Thats correct and I have been through it more than once and ended up paying full retail for the phone I had returned and end up selling the one you are stuck with to try to covers costs for purchasing the full retail one.

You only get one exchange within the 30 days and you only get 30 days total. If it has been more than thirty days total since you got the first phone you are SOL, if it hasnt been 30 days you could try to cancel the line all together and start a new one.

 

You can have as many returns OF THE SAME PHONE within the 30 days for any problems. After 30 days, they will troubleshoot for exchange OF THE SAME PHONE. Now, if you desire a DIFFERENT PHONE, you can only make ONE EXCHANGE of a DIFFERENT PHONE per 30 days. Whatever your second phone is, that's the one you're stuck with. This is to prevent people from returning phones every 30 days and taking advantage of their "worry-free guarantee." It's a courtesy they offer customers. They don't have to have that 30 day policy for exchanges. Unfortunately, there are some out there that want to take advantage of trying out the latest and greatest and returning it when the next latest and greatest comes out. In the end, it protects all of us and helps the quality of products remain high.

 

Best Buy has the same policy and I also took issue with it. My problem was that regardless of the reason for return, you are stuck with the phone. I had the Eris, and the battery problem raised its ugly head. I went in and asked to exchange it and the guy said no problem, and started unpackaging another phone. While he was doing so, he made a comment that they would always take it back "once" for any reason. This made me think and I asked him if my 30 day satisfaction guarantee was still valid and could I return the phone. He said that no, once I exchanged the phone once, I could not exchange it nor could i even return it if I was not happy with it. I told him to disregrad the exchnage and stuck it out. I ended up going back 2 days later and exchnaging for a Droid, fully understanding that I was stuckw ith it for good. My issue was that if there is a manufacturing issue with the device, why should that count against you in regards to your satisfaction with the device? Also, they should make you fully aware of this when you purchase the device. The guy admitted that they usually dont tell people of this clause of their policy when they exchange their phone. It's ridiculous. You should get at least one exchange/return before you are locked in on the next time. It just irks me. Glad I was happy with my Droid. Based on their policy though, I will not hesitate to return my phone for another exchange if there is the smallest of issues with it.

 

It actually isn't ridiculous. Because, you have fools out there who would come in every 30 days to exchange a phone for a new one because they aren't "satisfied." This would end up driving up the cost of phones all around. That being said, like I said, it's a courtesy. At one time, they didn't even HAVE this exchange policy and you were stuck with the phone you bought. This policy is the same across all the major wireless providers. So, don't be upset with Verizon's "ridiculous" policy.

 

I think the policy actually makes a lot of sense. It would be unfair to expect any phone company to exchange a phone continuously every 30-days. I'm sure that any defects would still be covered. I'm glad that I'll have the 30 days to try out my new phone just to be sure that I made the right choice.

 

I understand that. My issue is with the other part of the equation. They are telling me that I have 30 days to be satisfied with a product. If there is a manufacturers defect and I return it, I am in essence waiving my 30 days because now I can't return it. That part makes no sense to me. I can understand if I exchange a phone, got it, you have to do that. But if I have the same phone, exchange it because there's dust under the screen, and after a week realize I dont like the phone, I cannot return it. Thats ridiculous. On top of that, they are hesitant to explain that to you when you return the phone to exchange it. In my estimation, that portion is ridiculous...

 

Maybe you need to just get another Droid. I swapped mine out yesterday because my first one wouldn't stop locking up and rebooting. Tell them that is happening to you and that it is random and that you need to swap it out for antoher phone. They may want to try some kind of factory reset and tell them that you've done it and that you don't want to continue to mess around with that phone, you just want a new device. Maybe you just got a dud phone like I did.

 

Have you tried updating the phone via *228 option 1? I realize it's not a cure-all, but especially if you are in a fringe area it is definitely worth a go.

I was under the impression that all digital US cell phones used an antennae running at the exact same power, regardless of make or model. Doesn't that mean that in theory they all get the same reception so long as they are not defective and the PRL is up-to-date; and anything beyond that is basically user error? After all it could be that your phone rates it's signal differently and that one bar on the new one is the same strength as 3 bars on the old one.

 

I saw and posted in another thread that provides the first clear evidence I've seen that Verizon has seriously screwed up the PRL programming for the Droid. It certainly makes sense given what I've seen with my two samples of the phone. Basically, someone reported getting a custom PRL from a Verizon store tech that fixed his reception problems, and of course was told in no uncertain terms by the tech NOT to do *228, which would have put him back to the default PRL. This kind of registration problem has occurred in the past with some Verizon Blackberries as well.

The test mode on the Droid appears to me to show the performance for the two nearest towers. What I'm seeing is that the EC/IO for the first choice tower is always seriously messed up (the EC/IO number should be as low as possible, preferably zero), and then the phone goes to the second tower which usually means a needlessly weak signal.