-HELP or did you go to a samsung retail location?
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@berdo I called Samsung directly and they gave me the number. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore or I would share it with you. I did want to share how great my experience with Sammy was.
My experience is identical to @pejhod 's. Check around for alternative companies to fix, but all were charging in excess of $250. Finally called Samsung (repair facility in Arlington,TX. They sent me a shipping label, said 5-7 days to repair and 2 days to ship back. They replaced the screen and bezel and shipped it back in a day. All for a flat $200. Very professional and very true to their word. I hope I never damage my screen again, but if so, Samsung is the ONLY route I'd go. I was super impressed by the whole experience.
Get a SquareTrade warranty $6 buck a month and $100 deductible
peaster3 said:
@berdo I called Samsung directly and they gave me the number. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore or I would share it with you. I did want to share how great my experience with Sammy was.
My experience is identical to @pejhod 's. Check around for alternative companies to fix, but all were charging in excess of $250. Finally called Samsung (repair facility in Arlington,TX. They sent me a shipping label, said 5-7 days to repair and 2 days to ship back. They replaced the screen and bezel and shipped it back in a day. All for a flat $200. Very professional and very true to their word. I hope I never damage my screen again, but if so, Samsung is the ONLY route I'd go. I was super impressed by the whole experience.
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...I would hope so.....they made the phone lol
Yeah, I never believed in buying insurance floaters of any kind for my cell phones and that may just change after the GS4. Phones just keep getting thinner and easier to crack. This one is the easiest of all phones I've ever owned. Wouldn't be a bad idea, but I didn't have it to start with.
But yeah, Samsung is the quickest, easiest, and most professional. Obviously it hurt to pay the $200, sure wasn't a pleasure handing over my card information, but you gotta do what you gotta do. They even return it is this very cool box that almost has the phone floating between two pieces of paper. Haha. Idk but I thought it was cool. (I guess for $200 they better mail it back in a somewhat decent packaging.)
Mine was sent to Plano, TX.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
Well after reading about the Samsung experience I am really pissed at myself. Live and learn. I would have gladly paid $200 to have samsung fix the phone. However, in the long run the phone is fixed, looks great, and is working great so far. I guess only time will tell if the replacement part will work. But if there are issues again I will be going directly to Samsung.
In the end, RockIt Repair was true to their word that they stand by their work. While I had every issue under the sun, they acknowledged those issues and took responsibility for them. They refunded the original cost of of the repair and reimbursed me for the cost difference in having to buy a new lcd assembly. So in the end I did not have to pay anything out of pocket to get it fixed. Though after 4 weeks and numerous amounts of hours spent dealing with this does not equal $250, I will take it.
Lesson learned.
Just heard back from Customer Loyalty and they won't fix it without the 400 dollars. This, they said, was after they lowered the cost of fixing it. So i told them if they are refusing to fix their faulty product to just send it back to me so I can use it as a paperweight, and I'll notify all the appropriate forums, websites, and reviews on Amazon, Newegg, XDA, Zentalk, and warn family and my entire department about using ASUS for anything. I'll be looking elsewhere for all my PC hardware now, also. Apparently my favorite company is now being run by people that have no care for product quality and customer loyalty. Sorry, everyone. I was hoping ASUS would come clean and fix their problem. Clearly I was wrong. I'll be sending everyone over to Razer from now on for gaming phones.
DO NOT buy this phone if you care about customer service or if you have ever needed a phone fixed. They will break the phone more than it was broken when you sent it in and then claim you broke the phone through some fake 'impact damage' and refuse to acknowledge there are multiple customers reporting the same defective screens. Somehow we're all breaking the OLED underneath the glass without damaging the glass. This makes me extremely sad and very upset. I loved that phone...
Quick recap for folks. This is the second screen on this phone already. The first screen broke in the same manner and ASUS covered it. A month after getting the phone back the OLED broke in the same manner. ASUS sent pics to me showing the damage and claiming it was impact damage. Issues with that are I babied the phone, never dropped it, never hit it on anything, and it had the ASUS case on it the entire time I had bought from ASUS. The 'impact damage' spots they tried stating are the cause are extremely small blemishes in the metal, certainly not from impact damage and most certainly not something that could break your OLED without damaging the Gorilla Glass.
I've let all mt friends and family know to stop business with ASUS, and the department I work for has notified my coworkers. Good job losing over 2000 customers, ASUS. I'm headed off to buy the Razer Phone 2 right now. I'd rather pay 500 for a brand new gaming phone from a company that treats their customers better than pay 400 dollars for a 3rd screen that will most likely break again and once again won't be covered.
Original post on Zentalk here:
https://www.asus.com/zentalk/ww/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=272455&page=1#pid1125887
My Newegg Review (which has been updated with this information, it just is not showing yet):
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16875220085
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...f=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07GS272K7
XDA thread I posted in:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/rog-phone/how-to/consumer-alert-asus-service-center-t3925942/page2
I'm headed over to Twitter now to alert users there. This is absurd. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around it.