Emailing HTC regarding Inadequate Battery

[chris61292]

Why?

Cuz i wanted to know if our battery life was comparable to the so called "god" phone by others. If they have similar battery life i would say we just need stfu about battery life, but at the guy a post or 2 above me said, his iphone is better battery life

 

[Reddog80p]

There's no way that Verizon will do a recall or battery swap on the DI. That would be a nightmare publicity wise. Yes they should have included at least a 1500 mah battery but they didn't. I still think the phone is not properly charging the battery when the phone is left on. I get much better battery life when I turn my phone off and charge it rather than leaving it on charging. I use my device pretty lightly and charge nightly regardless of the battery level.

 

[iowabowtech]

I wrote HTC using the same link a day or two ago. Haven't heard back. Maybe they're still laughing at the inclusion of my mailing address and my asking for a higher mAh battery to be delivered at their earliest convenience.

Yeah I know, I know...I knew what I was getting. Just kinda nice to let them realize there are those of us who think they could have amped it up a little with the OEM battery selection.

 

[Ryobi]

It really is a shame they (HTC and VZW) were so freakin cheap that they took a first class device and used a second rate battery.

I'm glad the OP emailed these clowns (again, HTC and VZW) about the pathetic battery situation. Too bad the rest of you didn't.

 

[FierceDeityLink1]

In case you want to reach someone important, and not some low-level tech support rep:

Mark_Baker@htc.com Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit  Americas
 Cher_Wang@htc.com Chairman
 John_Wang@htc.com Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
 Keith_Nowak@htc.com Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC
 Fred_Liu@htc.com COO of HTC
 HT_Cho@htc.com  Board Member of HTC
 Peter_Chou@htc.com CEO
 Lotus_Chan@htc.com VP HTC
 Horace_Luke@htc.com Chief Innovation Officer

Bob Barish
Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
robert.barish@verizon.com
One Verizon Way
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920-1097
ph: 908-559-1629
fx: 908-696-2156

Holyce Hess Groos
Vice President & CFO
One Verizon Way
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920-1097
holly.hess@verizon.com
ph: 908-559-5507 (direct)

Suleiman Hessami
Vice President
Pricing & Contract Management
22001 Loudon County Parkway
Ashburn, VA 20147
suleiman.hessami@verizonbusiness.com
ph: 703-886-2017 (Pam picks up)
fx: 703-886-0116


Jerry Holland
Vice President
CLEC Operations
175 Park Avenue Rm 125
Madison, NJ 07940
jerry.holland@verizon.com
ph: 973-350-5111
fx: 973-660-1065


Virginia Ruesterholz
President
Verizon Telecom
One Verizon Way
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920-1097
virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com
ph: 908-559-1069 (Diane picks up)
fx: 908-696-2135

Joseph Russo
Vice President
Service Assistance Support
One Verizon Way
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920-1097
joseph.j.russo@verizon.com
ph: 908-559-2266 (Robin picks up)
fx: 908-696-2175

Tom Tauke
Executive Vice President
Public Affairs, Policy & Communications
140 West Street, 29th Fl
New York, NY 10007
thomas.j.tauke@verizon.com
ph: 212-395-1032
fx: 908-696-2036

Also please read this otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time: How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb - The Consumerist (notably, what the problem is and what you want done). Also, BCC the message to everyone on the list, and you should hear back from at least one.

 

[drPheta]

Excellent info. I'll be working on a more formal letter tonight for my EECB.

 

[garment69]

You guys are being rediculous. You have choices in life. If you dont like the phone then return it. HTC shipped it with the 1300MAH. Would I have liked a bigger battery? Sure. But it didnt come with one. The battery was listed on the box along with talk and standby times. If you didnt think that was acceptable you should not have bought the phone. I hope HTC tells you all to f**k off.

 

[gamul1]

I agree with the OP - this is a poor design. Here are my thoughts on why this is a bad battery design:

• Basically - *ANY* smart phone is going to use a lot of resources. They have large color screens. they use GPS. They use Blue Tooth. They run Apps - a LOT of them. They do a lot of stuff that a PC can do. THATS THE POINT!
• Any phone maker and cell service provider knows and understands this
• Any smart phone maker who has 1 ounce of intelligence would have a requirement/plan for a phone that their users CANT put down and stop using. They WANT their phone customers to WANT to use their phone as much as possible. Its the only way they can capture market share. When the iPhone first came out - people could not stop using it. Everyone else saw others using this cool phone all the time and just had to have one too. Why on Earth would you sell a phone where you tell the consumer that in order to use it as intended and as we would want you too - you will need to charge it 3 times a day?

I understand the laws of physics on batteries and more power means more size. But people are willing to put up with slightly thicker phones for improved battery life. Especially if other accessories like cases accommodate the extra thickness. The decision to use a 1300 battery was purely cost. they cheaped out.

The immature dolts who replied that basically say "bow to the phone and say thanks or impale yourself on the return register" really need to step back and ask why they are excepting poor quality? Just because the phone is awesome does not mean we need to accept a poor quality battery and the cheap decision that went into what battery to use.

These immature posters made me realize we need another button other than Thanks - we need one that says "Jerk".

 

[drPheta]

You guys are being rediculous. You have choices in life. If you dont like the phone then return it. HTC shipped it with the 1300MAH. Would I have liked a bigger battery? Sure. But it didnt come with one. The battery was listed on the box along with talk and standby times. If you didnt think that was acceptable you should not have bought the phone. I hope HTC tells you all to f**k off.

Again, I hope you realize the box says 5.2 hours of TALK time, and 6 days of standby time. Really, I do have choices, but for VZW and HTC to collaborate and develop an advanced smartphone with inadequate battery is a shame. Looking at the specs, the Incredible is fantastic. Sadly, the battery life doesn't live up to the claims on the specs. Understandably, no spec sheet ever correlates directly with real world usage. But I HIGHLY doubt anyone could reasonably get 5 hours of talk time (given strong 3G signal, WiFi off, etc.)

Once more, why is it so hard for people to realize this post was intended to address a real issue with Verizon and HTC. This is a public forum, and to ostrisize the problem and accept poor battery life simply allows corporations and developers to cut corners at a greater expense to the public.

If HTC tells me to ***k off, so be it. But I'm not going to sit idly w/o letting them know something's wrong. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually do something about it, and do it quickly. What do we have too lose?

 

[iowabowtech]

I hope HTC tells you all to f**k off.

And I'm hoping you find another forum but I'm guessing we're both out of luck.

 

[garment69]

Again, I hope you realize the box says 5.2 hours of TALK time, and 6 days of standby time. Really, I do have choices, but for VZW and HTC to collaborate and develop an advanced smartphone with inadequate battery is a shame. Looking at the specs, the Incredible is fantastic. Sadly, the battery life doesn't live up to the claims on the specs. Understandably, no spec sheet ever correlates directly with real world usage. But I HIGHLY doubt anyone could reasonably get 5 hours of talk time (given strong 3G signal, WiFi off, etc.)

Once more, why is it so hard for people to realize this post was intended to address a real issue with Verizon and HTC. This is a public forum, and to ostrisize the problem and accept poor battery life simply allows corporations and developers to cut corners at a greater expense to the public.

If HTC tells me to ***k off, so be it. But I'm not going to sit idly w/o letting them know something's wrong. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually do something about it, and do it quickly. What do we have too lose?

The way you protest a product is not to buy it. Its like getting a dinner at a restaurant, eating the entire meal and then saying "I didnt like it, I want my money back". Or how about this; I bought a Honda Civic. It has a 140 HP engine. I would like it to be more. Should I complain to Honda? No, I should not have bought the car. And guess what? You can even take a test drive to see if I liked the car. And guess what else? That 30 day return policy is a test drive. you dont like it, you return it. HTC owes you nothing more than the specs of the device. If they mis-represented something then I could understand where you are coming from.

 

[Haelous]

The way you protest a product is not to buy it. Its like getting a dinner at a restaurant, eating the entire meal and then saying "I didnt like it, I want my money back". Or how about this; I bought a Honda Civic. It has a 140 HP engine. I would like it to be more. Should I complain to Honda? No, I should not have bought the car. And guess what? You can even take a test drive to see if I liked the car. And guess what else? That 30 day return policy is a test drive. you dont like it, you return it. HTC owes you nothing more than the specs of the device. If they mis-represented something then I could understand where you are coming from.

This analogy doesn't really work, unless of course your car dealership charges you $35 for a test drive, but I've never had one do that.

The return policy as of the day of the Incredible's release requires you to pay a $35 restocking fee to return the phone within the first 30 days.

 

[thetexan]

I believe there is a bug of sorts in the way the battery charges, and both the OEM battery nor any aftermarket batteries are living up to their full potential. I drop 5-8% as soon as I unplug the charger from the wall, then I see a normal drop as the day continues. That initial 5-8% drop is huge and would go a long way if fixed.

It seems that if you unplug your phone after a "full" charge, shut down and restart the phone, and plug the phone back in then you'll actually get a full charge.

 

[gamul1]

The way you protest a product is not to buy it. Its like getting a dinner at a restaurant, eating the entire meal and then saying "I didnt like it, I want my money back". Or how about this; I bought a Honda Civic. It has a 140 HP engine. I would like it to be more. Should I complain to Honda? No, I should not have bought the car. And guess what? You can even take a test drive to see if I liked the car. And guess what else? That 30 day return policy is a test drive. you dont like it, you return it. HTC owes you nothing more than the specs of the device. If they mis-represented something then I could understand where you are coming from.

Your analogy is illogical. If you want a car analogy then this would be better:

Its like you bought a Toyota Prius. A $22,000 car. It was advertised as having 40 MPG on back roads (5.5 hrs talk time) and 65 MPG on the Highway (180 hours standby).

However, when you get the Prius home - you find out it gets only 35 MPG backroads (4 hrs talk/usage time) and 49 MPG highway (14 hrs standby). Toyota hears initial complaints and responds by saying that if you want performance closer to what we sold you - you have to pay $5,500 more (equivilent to paying for the extra battery for the phone) in order to get that.

You have a right to complain to the manufacturer that the as shipped product is not living up to its expectations.

If you are going to use analogies - use them correctly. Dont just make stuff up and call it an analogy.

 

[OfTheDamned]

Be respectful of your fellow members. While someone's views may not match your own, they are entitled to them just as much as you are to yours. If you are not capable of remaining respectful, then do not bother posting.

 

[garment69]

Your analogy is illogical. If you want a car analogy then this would be better:

Its like you bought a Toyota Prius. A $22,000 car. It was advertised as having 40 MPG on back roads (5.5 hrs talk time) and 65 MPG on the Highway (180 hours standby).

However, when you get the Prius home - you find out it gets only 35 MPG backroads (4 hrs talk/usage time) and 49 MPG highway (14 hrs standby). Toyota hears initial complaints and responds by saying that if you want performance closer to what we sold you - you have to pay $5,500 more (equivilent to paying for the extra battery for the phone) in order to get that.

You have a right to complain to the manufacturer that the as shipped product is not living up to its expectations.

If you are going to use analogies - use them correctly. Dont just make stuff up and call it an analogy.

No. You are incorrect. The correct response would be Toyata saying that MPG rating are based off of not exceeding 55MPH. If you chose to drive faster, then your milage will suffer. Which of course anyone who owns a car should know.

 

[Haelous]

I believe that comparing automobiles to computers (or in this case, very small computers that double as telephony devices) has become a bit of a faux pas on the internet.

It just never seems to end well in general.

 

[jfunk]

The 1300 could be considered too small for many people's usage patterns. Personally, mine doesn't run out even on my heavy use days (which I'm sure is less than many other people's) during my day, which is roughly 17 hours (6am - 11pm). I am glad I didn't have to pay for a bigger battery in the box. If you want the 1500, buy it. It's $15, if you need it that shouldn't be a big deal.

If I was HTC, I would have put the 1500 in the box myself just to hopefully avoid the number of inevitable battery life complaints, but being that the 1300 works fine for me personally, I'm selfishly glad they did not.

That being said, I have no problem with a formal letter written to express disappointment in that decision. That's a good way to make your voice heard by companies so they take those views into consideration in future choices.

What's frightening is that most people seem to think the OP's letter is intelligent and well written. It's not terrible, compared to interwebz speak, but it's barely high school quality. It is by no means even close to being professional. If I received a business letter that looked like that, I would assume it was written by a kid. Right off the bat, the second sentence is almost entirely gibberish. Caps constantly used for emphasis. "So, please explain to me." That isn't even a sentence. Superfluous commas all over the freakin place.

Better than the average forum post, yes. Professional business letter? Not even remotely close.

 

[drPheta]

You guys are all correct. Those of you who like the phone as it stands are entitled to your opinion. Those of you defending me, and joining me in my effort to bring light to the issue, thank you.

jfunk, you are definitely spot on with your assessment of my letter and post. I did not take the time to proof read my letter, and it wasn't intended to appear "professional" or "formal" in anyway. My letter was meant to quickly inform anyone at VZW about the issue, and hopefully enough people would push the techs and reps to notify their superiors. By having direct contact information to people of real influence at HTC and VZW, I fully intend to take some time out later today to draft a formal, professional letter and send it to each of them.

Let it be heard by both companies that the battery issue (whether it be capacity, software charging glitch, hardware, or any combination thereof) is something that should not have slipped through the cracks.

 

[crackers8199]

I believe there is a bug of sorts in the way the battery charges, and both the OEM battery nor any aftermarket batteries are living up to their full potential. I drop 5-8% as soon as I unplug the charger from the wall, then I see a normal drop as the day continues. That initial 5-8% drop is huge and would go a long way if fixed.

It seems that if you unplug your phone after a "full" charge, shut down and restart the phone, and plug the phone back in then you'll actually get a full charge.

While I also see this very quick drop soon after unplugging it from the charger, the whole "turn it off, plug it back in and wait for the light to turn green" thing is a myth, IMHO. you can get this "extra charge" just by waiting and leaving it on the charger longer while turned on. i got no different battery life or stats by doing the turn off / plug back in method...

install juiceplotter and/or a battery indicator and you'll see what i mean. the other day, once the light turned green, JP said i had 6 minutes of charge time remaining and the battery continued charging. a few nights ago, when i plugged the phone in while sleeping, the JP graph indicated i was at 100% around 4am...but the battery indicator when i woke up said "fully charged since 7:31am."

it does seem that the light turns green before the battery is actually full, which actually does seem to be an issue htc should fix: but you DON'T need to turn the phone off to get the extra charge to full...at least not in my experience.

 

[akingsfan]

Sorry, everyone, but I have to say that I don't think the anger toward HTC or Verizon is justified regarding the battery. I did a lot of reading and research on the Incredible before deciding to purchase one. On most of the write-ups and reviews that I read, the weak battery life was listed as a "con". All of the spec sheets leading up to the release indicated that the battery was only a 1300. So there really shouldn't be any surprises out there about the battery life. Do I think the battery life sucks? Absolutely. And do I think that HTC and/or Verizon could have done us all a favor by offering up a better stock battery? Absolutely. But I don't understand why everyone is so surprised that this battery isn't lasting that long. This phone is packed full of amazing features (more than most any phone currently out there...including the iphone), and HTC/Verizon made no secrets about it coming with a 1300 battery. So while I understand everyone's frustration with the battery, I don't think it's overly fair to act like we've all been "cheated" somehow. If you researched and read the reviews (and used common sense, which would have told you that a phone of this magnitude is certainly not going to last all day on a 1300 battery), then the short battery life shouldn't have come as a big surprise. I just sucked it up and plunked down an extra $50 for the 1750 battery, and now I'm happy.

 

[jfunk]

I fully intend to take some time out later today to draft a formal, professional letter and send it to each of them.
.

This is a wise move.

I would recommend making it as concise as possible and rather generic (nothing about how you use it personally, etc). Then post it and encourage others to use it as a form letter. I'm sure with your focused effort you will draft something superior to what would otherwise be produced by most people on their own who wish to join you in expressing their concerns.

I won't send one myself, as I can't legitimately claim the phone doesn't meet my expectations, but I certainly wish you well.

And if I magically receive a 1500 in the mail from HTC some day due to the public outcry over the poor battery life, then I thank you tremendously!

 

[Randino]

Thanks for the tip on the HTC 1500mAH battery. I already ordered the 1750 Seidio a few days ago, so I'll see how that works out. Ultimately I'll grab the 2150 when it goes on sale, I think.



Well, I got the following response from VZW



To which I responded:



I also never received any call. At least they're trying. Glad we can at least contact them respectfully and get some sort of response.

You have GOT to post their response to this, that is the best smack in the face I've seen when I read their reply that was the first thing I thought of, the Linux debate...I hope they respond to that, keep up the fight man, I'm behind you 100%.

 

[Randino]

Also, doesn't the Eris come with the 1500 battery, why would one have a 1500 and the other a 1300?

 

[tats_06]

Thanks for the tip on the HTC 1500mAH battery. I already ordered the 1750 Seidio a few days ago, so I'll see how that works out. Ultimately I'll grab the 2150 when it goes on sale, I think.



Well, I got the following response from VZW



To which I responded:



I also never received any call. At least they're trying. Glad we can at least contact them respectfully and get some sort of response.

This is great!!! I admire you taking the initiative. I know this is off topic, but I also think we should add the dust under screen out of box to the quality issue as well.