[MrChainsaw]

I hope I can help clear things up a little. (I've been doing this over 9 yrs.) Sprint knows when you didn't buy the phone from a Sprint corporate store very quickly. If you bought it over the phone or web directly from Sprint, it takes another minute or two, but they can find it. Other than that, they can't tell which 3rd party you got it from, they just know you got it 3rd party. Sprint Service and Repair stores will cover the manufacturer's warranty for you within the first year. If you are having problems within the first 30 days, we send you back to the 3rd party for you to get another BRAND NEW phone. Any other time within the first year, Sprint will fix or replace the phone (90% of the time reconditioned) at no cost. KEEP IN MIND THAT IT IS AN EXTENSION OF THE MANUFACTURER'S WARRANTY. So mechanical and electrical failure only. Any kind of physical damage will be referred to Asurion with the deductible. Once you've had it for a year, you're done. Unless, you have TEP. Then, the services continue to be free for as long as that phone is on your account. I work in one of the busiest Sprint owned S&R centers in the country and the Hero NEVER comes in for issues. Like Bradart said, I sell a ton of these phones because I have one and I love it. Almost every single time someone comes in with a "messed up" Hero, it's because they have unreasonable expectations of what it's supposed to do. I have not ever heard of screen going bad on a Hero. So I would definitely agree that you are just unlucky and this is NOT proof of a badly built phone. And BTW, hahahahah, we are as addicted to these forums as you are, so posting advice on how to trick us usually doesn't do a whole lot