Just wanted to chime in with some thoughts here. I'd purchased the Behold II just under two months ago. And yeah, I'd bought into that whole upgrade to 2.x crap thanks to sales reps and the oft removed/replaced/removed/replaced Samsung video.
It took a while, but with the awesome work of eugene, nu, and others here I had finally gotten the phone to function reasonably well (running the tweaked 1.6 release from here), save for a few dialer issues I still have (the occasional total lockup of the phone).
Still, the whole debacle about Behold II support did leave a bad taste in my mouth and I felt it a bit tiring that I (with tons of help from the community and a lot of reading) had to fix most of the issues myself by basically ditching everything remotely "Samsungy" about the phone. Also, the fact that this phone still had minor issues actually functioning as a phone was the last straw for me.
So I took matters into my own hands and began engaging in email and phone exchanges with T-Mobile corporate. After several weeks of emails, patience and a bit of phone tag, I have now gotten a firm commitment from T-Mobile to replace my Behold II with a new Samsung Vibrant free of charge. Mine is on it's way via UPS as we speak. I was led to believe that this was a joint decision by T-Mobile and Samsung as a resolution to extreme cases of dissatisfaction with the Behold II taken on a case-by-case basis. As to whether or not that is the actual truth, well that remains to be seen I suppose.
In my interactions with T-Mobiles Executive Customer Relations, I was very careful to be adult, professional, and to avoid inflammatory responses and behavior. The gentleman I interacted with conducted himself very professionally and was quite candid with me in regards to the rock-and-a-hard place T-Mobile sort of found themselves in with the Behold II. Still, despite trying to retain the high ground ethically and professionally at all times during my exchanges, I remained adamant with my dissatisfaction and left them with three options to resolve my complaint, making it clear that no other options would be considered. Replace my phone with a 2.1 sporting handset, release me from my contract and refund me, or watch me ignore T-Mobile's attempts to bill me until the cold death of the universe.
The nearly three decade long experience I have in the service industry both at the brick-and-mortar and corporate levels, as well as nearly 10 years worth of experience in tech industry press at least leads me to believe I've developed a very clear understanding of how to get satisfaction from service providers over the years. I've dealt with the best and worst customers in the world in my many years standing in this man's shoes, and I've learned valuable lessons from both sides of the coin. Maybe that's just my ego talking, and me having a dose of excellent luck and timing too. Hard to say for certain.
At any rate, I just wanted to share my experience here, and to offer a bit of advice. For those of you who are willing to invest the time, it might be worthwhile to take your arguments about the phone to the proper sources at this stage of the game. And be sure to utilize your anger and indignance as tools to focus your approach and demeanor, and not lose the high ground when trying to wheedle your way through this sort of situation. At the end of the day, the very nice gentleman (who I had significant disagreements with that took effort to overcome) at T-Mobile corporate I interacted with...is a human being. And human beings will generally take you more seriously when you take them seriously and treat them with respect regardless of what their job is.
I'm just glad my situation is resolved to my satisfaction.
It took a while, but with the awesome work of eugene, nu, and others here I had finally gotten the phone to function reasonably well (running the tweaked 1.6 release from here), save for a few dialer issues I still have (the occasional total lockup of the phone).
Still, the whole debacle about Behold II support did leave a bad taste in my mouth and I felt it a bit tiring that I (with tons of help from the community and a lot of reading) had to fix most of the issues myself by basically ditching everything remotely "Samsungy" about the phone. Also, the fact that this phone still had minor issues actually functioning as a phone was the last straw for me.
So I took matters into my own hands and began engaging in email and phone exchanges with T-Mobile corporate. After several weeks of emails, patience and a bit of phone tag, I have now gotten a firm commitment from T-Mobile to replace my Behold II with a new Samsung Vibrant free of charge. Mine is on it's way via UPS as we speak. I was led to believe that this was a joint decision by T-Mobile and Samsung as a resolution to extreme cases of dissatisfaction with the Behold II taken on a case-by-case basis. As to whether or not that is the actual truth, well that remains to be seen I suppose.
In my interactions with T-Mobiles Executive Customer Relations, I was very careful to be adult, professional, and to avoid inflammatory responses and behavior. The gentleman I interacted with conducted himself very professionally and was quite candid with me in regards to the rock-and-a-hard place T-Mobile sort of found themselves in with the Behold II. Still, despite trying to retain the high ground ethically and professionally at all times during my exchanges, I remained adamant with my dissatisfaction and left them with three options to resolve my complaint, making it clear that no other options would be considered. Replace my phone with a 2.1 sporting handset, release me from my contract and refund me, or watch me ignore T-Mobile's attempts to bill me until the cold death of the universe.
The nearly three decade long experience I have in the service industry both at the brick-and-mortar and corporate levels, as well as nearly 10 years worth of experience in tech industry press at least leads me to believe I've developed a very clear understanding of how to get satisfaction from service providers over the years. I've dealt with the best and worst customers in the world in my many years standing in this man's shoes, and I've learned valuable lessons from both sides of the coin. Maybe that's just my ego talking, and me having a dose of excellent luck and timing too. Hard to say for certain.
At any rate, I just wanted to share my experience here, and to offer a bit of advice. For those of you who are willing to invest the time, it might be worthwhile to take your arguments about the phone to the proper sources at this stage of the game. And be sure to utilize your anger and indignance as tools to focus your approach and demeanor, and not lose the high ground when trying to wheedle your way through this sort of situation. At the end of the day, the very nice gentleman (who I had significant disagreements with that took effort to overcome) at T-Mobile corporate I interacted with...is a human being. And human beings will generally take you more seriously when you take them seriously and treat them with respect regardless of what their job is.
I'm just glad my situation is resolved to my satisfaction.
