HTC scam (Desire related)

[Krpano]

Hi,

If you use to lurk around the Reviews by members section lately you have probably saw my HTC Deisre review.

I was a happy Desire user till the OTA update from some weeks ago.

After the update my phone became unstable and started rebooting itself, sometimes during the rebooting it used to hang in the white startup HTC screen or it would reboot endlessly.

I sent my phone for repair at the Sunrise Center in June the 7th.

After a week i got a reply from a third part company in Bern which provide services for most of the phone companies in Switzerland.

As you can see in the picture, it states:

Damage caused by humidity (TOTAL DAMAGE). The device CANNOT be repaired due of blablabla....

So they want to offer me a discount for a new Desire or i can ask for my own damaged Desire (note: i have to pay about 50 buck to get it back)

In the meanwhile i contacted HTC.

They contacted the repair center which sent them this picture:

As you can see it is a macro of this region:

My question or problem now is:

What is the HTC position if i reflash the device correctly and make it work ?

They clearly state that the small humidity detail there is stopping my phone to work.

Apparently they did not try to reflash it.

Plus they send my phone back without the warranty seals.

Which means i am screwed.

What do you guys think ?

Am i wrong and what should i do ?

At this point i emailed HTC these pictures and i will wait their reply.

Here is the rest of the pictures i took of the dismounted Desire.

Do you see any evidence of humidity ?

[Sulphy]

Wow... that is harsh of them!!!!

Hope that you get sorted with HTC on this issue... although, when i got my phone on contract, i took an optional insurance, that covers me even for moisture damage...

have you tried putting the dismantled phone into a warm (NOT HOT!!!!!) oven for about 20 minutes???? I had an iphone, also had to pay to send the blooming thing in, and pay to get it back because the warranty was void due to moisture damage.... dismantled it.. warmed up an oven to about 40 degrees C, left it in there for about 20 minutes.... took it out... left it on a towel for an hour.... then used compressed air and earbuds to dab and wipe any places that looked like they needed cleaning.... put it back together... and was perfect!!!!!

let us know how your fight with HTC goes !! :)

[MR_Candyman]

That looks like salt crusted on that shorted the connections

[HawkMan]

Wow... that is harsh of them!!!!

Hope that you get sorted with HTC on this issue... although, when i got my phone on contract, i took an optional insurance, that covers me even for moisture damage...

have you tried putting the dismantled phone into a warm (NOT HOT!!!!!) oven for about 20 minutes???? I had an iphone, also had to pay to send the blooming thing in, and pay to get it back because the warranty was void due to moisture damage.... dismantled it.. warmed up an oven to about 40 degrees C, left it in there for about 20 minutes.... took it out... left it on a towel for an hour.... then used compressed air and earbuds to dab and wipe any places that looked like they needed cleaning.... put it back together... and was perfect!!!!!

let us know how your fight with HTC goes !! :)

Ask any tech, the worst thing you can do to a water damaged phone is to put it in something warm. Quick drying increases the risk of leaving just what you see int he picture, salt residues.

At most they suggest bathroom floors for 12-24 hours.

As for the OP. most service companies will claim water damage if there's the slightest reason they can, even if they can't. And honestly they have stronger evidence in your pictures than what I have seen in many others.

[daiv_]

wow :|

this worries me about sending my phone off my repair on my insurance, since i dropped it and its screen smashed.

though i wouldnt say this is HTC's fault, because the insurance is external and relevant to your contract, right?

edit - okay there is evidence, but still, those prices seem steeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

flashing it with a custom rom voids the warranty, though youve already done that so you might aswell give it a go.

based on my HD2, stock roms freeze a lot, are sluggish and have a nasty habit of not turning back on once its been locked, but once you find the right rom, it's a much much better phone.

though its quite easy to remove all trace of the rom and revert it back to stock, if that's what you mean by flashing.

[Berserk87]

from those pictures it looks like you spilled something on the phone or got it wet...which is why they say they won't repair/refund you for the phone.

they've given you a couple options...I don't see an issue.

Sucks that you have to pay to get the phone back, but since you've obviously gotten it wet somehow your warranty is null.

[acnpt]

That seems expensive as hell(over $470?) considering Apple will repair an out of warranty iPhone 4 for $199.

Glad I sold my HTC Desire, as HTC only seem to care about how many phones they can shift. (not customer loyalty).

Take the HTC Hero Europe updates fiasco, 2.1 still hasn't been released everywhere, it won't be getting 2.2, and the phone is only just a year old....Great support.

I guess you would have to get an independent engineer to test it, and find out what caused the problem, then take HTC to court? :pinch:

Or try and repair it yourself.

Or keep on at HTC to get a bigger discount...

[Krpano]

Guys, the phone had no contact at all with water.

As you can see in the other pictures there is absolutely no sign of humidity.

The phone is working perfectly now.

My question is, what now ?

I repaired the phone, they didnt want to give me warranty.

They said the phone was DOOMED.

I sent those pics to HTC yesterday.

They replied that they will look into it.

I will keep you informed.

The end of this story could be useful to other Desire owners.

[DukeEsquire]

Wow, that's harsh of them.

Say what you will of Apple, but when my iPhone 3G that was over a year old--and outside of any warranties--stopped working all of a sudden, I took it to the Apple store and they sent me a refurb iPhone 3G. I couldn't believe it.

Same thing happened to my friend's MacBook. She dropped it and the case cracked. They took it and a week later, she got her MacBook back with a new outside case.

[busterdan]

Hi there, first post here as I haver managed to track down this message by Krpano..... I have a very similar problem with HTC here in the UK

For the past week I have been arguin with HTC.... and although I initially though T-Mobile had agreed to an exchange they have now said that if HTC has detected moisture then I am stuffed!!

Basically my partner has a HTC Desire... about 3 weeks ago it started to fail, it booted into SAFE MODE and none of the buttons would work. I was able once to get it out of safe mode and the buttons work but then it just rebooted itself and then again it would not come out of safe mode..... it could still make a receive calls but in many ways it was useless.

As it is just three months old I spoke to T-mobile... they said they would send it away and it would be a month. I then called HTC and they said, no problem we can do it in 14 days and so I arrranged for them to collect it. Being under warranty I thought, no problem!

At no time was repair costs mentioned or discussed, as far as I am concerned HTC acknowledged that the phone had a software fault and would fix it.... that was about 2 weeks ago...

Then I received an email from them:-

Our initial assessment of your device indicates that the repair work required is caused by damage that is not covered by warranty. Unfortunately, this means we must charge you for the repair.

I then clicked the quotation link and was astonished to see:-

Level 3 - MB+LCD replacement ?90.96

Level 4 - Average Repair ?28.00

Level 5 - Full Plastic Refurbishment ?47.73

Labour ?22.00

Shipping ?8.64

VAT ?34.53

Total ?231.86

or alternatively pay ?22.08 plus VAT for no repair and return or let them destroy the phone.

As I say... no fees were mentioned or discuss otherwise I would not have sent them the phone and instead left it with T-Mobile with whom I have my contract. The issues from what I can see are software as the screen seems fine. I know that there have been problems with Desire motherboards though. The plastic did have a small scratch.... this does not need to be replaced. Average repair?..... what is that!!

I am really angry... why is the fault not covered by warranty, and then to demand replacement of other parts that are not defective, on the basis that I might claim they were damaged during repair or even the slightest of scratches might affect the functioning of the phone.

I think this is disgraceful, but they have the phone and I feel there is nothing much I can do. The phone was not separately insured with them but as I say there is no accidental damage, the phone is faulty.

I have complained and quoted UK consumer law but it's made no difference to them. Also on the point of the fee's they said that I was bound by their terms and conditions but at the time of returning the phone they did not make me aware of them (apparently they should have).... here they are http://service.europe.htc.com/Terms.aspx

I am waiting for a team leader to call me (probably Monday now) but I doubt very much if it will make any difference. At least with the recent UK, BBC-Watchdog programme Apple agreed that all water indicators should be activated - HTC seem to make up the rules as they see fit and I think this legislation may be relevant... http://whatconsumer.co.uk/unfair-contract-terms/

[Jimmy Little]

the crashing and rebooting since the ota update sounds like it was a defunked update. mine did the same so i reflashed and all was well. get it back and try.

if not insure it and then 'lose' the phone

or sell on ebay as faulty

[Guest]

Mines just gone for repair. The phone wouldn't turn on. When I pushed the power button the phone would vibrate constantly and do nothing else. Battery removal was the only way to stop it. Only had the phone two weeks.

[Berserk87]

if that white/red strip in your first picture is your moisture strip they your SOL.

as soon as the moisture strip is activated they assume all damages are caused by that.

[acnpt]

Level 3 - MB+LCD replacement ?90.96

Level 4 - Average Repair ?28.00

Level 5 - Full Plastic Refurbishment ?47.73

Wow, those repairs sound like ********, and far too expensive.

[StandingInAlley]

I think OP has smashed his phone if i recall correctly.