I apologize in advance for the length of this tale. But, I have to share my experience today with VZW support.
Like some who have posted on this wonderful site, the little piece of black rubber popped off of my joystick and is lost. I don't know when it happened & can't find it. Well, because this phone is only 7 months old, still under manufacturer's warranty, I called VZW to see if they had any little rubber pieces they could send me. Long story shortened, they tech ofcourse said "no", we'll just have to send you a refurbished replacement AT NO CHARGE because that shouldn't happen to a phone in warranty.
But before shipping it, he suggested just stopping by the local VZW store and ask the techs to pull a DOA 6700, pop off the rubber, and let them replace it in the store, if that's all i needed. "Cool", i thought. And I asked him to put an update in my file so the store techs knew what he was advising me to do.
I went to the store, told the tech what was up. She checked my account & sure enough the note was there. She checked in the back & they didn't have any DOA 6700s. For the sake of argument, she tried to pop the rubber piece off of a BRAND NEW 6700 and it would even come off! LOL! So, she says, "Well, i guess we'll just have to do the refurb replacement. We don't have any here. So, I'll call Customer Support to do the order."
Jumping ahead, the 3rd-tier tech that she called REFUSED to send me a refurb, as the earlier tech had noted on my account!!!! This "woman" told me it didn't matter what the other tech had noted and that this was an insurance claim because I had "Damaged" my phone. I told her that my phone was is perfect working order, had experienced no peril, and was only missing the rubber piece due to an apparent manufacturing issue. I just wanted the rubber piece to be put on by THEM to keep my warranty in tact.
I ended up on the phone with the 3rd level tech & a Customer Svc rep. They kept putting me on hold to obviously agree on their story. Nonetheless, they refused to honor the note on the file, and said my only recourse was to file the $50 claim with Assurion for my "damaged" phone. I ended the call in frustration . . . and called back to speak with a Customer Svc SUPERVISOR.
This lady told me that i had 2 choices: 1.) Pay the insurance deductible; or 2.) Live with the missing piece of rubber. As you can imagine, i was furious at this point!!! But, i refused to lessen myself & speak in anger. So, I calmed down and simply asked her what she would expect as a customer in my place. At first she said she's just pay the deductible & move on. Then after I pressed her on it: SHE SAID SHE WOULD MAKE THE EXCEPTIONS TO SEND ME THE REFURB!!!!! And noted my account to say that all future issues with this particular phone would have to be insurance claims. Whatever! LOL!
I said a whole lot, just to say BE PERSISTENT with VZW support when they try to push you around!!! There was NO WAY i was going to pay $50 for a piece of rubber. Nor was i going to order a replacement piece of rubber from the guy listed in other posts and risk voiding my warranty. And glueing a freaking rhinestone to it to "bling it out" was absolutely a joke! LOL!
Thank you for reading my rant. I just needed to vent in a place where I KNOW people have had similar issues! I guess i gotta reflash my phone to the stock VZW rom before I send it back in 10 business days!
