Extrordinarily Dissapointed with software patch AND VZW customer care!

[biglightbt]

I'l do my best to keep this post to more of a technical support one rather than a rage-post (I am more than enraged at big red right now!)

So heres my story, I bought my bionic on the day of its release, and immediately noticed the terrible audio output of the device, after a little research on day 10 of my 14 day return window I found that this was a serious problem plaguing all bionics. I went back to the store, where the reassured me that a patch was in the works and my device would work as-advertised, so I stupidly listened and kept the thing. Now 4 months later the promised and long awaited patch has arrived! And man am I pissed.

So heres where im at now. Their "fix" for the headphone whine was to simply increase the operating frequency of whatever microchip/device was bleeding into the headphone output. So rather than a nice headphone output (im aware that almost all droid phones and devices have a bit of hiss to the audio when nothing is playing) or a mid ranged whine, it now outputs a sound similar to those awful "mosquito" ringtones we all know and hate. This sound is so obnoxious that it is actually audible over music / media now. To top things off my device is now experiencing data drops more than 4x as much as it had before! Data doesn't bother me so much, but I use this device for music on a daily basis, and this is simply not acceptable for a 300$ flagship device!

So that's my problem, any suggestions on how to force VZW to give me a new phone, seeing as this one and all bionics clearly do not work as advertised?
/end rant

Just for fun for those who managed to read through the above crap. The response of the dim-witted manager at the local VZW store completely left me with my jaw to the floor. Not only was he unhelpful, uneducated and somewhat rude he said this to me. "Well I listen to music on my bionic all the time and I don't hear anything wrong!" to which i responded "on what kind of headphones?" To which he responded "On the internal speaker." again, sorry for the rage but ive had enough of this crap! ಠ_ಠ Really?

again, sorry for the rage but ive had enough of this crap!

 

[Jonas]

Ask for the managers supervisor. There's always someone one level higher. If I were you, I would threaten a letter to the editor, and a report with the BBB. That usually gets the ball rolling. But you will probably get a D2G, or D3. Those are the current replacement models.

Sent from my Banana Phone

 

[biglightbt]

I plan to call VZW tomorrow over the issue, and from what I have heard the BBB is a very strong motivator when it comes to these things. I would be happy with a refund of the device cost (obviously i cant expect a refund for the service contract) so I could buy a more recent device. I paid for a 4G LTE device, receiving a D2G or D3 would be unacceptable as they are both 3G phones.

 

[tjk629]

Normally it's better to call verizon for issues. Only go into the store for specific things such as:

• Buying stuff
• Browsing
• Paying Bills or whatever
• CSR told you to.

So give vzw a jingle. When you call them Politely & Professionally explain that:

• You purchased a Bionic a few months ago and had issues with it.
• You talked to someone at Verizon and they said a patch was coming. So you decided to wait it out.
• Patch has come out and you're still having a lot of issues

See what they'll do. They may exchange it for a refurb or do something else. It all depends on how the phone call goes.

Have you gone into a vzw store since the update? I wasn't clear if you did or didn't.

 

[Jonas]

D2Gs are cool. Don't hate. And yes, the BBB, can put some serious hurt on a business. So they will more than likely eat the cost of a phone to save public rep.

Also, on a side note, I'm curious what headphones you use. I am persoanlly rocking out with skull candy and love it. You mention you're very into your music, and I am too. Just trying to get a feel for some other good brands.

Sent from my Banana Phone

 

[tjk629]

D2Gs are cool. Don't hate. And yes, the BBB, can put some serious hurt on a business. So they will more than likely eat the cost of a phone to save public rep.

Also, on a side note, I'm curious what headphones you use. I am persoanlly rocking out with skull candy and love it. You mention you're very into your music, and I am too. Just trying to get a feel for some other good brands.

Sent from my Banana Phone

The BBB stuff is an empty threat, and won't work in this case cause:

You don't just send a complaint and then vzw gets a negative score. You send it in, someone looks at it, and then sends to vzw for them to resolve.

What vzw will offer is what the CSR will offer. Refurb, another phone, or something else. That technically is a solution to the problem in the BBBs eye.

 

[Jonas]

Wouldn't him getting another phone solve his problem? I thought that was his goal, to get a comparable phone that gives him the sound quality. With the 4G.

Sent from my Banana Phone

 

[biglightbt]

I'm used to the polite and professional deal, I'm well aware of some of the idiotic sh** bags who call them. As for what headphones I use? I could be called a beginner audiophile but skullcandy does indeed make some pretty good headphones. However I wanted some serious bang for my buck and got a pair of Shure SE535's (which cost more than the phone mind you). With 3 microdrivers in each earpiece this sound comes through loud and clear! Also as said in the OP i've plugged into a few other phones in store and they all have a bit of hiss, which is completely acceptable. Strangely enough the DRazer has no such whine or clicking...not sure why one does and the other does not. Also plugged into the Galaxy Nexus which was by far the winner for no white noise, and that swanky new HTC one with Beats audio and was rather dissapointed at the amount of white noise it had, but thats Beats, so what more can you expect lol!

Edit:

Not hating either, the D2G and D3 are both respectable pieces of hardware, just not 4G.

 

[tjk629]

Wouldn't him getting another phone solve his problem? I thought that was his goal, to get a comparable phone that gives him the sound quality. With the 4G.

Sent from my Banana Phone

It all depends on what the rep says, but claiming to file a report with the BBB isn't going to help anything.

 

[Jonas]

Now I'm confused. You say you have, what I have assumed, $300+ headphones, and you still get a whining. I'm using rinky dink little $40 headphones on a droid 2 Global, no white noise, no whining, no clicking, none of that. In fact, I can be sitting on the riding lawn mower, and have my music at a comfortable level, and not even hear the lawn mower. Have you tried the headphones on a known good audio output? Maybe the D2G is just a good phone for music, who knows. And please don't take that as me trashing on your setup. I'm actually kinda jealous.

Sent from my Banana Phone

 

[aries1816]

Hey, what's up man just thought I should tell you my story. So, I have a bionic and i'm rooted running 5.7.893 or whatever the exact build number is. Either way, the leaked update fixed my problem, but I still wanted the galaxy nexus and I also wanted to keep my Bionic.

So I called and spoke with a vzw rep. I told the rep I wasn't looking for a handout, but my bionic was useless to me because of data drops. I also told her I used it for work and was willing to buy another phone just not for an unsubsidized price.
Long story short, my Gnex will be here soon and if you're willing to pay for another upgrade i'm sure you could have a new phone and then feel good about tinkering with your bionic to make it a functional device.

My only other advice to you is whatever you do don't be rude to the rep (the more flies with honey idiom applies here), but also don't let them trouble shoot you. Be firm, yet polite and tell them to google "bionic data connectivity," a factory restore isn't going to fix your phone.


Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[tjk629]

I'm used to the polite and professional deal, I'm well aware of some of the idiotic sh** bags who call them.

Cool.

But just be prepared for them to offer you another Bionic. This is normally step one when dealing with these kind of issues. Cause it may just be you got a junk model. I also have a Bionic, and I've gone through two of them. The first one was complete garbage. So maybe a new one will solve your problems.

Try to keep to open mind. If you take the other Bionic it will be noted that you did. If anything goes wrong with the one they send you. You'll have more ammunition for a new model :happy3:

 

[biglightbt]

Those kind of threats are generally last resort tactics. In my long VZW history they have proved time and time again that the in-store reps are barely intelligent enough to operate a toaster (with a few exceptions mind you) and the corporate people are usually more than happy to help solve problems. I would also like to know though. How many other people are out there running the new update with the same problems? If its as many as I think it is VZW and Moto are about to have a big problem on their hands.

 

[Jonas]

Do keep us posted on your progress. I am curious to see what goes on.

Sent from my Banana Phone

 

[tjk629]

Those kind of threats are generally last resort tactics. In my long VZW history they have proved time and time again that the in-store reps are barely intelligent enough to operate a toaster (with a few exceptions mind you) and the corporate people are usually more than happy to help solve problems. I would also like to know though. How many other people are out there running the new update with the same problems? If its as many as I think it is VZW and Moto are about to have a big problem on their hands.

Like I said in my first post. Corporate stores are really for buying things. They'll even tell you to call up vzw for this kind of stuff, cause they're not equipped to handle it. Plus, the CSRs have A LOT more flexibility then the store guys.