So after much deliberation I decided to keep the Verizon Motorola made Android Droid phone.
Its been 35 days since I went to Best Buy and purchased the device and switched from the iPhone on ATT.
The Verizon network is great. In my life I have had about every possible cell phone carrier and I from my experiences the Verizon network is by far the best coverage and speed wise.
When I first purchased the device from Best Buy they had no home chargers in stock. They told me to goto the Verizon store. I went to the Verizon store and picked up 2. One for home and one for my backpack I always travel with. Like 50 bucks or so for the 2.
I never used them much cause I almost always plug my phone into my computer to charge it when traveling (I have traveled a ton since I got the Droid).
Weird things happen when I try to use the home charges. The device becomes completely unusable and starts to take on a life of its own…. It browses websites, plays games, music and even txt messages random contacts. The problem really got bad while I was in Denver last week. One night my Droid decided to text one of my friends every 10 minutes from 1am until 8am… ya…
Besides that… I have run into the notorious problem of the battery door becoming loose and falling off all the time… to the point I lost the back to the phone =(. Awesome huh?
So today I went to the all new Verizon store that just opened like last week. Its so new they didn’t even notice the screw up on the door that reads they are open 11pm to 6pm on Sundays (see picture above).
I explain to the guy that my phone gets a mind of its own when I plug it into the wall and starts browsing the web and texting my friends. I even brought my home charger that I bought from the other Verizon store to show him what happens. He immediately admits its a serious issue and takes it in the “back room” for further analysis.
While he was away I was checking out the Droid Eris phone. Looks pretty good little smaller screen then the Motorola droid but with no keyboard (that I don’t use anyway) it weighs about 2/3rds less and has a lot more ergonomic feel then the Moto Droid. Thinking I might give this one a shot. Especially for the $99-$169 price range.
Now I had other things to do today besides hang out at the Verizon store all day so after 45 minutes of not seeing the guy I asked if someone could please go to the “back room” and see whats up with my phone.
They came back and said he was updating the phone and would be right out. Couple mins later he came out and said he updated the phone to the newest version (which it already was) but the problem still exists and it must be the generic 3rd party home charger I am using.
I remind him that I purchased the charger from the Verizon store up the street and he said, “well, thats not a real Verizon store its a authorized retailer”…. umm ok. Looking quickly at my phone I realize its completely wiped. No music, no applications (I wrote a lot of custom ones), no pictures and no contacts on the device. He wiped everything.
I look at him and im like dude why did you wipe everything… especially without telling me you were about to. Hes like I just upgraded it and you can restore everything by logging into your google account.
Im like no you dumb dipshit logging into my Google account will only restore my contacts. None of the custom appilcations, pictures, or music will be restored. he was like ohhh my bad.
I ask to talk to a manager. I have been at the Lincoln Verizon store for over an hour now.
The manager comes out and I introduce myself. I tell her I am a local business owner who a month ago decided to switch from my iPhone and AT&T to the droid and since then have had problems with these home chargers I got at the other Verizon store. I tell her I want to swap my moto droid for an eris. She tells me not only can she not do that since I am 10 days past my initial 30 days, but I would have to purchase the phone for $600.00. GTFO.
Eventually I a tleast convince her to swap out my droid for another droid see as how I’ve been using a charger Verizon sold me (even if it wasn’t a “real verizon store”) since it has apparently done permanent damage to the phone. At first she agrees but then after finding out I purchased it at Best Buy she tells me there is nothing she can do for me and I would have to suss that out with Best Buy. She tells me I should always buy from an official Verizon store and never from Best Buy or an “Authorized Retailer”.
That’s awesome. Especially since this “official store” did not exist until a week ago.
So now I am going to Mexico this week with a Droid phone that randomly wigs out and has no cover over the batter door, no applications, pictures, or music. That’s hot.
I miss my iPhone.
December 13, 2009 at 5:54 pm
That sucks! I’ve been debating back and forth about getting the droid. That makes me lean towards no! I’ve had some problems with Verizon stores before too. When I got my last Blackberry, it took about two hours to setup and I had to go two different Authorized Verizon stores because the first guy really had no idea what he was doing.
December 13, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Yeah, my t-mobile android phone got stolen off a train in Budapest, now’ I’m on a hacked iphone on tmobile, and I love it. I bought mine and a fake t mobile store in Long Beach, and the cheapest thing close to the HTC I had was going to set me back $650 and change. Yeah, android has some cool apps, but I’m super glad to be back to my iphone, and now without AT&T.
Win-win, except for the stolen new phone.
December 13, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Bob, ASW?
December 13, 2009 at 6:06 pm
$10 says you’re back on the iPhone within the month. Sure, Verizon has the best network ever to exist in the history of the world, blah blah blah. But a phone that does whatever it feels like, whenever it feels like….. and complete inflexibility on the part of the Verizon store…. meh, not worth it.
Probably worth a call to Verizon customer service to see if they can send you a new phone… but if that fails, time to jump ship, back to AT&T and their flaky network.
December 13, 2009 at 6:20 pm
That sucks man. I have an iPhone and love it has a multimedia device. As a phone, it sucks! AT&T is terrible compared to verison. Good luck with your Droid! I’m sticking with my iPhone for now.
December 13, 2009 at 6:35 pm
So now I am going to Mexico this week with a Droid phone that randomly wigs out and has no cover over the batter door, no applications, pictures, or music.
A little dramatic don’t ya think? While the treatment from the Verizon store was unfortunate, do you mean to tell me that you failed to backup your own data? And as I am sure you had, reloading it is as simple as plugging in the USB cable to your PC which as you already admitted is how you normally operate anyways.
Finally, Motorola has a 1 year warranty on your phone so if it does in fact have the issues you describe, the folks at Best Buy should be able to get you going on starting the warranty repair/replacement process.
December 13, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I commend you on keeping your cool Jeremy. “Dude, you wiped my phone!” – “Uhh, my bad.” I would be biting my lip with a slight rise in core temperature happening. 3 different places and you’re still f@cked. I hope Mexico treats you better than a Nebraskan “official” Verizon outlet!
=)
December 13, 2009 at 7:37 pm
you are one hell of a patient mofo. If I were in that situation I would’ve been like WTF Q#$%#$%@#$%@#$%@!$@#$ and smacked the F outta that punk.
December 13, 2009 at 7:45 pm
this is a cool news. Thank you.
December 13, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Verizon’s network is much better than tmobile or at&t. I am sorry to hear about the mishap.. If you remember, i told you earlier that i wont swap my iphone with a droid although I wouldnt mind getting one and trying it out. Iphone is a good keep; I am a nokia fan. Anyways, whats up with Mexico?
December 13, 2009 at 8:52 pm
That’s what you get, lol. So happy with my iphone
December 13, 2009 at 9:15 pm
That sucks to hear, but I haven’t had the same problems that you had. Hopefully that won’t happen to my Motorola Droid. Greg Ellison
December 13, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hm, must have something to do with Lincoln office.
I like AT&T too, but verizon had been the best so far even customer service wise for me. Once my phone started to glitch, I went to local store to fix it. They upgraded the software but it was still glitching, so I got a completely new phone in about 20 minutes. It just depends a lot on the actual office that you go to as some managers are a real pain.
December 13, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I have had my iPhone for about 2 weeks now and love it. A friend of mine has a Droid and complains about it all the time.
December 13, 2009 at 10:44 pm
So didn’t backup your custom apps? That sucks…
December 13, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Call up Verizon, ask to talk to their supervisor. Tell them what happened, and sound very angry. Maybe tell them you have a website with more than 100,000 followers (if you combine the RSS and Twitter) and that you would hate to tell that many people how they’ve done you wrong.
I’m sure at that point a $600 phone wont be such a big deal anymore.
I also have Verizion and love their coverage but my voicemail hasn’t worked for 3 months now and they said they’d fix it, and said they did fix it and it was never fixed. Their service sucks. But oh well I have a google number so it’s kind of a work around.
Good luck with your issues!
December 13, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I think my past experience with Apple Customer….excuse me, my attempts to get a response in ANY form or fashion from Apple Customer Service has instilled a reluctance to drop even one red cent for any Apple products! Droid or Google phone is on my list.Most all the carriers are pretty high and mighty these days and no fun to deal with. Their time is coming!
December 14, 2009 at 10:24 am
Wow really? Ever been to a Apple store? I been totally amazed at their customer service.
December 13, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Bon Scott of AC/DC said it best….
JAILBREAK!!!!!
http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/11/blacksn0w-is-live.html
December 14, 2009 at 10:24 am
dude why do you keep spamming my blog. You can’t unlock a GSM phone to work on a CDMA network.
December 13, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I thought that might happen. A lot of new technology tries its best to ‘out-do’ apple. It always looks ‘better’ at the get-go, but the consistency of apple will usually win out in the end. After all, it was not your iphone that was the problem, just your service provider.
The service you got at that store was SO BAD!! So what if you bought the phone at best buy – I mean it’s they are the SP!? I would also ring up their head office and go as high up the ladder as you can. Don’t take that kind of BS from a company that should know better!
December 14, 2009 at 12:40 am
After having the Motorola Q, I will never ever buy another Motorola device. My impression of their phones are that their engineers are idiots who don’t use a PDA cell phone and they release phones with a bunch of bugs and constantly need patches.
The Droid commercials just make me laugh and I feel sorry for the people who get sucked in like I did 4 years ago with the Q.
December 14, 2009 at 12:41 am
BTW, I should mention that I think that Verizon coverage is the best in the country. If Verizon got the Iphone, they would dominate.
December 14, 2009 at 1:13 am
Apple is still No. 1. The problem is with your service provider. So, it is not techno kinda problem. You must report to the manager. Remember, customer is always right.
December 14, 2009 at 12:36 am
What clowns. When you want and upgrade or replacement no one wants to know you.
December 14, 2009 at 1:31 am
doesn’t AT&T’s contract end in about 5 months? Doubt apple will do a deal with them again the way everyone talks.
December 14, 2009 at 4:21 am
You need to have me call businesses before you walk in to prep them. Funny, how most business I speak with don’t seem to give a crap that I have a blog with thousands of readers, although I had the V.P. of File Maker Pro fix what I needed after I tweeted about the problem.
I make phone purchases based on your thoughts. Now on a blackberry-tmobile network, a Sprint MIFI for mobile internet, and a Ipodtouch for mobile web cruising if no Air with me.
December 14, 2009 at 5:35 am
Sorry to hear about the bad experience. Doesn’t seem like I will be looking at a Droid phone any time soon.
Everybody is trying to step up to the plate to Apple, but in one way or another they happen to fall short.
December 14, 2009 at 7:07 am
I laughed at the following:
βHe wiped everything.β
At last somebody *wiped* shoe. ο
After a long time I am reading one failure / frustration of Jermey.
I remember reading a post last year on how Jermey and his wife attended a show without tickets (they forgot to bring the tickets or something) and were successful in fooling the ticket-checker.
And here when the case was utterly genuine β he failed.
December 14, 2009 at 7:31 am
That’s why i like my IPhone. I maybe have not got the customization opportunity’s the droid has but with the IPhone you go for safe. As long as all the customizations and stuff are working its all good, but when they turn on you you wished you went for safe.
December 14, 2009 at 10:32 am
My iphone pwns. Games, music, checks adsense/cpa stats what else do you need it for? oh yea a it’s a great phone, esp. the voicemail feature. lol
December 14, 2009 at 10:37 am
I love every part of the iphone except that when I am in a major city I can’t talk for more then 5 mins without it losing connection… also at conferences this year its just completely unusable.
Thats not a option.
December 14, 2009 at 11:23 am
A friend of the family works for Verizon Business and he said that from everything he’s been hearing internally there will be an IPHONE released on the verizon network in 2010. Who knows though.
December 14, 2009 at 10:57 am
Wow, that is ridiculous customer service. My experience has been that these salesmen don’t really know what their doing very often. They know maybe a little more than the average user, that’s about it. When you start building custom application and things, i’m sure you’re far out of their league.
December 14, 2009 at 11:01 am
I’m in the Philly area and never had problems with the AT&T coverage. Looks like there’s no reason to EVER switch from my iPhone to anything else other than an upgrade to another iPhone!
If you’re lucky, a Verizon rep will see this post and give you a freebie.
December 14, 2009 at 11:21 am
I don’t think Verizon teaches their reps how to properly diagnose a phone. Their solution is almost always to do “an update”.
When my touch screen was getting screwy I brought it to the store and they did an update, then after that didn’t work, they gave me a new phone. Later that day my sister told me that there is a ‘recalibration’ feature on the phone i had and that usually fixes the problem. WTF?
December 14, 2009 at 11:33 am
You could try @VerizonSupport on twitter; I haven’t had a lot of luck with them, but you have reach.
December 14, 2009 at 11:44 am
Glad to know I’m not the only one that has had such bad experiences with Verizon. We were with them for over 10 years, and I got so tired of their lousy customer service I bought out my contract a few years ago and haven’t looked back.
December 14, 2009 at 12:24 pm
That’s pretty much the same way the Apple store in Burlington MA treated me a couple months back when I had a problem upgrading my iPhone. The “genius” looked at it for 30 seconds and said he wouldn’t fix it, even though it worked perfectly before trying to upgrade the OS. I just bought the new phone then and there, that’s probably what you should have done too.
December 14, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Having been an employee of Verizon for 7 years (1999-2006) I can relate. Even when I went to the wireless store I was treated like an idiot. The authorized retailer scam is used all the time. Oh yes VZW does authorize them to sell our products, sign up customers for us, and push accessories, but in no way does that mean we will back up what they do. I learned that a long time ago to always go to the company store and not vendors because if they ever go out of business you are completely screwed.
December 14, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I’m a proud owner (and developer) of the Palm Pre. (I can’t help point out that the phone works just as well as the android, just not as many apps yet)
The store may not help you because if they did it would be a loss for the store. You will need corporate to “Credit” your account if you want any financial compensation.
December 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I had the pre… didnt like it.
December 14, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I’ll second that. I have the pre now. Horribly slow and glitchy. Not to mention the touchstone does not work at all.
December 14, 2009 at 2:30 pm
That’s crazy Jeremy!! When you said that you switched, I was sad cause I’m an iphone lover and I hate Verizon because of a bad experience myself. I didn’ t want to say anything.. lol.
My first cell phone I had was with Verizon. And what happen was they blocked my phone because I owed $200. I said ok, I’m thinking I pay the $200 and the service will be turned back on. I paid $100 and checked my balance and it was $300!! When I called to find out why, they said it was an early termination fee.
So THEY canceled my account and charge ME a fee for doing so!!!! I never told them to do that. So from then on I NEVER use any of their services.
Sorry about your ordeal Jeremy. I hope it will be worked out.
December 20, 2009 at 12:01 pm
More Verizon malarkey….. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/185125-2/verizon_350_early_termination_fee_covers_more_than_phones.html
December 14, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I know the phone experiences are painful for you, but the storytelling cracks my shit up! Good luck staying in touch in Mexico.
December 14, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Working in wireless retail for sometime now i can say that your experience is had by many and that is due to a pure lack of understanding to how the wireless industry works.. Not saying your in the wrong and your situation definitely sucks.
First the dipshit should have never wiped your phone with out consulting you that is just nuts..
As far as the purchase price of being $600 bucks.. That is reasonable considering they have already subsidized the cost of one phone to you. (your discount comes with your two year contract) and you have 30 days to decide if that particular phone is right for you.. if companies didnt do this it would be a cluster fuck of people trying to constantly return their phones that they paid less than retail for. Were all used to paying “upgrade” price for phones so when we are asked to pay retail it comes as a huge shock.. the fact is do you really think apple,motorola or any body else could make a phone that does all that and profit selling them for $100 bucks? The answer is NO.
As far as dealing with a “dealer” that is a very common issue.. Dealers operate independently from the corporate locations hence the different prices on phones, etc. buying a phone at a dealer and then trying to return to a corporate store is no different than buying a TV at best buy and trying to take it back to walmart. Dealers tend to not be very upfront about this which is just downright shady and irresponsible on their part.
Dealers I have found typically do purchase and carry cheaper and lower quality accessories than corporate stores as well. its a problem.
Now granted a company as a whole needs to back its products of course, but as a rule of thumb don’t act surprised when people are possibly even annoyed with you when you purchase a phone at best buy then come crying to your local wireless store to fix your phone.. People that work there are sales reps and that is what they get paid to do. They are not trained technicians in fact they receive basically zero training on fixing issues with your phone or service we learn that shit ourselves to help YOU out.
the quotas are crazy and that does not afford a lot of time to waste with customer and tech issues especially if you didn’t even buy the phone from them.. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be happy to help, but after having so many customers come in and waste my time only to turn around and make the purchase at wal-mart or best buy yet they come to my store when there is an issue.. If I sold you something and that means anything in any type of sales i have ever been in and you have a problem I expect you to call me and I’m certainly going to help you.
sucks that your phone is broken but hopefully that sheds a little light about why the situation went down the way it did.. I would go to best buy and bitch up a storm on those guys and make them swap your phone to what ever you want..
December 14, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Maybe if this dealer was independent and not a corporation signed under a agreement in partnership.
Best Buy will send you to a verizon store, yet some verizon stores say they can not do that, yet if you contact the correct channels the store has to take the phone.
December 14, 2009 at 6:07 pm
if the store takes the phone back honestly it would be a total favor and them agreeing to take a loss as a favor to a customer..
the phone was not purchased from verizon.. it was purchased from best buy..
verizon is merely the service provider if problems arrive with the phone they will step in and help you take care of it as far as warranty issues are concerned, and thats because motorola wont. As far as swapping it out for another model.. that purchase is not in any way under verizons system so i would highly doubt thats gonna be a possibility..
December 14, 2009 at 10:38 pm
But they can be misleading. The signs on the stores may be the same, except for some small difference somewhere that no one knows about. I once was denied service and I asked how I was supposed to know as they looked identical in the same mall area and both were on the official website location list. He told me the non corp store had a black border on their business cards.
I was made to feel stupid for not knowing that. Borders on a card, of course.
December 14, 2009 at 4:24 pm
serious – file a lawsuit in small claims for erasing your phone without authorization.
December 14, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I second you do this. Someone needs to be able to send a message to the verizon stores.
You have the funds to do this, yea it will be a waste of money, but it’s the point.
If it was the other way around and you messed up something of verizons you would be in court asap.
December 14, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Google are pumping so much money into their Apps though that it’s only a matter or time before the right phone comes out and beats the dominant iPhone.. Have you tried the Milestone (UK name for Droid as the article does not make it clear to me)
Funnily enough though the winner of Gogole’s latest Android app content (sweetdreams) is a pretty awful app (and it won $250,000) – http://pglewis.co.uk/mobile/2009/12/google-android-and-apple-apps
As much as I want you to be wrong (as I really want to move away from the iPhone) you might just be right..
Just reading the signs around me really and currently it’s an amber light for moving the Android based phones.
December 14, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I was all set to get the Droid until i found out it didn’t tether yet for laptop access. although it was coming soon, i decided to wait, since I was headed to Pubcon.
Then i read your LAST Droid post and was glad I waited – now THIS one, and I’m REALLY glad I waited!
Now I finally just got my new Blackberry curve Saturday to replace the I (apparently) beat to death….
re: the Verizon treatment – Yeah, pretty typical. I’ve spent $20k with Verizon in the past 10 years, and I always seem to have to bri9ng that up to get anywhere with them at all…
December 14, 2009 at 8:27 pm
you can tether with pdanet
December 14, 2009 at 10:30 pm
My mantra lately is the whole cell phone business needs a reboot. It needs to burn up. When you have a brand name like Verizon or ATT, it shouldn’t matter if you bought it corporate, authorized dealer, Best Buy or Radio Shack. If they put their name on something, it should be them and they should take care of it. I’ve had “corporate” stores tell me they don’t have something and I can go to this other store. Then the next week, they deny responsibility because I bought it at the non-corporate store they sent me to. Can I pay the bill there? Can I buy something there? Then they should be able to do something about a problem.
December 15, 2009 at 12:49 pm
One of the biggest problems is with the manufactures… prolly 90% of you problems you have with your phone are strictly related to your phone itself, which is made by the manufacturer (and about have of that %90 is your fault based on experience dropped,got it wet, messed up the settings, etc.)
Most of the phone companies as mentioned in the comment above have a warranty dept. that you can call and they offer a 1 year warranty on all phones they sell. If your phone is not working and its not because you broke it they will send out a replacement. People bitch and moan that they will have to be without a phone for like a day or two, which does suck but if you had to call blackberry or motorola directly it would be a far greater hassle. Apple rocks because they DO offer support for their product in fact they are the only ones who can do any type of warranty exchange and you call them directly. Sucks if you don’t have an apple store close by, but if you do you can even just walk into the store and they will fix or replace your iphone.
I agree there are problems but once again, customers do not understand how the industry works (which is not their fault its confusing) but what most people get angry about is problems that are phone related… if your Sony TV breaks do you call your cable company to complain? That’s what your asking of your wireless carrier..
December 15, 2009 at 5:29 am
Shoe now you know iPhone is hot and Motorola sucks.
December 15, 2009 at 8:43 am
Try calling 1-866-406-5154. It is the Verizon warranty department. They’ll swap it out for you. Usually overnight. The “tool” manager at the store should have done this for you. Oh yeah, I am one of those “authorized dealers” that doesn’t know anything. “F” her and her $7.50 an hour title!
December 15, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Can’t you email this post to Verizon? I do not expect every business to jump on all complaints because you can’t please everyone but I would think that because you reach thousands they would want you to say positive things about them. I guess as long as you kept the phone…
December 16, 2009 at 3:02 pm
what a pain in the butt. sucks Shoe
December 17, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Everytime I leave apple with their iphone, and go to blackberry / g1 , Apple ends up pulling me back in!
December 21, 2009 at 10:07 pm
It’s not really related to the phone per se, but I have a iphone with At&T and also have a wireless card with them. My wireless card is for my mac laptop that I keep in the car. I use it almost every day.
The coverage, speed etc SUCK on it though. I went to verizon to see about theirs and with their 30 day return/cancel period I got the month-to-month verizon card to test out. It is substantially better than AT&T. No drop outs at all so far (at&t lost connection about every 5 minutes!), and also much faster.
If it continues, I’ll be canceling my at&t card and sticking with verizon. Now only if verizon sold the iphone. I did play with the droid a little while I was there, but wasn’t impressed.
July 19, 2010 at 9:32 pm
AT first I was going to say I have heard that the droid trumps the iphone, but now I want to stay away from verizon forever. What is it about phone stores and their crappy employees?
July 26, 2010 at 9:31 pm
i’ve had my pure for per week now and that i nonetheless dont know what to do… like changing the message alert tone to no matter i would like it not simply the fundamental ones on the phone… everything about this phone is complicating.. i additionally wished to vary to that android software as a result of windows is too slow and somebody please assist me how to do this