4 days and 3 Droid Turbos: My journey through Verizon hell (replacement woes)

[MA2GA28]

Glad there was resolution for you, but any news on the possible illegal practices of the corporate store you went to?

 

[CIMYA89]

The Note 4 also has the air wake feature.... Accessibility ➡Dexterity and Interaction ➡Air Wake Up

 

[Nreeldeep]

Alright, at long last an update.

To those who were wondering this was a corporate store.

I contacted the district manager as well as the corporate office in my region, and shared the log of events. I was contacted by both within 24 hrs, and everyone was interested in creating a satisfactory resolution for me.

I chose to turn back time--to a time before I first walked into that Verizon store (with a positive attitide I may add though my narrative belies how jaded I was by the end.)

The district manager arranged to meet me at a nearby vzw store to exchange my Droid turbo #3 (faulty flash) for, not another turbo, but a shiny new note 4. I paid the $50 difference, but I retained my right to a 14 day grace period on the note, like I would have had for the turbo originally.

They were also nice enough to comp me an otterbox defender for the note which fits like a charm and makes it easier to hold, nice and grippy.

There are many good people at verizon--just be patient with the bad ones (perhaps more than I was) and take detailed notes of any difficulties you have including names dates and times--there is a district manager out there somewhere that cares, and wants to hear about the troubles you had.

P.S The Note 4 is by FAR a superior device--it becomes obvious within the first hour with the note 4 after a week with the turbo. User experience is worlds better...I do miss waving to wake the turbo, but it sure felt good to wave goodbye forever.


ZtO

Good for you dude. Sounds like you were mature and professional enough to take a look at your previous encounters and decide that there were more productive ways to handle things without having to resort to unnecessary behavior you might regret later.
And you're right, there are good people at Verizon as there are bad ones. Just as there are good customers and bad ones. The key word you used was "patience." We all could afford to be more patient with each other regardless of who wears the name badge.
I'm glad you chose the good customer path.
And I'm most glad that you found a device that suits you well.

 

[ar9080]

Nreeldeep sounds like a VZW employee to me. I worked for what's now the largest airline in the world, and yes there are certain things company policy prevented us from doing, such as compensating for acts of God. But the principle of the customer service industry is THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT, EVEN if he or she is really wrong.

Firstly and for the record, the cellular phone division of Motorola is actually owned by GOOGLE. I was swindled into a white LG G3, it kept freezing and not responding, not just in a particular corner, but the whole screen. It happened any time the screen came on, after taking the phone from my ear, pressing the power button on the back, or using the "knock-knock" feature. The VZW store I went to said that I couldn't return it because I edged-up, I couldn't exchange it for a different model (even though it was within the first week!), my only two options were to call LG or to take a "certified" pre-owned one. I did both. LG said I'd have to mail the phone in at my expense, and they'd check it out and send it back to me fixed if it was fixable, or replace it with a refurbished one if it was not fixable. I did another early edge-up (to the tune of $350!!) just to get out of it since Verizon told me the same thing, they couldn't replace it more than twice, and I was SOL if it kept happening. I now have the Sony XPERIA Z3v, so far it's so-so. My boyfriend has the Turbo, and he's had overheating issues, slow performance, unresponsive home/back/apps buttons at the bottom of the screen even after power cycling the device, and most recently freezing completely to a point where a hard, factory reset was required. He'll be glad to know he's not alone in this Droid Turbo debacle. We both had MAXXs, and loved them. WHY THE HELL DID WE TRADE "UP?"

 

[ar9080]

Everyone has the right to switch carriers if they do not like who they are with. Remember, the grass isn't always greener in a competitors yard. Also, whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent you should NEVER hide behind the shield of "i'm the customer" therefore, I'm in the right. The problem is people feel being the customer entitles them to being rude to the employees who represent a business. In many cases the store front employees have nothing to do with the problem of the customer. Conversely, I do feel they make every attempt to help with the situation the customer brings before them. In many cases its the CUSTOMERS actions that lead to a poor experience. The customer raises their voice and displays aggressive behavior, first. The employee can only sit there with a smile, and in their head think about how badly they want to punch the person but need to keep their jobs. So the customer is just as responsible for service as an employee. If you bully a representative due to your poor behavior I don't think they will be eager to go the extra mile on your behalf. If customers excersised better restraint in difficult situations I believe the customer experience would be much better. Whether or not the employee was able to completely resolve the problem. Just my 2 cents.

VZW in my experience does have the best network, I left AT&T after 4+ dropped calls DAILY. I can understand losing a call in the bowels of a building or at the bottom of a parking garage, but a network that can't handle tower transfers while on a call? C'mon. Verbal abuse is never called for, especially in a personal manner, but as I said in another post, working for the world's largest airline (200M passengers a year), if you want to be a proper customer service representative, you have to learn to empathize. It's hard to expect anyone to not be mad as hell when a company representative is condescending, misinforms you, does something so incredibly stupid such as refusing to hand over the box that matches the device, treats you as a complainer...Every day I hear "Well agent so and so in Dallas told me..." or "The website didn't say anything about bag fees...(referring to Expedia, Travelocity, etc.)" As a good customer service agent, you have to put yourself in his or her shoes, and realize how screwed over their situation may make them feel.

 

[MikeLip]

The display is a problem. I don't know how badly the color shifted. LED including AMOLED displays color shifts as angles change. That's the nature of the beast. And it's been mentioned various blogs (including AC) that the panel used in the Turbo is not quite as good as, say, the panel Samsung is using in the Note 4. These panels also change tint when you get to very low brightnesses. I can't see any shift just from the angle change from center to top or bottom, but I am not looking for it either. It's possible that the very small feature size of this dense panel makes things worse. I suspect that what you saw is within the norm for this panel. But I also suspect that you are more sensitive to it than I am. So my opinion doesn't reflect what yours would be.

I suppose as for power drain, I'd have rebooted the phone and seen if it improved. Or looked at the battery report and seen what was eating it. I know I was surprised to see my mobile data radio eating battery when I was on wifi. That shouldn't happen and it definitely causes faster battery drain as well as eating up your data cap.

Flash not working? Frikkin thing is broken. There should be no arguement.

Yes, it is VZWs policy to not replace the unit with an identical one on the third go-around. By that time they figure you are going to be really sensitized to problems with that model. Makes sense to me, although it's annoying as all hell.

Not giving you a box? They were not giving you a new phone. Period. There is no reason otherwise to keep the box. You got someone elses "courtesy" return, and they did not even HAVE the original box. That's underhanded. I can see getting a factory refurb on an older phone or one that's gone end-of-life, but not someone elses reject on a brand new unit of a brand new model! That's BS.