[Runamuck]

HELP!

I noticed this AM that my battery on the 8320 (about 1.5 months old onw) was low even though it had been on the charger all night. So I plugged it back into charger....and the little "battery charge" icon wasn't showing. So I did all the normal....replugged in the charger to a differet outlet, tried my older 8800 charger, etc. Nothing. I then tried plugging the 8320 into my laptop to see if I could charge it from there....again, nothing, and I couldn't "see" the Curve there either, meaning that the laptop didn't detect that the thing was connected.

I did a battery pull....still nothing.

It's dead Jim....battery slowly dying (so I know battery is working), but no way to recharge it. It looks like USB charger/port isn't working.

Anything I can do short of taking it back to Tmo and waiting however long it will take for a refurb'd replacement? I have insurance.

[mike_187]

deff. sounds like ur USB port is fried, haven't seen this issue before, but i guess it happens.

[John Clark]

Call TMobile on the phone. They will ship another to you and then you send in the old one. I would definitely backup the device and sync (if necessary) before it goes dead so you can restore the data to the new device. Does the device backup/sync with your PC? If that doesn't work either you may want to see if you can get a bluetooth sync setup.

[bchelms]

Originally Posted by Runamuck

HELP!

I noticed this AM that my battery on the 8320 (about 1.5 months old onw) was low even though it had been on the charger all night. So I plugged it back into charger....and the little "battery charge" icon wasn't showing. So I did all the normal....replugged in the charger to a differet outlet, tried my older 8800 charger, etc. Nothing. I then tried plugging the 8320 into my laptop to see if I could charge it from there....again, nothing, and I couldn't "see" the Curve there either, meaning that the laptop didn't detect that the thing was connected.

I did a battery pull....still nothing.

It's dead Jim....battery slowly dying (so I know battery is working), but no way to recharge it. It looks like USB charger/port isn't working.

Anything I can do short of taking it back to Tmo and waiting however long it will take for a refurb'd replacement? I have insurance.

look at the USB plug on the phone, i bet one of the 5 pins are bent.

[Runamuck]

I checked the USB port with a magnifying glass....the last pin is gone, not bent...gone.

So here's yet ANOTHER story of how inept customer support is.

I call TMO to tell them my problem. Have to go thru normal troubleshooting with them...which I'd already done. Swapped batteries (have a spare), tried different chargers, different cables, etc. I already knew the pin was missing when I called them because I had checked that. But the CSR drone had to go thru their support questions. They even wanted me to go to the local Tmo retail shop to try my battery in one of their Curves, so I did. The Tmo shop had several curves, both unopened and customer returns....but they aren't allowed to help me with my problem other than to do the drones' inept troubleshooting routines.

Finally, they agree to replace the device. It's less than 2 months old. I'm like great...go for it. So they keep me on hold for 30 minutes...mind you, I've already been on the phone with them for over an hour and traveled another 30 mins round trip to/from the local store. So 1.5 hours of being on the phone with them to agree with me that yes, my device is broken and they should send a replacement. Gee, thank you Miss Obvious.

BUT WAIT. The lady comes back after talking with her supervisor and said that yup, they would replace it with another....and someone should be calling me within 48 hours to get my shipping address from me. Double-U Tee Eff? Why can't you take my address now and just have it shipped out in the AM? Oh we can't do that from here....we just AUTHORIZE a replacement for you. Some other drone will get our authorization and contact you within 2 days to arrange for 2-day shipping. So it'll be at least 4 days while we sit around asking other customers useless questions until you get a replacement. Oh and it's a holiday week so better make that FIVE days as I'm sure we won't call you back until it's too late to ship on the second day, pushing it to the third.

I blew my stack, asked to speak to a supervisor. Got the same answer. Asked to speak to HIS supervisor and got a name and a phone number to call or he'd call me back within....you guessed it.....48 hours.

What a crock of fecal matter.

OK, I'm ranting. I'm just so fed up with paying full price for a piece of consumer hardware at a retail shop and then being forced to go thru this type of stuff for a replacement. If I paid $500 for a piece of electronic equipment for anything OTHER than a cell phone I wouldn't have to endure this kind of junk. I'd just walk into Best Buy or wherever with my receipt and get another one. I called my local Tmo store where I bought the thing and they have these in stock but they aren't allowed to do "exchanges" they said...that has to be handled thru customer support.

I'd blame Tmo but trust me....every single phone company on the planet is just about as inept as these guys.

/rant off

[greggebhardt]

I bought an ATT 8310 from one of their local stores and they replaced it after 45 days. So they are not all the same. Most of the carriers ARE not service minded, but so far ATT has done me no wrong!

[GetURWingz]

I have had my 8310 about a month now and no issues. I have never had any issues with Cingular the "New AT&T" with any time I had a phone problem. I had my daughters Pearl exchanged 3 times and never no BS they did it quickly. I did have to endure the phone support people going threw their do this, try that fix-a-thon but after they were at the end of the flip charts they have always exchanged the phone to fix the problem.

[Runamuck]

Update:

48 hour callback timer expired yesterday at 1:30P CST. No callback from Tmo reps. So I called and was escalated immediately to a supervisor. I asked them why I was told to wait 48 hours just for someone to call and tell me when they'd be delivering my replacement phone and his reply was that he wasn't sure, that wasn't procedure and all he could guess was the original rep was having computer/system issues and wanted to stall me long enough to have them resolved.

He apologized profusely, offered me a gold or titanium replacement Curve and offered to waive express shipping so I'd get it by Friday. Luckily, I have an older 7100t phone and I'm able to recharge my 8320's battery in that device until such time as I get my replacement.