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[Horror Story] Asurion will ONLY give you an Eris for your Droid as of yesterday afternoon

haniblecter

Lurker
Jul 14, 2010
5
6
Droid fell in a toilet Saturday. I make an online claim on monday. Their website indicated that they could give me either a Desire or I'd wait on backorder for another Droid. I pick backorder.

Did some research, turns out the Desire is actually a nice phone. I call Asurion that night and have them switch me to the desire and ship it out. The package comes at 11:30am the next day...

....it was an Eris.

Called again. Laquinta (not kidding) on the other end tried to convince me that the Eris = Desire. Google was telling me different (found out later that Desire is a Euro only model) I explained to her that they're very different phones, with one being horribly subpar to the other.

She talks to someone and agrees, says we have Desires in adn we'll ship you one.

Get a package today (nextday). Open it up, POW, Eris.

Call again, lady on other end says the Motorola Droid is no longer being made and they havent gotten any in from Motorola. She also claims that the Eris = the Desire in their system because, get this,

DESIRE
=
ERIS[ED]

I shit you not.


Run out and get a battery. Try to monkey with the bootloader screen, grow bored and take a break and read a book.

I come back and the new battery is dead and as your wonderful forum has taught me (through search, I might add) the batteries in Droids dont charge on the bootlogger screen.

Ill get a new batt and try to load a new kernel (assuming thats the going verbage for a phones OS) tomorrow, after a night of drinking.



TL/DR

Asurion, the only mobile phone insurer, will NOT replace your Droid with another Droid, just an Eris. Do with this information as you will.
 
Ask for a supervisor, that is rediculous. I would ask for a Droid X :)


Went up two tiers. Says they can't/won't do an X or incredible. Tempted to ask.

The two other phones they recommended I could take is the Devour (no thank you) or some LG shit.


Tempted to call back and try and get the incredible. As memory serves, I didnt actually ask for the Inc nor did they offer it.
 
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You try talking contract language to some toon on a phone. They'll stone wall you, say they don't have X, offer y, then offload responsibliity on verizon, claiming that they're only allowed to replace X with 1, 2, 3.

You want my advice? With all these android phones coming out from HTC and Motorola, the companies stop manufacturing them the second the next model's out. That means insurance is going to have dick all to give you.

Drop your insurance carriers after 3 mo's on your smart phones, esp. your androids. Don't get suckered into 499-7,99 a month plus a 90$ deductible for some sub standard crap.
 
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Out of stock is out of stock. I don't understand what the huge news story is here. Claiming that the Eris is the Desire is ridiculous though.

Asurion, the only mobile phone insurer
...and Asurion is not, and has never been, the only mobile phone insurer.

Aren't they required to replace your phone with a model with the same or better specs.....i didn't believe they could downgrade your equipment
Nope. Read the program details:
Asurion may fulfill claims with new or remanufactured equipment. In general, claims are fulfilled with the same make and model you claim. If this is not possible, a like-kind make and model will be substituted. Color, feature and accessory compatibility are not guaranteed.
"Like-kind" is open to interpretation.
 
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It is the same phone, HTC called it the Desire. Verizon decided to change the name to Eris. See this link below and view the third phone on the page.
All Android Phones of 2009

That is completely false. The Eris is a repackaged HTC Hero, not Desire. Check the specs. Right off the bat, Eris = 528 Mhz Processor, while the Desire has 1 Ghz....

OP, I would fight this as well. They are supposed to give you an equal phone, and by no means are the phones they offered "equal"...

Thanks for this though...Thinking about cancelling my insurance now...
 
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Success!

In a last ditch effort as I was playing EVE Online (best mmo ever) I began writing emails via the forms listed in both asurion and verizon's websites (asurion had two options, one for the ceo, and one for customer service...did both)

In the body of the messages I listed both this thread, and a larger one over on TribalWar.Com: Gaming News Motorola Droid fell in the tiolet, Asurion wants to give me the Desire, should I? by haniblecter - TribalWar Forums and indicated that those dozens of people felt I got ripped also.

Not 2 hours later I get a phone call (on the gf's Eris) from a Tiffanini. I could tell she's from their HQ in TN because of her accent. She was very helpful and articulate, empathized with my situation and stated that while they don't have any in their stocks, and Moto is no longer making any, they'd be more than happy to reimburse me for the purchase of a NEW Droid at a local Verizon store!

She apologized profusely and indicated that Droids have been hard to keep in stock/available for claims because of how fast new models are turning over.

Anywho, off to my local Verizon store!
 
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Did you get that in writing?...I would require them to send me a letter stating that they would reimburse the total retail cost(not contract) of the droid. Or have them send a check for the total amount prior to you purchasing one. Sounds like it will be a bigger fight to get your money reimbursed if you don't have it in writing or up-front.
 
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