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So, I've sent my phone in for repair, and received it back. It's not working any better; if anything it's now even more broken.
I had a lot of "fun" communicating with the point of sale and their preferred service partner, because they kept referring me to each other. Finally, the point of sale says to send the phone to them, and I hear nothing for a month. After repeated inquiries, my father calls them up (because when I try from abroad, I receive an odd service tone) and after sitting in a phone queue for 4(!) hours they tell him that the phone is just now ready to be shipped out. Gee, what a coincidence!
One week later (Friday afternoon), and I have the phone in hand. It doesn't work any better than before, the sensors are still on-again, off-again. It's the same cover, battery, and case; I can't tell if they've actually opened it. I sent them an email about it Monday morning, but hear nothing for a week. Last night I sent them another email, demanding action and wondering about their definition of customer support (in kinder words than that).
People on the phone tell me they can't hear what I'm saying because of an incessant beeping -- it turns out that the proximity sensor has now died as well, causing me to (unknowingly) press the on-screen keypad with my ear during calls!
Also, my only backup phone is a 2G phone, and my 3G phone provider recently decided to kill all its 2G support in my area. So, if I want to be reachable while this thing is at service, I need to buy a new (2G) SIM with another phone number, or another 3G phone to use with my current SIM. This is a nightmare!
I've spent about €500 and rather a lot of time, and I have no usable phone. The next step is reporting the point of sale to the German equivalent to the Better Business Bureau, if such an entity can be found.
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