Develop Bugs

14 Day Return Policy

Just thought I would give everybody a heads up that as of Friday, 09/16/2011, Sprint is switching to a 14-day return policy. I have a feeling a lot of Sales Reps will be uneducated about this.
P.S. Don't kill the messenger

(looks around)....(shrugs)..."our bad"

Bastards... Its like they killed kenny.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1262783 <-- also relevant

I bet all these changes is for the iphone!
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

plmiller0905 said:
I bet all these changes is for the iphone!
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
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that likely has a little to do with it....but....
(lifted from the thread linked above)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's about damn time.
Am I happy about this? Not at all. But this was going to happen eventually. Sprint is bleeding money without compare. As long as they continue to offer decent coverage, great prices and fantastic customer service I'm all for it. They need to stay competitive. Not to us, they are already very competitive to us...they need to stay competitive to investors or risk a takeover most likely coming from Verizon.
***** and complain all you want, where you gunna go? T-Mobile? Unlikely. That whole law-suit from the DOJ is nothing but a dog-n-pony show.
Sprint has to offer unlimited service, the same fantastic rates, unparalleled customer service while at the same time improving it's network infrastructure all around in order to stand a chance...they know it and it's about time they started acting like it.
....with a strategic partnership with Google they could change the entire game by ditching the voice-n-text strategy and being the first to embrace the "everything is data" paradigm. It's coming. "voice service" all by itself is so, well, last century. We all know it's already digital, why convert back twice and charge us for something we can now do on our own?
...that's just my take...

Honestly, as long as they keep unlimited data without throttling, I am okay.

daneurysm said:
Sprint has to offer unlimited service, the same fantastic rates, unparalleled customer service while at the same time improving it's network infrastructure all around in order to stand a chance...they know it and it's about time they started acting like it.
....with a strategic partnership with Google they could change the entire game by ditching the voice-n-text strategy and being the first to embrace the "everything is data" paradigm. It's coming. "voice service" all by itself is so, well, last century. We all know it's already digital, why convert back twice and charge us for something we can now do on our own?
...that's just my take...
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Click to collapse
Inspired... and I hope you're right! There seems to be no point in sticking with the current voice service with it's inferior quality when we can easily switch to all VoIP.

daneurysm said:
....with a strategic partnership with Google they could change the entire game by ditching the voice-n-text strategy and being the first to embrace the "everything is data" paradigm. It's coming. "voice service" all by itself is so, well, last century. We all know it's already digital, why convert back twice and charge us for something we can now do on our own?
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That would make sense considering sprints stance on unlimited data.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

iSaint said:
Bastards... Its like they killed kenny.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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Sorry to go off topic, but i kept seeing people mention your signature, but since i was on the XDA app on my phone, I couldn't see it. You have been thanked for that signature... wow!

So I got my Epic 4G Touch Tuesday. Does that mean I have a 30 day return or is it device specific.

Agreed. This is Sprint stepping up to protect is business. They are better in so many levels that this shouldn't be an issue unless you don't know what you want and go through two or three phones your first month.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

I guess the OP didn't notice that the 30 day return policy is LAW, not whim.
They can make corporate policy all they want.....but they are still bound by LAW.

daneurysm said:
that likely has a little to do with it....but....
(lifted from the thread linked above)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's about damn time.
Am I happy about this? Not at all. But this was going to happen eventually. Sprint is bleeding money without compare. As long as they continue to offer decent coverage, great prices and fantastic customer service I'm all for it. They need to stay competitive. Not to us, they are already very competitive to us...they need to stay competitive to investors or risk a takeover most likely coming from Verizon.
***** and complain all you want, where you gunna go? T-Mobile? Unlikely. That whole law-suit from the DOJ is nothing but a dog-n-pony show.
Sprint has to offer unlimited service, the same fantastic rates, unparalleled customer service while at the same time improving it's network infrastructure all around in order to stand a chance...they know it and it's about time they started acting like it.
....with a strategic partnership with Google they could change the entire game by ditching the voice-n-text strategy and being the first to embrace the "everything is data" paradigm. It's coming. "voice service" all by itself is so, well, last century. We all know it's already digital, why convert back twice and charge us for something we can now do on our own?
...that's just my take...
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Click to collapse
Not to rain on your post, but Sprints customer service lately has been awful, and that's not exaggerating.

cds0699 said:
Not to rain on your post, but Sprints customer service lately has been awful, and that's not exaggerating.
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I haven't noticed that. I still manage to have to interact with them far more than the average user (as the XDA types seem to). A few times in the past month and I can't even say that I noticed anything.
Sure, when I called to cancel a line ETF free I got one lady who gave me a minor hassle, but, I called back and got a guy who was friendly and helpful.
That's the worst 30 seconds (and only 'bad' I have dealt with, by far) of dealing with Sprint's customer service I have had in the past 6 years of service...and it wasn't even that bad bordering on understandable.
As usual YMMV.

n2ishun said:
I guess the OP didn't notice that the 30 day return policy is LAW, not whim.
They can make corporate policy all they want.....but they are still bound by LAW.
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Click to collapse
Laws vary by state, and most are nullified if the seller has their own policy posted in the store in a conspicuous location.

Just talked to a Sprint store manager (Southern California) and she has not heard any mention of the changes so hopefully tomorrow when I open a new account I'll hold her accountable for it.

JBNAquatics said:
Just talked to a Sprint store manager (Southern California) and she has not heard any mention of the changes so hopefully tomorrow when I open a new account I'll hold her accountable for it.
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I've educated a few managers on the subject myself. I think Sprint is trying to sneak this one in.

n2ishun said:
I guess the OP didn't notice that the 30 day return policy is LAW, not whim.
They can make corporate policy all they want.....but they are still bound by LAW.
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Click to collapse
Hate to tell you it isn't law. Verizon and AT&T have 14 day return policy. As far as I know it's always been that way.

wilforknowledge said:
Laws vary by state, and most are nullified if the seller has their own policy posted in the store in a conspicuous location.
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Exactly, the only state that we have to stick with 30 day is Minnesota.
JBNAquatics said:
Just talked to a Sprint store manager (Southern California) and she has not heard any mention of the changes so hopefully tomorrow when I open a new account I'll hold her accountable for it.
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Then my peer there is dumb, it is all over the Playbook and all the AMs are telling their managers and staff about it. It is huge news. Perhaps they just had Wednesday off (like I did) and didn't get a chance to read the Playbook quite yet. I know the only reason I found out about it ahead of time was from tweets last night about the subject.
wilforknowledge said:
I've educated a few managers on the subject myself. I think Sprint is trying to sneak this one in.
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No, trust me, they are not.

EFF trying to keep rooting your phone legal

https://www.eff.org/pages/jailbreaking-not-crime-tell-copyright-office-free-your-devices
Take a look at the article and make a simple comment about what being able to legally root your phone means to you. The exemption that the dmca ruled on in 2010 is about to expire so let's make sure it gets renewed.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

From what I hear jailbreaking iphones allows access to free paid apps, which is different than rooting android. However, I'm sure this should apply to both android and iphone users. If it became illegal, what would happen if we got caught? Jailed, fined, terminated by carrier?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Overstew said:
From what I hear jailbreaking iphones allows access to free paid apps, which is different than rooting android. However, I'm sure this should apply to both android and iphone users. If it became illegal, what would happen if we got caught? Jailed, fined, terminated by carrier?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
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Well, Android has access to free paid apps without root. The act of jailbreaking and stealing apps are two different things I would think.
Same with modding consoles, you aren't doing anything illegal unless you download games which you never paid for and play them.

jmejiaa said:
The act of jailbreaking and stealing apps are two different things I would think.
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I would absolutely agree with this. Just because I want to root my device, does not mean I desire to steal anything... in fact I buy paid apps all the time when I probably could get them for free if I looked enough.
The worst thing I have probably ever done (if you consider it wrong) as a benefit of root access, is tether my phones 3G connection (I don't get wimax) to my tablet for free. I don't consider this wrong because I am paying for the data service from Sprint, if I choose to share that with my own personal tablet, that should be my choice. I don't do it for my laptop cuz I have a much faster wifi connection at home, but its convenient for the tablet.

THe original ruling on this was in responce to Apple wanting to make it a crome to jail break the phone. The ruling said Jail breaking was legal for fair use IE being able to do customizations and use features the device would support that the Manufacturer did not want to support. These things have not changed the ruling was for fair use. you bought it you can do what you want with it. But the carriers and manufacturer's have the rigth to deny waranty if you do.

Considering Android is open source and we 'own' our phones, we can do what ever we want with them.

Without rooting, we could not access and remove the crap software that our carriers try to force down our throats. We never would have been able to remove CIQ or even know it was there. We would be helpless and putting control of everything we do into hands of the people we pay our money to every month. I don't trust my service provider to maintain my interests for me.

Its my understanding that jail breaking just lets you install apps that aren't in the app store which sounds legal to me
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

jmejiaa said:
Well, Android has access to free paid apps without root. The act of jailbreaking and stealing apps are two different things I would think.
Same with modding consoles, you aren't doing anything illegal unless you download games which you never paid for and play them.
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I just mentioned it because my cousin wanted to jailbreak his ipod to get free paid apps. I didn't necessarily mean everyone steals with rooting/jailbreaking. It was just the first thing that came to mind. The biggest reason i'd see this law passing is because of the misuse of tethering.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

cds0699 said:
I would absolutely agree with this. Just because I want to root my device, does not mean I desire to steal anything... in fact I buy paid apps all the time when I probably could get them for free if I looked enough.
The worst thing I have probably ever done (if you consider it wrong) as a benefit of root access, is tether my phones 3G connection (I don't get wimax) to my tablet for free. I don't consider this wrong because I am paying for the data service from Sprint, if I choose to share that with my own personal tablet, that should be my choice. I don't do it for my laptop cuz I have a much faster wifi connection at home, but its convenient for the tablet.
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while i do understand this, it becomes a conflict of interest because sprint offers the same service on your phone for $30/month... so while TECHNICALLY you didnt agree to ONLY use your data for your phone, they do offer the same service you arent paying for. kinda like using your buddy next door's cable. he pays for it, and doesnt mind at all that you use the other cable box from his service, but its still frowned upon. its a gray area, im not sure what kind of action the carriers can take other than drop you... not that i agree, i use hotspot too...

I hope it stays legal.

Hell all the damn money these carriers and phone manufacture's make off of us it should stay legal, at least for android phones. I could give a **** less about apple and their attitude against everyone and everything! They will put themselves out of business. But android wouldnt be android without Root/jailbreaking and everything that comes along with it. IF they ever took that away I will just use a phone for a phone and go to metro piece of **** or something!

In the apple spectrum, those slimy bastards that make fun of our everything android that's of lesser quality and how they are superior beings for being ifags, for them to go out and steal from the developers is just wrong and should be justifiable with punishment.
In the android spectrum, we don't want to steal. We just want to get the maximum potential out of our device that carriers for some odd reason try and hold back.
Probably because an android phone can last longer. Meaning: keep more interest in the end user for them not to upgrade earlier if they have rooting/rom capabilities keeping this new,fresh, and exciting. Which in turn makes less money for the carrier. But honestly i don't go to the carrier to have a bogged down **** phone and be a helpless lemon and just be forced to upgrade. I want the best bang for my buck and the sooner Carriers realize this the better we will talk of them.

well thats just like everything else these days! They make flat screen tv's to go out in 4or 5 years when the old box tv's would last 20-30 years. Cars are made to die after 150,000 miles or less and now they come out with new phones every couple of months to entice people into keeping up with the jones's and having to have the best instead of just rooting your phone and haveing anything you want on it! If we lose the ability to root and hack our phones, it will clearly be a step backwards...

punwik said:
well thats just like everything else these days! They make flat screen tv's to go out in 4or 5 years when the old box tv's would last 20-30 years. Cars are made to die after 150,000 miles or less and now they come out with new phones every couple of months to entice people into keeping up with the jones's and having to have the best instead of just rooting your phone and haveing anything you want on it! If we lose the ability to root and hack our phones, it will clearly be a step backwards...
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man, i just REALLY like your sig. and, i agree with ^

We are suppose to be making stuff biodegradeable and recycling and making less waste! But these companys making the products we have to use everyday like tv's, cars, computers, phones, ect.. are filling up our land fills and creating soooo much waste and ruining our planet! It has been said that at the rate we are going now by the year 2030 we will need at least 2 planet earths to sustain everyone. Its all about GREED and GREED only. The people running everything on this planet are only thinking about their lifetime and maybe their childrens.

If it wasn't bad enough losing file share websites, now this crap? If we can't root, I won't own an Android. It is easy to steal apps, but with these websites down, I am sure it forces more people to buy them. And how are we supposed to get all of our custom ROMs with no website to host them?
Sent from my GSII.

[Q] Free Hotspot question.

I found an app which allows for free wifi tethering without rooting. If i continue to use this, do i violate my contract and if i do what is the worst that can happen?
If sprint terminates my contract, do i have to pay an early termination fee? Would I be able to keep my phone?

hs101 said:
I found an app which allows for free wifi tethering without rooting. If i continue to use this, do i violate my contract and if i do what is the worst that can happen?
If sprint terminates my contract, do i have to pay an early termination fee? Would I be able to keep my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That question has been asked in forums since the hot spot mod was hacked. There are risks in everything and unless someone has been busted then I don't see anyone being able to answer you. If you are worried then pay for it or just don't use it. Search the other 100 threads about this and see what others have done
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.

playya said:
That question has been asked in forums since the hot spot mod was hacked. There are risks in everything and unless someone has been busted then I don't see anyone being able to answer you. If you are worried then pay for it or just don't use it. Search the other 100 threads about this and see what others have done
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Im not worried at all. If sprint cancels my contract without any termination fees or fines then thats actually a good thing because i want to leave sprint.
_MetalHead_ said:
If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude...

hs101 said:
Im not worried at all. If sprint cancels my contract without any termination fees or fines then thats actually a good thing because i want to leave sprint.
Dude...
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Click to collapse
Well this probably won't work if you trying to get kicked off... do a little light reading and you will find out how to do that
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

_MetalHead_ said:
If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool story bro.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

playya said:
Well this probably won't work if you trying to get kicked off... do a little light reading and you will find out how to do that
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by this.... Why wouldn't it work? I'm not trying to get kicked off by sprint, but if terminating my contract (without any ETF's) is the worst thing they can do then I feel like I have no worries (since when is a free $600 phone a bad thing =) ). I just want to make sure that it is the worst thing they can do.

_MetalHead_ said:
If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to list your sources?

ydoucare said:
Care to list your sources?
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Absolutely.

hs101 said:
What do you mean by this.... Why wouldn't it work? I'm not trying to get kicked off by sprint, but if terminating my contract (without any ETF's) is the worst thing they can do then I feel like I have no worries (since when is a free $600 phone a bad thing =) ). I just want to make sure that it is the worst thing they can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I am not sure why you even asked the question since you could of pulled up like I said a million other threads from xda and beyond to see what has happened or not happened to others... Like previously mentioned its either you get caught may have to pay or they just kick you off... Nobody can tell you for sure since we really dont know of anyone who has gotten caught... Hey you may be the first and then they throw the book at you... or not
I am done! Enjoy your tethering or not...
Playya out!

_MetalHead_ said:
If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bwahahaha
10char

_MetalHead_ said:
If you get caught, it is theft of service and since Sprint is located in Kansas, it is across state lines and as such is a felony and a federal offense. Sprint has been cracking down real hard on illegal tethering and many have been arrested and thrown in jail. Surprised you haven't heard about that, it's been all over the internet lately. They gave this one guy 5 years and denied his appeal. It seems harsh, but theft is theft any way you look at it.
My recommendation to you- stay away from tethering, especially if you enjoy your freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not federal if you live in Kansas!

Please do not tell me speculations....
Does anyone know from experience (from themselves or others) what sprint does if they catch you tethering.

hs101 said:
Please do not tell me speculations....
Does anyone know from experience (from themselves or others) what sprint does if they catch you tethering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They send you a letter telling you that you are using the tethering feature of the phone without paying and that to modify your behavior (aka stop tethering without paying) or they'll be forced to do something about it (make you cough up the $$$ or boot you off the network).
The only time's we hear people getting these letters are where it's just obvious they're tethering. Aka Console gaming (some guy did 100gb and got pissed off and came here to rant... yall remember him? ya.... lol), HD netflix, torrents, or just outrageous stuff that involves things you don't usually use on a phone.
Other than that, i don't believe they do a whole lot else (waste of time usually to do anything else..... you = statistics, aka replaceable)

Hey Sprint Techs - Question for you guys!

The post I'm going to quote below got me wondering. I'm making a new thread here because the other thread was posted in development, and at worst it will be locked and at best merged with the other thread the OP made in Q&A. (EDIT - Looks like it was even worse ... the thread was deleted). So ...
newalker91 said:
Just so you guys are aware, many service centers are going to be adopting a stricter interpretation of the Sprint policies in the near future. I've warned about this, but no one likes to listen.
Class 3 device issue includes total device failure in which the device is unable to function without the replacement of the motherboard. This will now include all devices unable to power on after refurbishing, bricked or not bricked. You will be paying a deductible.
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Click to collapse
I'm curious. What percentage of E4GTs that have been brought into you over the past couple of months, that appear to be full hardware failures (won't boot into DL mode or recovery, or anything else), that only "mysteriously" show a blue light when powered on, do you guys suspect are bricks related to flashing in custom recovery on an ICS kernel?
The above makes me wonder if Sprint has seen a large increase in warranty exchanges over the past couple of months on E4GTs (gee I wonder why) thus driving the need to adjust their service policy? Maybe it's something that's been in the works for awhile in an attempt to keep profit margins up, but I'm curious if this phone may have been a catalyst to crack down on full exchanges.

newalker91 said:
At my store, we've only seen a few. Each of which they claim to have received a software update (when the most recent to have been pushed was months ago) and only the blue light would power up. The pattern continues on with Motorola Photons as well with the white light when plugged into power and Failed to boot 01, and Nexus S 4G with the unlock symbol and frozen at splash. They claimed to have been using it on a car charger and it just stopped working. All of our customers to bring these issues in so far have been young males (age 16-30). Would be one thing if it were like this only at my current location, but it carries back to the last year I spent at my previous job as well with the same types of excuses and category of customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People just are being lazy and not reading everything before they flash. The outcome is going to be bad for all of us, including the non-lazy. It's sad that it comes down to this. This is exactly why Sprint doesn't allow early upgrades anymore, because people abuse it by selling the new phone and the complain a few months later wanting more.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

I highly doubt sprint pays any more then $199 per device. If you can prove otherwise please do.

lafester said:
I highly doubt sprint pays any more then $199 per device. If you can prove otherwise please do.
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Click to collapse
Do you seriously think Apple sells the iPhone to carriers for $199? Not a chance, and the same applies to Android manufacturers. From what I've read, carriers pay around $500 per smartphone, so have about $300 to make up over the 2 year contract term. A little less for Verizon, because they can get away with charging $299 for some devices.
There's a reason they call it a "subsidy".
Edit - Here's a decent article on the subject with a few numbers ... http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=18672&news=Apple+iPhone+ATT+Verizon+Sprint

newalker91 said:
At my store, we've only seen a few.
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Can you put any kind of percentage on it? Like 1 in 10, or 1 in 50? I'm curious how often these devices completely fail on their own, and how often it's caused by firmware flashing.

lafester said:
I highly doubt sprint pays any more then $199 per device. If you can prove otherwise please do.
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Companies like sprint do get phones for a good price from the manufacturer. But you have to look at it from the provider's point of view... Sprint is not making a profit from the time that you first sign a contract. That's why we signed a contract, we agreed to be a customer for the length of the contract in order to get a good price. That's why you get charged for an Early Termination Fee for breaking that contract early.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I have paid for TEP since my HTC Evo, have not once bricked or even brought any phone back to sprint. It's sad that so many are bricking and not taking responsibility and even worse is when I hear stories of successful returns even without insurance.

Couldn't agree more. If you brick it, its your own fault. You should just pay the 100$ deductible and call it even. If you want to avoid it then either read read and read some more or don't mess with it in the first place. The only people I am not talking about are the devs who found the problems out the hard way. But when they say don't do somehing and you do it because you couldn't be bothered to read a paragraph you should pay up.
Sent from my BAD A$$ EPIC TOUCH 4G

I can't speak for all techs but I just took a $1.04 an hour pay cut and I am now offered commission based on customer satisfaction. Bring me your bricked, rooted phones, and don't be a total bonehead in my store and I will take care of you.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Sorry to say it, but why not just make TEP mandatory for any subsidized smartphone. Maybe a once per device life-cycle brick swap, after that its deductable. If its a bad OTA, Sprint will know and can make exceptions, but other than that, it would be a good idea to just assume everyone roots, and work with it. We can help by not flaming people asking questions regarding flashing when its known that some methods are very risky.

I've mostly held my tongue when seeing people talking about bricking their phones and then lying to Sprint so they can get a replacement at reduced/no cost. The few times I did speak up (as well as a few others) there were responses dogging people for their moral superiority, one person even suggested if I bricked my phone I'd do the same thing, to which I replied I most certainly would not.
I don't judge people. You do what your conscience allows you to live with, as do I. But I will say that I would be pissed if I ever took a truly borked (not by my hand) phone into Sprint and got major hassle because they might assume I'm just one more person futzing up my phone and trying to get a new one.
No one wants to accept their actions may have long term consequences but the truth is, they do. For every bricked phone they've been duped into replacing there's a price to pay and that price is likely going to be spread out to all of us in the form of higher phone prices (if they don't get rid of subsidy pricing altogether), higher insurance rates and possibly even fewer service centers due to cutbacks within the company.
So maybe just be a little extra careful before flashing that next leak or ROM. Read the instructions, read them again, ask questions before flashing and then take responsibility for what ultimately happens.
Okay, I suppose I'll get off my high horse now.

newalker91 said:
If you're going to start hurting your own exchange rate and cost Sprint extra money on DBR equipment just so you can make your commission, then there's a lot of failure going on in your location. Your front office is failing to properly analyze the situation and the back office isn't following policy. Do not create the ticket until you know exactly what the situation is, and then you won't be in a bind when you realize you can't fix it and need to violate policy to get a good survey.
As for the percentage of bricked devices we see, I'd say 1 in 100 at the very most. We see between 175-250 phones per day on average. Like I said before, the bricked devices are usually brought in by young males who seem to think they know a lot about their phone. Extensive retail fraud training comes in handy when we can pick out when we're being fed a line because they immediately start over-explaining what was going on when the device just failed and then they start offering explanations as to why their story is valid.
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After the 1st month of the change the increased our csat goals. As for my exchange rate, as a store we are below 20% our goal is 32%. If I miss my goal, guess what, nothing happens. If I miss csat goals, I take a huge paycut. I agree we don't see many unrecoverably bricked phones. According to m&P's we cover rooted devices so whatever... as for dbr'ed phones, I am still the king at spotting liquid damage.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

im0rtalz said:
I have paid for TEP since my HTC Evo, have not once bricked or even brought any phone back to sprint. It's sad that so many are bricking and not taking responsibility and even worse is when I hear stories of successful returns even without insurance.
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I must say I have been paying TEP for 2 phones for over 7 years and way back in the $6 dollar days I think it was. I have been rooting and messing with my phone since my PC6700 and I have not had to use my Ins at all. Hey it sucks to pay for it all those years but I rather have it than not. But you can't knock people for trying to get away with what they can... unfortunately its kinda human nature to get as much as they can out of certain situations...
patrao_n said:
Couldn't agree more. If you brick it, its your own fault. You should just pay the 100$ deductible and call it even. If you want to avoid it then either read read and read some more or don't mess with it in the first place. The only people I am not talking about are the devs who found the problems out the hard way. But when they say don't do somehing and you do it because you couldn't be bothered to read a paragraph you should pay up.
Sent from my BAD A$$ EPIC TOUCH 4G
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Other than developers there were some in the beginning that got caught up long before some developers took the plunge and borked their phones. I agree if more people read the OP then we would have less issues. They should have an agreement popup when you click to download a rom stating that you read the OP or something. I know it won't work but I am just saying there were like 5 "I think I bricked my phone" threads popping up every 12 hours for a few weeks....

The only phone I have had that would not boot and give a blue led flash was one of our in store demos. It was plugged in all day on a demo loop.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Dchibro said:
Do you seriously think Apple sells the iPhone to carriers for $199? Not a chance, and the same applies to Android manufacturers. From what I've read, carriers pay around $500 per smartphone, so have about $300 to make up over the 2 year contract term. A little less for Verizon, because they can get away with charging $299 for some devices.
There's a reason they call it a "subsidy".
Edit - Here's a decent article on the subject with a few numbers ... http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=18672&news=Apple+iPhone+ATT+Verizon+Sprint
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Apple should, since it probably costs them like 50 cents to have a bunch of suicidal chinese workers make their Iphones.

clide whit said:
Apple should, since it probably costs them like 50 cents to have a bunch of suicidal chinese workers make their Iphones.
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Thanks for contributing. Run along now....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

I hope to god I don't brick my phone, although with developing its almost unavoidable at some point..
Both I and my dad have made friends with a tech at sprint, he has been helping us out since the old htc hero days, so I would like you other sprint techs to clarify for me..
Last time I had gone in (got my ns4g, mid-july) he had told me that they cover bricked devices, so if anything went wrong in that area, they would replace the device for me.. Never had to use my TEP, and have had it for the past 4 years.
Would they replace my ns4g if I brought it bricked? or would there be a deductable? Not trying to lie to them, just curious. I had developed for it for the past couple months and come close to bricking a few times. If I could use my TEP powers just this once, I would be a happy camper with my ns4g.

newalker91 said:
By policy, anything that voids warranty falls under deductible. This includes damage caused by root, misuse or misplacement. Some techs will still help you with the bricking part.
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Thanks for clarifying.. I guess i'll just have to bring it to my friendly sprint tech and see what he can do..

newalker91 said:
Lol, I'm still a little shocked at how corporate techs handle LD. A tiny little blemish in the copper and a couple of my techs scream LD! LD! and DBR the phone just to avoid putting in any effort. I see this as a lack of experience in determining the true cause of the customer's problem. In situations where there is a little LD, I just make the customer aware and scrub it off with a little denatured alcohol, run a gold pen over it to re-seal the copper and toss in an anti-tarnish tab to absorb any humidity that would aggregate it. That's how you earn true CSAT.
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So when they come back a week later and have a dead phone, that is shoddy work. Flag it, then offer the cleaning, give no promises. I have seen phones that has been at the bottom of a pool for 15 minutes and my brother is still using it, and I have seen a tiny spot of corrosion on a power ic and the phone will never power on. Just fyi I have been doing this for 9 years now, I have 84 surveys under my belt, which is a lot for a tech, I am 84 for 84. Our repair csat avg for the last year is 82%. Don't tell me how to earn csat, SON. Yes I realized I just started a pissing match on a forum, but I don't like being told I don't know how to do my job. My srss has 3rd party techs come and shadow me to learn the right way to do things.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

84 surveys???? I get 84 surveys a month :x with. 100% csats I might add
Not bragging lol
Ooooook a liiitle lol jk
I can assure you if you have water damage, even in the slightest, I will not be replacing your device so some poor bloke can get your remnufactured board and I have to replace his too...

[Q] Why is it locked?

So I have a couple general questions I wanted to get your guys take on.
Why does Verizon choose to have there phones locked down? The HTC One in particular but generally as well. Is it a method of preserving/increasing profit? Perceived threat to their network? Something else?
A follow up question which depends on how you feel about the first question. Are Verizon's reasons for locking down phones justified? Do you feel they have a right to do this? If you were a strictly moral person, do you have any dilemmas about this?
PS As a side note, I love having my phones unlocked with custom roms, and I am looking forward to getting my sonic S-Off back.

beardedYoga said:
So I have a couple general questions I wanted to get your guys take on.
Why does Verizon choose to have there phones locked down? The HTC One in particular but generally as well. Is it a method of preserving/increasing profit? Perceived threat to their network? Something else?
A follow up question which depends on how you feel about the first question. Are Verizon's reasons for locking down phones justified? Do you feel they have a right to do this? If you were a strictly moral person, do you have any dilemmas about this?
PS As a side note, I love having my phones unlocked with custom roms, and I am looking forward to getting my sonic S-Off back.
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People screwing up their phones by crack flashing, and returning them to verizon for warranty when bricked.
Control of tethering.

Yeah, they say it's for the reasons above.
But given that, to begin with, the rooting community is a tiny slice of all mobile phone users, and then Verizon users are an even smaller portion of that. So I don't see why they even care. I highly doubt that even if ever single Verizon customer who does rooting messed up their expensive device it would cost Verizon more than .01% of their revenue, if even that.

It's all about quality control. Even if it is the fact that the vast minority root their phones, it's the minority of users who generate the majority of complaints (and that rule extends FAR beyond cell phone rooting, or cell phones in general). It takes 10 good comments to make up for one bad comment these days, and there just aren't enough good comments to go around.
How likely is it, if your unrooted phone has no physical damage that you'll suddenly find that it isn't booting up? How likely is it that, even if you don't want to do it, factory resetting your unrooted phone will fix whatever problem you're having?
Big Red's reputation, their entire brand, is built on reliability. NOT freedom.

beardedYoga said:
So I have a couple general questions I wanted to get your guys take on.
Why does Verizon choose to have there phones locked down? The HTC One in particular but generally as well. Is it a method of preserving/increasing profit? Perceived threat to their network? Something else?
A follow up question which depends on how you feel about the first question. Are Verizon's reasons for locking down phones justified? Do you feel they have a right to do this? If you were a strictly moral person, do you have any dilemmas about this?
PS As a side note, I love having my phones unlocked with custom roms, and I am looking forward to getting my sonic S-Off back.
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Hey guys feel free to elaborate as much as possible. I'm writing a term paper on unlocking bootloaders/s-off, legalities on our part and Verizon, security risk for us/Carrier, risks taken by us/Verizon, etc.. It's for a Information Security Course. I'll be creating a thread at some point but this is a good start for some sources!

Another point would be that Verizon tries to cater to business/enterprise customers so allowing bootloader unlocking could pose a giant security flaw on devices that have classified data and are meant to be secure
Sent from my One using xda app-developers app

I think it's far less about tethering for free. They fixed that with getting rid of unlimited data. They saw they can make more money on teired data plans with coverages. Plus I am amazed at how many people on here has given up on their unlimited data plans just to get a subsidized phone.
Locked down phones is for more like people who roots and doesn't know what they are doing so they brick their phones and Verizon takes a hit having to replace it under warranty. Plus the security reasons companies are looking for. They don't want a phone that could be hacked in to giving away possible secret info. Last but not least is to keep people from taking their phones and flashing it to another carrier as we seen a few people has done on here and other forums. It's money they are not receiving and they want to put a stop to it.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk 4

I think they do it for tethering. Although you can use foxfi, root tethering is not stoppable unless verizon uses packet sniffing but even so, unlimited data is unlimited data. They also do it for security reasons as unlocking a corporate phone can be bad.

I will admit, I skimmed all posts and see that most everyone has bought into what they want us to believe.
If it is to prevent unwanted warranty claims, then why would they not allow us to willingly void our warranty via HTCdev when we click the box that says so?
Rather then resort to undocumented or traceable ways of doing so in which case they are stuck with more returns for soft bricks, etc,..and are stuck accepting them because they chose to not take the easy way and let us void our warranty to begin with.
I just think all that warranty replacement crap is a bunch of nonsense and can't be their main incentive.
If it is, then they have their heads buried deeper then I thought and need to realize what I just stated above...

A really good friend of mine has been a tech with sprint for nearly a decade. From what he has told me, about 27 of 100 phones they can't fix are due to installing non official software. While that's not the highest percentage with damage as the worst, it still is very costly for them to replace. Most of the guys he works with can tell if a phone has been "tampered" with. Even with such things as triangle away with the Samsung lines, they still can find out. Having a locked boot loader on this phone is just one way of attempting to slow the numbers.
As he would put it, most people who do try flashing and other modification methods have very little experience with the phones and their inner workings. A lot of these people end up bricking their phones and try turning them in for insurance claims or warranty which he deals with. He actually saved me some coin by getting me a screen for one of my s2's from a completely fried emmc that he says someone tried a bad flash with.
But yeah, keeping the people like that out of the phones is one of the major reasons as it can become costly to them... I call bs though, considering the amount of profit they actually make on each one of our accounts.
Sent from my One in Blue!

You are exactly right.
To be honest, there isn't much of a business case for a carrier, when serving as the reseller of a phone, to offer the freedom of an unlocked boot loader. The savvy of the general populace hasn't yet reached the point where the downside is offset by a marketable upside. Hell, most folks still **** around happily with iPhones which lack any freedom whatsoever.
TidusWulf said:
It's all about quality control. Even if it is the fact that the vast minority root their phones, it's the minority of users who generate the majority of complaints (and that rule extends FAR beyond cell phone rooting, or cell phones in general). It takes 10 good comments to make up for one bad comment these days, and there just aren't enough good comments to go around.
How likely is it, if your unrooted phone has no physical damage that you'll suddenly find that it isn't booting up? How likely is it that, even if you don't want to do it, factory resetting your unrooted phone will fix whatever problem you're having?
Big Red's reputation, their entire brand, is built on reliability. NOT freedom.
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Click to collapse

We can speculate all we want here. Verizon says they lock phones because it's better for the network.
http://bgr.com/2012/03/02/verizon-explains-locked-bootloader-stance-in-letter-to-fcc/
Whether or not anyone chooses to believe that is a matter of opinion, but this is pretty much as close to an answer from Verizon that we'll ever get.
Sent from my HTC One.

Very enlightening.
To comment on wanting the phones to be secure for corporate security... wouldn't the amazing track record of dev's who contribute here and other places sort of fly right in the face of that.
It seems that every single device that gains enough users has some kind of workaround or vulnerability to allow it to be unlocked. If the corporate world was worried about it, all they are doing is showing just how unable to lock it down the manufactures and carriers are.

Blah, blah, blah.... the network. that is just their excuse. They used it with the FTC to get by with rate limiting the LTE network. Some lame a$$ excuse about the CDMA legacy junk. Don't get me wrong I am sure that the old CDMA stuff may make the network less predictable, but not less stable. It is all about money, and VZW is the 800 pound gorilla that get to control what we have to deal with. Thank goodness we have talented and dedicated developers that almost always get around the blockades these fools put in place.

+1
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk now Free

From what I was told over at elevate, the biggest problem they don't want to expierence again is our phones not being able to dial to the correct 911 dispatch. There apparently was an incident where a rooting user had a modified dialer apk that didn't allow him dial to the correct dispatch. In an emergency for Verizon that is worse case scenario. Then there's a lawsuit that might be filed to both HTC and Verizon.

CNexus said:
Yeah, they say it's for the reasons above.
But given that, to begin with, the rooting community is a tiny slice of all mobile phone users, and then Verizon users are an even smaller portion of that. So I don't see why they even care. I highly doubt that even if ever single Verizon customer who does rooting messed up their expensive device it would cost Verizon more than .01% of their revenue, if even that.
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Gotta disagree. When you see people in this forum bragging about getting seven replacements, it does add up.
And it really is a PITA to figure out if it was user error or something wrong with the phone. It's all about risk mgmt
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