How are the refurbs? Anybody get new Droid out of 30 days or through insurance?

[Laramie]

Just curious how the quality is? I know when I had my original Storm, there was a sh*tstorm over how terrible the quality of the refurbs were. I understand using refurbs to offset and cost and trying to save VZW money.

Just curious anybody who's gotten a refurb (brown box, no battery) how is the quality? Any issues particularly with the slide mechanism and screen?

 

[hookbill]

Just curious how the quality is? I know when I had my original Storm, there was a sh*tstorm over how terrible the quality of the refurbs were. I understand using refurbs to offset and cost and trying to save VZW money.

Just curious anybody who's gotten a refurb (brown box, no battery) how is the quality? Any issues particularly with the slide mechanism and screen?

To be honest all I have read is bad stuff about refurbs. That's because people don't come here when they have something that works great, you only hear the complaints.

I use this analogy frequently. If you have two people go to a restaurant and they like it they tell 2 other people. But if they don't like it they will tell 10.

I'm willing to bet the vast majority of refurbs are just fine.

 

[Laramie]

Just curious how the quality is? I know when I had my original Storm, there was a sh*tstorm over how terrible the quality of the refurbs were. I understand using refurbs to offset and cost and trying to save VZW money.

Just curious anybody who's gotten a refurb (brown box, no battery) how is the quality? Any issues particularly with the slide mechanism and screen?

To be honest all I have read is bad stuff about refurbs. That's because people don't come here when they have something that works great, you only hear the complaints.

I use this analogy frequently. If you have two people go to a restaurant and they like it they tell 2 other people. But if they don't like it they will tell 10.

I'm willing to bet the vast majority of refurbs are just fine.

I agree with this completely. You hear more about complaints than happy customers which is unfortunate and might skew results for products/service.

I don't find myself to be picky, I just wonder how long my particular Droid will last. I am not hard on phones, but between flip phones, Storm, Curve I have had at least 1 issue come up during my 1-2 years of having the phone before an upgrade to a new device when something went bad.

1. Flip-phone - antenna was loose and eventually fell out.
2. Storm - Screen click mechanism was very unresponsive and wouldn't click towards bottom of screen.
3. Curve - LOTS of dust under screen and constant hangs even after wiping device and starting with new OS.

 

[johall07]

my first refurb had a problem with the wifi wouldnt work at all my second refurb works perfectly fine

 

[pudah]

Just curious how the quality is? I know when I had my original Storm, there was a sh*tstorm over how terrible the quality of the refurbs were. I understand using refurbs to offset and cost and trying to save VZW money.

Just curious anybody who's gotten a refurb (brown box, no battery) how is the quality? Any issues particularly with the slide mechanism and screen?

It is just as much of a lottery as getting a new phone when it's a newly launched phone and purchased early in it's release. There will be good and bad. Some of the new ones work well and some don't. Some of the refurbs work well and some don't. Some refurbs aren't actually refurbished at all. Some are new, some are returned for reasons other than defect, some were sold but never used, etc. The refurbs that were broken are fixed and tested, so if it was a defect and that defect is corrected then you might have a better chance at a higher quality phone because it was tested once by the end user and found to have flaws, the flaws were, in theory, fixed and the phone tested again, so there were more steps taken to eliminate issues. Sometimes some things aren't found in testing so they go back out and continue to have issues. In that case you can return it again and try another or argue for a new replacement. I've done that and won that argument both with VZW and insurance for other phones.

That said, here is my experience. Droid 1 - rebooted constantly and a bunch of gremlins. None fixed with software updates or apps. It was found to be hardware, so I replaced it with a new phone. Second new phone worked a lot better but it felt cheaper physically and the sound wasn't great. It had a couple of reboots, but not as many. I exchanged it right before the 30d period just because I could (so this would be a refurb and likely a fine phone). The 3rd new Droid was a fine phone. It worked perfectly. The screen/slider felt a little loose compared to the other two, but otherwise it was great. I dropped and messed this phone up pretty good, and managed to convince VZW to replace it not using insurance because of occasional audio hiss/whine on calls (which IMO seems to be on all droids). The refurb they sent out looked brand new, smelled brand new, felt brand now, and had a date code later than any of the previous 3 phones. Im sure it actually was a refurb of some kind because the stickers were replaced in the phone. This phone has been the winner. It functions perfectly physically with the most solid feel so far. The keyboard keys aren't as nice as the last one, but theyre getting better with use and will be the same shortly. The slider is smooth, rigid and clicks open/closed solidly. Ive had no issues with software on the phone yet, and even minor issues haven't shown up, so this refurb is the winner for my 4 droids.

 

[mth04]

my refurb is excellent....just an fyi

 

[Laramie]

Good info all, thanks.

 

[FireDroid]

Still on my first 1 so I cant help you. I feel pretty lucky but like what was said before, I am sure the vast majority are fine.

 

[miamidroid]

I didnt get a refurb, I got a whole phone through insurance. The one I bought on launch day has been able to run every OC kernel and wifi with no problems. That means from the first OC kernel to the 1.3ghz ones and its stable. My current one cannot run anything passed 1ghz. It becomes unstable or simply does not boot with anything above 1ghz. Why the difference? I have no idea. I even unrooted and rerooted with the same results.