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Help 1 Year Manufacture Warranty

darkspork

Newbie
Jul 9, 2010
22
6
So, my first refurbished replacement is on it's way in the mail. My Moment freezes, has data locks, service is degraded, many applications force close etc. (Basically it's a Samsung Moment).

I know this phone is being discontinued, and from my understanding it's defective by design. My question is this:
What's Sprint's policy on replacing defective phones with a similar but different model? I wouldn't be surprised if my next Moment has the same problems, but I'm avoiding rooting so as to not void the warranty. Has anybody had luck getting their Moment replaced with a similar but different model (ie Transform)?

I ask because I have a friend on Verizon who had a BB Storm under warranty and it was very buggy. They sent him a refurb and it was even worse, so they sent him a new Moto Droid to avoid further issues.

I don't bring this up because I have buyer's remorse (I don't), I like the Samsung Moment and would like it even more if it wasn't defective.
 
You should try rooting, you have nothing to lose. You can bring it back to stock within minutes if you need to. Rooting only takes a few minutes as well, and the custom ROMs are so much better than stock it's not even funny.

The risks of voiding warranty is a super weak one as I have never heard anyone's warranty being denied due to rooting, not especially since you can bring it back to stock. If you can't bring it back to stock, then the phone's bricked and they'll never know you rooted.

If you refuse to root then that's your choice and good luck.
 
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Good luck with that.

The stock ROM is buggy. If you go with a custom ROM most of your complaints will be resolved.

But if you want to be stubborn and keep wasting your time, that's your choice.

I guess it depends on what constitutes a waste of time to you. The closest Sprint store to me is 250 miles, so I have to handle the issues over the phone. The Total Equipment Protection plan is $7/month and if I don't use it to have defective hardware fixed/replaced I'd be wasting that much money every month ($28 so far). I don't have any problems with using a service I pay for, especially if I'm not abusing it (no water damage, loss, or theft).

The fact of the matter is, the stock ROM is filled with bloatware, and seems to be buggy, but that's not my fault. Sprint should fix it if they've agreed to back the hardware for a year/as long as I pay for TEP. As much as I would rather run a custom ROM (and I would), it's a waste of time to load a custom ROM just so that you will need to revert to stock every time I need to return the phone.

And other than removal of bloatware, better battery life and (maybe) a slightly more stable phone, rooting poses no huge advantage to me. I'm new to smartphones and I only use my Moment for calls, texting, Pandora, checking my e-mail, occasionally GPS and occasionally surfing the web. The stock ROM fulfills the functions fine other than the constant crashes and sound not working 40% of the time on Pandora. If my phone had no warranty, I'd root it in a heartbeat, but the cons outweigh the pros for me.

Before you imply it, I'm not computer illiterate. I don't know any programming, but I understand what root is and what root privileges are; I am dual-booting Linux.
 
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So have you tried the custom ROM?

I refused to try a custom ROM until recently.

It took my Moment 4-10 seconds to open up the phone app.

After rooting and installing Radioactive Froyo 1.8.22, the phone is much snapier and works as it should.

I don't care if you know programming or computers or not. That's not the point.

Rooting and installing custom ROMs on the Moment can be done by a 4th grader, it's that easy.

I also know Linux / Unix, run Ubuntu, etc etc. That's irrelevant.

If you want to keep running a stock ROM that's known to have issues despite universal agreement from people here that custom ROMs improve things many times over, that's your choice.

Keep dealing with Asurion and Sprint to exchange phones. Or you can spend a few minutes to root and install a custom ROM to make the phone work as it should.

It's your choice. Your time. Good luck.
 
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Also, on the topic of insurance, it's a waste of money.

If you pay $7 per month for 12 months, that's $84 dollars down the drain. Then you get to pay a $100 deductible on top of that, for a new Moment. Total cost of $184 for a replacement Moment or Transform. Yay...

Used Moments go on eBay / Craigslist go for $100 - $150, which is the better bet?
 
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Also, on the topic of insurance, it's a waste of money.

If you pay $7 per month for 12 months, that's $84 dollars down the drain. Then you get to pay a $100 deductible on top of that, for a new Moment. Total cost of $184 for a replacement Moment or Transform. Yay...

Used Moments go on eBay / Craigslist go for $100 - $150, which is the better bet?

The deductible is for if the phone is water damaged or lost/stolen. Defective hardware does not yield a deductible. That's $84/year unless I go swimming with it, then it's $184 instead of $400.
 
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@DarkSpork

I've had 4 refurbs since February with the same issues you are explaining. Sprint will offer you a HTC Hero or a Samsung Intercept as a replacement. They will not offer you anything more. In my opinion, and it's my opinion -- those phones are both downgrades. Period. A couple days ago I actually was on and off the phone with Sprint for 6 hours (no joke) and visitied 4 stores in one day trying to resolve my issues with this phone. I finally had a lady over the phone offer me a Transform but the store I was at wasn't a corp/tech center so I had to drive out of my way to go to one. After getting there and them checking my phone they came to the conclusion that it's my fault blah blah for all my issues and reboots. The guy told me he would give me a intercept and I told him NO WAY! He offered to send my phone (my only phone) out to have the antenna fixed. What a joke! He then proceeded to tell me that is all he can do and I told him it was unacceptable. I am fed up like most and threatened to go elsewhere and he said have a nice day and go cancel. SERIOUSLY! Eight long years of being with Sprint ... and this.
I am not do for a upgrade until February so I am trying to ride this out however I am extrememly ticked that I was treated as such and actually contemplated on going elsewhere. As far as rooting, it is completely your choice but I will tell you this much... I've had Sprint techs actually tell me to do so. Just my two cents.
 
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The deductible is for if the phone is water damaged or lost/stolen. Defective hardware does not yield a deductible. That's $84/year unless I go swimming with it, then it's $184 instead of $400.
A used moment is going for $100-150, I still don't see the advantage of tossing even $84 out the window.

That is even if you could convince a tech that your Moment is indeed defective, and get them to replace it with another refurb Moment.
 
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@indychic

It's sounds like a lot of work, but it does seem like they tried to make it right by offering you a different phone. I'm sorry you've dealt with so much hassle. They may have only been offering Hero and Intercept in the past, but that's all that was available that wasn't 4G up until a few days ago.

Honestly, I've been 5 times happier with Sprint's customer service, they seem really caring, understanding and seem to want to do whatever they need to in order to make things right. That being said, I live 250 miles from a Sprint store so any customer service I receive is over the phone. Support is being dropped for the Moment and I just got it 3 months ago. If I'm stuck with a phone that is buggy for 2 years I'd at least want it to be a phone Sprint will stand behind (especially if I am paying them extra to stand behind it).

If a Sprint rep tells me to root my phone, I want their name and employee number so I can hold them responsible if I brick my phone. They know the Moments in general are defective, I described my problems over the phone and they said "we've been having a lot of problems with them freezing recently" and they agreed to send a refurbished phone. It's literally as easy as that. That being said, it's going to get costly very quick to keep spending money on postage and return postage. Surely their is a logical alternative.

I love Sprint's service and I think their pricing is more fair than any other contract cellular company. I will continue to recommend them to all of my friends unless they prove to me that they won't stand behind their product. There's no reason I should be stuck with a defective product if it's under warranty, and I'm paying extra to have defective phones repaired/replaced.

@AndroidSPCS
Tell me this: If you bought a new car that would stall every time you hit 15mph, forcing you to push in the clutch and restart it, is this acceptable? Is it acceptable if you can reprogram the ECU and it eliminates the problem 99% of the time? I would say no, especially if reprogramming the ECU may void your warranty or fry the ECU.
 
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So, my first refurbished replacement is on it's way in the mail. My Moment freezes, has data locks, service is degraded, many applications force close etc. (Basically it's a Samsung Moment).

I know this phone is being discontinued, and from my understanding it's defective by design. My question is this:
What's Sprint's policy on replacing defective phones with a similar but different model? I wouldn't be surprised if my next Moment has the same problems, but I'm avoiding rooting so as to not void the warranty. Has anybody had luck getting their Moment replaced with a similar but different model (ie Transform)?

a few choices you could do.

1. keep trading it in until you either get a working unit which i doubt will happen cuz as you said the moment is defective by design, or hope sprint will trade you for a different model. You might be able to get a refurb transform, but the transform is new so they might not have any refurbs in yet. this way may or not work and is time consuming it also depends on the rep or supervisor you speak with. you would have to raise hell to get a different model and it might not be what you want.

2. root the phone and solve some issues. you can root your phone in as little as 30mins or less and that's gathering all info and files. i recommend radioactive froyo rom. visit the root subforum for more info and help. the chances are almost zero to brick your moment cuz you can re flash it to original stock which takes likes 5 mins to do using the official sprint update tool. as long as your phone boots into download mode you can restore it to factory conditions.

3. hold off until your up for a upgrade and get a different model that works.

if i were you i would root and hold off until upgrade time comes around. i think by then sprint will have a larger mature android selection and windows 7 phones should be appearing around too. well whatever you do the choice is yours. :)
 
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@kahale
Thanks for not trying to imply that I'm an idiot for not wanting to root. If I land up on Moment 5 and I'm still having issues I'll look into it.

What I've taken from this is that it will be hard to get a different model as replacement, which is pretty much the answer to my original question. Thanks everybody.
 
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@DarkSpork -

I understand where you are coming from so don't take this the wrong way... BUT to be offered a Intercept or a Hero is UNACCEPTABLE. It is a DOWNGRADE. Period.
They could have offered me a Transform because it came out 2 days before I went in for my 4th refurbed moment. I want what a paid for. A phone that doesn't reboot in a middle of a conversation and is reliable. A phone with a keyboard, same screen & a flash on my camera. Heck I think the Transform is selling for less than what I paid for my Moment. Seriously!?!!! It compares more so than the other two. I love my Moment if it would just work right!~

I use to love Sprint. I've never complained not once... They have the best plans! However, this phone is a known issue from day one. Heck, I would have paid the difference of a new phone but they wouldn't budge. They BLAMED ME (a loyal paying customer going on 8 years) for random reboots amongst other things that kept me from using my phone.

I personally don't pay for insurance as I've never had a problem getting a refurb do to the huge problem with the moment. Plus, the moment is cheap now!

As far as rooting. I promise you that atleast 3 employees at a tech center I go to told me this. I was scared to mess with my phone and took the plunge after reading how simple it is. It's your choice. Check SDX forums for some help if interested.

=) Cheers!
 
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