HTC Technical Customer Service...read

ToxicToastKatz · #1 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 07:36 PM

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to pass this along; You can take it for a grain of salt, but I came away impressed.

I decided to make a call to HTC (the number is on their page, if you go to Support and "Hotline" the number is there) to discuss a few of the hardware/software issues that I, as well as others on the board have been experiencing. First off, my wait time was about 3 minutes. Very short, so that was a good start.

I spoke to a representative named Jonathan (a woman). The topics I asked about:

1. Why Gmail messages do not show up in the "People" application under the contact's card who sent the email.
2. Some questions that I had about managing memory and the best way to exit a program.
3. The clock widget displaying incorrect time, and the new issue that appeared with the clock today (possibly brought about by some DST error).
4. What happens when you "Clear Data" from the RAM using the "Manage Application" menu.

I began the conversation, which lasted about 40 minutes, asking about the Gmail issue (#1) as that was my biggest query, but added on the others as the conversation went on. She did not know exactly what I was talking about, as she hadn't heard that complaint before. Instead of just saying, "uhhhh, yea, I don't know what to say" or try to spout off some half-***** solution only to get me off the phone, she actually took the time to look in some of their documentation, and when coming up empty, grabbed a new phone, set it up and tried to replicate the issue. At no point in our conversation did she sound like she was saying stuff just to "get by" or end the call. She actually sounded as if she cared. I was thoroughly impressed, as I've called Sprint a few times on technical issues (and I'm not bashing Sprint at all, because I've called other companies tech groups and gotten similar results) and got the "I'm-really-uncomfortable-because-I-don't-have-an-answer-so-I'm-going-to-make-one-up" routine, but not this time. The other thing that impressed me was that with each issue I mentioned, she in no way played dumb that the issue existing. She knew exactly what I was talking about each time (with the exception of the Gmail issue which she hadn't heard yet).

Granted, I'll admit, MAYBE a little more Beta testing should have went into the hardware/software to prevent so many issues popping up, but they are aware the issues exist and are working to remedy them. She actually told me they've gotten a lot of responses to a LOT of issues with the phone's software and hardware, but she assured me that they are working closely with Sprint's Engineers to address them all. Because there are so many issues, she hinted that they most likely won't be released as "hot-fixes" but most likely as the OS update. She did mention 1.6, so it does sound like it's coming. I didn't even bother asking the timeframe, as I didn't want to ruin the pleasant conversation I was having by forcing her hand to deliver the "BS" response that I would have gotten.

As a summary, some of the issues that she said they are aware of:

1. Clock widget not working properly.
2. Messaging App keeping phone awake.
3. Something with Visual Voicemail.
4. The Gmail issue I've pointed out.
5. The issue with the Calendar not properly placing appointments on the correct day (birthdays a day early, all day events a day early)
6. The 3.5mm headphone jack outputting mono instead of stereo.
7. Dust under the screen.

Pretty much any issue you've seen on this board or any other, they seem to be aware of and are already working on resolutions.

Her answers to my issues:

1. She replicated what I was seeing. She couldn't get Gmail to show up. She identified it as the fact that Gmail had not been integrated into the "People" app. The good thing is that it's not a defective phone, the bad thing is that it's not integrated. She had felt that it should have been integrated, as it IS a GOOGLE phone, but was most likely overlooked during development. She couldn't say for sure, but she had a feeling it would be integrated in a future update.
2. As we've seen displayed 100 times on this board, Android manages memory itself. She did state that using the back arrow to leave programs will perform the same thing as "closing it down", otherwise, it will remain active in the background using memory. With the built in memory management, you'll never completely lock your phone, but it may slow it down. Personally, I've been using the back button to get out of programs for the past 2 days (following intolerable lag on Friday) and my device is as snappy as it was when I first turned it on.
3. They are aware and it will be fixed in an update.
4. FYI, clearing cache would be removing temp files and just kind of cleaning up (housecleaning)....clearing data (both functions found in the "Managing Applications" menu, blows out all info completely. I was going to clear the data on my Mail app (using 34.8mb) and she tried it on her demo device....not a good thing! It wipes all account info and settings from the program.

Again, overall, a very pleasant experience. Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping this helps some people who are getting frustrated with the device. I hung up the phone with the feeling that HTC is determined to make this device a smashing success.

ObsoleteE · #2 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 07:48 PM

Its nice to know that HTC is working on all of our issues, thanks for posting.

jchill · #3 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 08:10 PM

Yes it is nice to know that someone cares about the customer!! Nice post thanks

ToxicToastKatz · #4 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 09:33 PM

hahaha, on the other hand...I'm currently on the phone with Sprint Advanced Technical Support......a COMPLETE 180! The rep is very friendly, but her knowledge only extends to reading off of a "known issues list" of which she's reading verbatim whatever has been sent through to them on this list. The funny thing is, the list sounds like something that was created by a tech rep lurking on the boards and skimming the threads and only writing down the bare-bones details. WOW! Absolutely clueless.

princem131 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 11:56 PM

Sounds great thats what I love about HTC. Can't wait for the update. Great post brosef

heydjbobby74 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToxicToastKatz

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to pass this along; You can take it for a grain of salt, but I came away impressed.

I decided to make a call to HTC (the number is on their page, if you go to Support and "Hotline" the number is there) to discuss a few of the hardware/software issues that I, as well as others on the board have been experiencing. First off, my wait time was about 3 minutes. Very short, so that was a good start.

I spoke to a representative named Jonathan (a woman). The topics I asked about:

1. Why Gmail messages do not show up in the "People" application under the contact's card who sent the email.
2. Some questions that I had about managing memory and the best way to exit a program.
3. The clock widget displaying incorrect time, and the new issue that appeared with the clock today (possibly brought about by some DST error).
4. What happens when you "Clear Data" from the RAM using the "Manage Application" menu.

I began the conversation, which lasted about 40 minutes, asking about the Gmail issue (#1) as that was my biggest query, but added on the others as the conversation went on. She did not know exactly what I was talking about, as she hadn't heard that complaint before. Instead of just saying, "uhhhh, yea, I don't know what to say" or try to spout off some half-***** solution only to get me off the phone, she actually took the time to look in some of their documentation, and when coming up empty, grabbed a new phone, set it up and tried to replicate the issue. At no point in our conversation did she sound like she was saying stuff just to "get by" or end the call. She actually sounded as if she cared. I was thoroughly impressed, as I've called Sprint a few times on technical issues (and I'm not bashing Sprint at all, because I've called other companies tech groups and gotten similar results) and got the "I'm-really-uncomfortable-because-I-don't-have-an-answer-so-I'm-going-to-make-one-up" routine, but not this time. The other thing that impressed me was that with each issue I mentioned, she in no way played dumb that the issue existing. She knew exactly what I was talking about each time (with the exception of the Gmail issue which she hadn't heard yet).

Granted, I'll admit, MAYBE a little more Beta testing should have went into the hardware/software to prevent so many issues popping up, but they are aware the issues exist and are working to remedy them. She actually told me they've gotten a lot of responses to a LOT of issues with the phone's software and hardware, but she assured me that they are working closely with Sprint's Engineers to address them all. Because there are so many issues, she hinted that they most likely won't be released as "hot-fixes" but most likely as the OS update. She did mention 1.6, so it does sound like it's coming. I didn't even bother asking the timeframe, as I didn't want to ruin the pleasant conversation I was having by forcing her hand to deliver the "BS" response that I would have gotten.

As a summary, some of the issues that she said they are aware of:

1. Clock widget not working properly.
2. Messaging App keeping phone awake.
3. Something with Visual Voicemail.
4. The Gmail issue I've pointed out.
5. The issue with the Calendar not properly placing appointments on the correct day (birthdays a day early, all day events a day early)
6. The 3.5mm headphone jack outputting mono instead of stereo.
7. Dust under the screen.

Pretty much any issue you've seen on this board or any other, they seem to be aware of and are already working on resolutions.

Her answers to my issues:

1. She replicated what I was seeing. She couldn't get Gmail to show up. She identified it as the fact that Gmail had not been integrated into the "People" app. The good thing is that it's not a defective phone, the bad thing is that it's not integrated. She had felt that it should have been integrated, as it IS a GOOGLE phone, but was most likely overlooked during development. She couldn't say for sure, but she had a feeling it would be integrated in a future update.
2. As we've seen displayed 100 times on this board, Android manages memory itself. She did state that using the back arrow to leave programs will perform the same thing as "closing it down", otherwise, it will remain active in the background using memory. With the built in memory management, you'll never completely lock your phone, but it may slow it down. Personally, I've been using the back button to get out of programs for the past 2 days (following intolerable lag on Friday) and my device is as snappy as it was when I first turned it on.
3. They are aware and it will be fixed in an update.
4. FYI, clearing cache would be removing temp files and just kind of cleaning up (housecleaning)....clearing data (both functions found in the "Managing Applications" menu, blows out all info completely. I was going to clear the data on my Mail app (using 34.8mb) and she tried it on her demo device....not a good thing! It wipes all account info and settings from the program.

Again, overall, a very pleasant experience. Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping this helps some people who are getting frustrated with the device. I hung up the phone with the feeling that HTC is determined to make this device a smashing success.

It's the little things like this that make me wonder why they don't let people like US test these phones in the market BEFORE they drop them to the public...? They should just come to this forum, offer this phone to the firs 50 people to take it, then let us test it out for a month. Then they could build a better device out of box... I know that sounds stupid, but maybe it could actually work???

Moreover, I have never had a BDA call with HTC. I feel they really do care about their products. I have had a few of tose same complaints you listed and she confirmed, so I can't wait for an update! Thanks for the info... +1

notrock · #7 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 11:36 AM

Good post. But I can't believe you asked HTC about 'managing memory and the best way to exit a program.' HTC didn't make the OS, Google did.. Why not get in touch with the android team http://developer.android.com/index.html http://code.google.com/android/ and ask them their reasoning for this ?
For some reason I bet only us former WM users are looking for a way to close a programs and desperately looking for a way to flash. I've never ever ever had any out of memory messages with the hero, the 3 weeks I've had it. Personally I'm more worried about running out of app storage and not even that much. Besides the SMS problem, lets just enjoy are phones.

ToxicToastKatz · #8 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notrock

Good post. But I can't believe you asked HTC about 'managing memory and the best way to exit a program.' HTC didn't make the OS, Google did.. Why not get in touch with the android team http://developer.android.com/index.html http://code.google.com/android/ and ask them their reasoning for this ?
For some reason I bet only us former WM users are looking for a way to close a programs and desperately looking for a way to flash. I've never ever ever had any out of memory messages with the hero, the 3 weeks I've had it. Personally I'm more worried about running out of app storage and not even that much. Besides the SMS problem, lets just enjoy are phones.

haha, yea, I know Google developed the OS, but she actually had a really nice knowlege of what was going on. She explained how Android works (as far as managing memory on it own....which I knew) and stated that while going "home" from an app is fine, it may remain snappier by "backing out" of programs.

I've experienced MAJOR lag (like 30 seconds for "People" to open) on Friday. Since then, I've been backing out of stuff, especially the Browser, and it's as snappy as the first time I turned it on.

Monkey Brawler · #9 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 12:04 PM

Thank you very much for this post, its good to know they are aware and working to resolve it, im ready for this thing to last a week on a charge :P

notrock · #10 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToxicToastKatz

haha, yea, I know Google developed the OS, but she actually had a really nice knowlege of what was going on. She explained how Android works (as far as managing memory on it own....which I knew) and stated that while going "home" from an app is fine, it may remain snappier by "backing out" of programs.

I've experienced MAJOR lag (like 30 seconds for "People" to open) on Friday. Since then, I've been backing out of stuff, especially the Browser, and it's as snappy as the first time I turned it on.

I notice some lag, when I jump into People or anything else as soon as I wake up my phone. Makes me think everything is connecting as soon as the phone wakes. In X1 area's this seems worse to me. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.