Verizon Begins Charging Full Price of Warranty Phones if Rooted?

[BodyBagz]

I applaud Verizon for this...and here is why:

Just here and a few other forums devoted to Droids/Android in general, it is not uncommon on a weekly basis to see threads started by posters that look like this, "So, I bricked my phone when trying to install Liberty/Apex/Zombie/Jimmy2Cools GB over Froyo blah, blah, blah, but its all cool cause I got Verizon/Asurion to send me a replacement...":icon_evil:

Yes, I rooted my phone...yes, I ROM`d my phone...yes, I would fully expect to have to pay Full Retail Value if I had to carry it back to Verizon and they then determined that since I rooted it, that it was no longer covered. Why, because I signed a binding agreement that takes liability off of Verizon when I rooted and modified the stock phone they sold me for a discounted price!

Far too many people expect any and all manner of "freebies" now a days...and take absolutely "0" responsibility for themselves and how they manage themselves. We truly are becoming a "self" society...no longer is the "group" as a whole given any consideration. Its the handful of users who screw up and then fleece the companies that screw it up for the rest of us who actually take time to see if we can fix our OWN MISTAKES...:icon_evil:

 

[czerdrill]

I applaud Verizon for this...and here is why:

Just here and a few other forums devoted to Droids/Android in general, it is not uncommon on a weekly basis to see threads started by posters that look like this, "So, I bricked my phone when trying to install Liberty/Apex/Zombie/Jimmy2Cools GB over Froyo blah, blah, blah, but its all cool cause I got Verizon/Asurion to send me a replacement...":icon_evil:

Yes, I rooted my phone...yes, I ROM`d my phone...yes, I would fully expect to have to pay Full Retail Value if I had to carry it back to Verizon and they then determined that since I rooted it, that it was no longer covered. Why, because I signed a binding agreement that takes liability off of Verizon when I rooted and modified the stock phone they sold me for a discounted price!

Far too many people expect any and all manner of "freebies" now a days...and take absolutely "0" responsibility for themselves and how they manage themselves. We truly are becoming a "self" society...no longer is the "group" as a whole given any consideration. Its the handful of users who screw up and then fleece the companies that screw it up for the rest of us who actually take time to see if we can fix our OWN MISTAKES...:icon_evil:

Excellent post and my thougts exactly. These phones really are hard to brick unless you blatantly don't follow directions. Usually its fixable. But most ppl just take the "I lost my phone route"....its a sad state of affairs and sometimes I think things like that are promoted rather then spoken against

 

[cobjones]

I think that if you are having an issue with you phone while rooted, and flash back to stock and that problem is still there, then it should be covered. There are exceptions in my opinion (ex. If you run a ridiculously overclocked kernal for long periods.)

I think people know if and when they are scamming, and it makes me sad that people would flat out lie, when it is a mistake of their own, and not the manufacturer.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[1ceFiend]

I've had a hardware issue with my D1 for about 6 months or so (blown earpiece speaker). I haven't taken it back because...

1) I voided my warranty on day 2 of ownership by rooting
2) I simply don't want to part with it, and I don't want what they would give as a replacement. It must drink Dos Equis because... it is, the most interesting phone in the world.

I support their efforts to thwart those who voluntarily brick their phones, because they didn't read up first before attempting mods... then return them without SBF'ing. You deserve to pay full retail.... and a Darwin Award.
*customized tapatalk signature*

I didn't want to get rid of my d1 either. At least until it stopped charging. So I made an insurance claim, and got a new d1 to play with! My other had some water damage too, so this one is much better. I was waiting for the bionic, but gave up...

But why hasn't anyone brought up making insurance claims? They don't care if you root it, do they? Hope not, because I didn't revert back to stock when I sent my old one back.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[UrbanBounca]

The fact of the matter is that VZW has a say over what they want to do with customer phones, but when all is said and done, no manufacturer will void your warranty for rooting, especially for a hardware related matter. That said, you can bypass VZW and send your phone directly to the manufacturer, but you'll be without a phone for a little while.

 

[pc747]

merged threads...........

 

[apl3]

Verizon should have done this long ago. If your smart enough to root your phone you should have the intelligence to remove rooting it.

 

[phalstead]

I'm not sure if this has been covered yet, but, I took my first DX to my local VZW because the ear piece would only work if I pushed as hard as I could with my finger on the hump. The store manager looked around and tinkered with it for a few minutes, then came back and said that he'd put in an order for a replacement from Moto. When I asked him why I couldn't just swap it out for a different model since I'd only had it for like 17 days, he said it was because the phone was rooted. I applaud the guy for having a replacement sent for a factory defect even though the device was rooted. He didnt have to and I didn't expect him to. To this day I'm still not sure how he figured out it was rooted after unrooting, SBFing back to stock, and wiping data/cache. Unless he snooped around the SD card. Sorry for the novel. Just my personal experience with getting a replacement device.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[bplewis24]

However, a separate report from Droid-Life that was tied to the same story indicates that Droid-Life was contacted by Verizon themselves and that Big Red denies that they even check to see if a phone is rooted. The representatives from VZW said they only check three things when a phone comes in for warranty, and rooting isn't one of them. Here's a quote from the Droid-Life article with the details,
Quote:
Our friends at Verizon saw this post and wanted to reach out to clarify everything immediately. First up, is the fact that their policy says absolutely nothing about checking for root on devices. When a phone is received, a phone is checked for three things and that definitely isn’t one of them. They check to see if the box that the device was sent in is damaged, if the outside of the phone looks awful, and if it powers on – satisfy all of those and they move on to the next phone. So basically, these reports of being charged for a rooted phone simply mean that these people were sending in garbage phone with defects.
Hmmm... we will keep a watch on this to see if anything different develops confirming either position.

Nobody talking about this?

This is the deal:

Your warranty can be void if you root your phone.

Verizon more than likely won't check and won't care, which is what many of us have been saying all along. However, they do currently have the authority to notice that your phone is rooted and say "nope, you rooted and probably broke the device yourself so we aren't honoring the warranty."

Notice in the above quote, though, Verizon claims to not check. But it's nice to know another scare-rumor about rooting is going around

Brandon

 

[bplewis24]

I'm not sure if this has been covered yet, but, I took my first DX to my local VZW because the ear piece would only work if I pushed as hard as I could with my finger on the hump. The store manager looked around and tinkered with it for a few minutes, then came back and said that he'd put in an order for a replacement from Moto. When I asked him why I couldn't just swap it out for a different model since I'd only had it for like 17 days, he said it was because the phone was rooted. I applaud the guy for having a replacement sent for a factory defect even though the device was rooted. He didnt have to and I didn't expect him to. To this day I'm still not sure how he figured out it was rooted after unrooting, SBFing back to stock, and wiping data/cache. Unless he snooped around the SD card. Sorry for the novel. Just my personal experience with getting a replacement device.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

My guess is he doesn't know what "rooting" even means, he saw something he didn't recognize on the phone, and assumed it was rooted.

Brandon

 

[czerdrill]

However, a separate report from Droid-Life that was tied to the same story indicates that Droid-Life was contacted by Verizon themselves and that Big Red denies that they even check to see if a phone is rooted. The representatives from VZW said they only check three things when a phone comes in for warranty, and rooting isn't one of them. Here's a quote from the Droid-Life article with the details,
Quote:
Our friends at Verizon saw this post and wanted to reach out to clarify everything immediately. First up, is the fact that their policy says absolutely nothing about checking for root on devices. When a phone is received, a phone is checked for three things and that definitely isn’t one of them. They check to see if the box that the device was sent in is damaged, if the outside of the phone looks awful, and if it powers on – satisfy all of those and they move on to the next phone. So basically, these reports of being charged for a rooted phone simply mean that these people were sending in garbage phone with defects.
Hmmm... we will keep a watch on this to see if anything different develops confirming either position.

Nobody talking about this?

This is the deal:

Your warranty can be void if you root your phone.

Verizon more than likely won't check and won't care, which is what many of us have been saying all along. However, they do currently have the authority to notice that your phone is rooted and say "nope, you rooted and probably broke the device yourself so we aren't honoring the warranty."

Notice in the above quote, though, Verizon claims to not check. But it's nice to know another scare-rumor about rooting is going around

Brandon

I don't think the argument is that if you go to your local verizon store you will be shunned because you're rooted. I think it's saying that they can do it if they want to. Whether or not they will is up to them.

I agree with the rumor bit though. This p3droid guy seems to make a living off rumors, and ridiculous ones at that...he was the one a couple months ago warning people to "unroot now!!!111!!" because verizon was going to crack down. seems just like scare tactics to get hits, but the foundation of his ridiculous claims are true, which is that if they wanted to they could.

oh and also remember, the vzw reps that droid-life contacted are most probably just....reps. i wouldnt take their word as gold...

 

[NeoandGeo]

Last time I was in a Verizon store, the rep had a OG Droid that was rooted with a custom ROM. Doubt it's a very big deal to them.

 

[czerdrill]

Last time I was in a Verizon store, the rep had a OG Droid that was rooted with a custom ROM. Doubt it's a very big deal to them.

Again...to ascertain corporate policy from the behavior/words of a rep is an odd thing to do.

 

[New2u]

Last time I was in a Verizon store, the rep had a OG Droid that was rooted with a custom ROM. Doubt it's a very big deal to them.

Again...to ascertain corporate policy from the behavior/words of a rep is an odd thing to do.

Agreed. :icon_eek:

 

[NeoandGeo]

Correction. If it was a big deal to them, it would be enforced on a local level by corporate. It may become a big deal in the future. But as of right now, it is not.