Hi everybody, this is my first post to the forum.
So I have an interesting story with my current HTC Thunderbolt. First of all, the TB is my first ever smartphone; however, my job involves dealing with them every day so I know a thing or two.
I do though have a question and/or am looking for some advice. Many of you might have heard of the common "random reboot" problem that some of the Thunderbolts have experienced since being released; mine was one of them with that problem. I love(d) the phone itself but I realized after a few days that it would randomly shut itself off at the strangest times. One time, even, it shut itself off in the middle of the night, effectively shutting off my primary alarm clock which made me late for school as well. I had brought it in to two local Verizon stores: One employee assured me that he'd never heard of the issue. The second employee recognized my issue and told me that it was a common problem and that they are trying really hard to fix it. It was even suggested that I try fitting a ripped and folded up piece of paper between my battery and back plate on my phone (tried, issue not resolved). Also, I was told to factory reset, wait for the software update, and factory reset again, but no luck. It had gotten to the point of happening multiple times a week and even up to four times in one day.
I found out that the only way to get the phone up and running again was to remove the battery, wait a minute, re-insert it and power it on (took about five minutes to turn on after removing the battery). After all of the battery removing, as well as having to take off my protective phone case, the rubber part of the case began to tear. Once the case became less protective, I decided to go a few days without it on and what do you know? Dropped on its side. Now the upper left part of the screen has a minor crack and some chipping.
About a week ago, my TB began having trouble picking up a mobile network (Recieved 3G and 4G signals, but nothing data-connected would work). It had happened once or twice in the past but it also happened at odd times over the next couple of days and eventually the calling portion of my phone was failing and continued receiving messages that the application android phone had failed. About two days ago, the phone "application" was failing again so I decided that I should bring it into another Verizon store to have it looked at again. I was confirmed what I had about been epecting this whole time: the minor physical damage to the screen from before voided any sort of one-year manufacturer warranty that had originally come with my purchase.
Now, I understand that HTC and Verizon don't want to take back my damaged phone... It would be much harder to re-sell. But I had had plenty of problems communicating with both of them in the past when it was in good physical condition. Needless to say it's pretty frustrating. I DO have Asurion insurance on my phone and am thinking about paying the $99 for a new replacement (though I don't feel like I should have to after all the fuss).
I've also thought about sending the phone to HTC to fix whatever is wrong internally with the phone, then just fixing the screen with a kit at another time... as well as buying a phone from ebay (though that sounds semi-shady to me, maybe I'm wrong). The thing is, as happy as I am with the Thunderbolt as a phone, but haven't had the best experience with it and would have a tough time accepting having to pay another hundred dollars for a probably refurbished device that's the same as I have right now.
Does anybody know if the Thunderbolt is still available through Asurion and if that would in fact be the phone I received if I were to make a claim? The lady I spoke to most recently through Verizon informed me that they no longer even carry the Thunderbolt and that the HTC Rezound would be what my most likely replacement would be-- if it were up to her. I would be a lot more willing to pay the deductible if it meant having one of the newer 4G phones with Verizon like perhaps the Razr or Rezound (the Rezound makes sense to me because it and the TB are both made by HTC so are similar). Any input would be appreciated, as well as any sort of advice from Android pro's like yourselves.
(Sorry about length)
Thanks!
So I have an interesting story with my current HTC Thunderbolt. First of all, the TB is my first ever smartphone; however, my job involves dealing with them every day so I know a thing or two.
I do though have a question and/or am looking for some advice. Many of you might have heard of the common "random reboot" problem that some of the Thunderbolts have experienced since being released; mine was one of them with that problem. I love(d) the phone itself but I realized after a few days that it would randomly shut itself off at the strangest times. One time, even, it shut itself off in the middle of the night, effectively shutting off my primary alarm clock which made me late for school as well. I had brought it in to two local Verizon stores: One employee assured me that he'd never heard of the issue. The second employee recognized my issue and told me that it was a common problem and that they are trying really hard to fix it. It was even suggested that I try fitting a ripped and folded up piece of paper between my battery and back plate on my phone (tried, issue not resolved). Also, I was told to factory reset, wait for the software update, and factory reset again, but no luck. It had gotten to the point of happening multiple times a week and even up to four times in one day.
I found out that the only way to get the phone up and running again was to remove the battery, wait a minute, re-insert it and power it on (took about five minutes to turn on after removing the battery). After all of the battery removing, as well as having to take off my protective phone case, the rubber part of the case began to tear. Once the case became less protective, I decided to go a few days without it on and what do you know? Dropped on its side. Now the upper left part of the screen has a minor crack and some chipping.
About a week ago, my TB began having trouble picking up a mobile network (Recieved 3G and 4G signals, but nothing data-connected would work). It had happened once or twice in the past but it also happened at odd times over the next couple of days and eventually the calling portion of my phone was failing and continued receiving messages that the application android phone had failed. About two days ago, the phone "application" was failing again so I decided that I should bring it into another Verizon store to have it looked at again. I was confirmed what I had about been epecting this whole time: the minor physical damage to the screen from before voided any sort of one-year manufacturer warranty that had originally come with my purchase.
Now, I understand that HTC and Verizon don't want to take back my damaged phone... It would be much harder to re-sell. But I had had plenty of problems communicating with both of them in the past when it was in good physical condition. Needless to say it's pretty frustrating. I DO have Asurion insurance on my phone and am thinking about paying the $99 for a new replacement (though I don't feel like I should have to after all the fuss).
I've also thought about sending the phone to HTC to fix whatever is wrong internally with the phone, then just fixing the screen with a kit at another time... as well as buying a phone from ebay (though that sounds semi-shady to me, maybe I'm wrong). The thing is, as happy as I am with the Thunderbolt as a phone, but haven't had the best experience with it and would have a tough time accepting having to pay another hundred dollars for a probably refurbished device that's the same as I have right now.
Does anybody know if the Thunderbolt is still available through Asurion and if that would in fact be the phone I received if I were to make a claim? The lady I spoke to most recently through Verizon informed me that they no longer even carry the Thunderbolt and that the HTC Rezound would be what my most likely replacement would be-- if it were up to her. I would be a lot more willing to pay the deductible if it meant having one of the newer 4G phones with Verizon like perhaps the Razr or Rezound (the Rezound makes sense to me because it and the TB are both made by HTC so are similar). Any input would be appreciated, as well as any sort of advice from Android pro's like yourselves.
(Sorry about length)
Thanks!