[Q] Hardware warranty voided by root? (screen stopped working!) - myTouch 3G Slide Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So my screen went out on me and they are sending me a new phone, if the screen won't come on at all, I am unable to unroot (some people may be able to do it all through ADB but I am not one of them, unfortunately).
My concern is, once they get this phone mailed back to them, are they going to fix the screen, see it's rooted, and then charge me the fee of like $250? If so, I'd rather just purchase a new phone outright then pay another couple hundred for this one...
Thanks.

Please see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=911283

Thanks! I sure hope this holds true.

Related

HTC warranty not being honoured.

Hi guys, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Last week I plugged my touch pro 2 in to charge. The phone was on and working fine, but the charging light would not come on.
So HTC collected my phone for repair...
Today I phoned to get the latest information and they want £160 to replace the motherboard or £11 to have the phone returned to be unrepaired. Apparently I have been running an illegal firmware and this has voided my warranty. I updated by firmware many times before settling on the one I was happy with, but it seems the one I settled with wasn't the official one. The guy quoted me SPL - 0.85.0-x.......... and said that it was a bit weird but that was why I had to pay.
So I told him that the firmware had been running fine for many months and I wanted to know the exact registry tweak that had broken the motherboard. Anyway I said I didnt accept that the firmware had anything to do with the hardware failure and would be refusing to pay.. I also gave them the sob story that I have had a new HTC phone every year for the past 7 years and have recommended many customers to them.
Where do I stand with this? I have threatened to go to the small claims court, but really just want my phone fixed for free as soon as possible.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated..
Andy
Honestly you asked for this. You are going to have to pay for the repair. You sent in a phone with a cracked ROM and expect them to fix anything? No way in hell will they do it for free.
when you say a cracked rom do you just mean a rom that is available on this forum?
I accept that it isn't an official rom. but it is unrelated to the issue of a phone not charging.
Unfortunately this is the norm... They can't prove your cooked ROM caused it, you can't prove it didn't. What they can prove is that you are not running the ROM they gave you and I'm sure somewhere in the T&C there's legalese about that voiding the warranty.
COULD someone write a program which interferes with charging? I'd bet so, people around here write some amazing stuff. This is not to make any accusations that someone has written any malicious code, simply that it COULD likely be done, therefore I seriously doubt you have much recourse. You could get lucky, but I suspect you're just hosed.. Sucks.
And in reality, you could send the phone in for ANY failure and they discover such things and void the warranty.
I guess you could buy extra/larger batteries and charge them in a charger and swap them as they die. Not the best solution, but at least you don't have to shell out lots of money.
well i've just sent a very professional email to customer services.
tweiss 3, you have a very negative outlook. HTC market their phones on being individual, and indeed this is why so many of us buy them over Iphones. However I took the individuality to the limit by installing a custom firmware. I am extremely confident that a ROM from this forum and a respected chef at that, would not include a registry hack that has any effect upon the charging system of the phone. And have asked them for the evidence that this is the cause of the hardware malfunction.
Positive thinking goes along way as well I feel.
Season's greetings to all of you.
Take them to court. The whole thing rediculous. Depending on your country this might actually be illegal.
I lawyered up when they tried to pull this on me, and guess who got his phone back fixed for free?
Its not that i'm negative, but there are 2 things everyone should know about warranty electronic work.
1) Always go back to stock. Will this cause you to loose all your data and settings, yes, but that leads me into step 2.
2) It is never a guarantee to come back with the settings or OS the way you sent it out. In fact, most companies have a policy of the first step being just reflash/reinstall the OS to stock default out of the box settings to see if that fixes the problems. So knowing this, spend the few extra minutes to reflash back to stock.
That being said, you could possibly win in a court to get it warrantied, but you are only going to screw yourself out of a lot of money and time. HTC knows this and will let you waste it if you really feel the need to. Their warranties are written very well, with a lot of fine print. Also most of them say "Limited" meaning almost they have all the discretion the care to use.
I agree with tweiss3. You can't send HTC a phone with a modified ROM and expect them to fix it. I'm sure these SOB's will do anything possible to get out of fixing your phone. Once they saw that you had a different SPL that was the red flag they needed to void the warranty. I hope you can convince them to fix your phone. Maybe if you were very persistent and demanded to speak to several managers, told them how you and your friends all own HTC product, inform them you will no longer buy their products and possibly take them to court, etc.
With all this in mind I'm even more hesitant to flash my phone to a modified ROM.
I kind of expect it, to be honest. As soon as they see anything not stock, they can void the warranty. Just like with a car with the manufacturer's warranty. You modify it and something breaks, and they will attempt to void the entire warranty regardless of if it caused the problem or not. When I send my car in for warranty work, I take all of the mods off and put it back to the stock parts (the air intake, etc).
It's a crappy deal, I know. But it's something you should plan for if you ever need warranty work done.
Either way, I hope everything works out for you
Its just a rule of thumb when it comes to warranty repair with electronics, always restore stock first!!! As soon as HTC discovered that your phone software was modified, it's no longer an issue to them of what caused the problem with your phone, it is now an issue of this phone is no longer under warranty because of the physical proof of the software tamperment! honestly it would be by the grace of god if they were to reinstate the warranty!
Unfortunatly due to the phone not powering on, or connecting via usb it would have been impossible to restore the firmware.
Thanks for the advice and well wishers.
Worse come to the worse is it worth repairing the phone for that price or is their anyone else who could replace the mainboard for cheaper than £160?
Dude, I totally know what you're going through. I hacked the ECU on my car, and now Mazda won't honor the warranty on my engine. It's total bull...I mean, I should be able to customize it how I want with no repercussions for myself. Why should I have to take the financial hit just because I put on a different software that controls the entire thing that may or may not have screwed it up?
If you couldn't tell, I was being sarcastic. You changed the core controlling software and didn't bother to change it back to the stock one. They have no responsibility to repair it for you.
andypa1 said:
Positive thinking goes along way as well I feel.
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I honestly wish you luck. Other readers seeking warranty repair should save themselves the risk and the effort and think positively about returning the phone to stock prior to sending it in.
Last week I plugged my touch pro 2 in to charge. The phone was on and working fine, but the charging light would not come on.
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Unfortunatly due to the phone not powering on, or connecting via usb it would have been impossible to restore the firmware.
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Eh? Obviously if you can't flash it back, you're stuck. Other posters might not have been as hard on you if they had known the phone couldn't be flashed.
Now you know what needs doing I bet you can find someone to do it for less. Worth a look.
Also worth asking for it back and re-flashing and returning to see how their records work.
Do they really have a database of products they don't want to work with or do they just look at the serial, look at the device and decide ? Only one way to find out ! For £11 it might be worth the gamble.
(Plz ignore the previous any post made here earlier, I think it was the equivalent of a pocket call )
What?
I don't think he ever said they fixed it without asking him. They gave him two options:
1) Fix it
2) Return it without repairing it
Unless I missed a post somewhere, he never chose to fix it. In fact, I don't even think he chose to take it back yet.
Just an update... They decided not to replace it for free, and still ask for £160.
You guys are quite right I should have restored it to factory before sending it back. It was sent to HTC running the official upgraded rom so I thought it would be fine, however I had forgotten that it would still be unlocked for unofficial roms and they would check this.
Even if I had remembered it wouldn't have been possible because the phone usb connection was not working..
dik23 thank you for your suggestion! Is there anyway of restoring the spl and all of the phone to stock settings without a usb connection? e.g. micro sd? or wifi?
I think i'm going to ask for the phone back for £11.. However the £11 fee is for an assesment, so there is a chance they will pick up. However I believe having the phone in perfect working condition would give me a stronger standing.
did you ever try a different USB cable? that would be my first thought after it broke....
also, do you have phone insurance? if so, is there any chance in the future it could be "stolen" under the insurance policy, and at worst you would get a working refurb?
I don't have phone insurance but it might be worth while getting it soon incase of any future loss ;-)
madman1520 said:
also, do you have phone insurance? if so, is there any chance in the future it could be "stolen" under the insurance policy, and at worst you would get a working refurb?
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andypa1 said:
I don't have phone insurance but it might be worth while getting it soon incase of any future loss ;-)
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Even setting morality aside (which you shouldn't), reporting a phone as having been stolen shortly after having a warranty claim rejected is maybe not the smartest move.
i cant believe people from the US are telling you youre in the wrong. idunno about other countries, including the one you're at, but here in the US warranties are made to protect the CONSUMER not the big company. "minidevil"s comparison about a car manufacturer having the right to void your warranty is so wrong its unbelievable. so called "shrinkwrap warranties" arent even legal here in the US. i had a yamaha R1 which i used as a track bike. regardless of what the warranty said or what the dealership try to claim the minute i lawyered up they fixed my bike. simply because they knew what they hoped i didnt. that warranty laws are here to protect me not them. i didnt have to prove that the racing mods didnt fry my clutch hub. THEY had to prove it did. and like it has been said, you cant prove one way or another. here in the US i couldve asked for costs of repairing my bike and court costs for suing them. they knew this and just fixed my bike. again, idunno the laws in your country. its VERY likely youll win in a court, though. but wether or not your court system allows you to also recoup loss monies for court costs from HTC, i dont know.. it may just be cheaper to pay for the repairs.

[Q] Insurance Claim Replacement Phone

It came in the mail today. It came with 2.3.3 pre-installed. It seems from searching on here that no one knows for certain if there will be a root method for this. What I've gathered from the minimal time I have spent searching on here today is I might not ever be able to root this thing. Best case is that someday maybe the devs might get a root method figured out, but no one knows if or when that will happen.
My old phone slipped out of my pocket and took a spill off my bicycle at about 20mph onto a paved road. It works fine, but the glass is shattered. I've had this phone for almost a year. I rooted it the day I brought it home from the store. I have spent a lot of time trying roms and kernels and it is set up just how I like it.
I am wondering if it would be worth it to switch out the glass from the replacement phone and put it on my old phone (I'm not sure if this is possible yet, I just thought of it) and send back the replacement phone with the broken glass from the old phone. Or should I wait and see if the devs release a rooting method? I have 14 days to decide before I get charged $500 for not returning the broken phone to the insurance company. What would you do?
I'm not positive, but I think you can still RUU a 2.3 evo back to the 3.70 software and use Unrevoked from there. Good luck
I would send back the insurance replacement (saving you $100) and take it to a repair center and have the screen fixed (which is only $35). Losing root SUCKS.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
What I've gathered from the minimal time I have spent searching on here today is I might not ever be able to root this thing.
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There WILL be, just give it a week or two.
I am wondering if it would be worth it to switch out the glass from the replacement phone and put it on my old phone (I'm not sure if this is possible yet, I just thought of it) and send back the replacement phone with the broken glass from the old phone.
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That's insurance fraud. Asurion will know what phone you send back, and when they find out, they could easily make you pay the full price for it.
MicrosoftBug said:
I would send back the insurance replacement (saving you $100) and take it to a repair center and have the screen fixed (which is only $35). Losing root SUCKS.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
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Exactly this!
resonance77 said:
I am wondering if it would be worth it to switch out the glass from the replacement phone and put it on my old phone (I'm not sure if this is possible yet, I just thought of it) and send back the replacement phone with the broken glass from the old phone.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that's definitely a criminal act. I wouldn't go that route.
Does everybody have some sort of amnesia that they don't remember when the 2.2 OTA came out and a lot of people lost root? Everybody freaked out, they had to wait a couple of weeks (gasp!) and people were all worried there would never be a root method. Bounties were placed, dozens of threads were started asking the same thing. That's what prompted my signature, in fact. There was even a sticky about it, not that those do any good.
Then, there was a root method.
Just be patient. It will happen, maybe the RUU thing will already work for you. Soon, you'll feel silly for being so quick to worry. Heed the words of Tom Petty.
I just got off the phone with the Sprint repair store. They told me that as of February, they no longer fix cracked screens for $35 if the screen has more that two 1 inch cracks. They also told me that once submitted, the insurance claim cannot be undone. I could have it fixed, but it would cost me the total for repair and the $100 for the insurance claim.
I don't remember when 2.2 came out and everyone lost root. I was still sporting my blackberry. This is my first Android phone and it came with 2.2.
I'm just going to return the broken phone and just wait it out. That is what I planned to do in the first place. The threads I read made it seem like there was a good chance that the ota 2.3 was unrootable.
resonance77 said:
I just got off the phone with the Sprint repair store. They told me that as of February, they no longer fix cracked screens for $35 if the screen has more that two 1 inch cracks. They also told me that once submitted, the insurance claim cannot be undone. I could have it fixed, but it would cost me the total for repair and the $100 for the insurance claim.
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Yup, that's the same experience I had. I went to TWO Sprint stores trying to replace my screen, no dice. So, I filed the claim with Asurion. Just got my phone today, and it's 2.3.3 with 4.22.651.2. Oh well, what can you do?
As everyone is saying, the root method will come out for this phone. Those with the newer phones (you, me, whoever else either just got a new Evo, did the OTA, or got an insurance replacement) will just have to patiently wait. I don't mind...it'll happen!
I was told by the insurance company that I COULD get the new phone, and have Sprint fix it with the new one.
Sprint was going to do it anyway, and replaced the screen on my wife's phone, but they didn't have any more EVO's in stock.
I have another question but didn't want to start another thread....
When I get my new phone, how can I tell if it's new, or refurbished?
When I get my new phone, how can I tell if it's new, or refurbished?
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New phones will ALWAYS come in the original box with all manuals and accessories. Refurbs will usually come in a plain box with no battery or anything. Refurbs also are required to have a small sticker under the battery with the date it was refurbed.
Also, to be sure, go to the dialer and hit ##786#. Scroll down to Refurbished Date. If it says N/A, then its new. If there is any date listed there, then its a refurb.

Out of warranty repairs.

1-888-987-4357 is Samsung's number.. I honestly believe in my own words I'd say this should be posted on every Samsung device section. I dropped my phone on concrete and it broke. I said I don't have a warranty for that my friend said you know Samsung fixes devices which are out of warranty and even ones that been soft bricked and hard bricked for the fee of parts and labor and shipping. My shipping is being done in airplane and will get from Ohio to Texas in 2 days as it said the 2 day delivery on the shipping label. I feel bad for people who are in my situation pay $400 for a phone or more then it break and the only thing you think you can do is buy a new device. Well luckily Samsung repairs them even out of warranty and returns them to factory just like it was when you got it. All you have to do is tell Samsung you'd like to pay for it and they will say OK. Instead of throwing your expensive device away and eating the cost of it invest into it a little more for the repairs and it will save you money especially new phone and service costs. Within a week youd have your phone back up and running. I just sent mine to Samsung out of warranty and I'll have it back in about 7 days they said is their average time to fix and ship back including your original shipping time.
One more thing I'd like to add is if your on the upgrade device program. Getting a phone fixed this way doesn't effect it. If you switch devices or buy a new one it will effect it and make it start all over again. Its also good for contracts cause if your paying that 24 month installment on a device to own it you don't want to be paying money for a device you can't use and I'm not sure if you would try to get another phone for yourself if that remaining balance on the phone comes due.
I don't know what the parts cost yet they don't tell you nothing until Samsung looks at it and then they contact you first before they charge you so you have a idea on what it is and so you can give the go ahead to fix it. Its like sending it in for a estimate first then once you get you can go from there. I think I just need a digitizer cause the phone will still boot and I can hear notifications coming in I just can't see anything on the screen and at the right side it flickers like 2 times then goes out without showing anything on the screen. Yes I could of bought one on from eBay but I'd rather have Samsung fix it cause there may be some other defect or broken part from the drop and I'm pretty sure they know how to put a phone together better than what I can do. I'd probably put it on backwards or something.
Well Samsunghas secret flashing repair tool I don't know about. They said they was able to fix it to get the screen on and flash the operating system all without touching anything on the phone.
Samsung may have flashed the phone via jtag.

Repair for cracked screen

Has anyone had a cracked screen repaired? Google told me they don't do that because it's not covered under warranty. I get that I have to pay for it, but they said they don't repair that and I have to find a 3rd party. A repair shop told me the screen isn't available to order.
I find it hard ti believe that if the screen breaks that's just the end of it.
Thanks
badwiring said:
Has anyone had a cracked screen repaired? Google told me they don't do that because it's not covered under warranty. I get that I have to pay for it, but they said they don't repair that and I have to find a 3rd party. A repair shop told me the screen isn't available to order.
I find it hard ti believe that if the screen breaks that's just the end of it.
Thanks
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As you can see from the attached tear down, this is a formidable task > https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Pixel+C+Teardown/62277
I did a quick Google search and got zero results for replacement screen.
Formidable for me. But they're Google, manufacturer of the Pixel C. That would seem to put them in a unique position to know how to repair it. And they probably know where to get the screens because they make those too.
But what's really odd is that they didn't know who does repairs. I'm not exaggerating or embellishing. After she put me on hold for a while she said she didn't know and that I should try looking around at the mall.
I have a message with their forum and maybe I'll try calling them again. It has to be a mistake.
This just happend to me 2 weeks ago when I managed to drop my beutiful Pixcel C and destroy the screen. I was furious with myself. Screen still worked, touch was fully responsive, but it looked bloody horrible. I tried searching online also to no avail. In the end I contacted the Play Store support team by phone (I'm in Ireland, but I think it was a UK call centre I was talking to). I explained my situation to the rep, and he put me on hold for a few mins while he talked to technical support. When he came back, he asked me to email him a few photos to show the damage (he mailed me his address and asked that I just reply with the photos). Following day I got an email from a different rep, who said they were going to RMA my damaged tablet, and that they would send me new one by following through on a link they sent me to the play store where I could order the replacement, but the offer was only available for 24 hours. In the email, it did specify that I would not be charged for the replacement tablet, but failure to return the old one would mean my card be charged in full for the cost of the replacement. Also, "if it was determined that the damaged tablet wasn't a warranty defect, my card could be charged up to the cost of the replacement device". I sent another email to clarify this point to say that this WAS NOT a warranty issue, and I fully expected to pay the repair costs, but not up to the full value of the tablet. If this was the case, I would just be better off ordering a replacement tablet from the store as normal, because if I send back the damaged tablet (which still worked fine), get billed the full cost of the replacement unit, I still end up with one tablet but have paid full price for the new one......whereas if I just bite the bullet & order from the store, I pay the same amount and still have the old tablet as a spare? They never responded to this mail, and as the time was running out on the 24hr window for the offer......wisely or not, I pressed the button to order the replacment unit from the link they provided.
Google shipped the new tablet within 24hrs complete with return prepaid UPS labels & instructions. They put a hold for €509 on my c/card, but have not actually taken the money. The damaged tablet was recieved back at their wharehouse in Germany today (according to the UPS tracking info), but I haven't heard anything yet from Google about how much they're going to bill me. If they charge me the full cost, I will NOT be a happy camper, but currently, I love how they took care of me.
I will update again when I hear anything back about what they'll end up charging me. Hope this info might help.
Colm.
Colm, the wording you mentioned is there to handle issues like accidental damage [which yours is] being passed off as a warranty damage. but the emails are in your favor in that you fully explained the situation and google offered an exchange knowing it was accidental damage. i don't think it was worded specifically to your situation , rather all standard situations. this is to protect google from the cases were owners basically try to pass off accidental damage as warranty damage , which you did not attempt to do. whenever i contact google on product issues i use chat so i have a transcript. but you used email so basically no difference. i think google is handling your situation as a goodwill item meaning they will gain more in just sending a replacement via having a very happy customer than they would by having you unhappy and maybe not wanting to ever purchase another product.
If that turns out to be the case, never mind happy, I'd be bloody ecstatic! But, I won't get my hopes up till I get some kind of confirmation from the big G. And yeah, in all my communications, I make it very clear this was not a warranty issue, and I fully expected to pay something for the repair to the damaged device.
I'll post again here if/when I hear back from G.
C.
Google replaced my device. They said they were sending a refurbished unit with no charger, and they sent me a new retail package (with charger.)
I've had some grief with this tablet, but replacing it after I dropped and broke it is pretty awesome. And even though I've been okay with the little Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 I had replaced it with, I couldn't wait to get this back. I don't care if it's a little bit heavier than something else. I love my ginormous Pixel C.
Did you guys by an extra warranty or was it included?
My screen just got smashed. How and who did you contact at google? Hopefully I get the same response.
Any suggestions for current (Oct 2018) screen replacement ?

Burn in

So I got my moto Z2 force 6mo ago at t-mobile rooted, TWRP, stock rom. No problems at till the screen has pretty bad burn in at the top and bottom of the screen. So Motorola is going to replace my phone with very little effort on my part trying to encourage them. Now I have a problem once I unroot and go back to stock and lock bootloader there's this software change screen. My question is if I send it in will they still replace it or not. I don't want to waste my time if they will not. So if anyone has tried please let me know. I all ready got the shipping lable so I'm kinda on a time crunch. Oh yeah the only thing they ask is if there was liquid damage or if the phone was damaged in a drop. Thanks Guys.b
The second you unlock your bootloader your warranty is voided, so if your trying to get it repaired using warranty it's not going to happen. Relocking your bootloader doesn't make your warranty valid again.
asislife20 is right. Only thing I think could happen is if Motorola/Lenovo act like HTC and see it as a hardware defect and still replace it. I was lucky and was able to warranty out my unlocked M7 due to it having a known hardware defect. Burn in is a grey area at best since I don't know many people who have it. My Z2 has been in service for over a year and doesn't have any burning.
Most of the time companies will know if it is a warranty due to unlocking (like breaking your partition table) or hardware (like the purple camera issue on the M7). Hardware defects are usually warrantied. I'd call them back and make sure
Well I FedEx it today so I will know in a few days. They gave me the option to send me a new one then after I got it I could send mine back but they were going to put a 500$ hold on my account but I opted to send it first then get the replacement once they get my old one. The root has nothing to do with screen burn anyhow. It's a great phone for power and it's not a Samsung or Apple, everyone I know has sold out to those two it's sad there are much better phones out there but most people are to goofy to try them out.
I will for sure let ya guy know witch ever way it goes. It's overnight shipping so Ill know soon. Fingers crossed.
McRoberts said:
I will for sure let ya guy know witch ever way it goes. It's overnight shipping so Ill know soon. Fingers crossed.
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I have had motorola replace a phone even tho I had previously unlocked the bootloader I didnt bother to relock it since they already know its been unlocked, got a new phone anyway
The repair order online says exchange and they sent me an email saying that the problem was resolved. so its looking good. I just want my phone back this Honor 6x doesn't cutting it.
The sent me a new Moto z2 force today. No questions asked in the end. Took 7 days but there's nothing like a new phone to break in. Thanks for the responses.

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