Vodafone customer service :(

nutcase

nutcase

nutcase

Soldato
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SX, unfortunately
My phone has been annoying me more and more recently. It's about 6 months old and it's a nokia N73. One of the zoom/volume buttons hasn't workd for ages, and it likes to randomly switch off.

So I took it into the vodafone shop, who gave me a courtesy phone, and sent mine off for warranty repair.

I get a nice text saying they've recieved it, then a few hours later saying its on its way back. Hmm, bit quick.

Picked it up today. Not repaired "Unfortunately one of our qualified technicians found traces of moisture inside the phone which has led to damage". And now the warranty is void

Buggered if I can remember when the phone has EVER been near anything damp.

So I stripped it down myself. Nothing to lose now there's no warranty.

And found there little markers. How on earth any "moisture" got past all the seals, castings etc. without leaving ANY trace anywhere else I do not know. Looks slightly gungy too. Flux residue perhaps? I don't know.

http://www.saabcentral.com/phpgallery/albums/Allsorts/phone2.jpg

What I do know is that it certainly had bugger all to do with the poorly soldered switch.

http://www.saabcentral.com/phpgallery/albums/Allsorts/phone1.jpg

The right-hand of the two switches towards the bottom of the pic wasn't attached at two of the pads. 30 seconds with a soldering iron and that's one problem solved.

Blatently obvious they didn't even look at that problem, just went hunting for an excuse to cop out of repairing it.

Will be sending them a politely worded email stating what I think. Been with vodafone for an uninterrupted 10 years.

Soon as this contract is up I'm off, unless they do something drastic.
 
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This is what I sent:

Today I recieved back my phone which was sent for repair to two faults: One of the zoom/volume buttons did not work, and the phone randomly switches itself off. SID Ref 1715613. However I was very disappointed to be told that the phone had not been repaired, and further the warranty had been declared void due to "moisture inside the phone which has led to damage", with a photo (which I was not allowed to keep the original of, despite it being adressed to myself) showing two vague smudges.

I know of no time that the phone has ever been exposed to anything bar normal atmospheric moisture, not even exposed to rain.

With the warranty void, I decided to view the "damage" myself and disassmbled the phone. To say I was suprised to find the area affected behind a casting, surrounded by an emi shield which makes contact all the way round, yet the residue has some substance to it which surely would be evident on its "path" into that area. Or is it residue from when the pcb was assembled, presumably within a reflow oven?

What further infuriated me was that there was no way at all this "moisture" could be responsible for the poorly soldered SMT switch of which two contacts were seperated from the pcb. Was this fault even looked for?

A few seconds with a soldering iron and I have fixed one of the faults myself. Not a particularly neat job, but effective. The switching off fault alas is out of my hands, as it would seem from searching the internet that the likely culprit is software.

I am not at all impressed by the "repair" service. I have been a vodafone customer uninterrupted since November 1998, pay as you go until I started this contract. It is sad to see that when I need customer service I am left disappointed.
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I fear they'll try and wangle their way out of anything because I waved a soldering iron at it.
 
I understand where you're coming from, but I doubt they will do much. (Worked for them for 2 years)

The repair centre gives its verdict and there is nothing they can do unless it is goodwill. In that sense they will have to pay out for a new phone, which is unlikely unless you spend a lot or are a business customer.

Do you not have insurance?

Also I'm not trying to be pedantic here, but do you know exactly where your phone is or what is near it 24/7 for 6 months? When you say that to customers it makes them think twice.

ON THE FLIP SIDE. Before I left, I did find it a growing trend and somehow inexplicably repairs would come back super fast with Moisture Damage slapped all over it, forcing an insurance claim or more fuss for us guys in the shop. PITA!

So.....it does indeed sound like the latter! All I can say is persist, the BEST way to complain is written letter believe me, phone calls and emails can be wiped away, written letters are taken VERY seriously and something WILL happen.
 
Nope, no insurance. Never lost or damaged a phone in 10 years, don't intend to start now :) For some reason I'm down as a business customer :confused: but it's only a basic contract and I only average about £30 a month total, so not a big fish in their eyes.

And yes, I do know where it's been since I got it. It always lives in a pocket without anything else in it, or sits on a flat surface etc. I try and look after it, as it's expensive! It's even still got its screen protective sheet on. A bit anal I know...

Thanks for the tip, will write them a proper letter :)
 
Vodafone are idiots, I left them almost two years ago due to the fact that they would only give me a refurbished phone. So after giving them one months written notice of my cancellation they continued to charge me for 4 months after the cancellation, it was extremely hard to get the money back as they claimed they didn't receive any cancellation letter. Due to my dad being quite meticulous about this sort of stuff I had a photocopy of my original letter with a date on it leaving them without a leg to stand on. Been with O2 for 2 years now and I couldn't be happier got a great package and a great phone. Considering you've been with them for 10 years that's shocking threatment to a loyal customer, I'd get rid!
 
Who repaired it? Vodafone or Nokia?

I can't imagine Vodafone repairing the phones. If they do, then you could go direct to Nokia in future. You won't get a courtesy phone but posting the phone to them is free.
 
i worked as a senior engineer for nokia for 2 years a while back... that is not a liquid damaged phone you just had a lazy arsed techie thats all...

dont do electronic engineering anymore but i still know what all those little bits and bobs are on that board :D (don't miss it tbh... all the interesting stuff gets chucked inside the chips these days, no cool stuff to troubleshoot if you know what i mean...)
 
frakker said:
How'd you get on with this in the end?

My k850i died today and I called them up. They're going to send me a jiffy bag to get it replaced and he said it would take at least a week to have a look at the handset and come back to me? No courtesy handset or anything offered! Rubbish!
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Take it to a Vodafone store they will lend you a courtesy phone then.
 
frakker said:
How'd you get on with this in the end?

My k850i died today and I called them up. They're going to send me a jiffy bag to get it replaced and he said it would take at least a week to have a look at the handset and come back to me? No courtesy handset or anything offered! Rubbish!
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Alas no response from the webform contact thing. Got a letter written, but need to go and buy an envelope.

Just not set up for old fashioned communication :D
 
Ironic really, as we use Vodafone for our work mobiles and their CS is beyond excellent, we don't send mobiles back for repair, they send us a new one and exchange it :) mind you we do spend best part of £7000 a month with them...
 
Software on the n73 defo needs updating if this hasn't been done. Mine used to freeze randomly for 60 secs and then just come back to life. Word of warning, the noia software updater thingy only works on XP, not Vista.
 
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