My SAGA with VZW support & my missing rubber piece

[aamon17]

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!

[TonyDiv]

Wow, I wish I had that much free time on my hands.

[darthtater1968]

Good for You!! As much as I like Verizon and it service, I find that they are difficult to deal with at times.

[aamon17]

Originally Posted by TonyDiv

Wow, I wish I had that much free time on my hands.

What are you talking about?

[tpal]

I had the same issue nearly a year ago. I just told them I had lost all the joy in my joystick and I needed to get it back. They sent me some refurbed joy.

Seems if you get an anal retent that it is better to say OK and try again a little later. My experience has been that for the most part the VZW folks are reasonable and just need to feel that you love what they do for you. Since most of the time someone is ranting, they appreciate a break and a few strokes.

Tom

[biglcny]

Make SURE you check EVERYTHING on your refurb.

I have had six or seven of them. My original froze alot. They sent me a refurb. Then when one day I was changing data plans and the tech was trying to provision a plan that was like 20 megs for 10 dollars that he didn't know was an expeired promotional plan. The tech had me repeatedly pull the battery and dial *228 as he fuddled about. I kept getting error code 37 misc mobile ip error and the phone would not connect at all. I eventually said screw it and got the unlimited data plan. It still wouldn't provision so we ended the call with him telling me a higher rep would contact me. (It was after 9pm)

Anyway that phone was dead the next morning. They sent me another after that. I still got the error. some guy real high up named keith called me and worked on it. He joked that he kicked the server. The problem went away but still get the stupid error like once every few days and it goes away.

Anyway I was good for a while... but it I got annoyed with the error still being intermittent. So I called one day and the the tech (Keith) commented in my account that it might be an equipment problem so they sent me another which had a loose headphone port. So the sent me another... that had a deep scratch in the screen that the stylus would catch on.

Know their rules... I kept telling them how they kept sending me garbage phones and they kept apologizing and i begged for a new phone. They rep even asked the supervisor when i called about the headphone port, but the supervisor denied the request.

You see, their rule is that if they send you two screwed phones within like 60 days or something.. you get a BRAND NEW phone. I found the bad headphone port like a day after I got that phone and the next one they sent had the scratch on the screen... so when I called to activate the phone, I called em on their own rule and she asked the supervisor and they said yes!

Check that phone over, and win them over with kindness even though your bending over and grabbing your ankles every time you get on the phone with them.

[mrcharliebrown]

Does anyone know where to buy one of those rubber pieces. My phone is now out of warranty and I don't want to go the insurance route and pay the $50 and get a questionable replacement phone which you guys have experienced. Verizon tech support is a hit and miss for me, sometimes you get a tech what will bend over backwards to make you happy, and sometimes there offended that your not hugging your ankles!

[Dardo]

if you loose it dont worry..

just get some of the GLUE GELs around like
SUPERGLUE loctite..put lil bit at time on it...then more till its feels ok..

after each drop let it dry...

easy

[luv2chill]

Apparently someone is selling new rubbers for your joystick (heh):

http://www.ppcgeeks.com/awesome-foun...ck+rubber.html

[jbonilla]

After my black rubber thing fell out, instead of gluing it back on, I decided to try to find an alternative since it was worn down anyway. My friend has a new phone and his was about a millimeter above the joystick, and my had worn down to being level with the joystick. Anyway, I ended up cutting up one of the foam spacers that come with DVD and CD 50/100 packs. I used a 9-volt battery to make an impression and just cut it out. It looks a little ghetto as it started out white and is a little grubby gray now though. However, the nice thing is that it's hardly worn down at all in 8 months and is a little softer than the original -- and the wear that it does have actually has rounded it out a bit.

I was looking at other possible replacements and I think the buttons from this RCA remote would be perfect. I've compared my phone to it in the store and the size looks pretty close. It's fairly soft and I would think durable since it was meant to be pushed on a lot. I keep debating buying it but it's like $18 in the stores and that's a lot to pay for something to just end up cutting it up. But now that I look, there's a cheaper version online ($7-$8 ) so I might try it. Looks like you could get 11 replacement buttons out of it.

RCA RCR460

http://home.rca.com/rcahome/images/RCR460_hires.jpg