Sprint informed me that I was eligible for an early upgrade on September 1 (originally December 1) which I took them up on as the battery in my HTC One M7 seemed to be fading. Picked up the One M8 for $55 and sold the M7 for $150, so at that point I was pleased.
However, a little over a week of owning the phone, the orientation sensor freaked out which made the phone think it was constantly flipping or shaking. The phone was usable if I turned off auto-rotate for the screen, but there was definitely something not right. After a couple hours and resets it returned to normal function, so I decided to wait it out.
But, a few days later, it had another "episode" while I was at work. At this point I think it was day 12 of the trial period, so I actually left work to go and exchange the phone.
By the time I got to the Sprint-owned store where I bought the phone, it was back to normal again. I told the associate that it had now done that twice, and I would just like to exchange for a new one. She informed me that they would have to charge a restocking fee of $35 because if they couldn't witness the malfunction. I wanted the same phone, just a new one. The previous hadn't been dropped or gotten wet, it just had an intermittent issue but that issue was pretty bad IMO and could get worse.
They refused to budge but said I could come back another day and see if the manager would waive the fee. At this point, the time I would take off work to come back the next day (only had two days left) would cost me more than the $35, so I just paid it and left unhappy but now with a normally functioning phone.
Is this normal policy? I can't seem to find anything that states what Sprint's actual policy for exchanges is. Everything written only covers returns, as in returning the phone and cancelling the line, which says you *may* be charged a restocking fee. I contacted Customer Care and they stated that if a store charged you, you have to take it up with them as technically the phone wasn't purchased from Sprint.
I've never had an issue with Sprint (in 12 years), but this whole situation doesn't sit right with me. It's an unpublished policy that puts the customer in a no-win situation. Either pay us money or keep the defective phone. I could understand if I wanted a different model as they don't want people picking through their stock ad nauseum, but at least one straight exchange should accepted. If it was at least published somewhere, I would just accept it as bad policy but it is what it is. But unless someone can show me this policy (none of the associates in the store could), it's bad business.
However, a little over a week of owning the phone, the orientation sensor freaked out which made the phone think it was constantly flipping or shaking. The phone was usable if I turned off auto-rotate for the screen, but there was definitely something not right. After a couple hours and resets it returned to normal function, so I decided to wait it out.
But, a few days later, it had another "episode" while I was at work. At this point I think it was day 12 of the trial period, so I actually left work to go and exchange the phone.
By the time I got to the Sprint-owned store where I bought the phone, it was back to normal again. I told the associate that it had now done that twice, and I would just like to exchange for a new one. She informed me that they would have to charge a restocking fee of $35 because if they couldn't witness the malfunction. I wanted the same phone, just a new one. The previous hadn't been dropped or gotten wet, it just had an intermittent issue but that issue was pretty bad IMO and could get worse.
They refused to budge but said I could come back another day and see if the manager would waive the fee. At this point, the time I would take off work to come back the next day (only had two days left) would cost me more than the $35, so I just paid it and left unhappy but now with a normally functioning phone.
Is this normal policy? I can't seem to find anything that states what Sprint's actual policy for exchanges is. Everything written only covers returns, as in returning the phone and cancelling the line, which says you *may* be charged a restocking fee. I contacted Customer Care and they stated that if a store charged you, you have to take it up with them as technically the phone wasn't purchased from Sprint.
I've never had an issue with Sprint (in 12 years), but this whole situation doesn't sit right with me. It's an unpublished policy that puts the customer in a no-win situation. Either pay us money or keep the defective phone. I could understand if I wanted a different model as they don't want people picking through their stock ad nauseum, but at least one straight exchange should accepted. If it was at least published somewhere, I would just accept it as bad policy but it is what it is. But unless someone can show me this policy (none of the associates in the store could), it's bad business.
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