In case anyone is interested, I finally received my replacement phone on 12/24. Shipping in both directions had been delayed by weather and I even had to pick the phone up from the FedEx depot in person just to get the package.
Great support folks at BrightStar, who were very courteous, friendly, and sympathetic. I'd still like to see their policies amended to include advance-RMA in their available remedies for the occasional bad product that comes off the line. -Clint On Dec 12, 7:41 pm, Clint Fisher <clintonefis...@gmail.com> wrote: > Boy what a rollercoaster ride this has been... The phone wasn't dead- > on-arrival, rather it was dead-shortly-after-arrival. Anyone else > have this happen? > > Got the Dev Phone yesterday morning (I think I did the overnight > shipping option), turned it on, and tried to get the AT&T APN > working. I had it plugged into my desktop with the USB cable, > charging. Looked away for a few minutes, and it was dead. Completely > unresponsive. Popped the battery, and still dead. Checked 4v on the > battery, - and, the battery was over 90%. > > So I called BrightStarCorp, initiated and RMA, and then, as a last- > ditch move to see if it was just the battery, I took it to my > neighborhood TMobile store (who may win my business) and the guy was > nice enough to test-swap batteries. Much to my surprise, the phone > worked again. And then worked again with my own battery back in it! > Sweet! > > I was happy. Took it back & proceeded to get the ATT APN working, > etc. (sidenote: during this time, the phone rebooted a couple times > on its own - just sitting there) > > So I began loading apps, etc. and began to develop a bond with it. > Left it off, plugged into my USB overnight to charge it, and in the > morning, the green charge light was on, but the phone was completely > unresponsive. Couldn't reset by pressing home+power, etc.. Nothing. > But, the green light stayed on. Popped the battery, and the light > went off, but the phone never came back. > > TMoble folks did the test swap again (gotta love 'em), but to no > avail. My battery worked in their phones, but none of their G1 > batteries worked in mine. The phone is now a brick. A very expensive > brick. > > So I emailed/called BrightStarCorp again today and tried to get the > RMA going again. Their support people were nothing but friendly, but > their "RMA person" had already left for the weekend. 2:30 my time. > 4:30 their time. > > I'm not a happy camper. I wanted to at least get an address & RMA# > before the weekend so I could get it to UPS and on the way. No such > luck. Nobody could do an RMA except their RMA person. > > I asked if I could do an "Advance RMA", giving my CC# and an order as > collateral for the dead phone. No such luck. BrightStar's people > were all very courteous and sympathetic, but I still have a brick. > > I was told that it will be 1-2 weeks for a replacement. Add that to > this lost weekend (when it could have been in-transit), and it could > very well be next year before I get a replacement. The Grinch may > have stolen my Christmas. > > So ya, I'm not too pleased with the BrightStar's RMA policies at all, > but I'm apparently at their mercy, (unless of course I want to bail on > the whole idea and file a claim with the credit-card company - dunno > if/how that would go, and I don't like playing that game, but the > turnaround time and lost opportunity here is agonizing). > > My guess is that BrightStarCorp is paranoid about getting failed- > firmware-update bricks, but this little guy died right there on my > desk, doing nothing but charging. That I have to wait two or more > weeks to get a replacement is very disheartening. We'll see what the > "RMA Person" says on Monday. I haven't been encouraged much by > people's stories of their orders taking three days just to process > either. > > I wonder if BrightStar is just swamped, or if they're just too lean of > a company for the kind of customer service most of us are used to. > > Oh well. We'll see. Back to the emulator with me. > > If anyone else runs into this issue, please reply - I'd like to > compare experiences. > > -Clint --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
