Refurbished My Arse

[jefboyardee]

I'm the guy who somehow mangled his micro-usb port and got Sprint to replace the Optimus for thirty-five bucks, then spent time reinstalling everything just so. Well, everything was like new, but this week I caught it rebooting itself while just sitting there. Thought it odd but figured it was Them doing Something Important.

This morning it behaves. Then I take it work and it's booting again. The LG icon shows, but then it's black, then it shows, then black, then then then. Back to Sprint. They try their hardware button secret sequence (which I'd love to know) to no avail. So I'm getting another "new" phone tomorrow and meanwhile they loaned me a phone-phone.

My confidence in Android, Sprint and all things technological went straight out the window -- what's the point of being able to do almost anything most of the time? My previous phone did much less, but I could count on it being able to do so at any moment. Anyway, I'll probably get over it and all will be forgotten, but right now... grrrrrr.

 

[Hawaiian_Geek]

Whoas! That sucks.....hope you get a better one this time around.

 

[blackops1125]

I really think that is a scam! You possibly pay to have if replaced and get junk in return.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[jefboyardee]

In their defense, I gotta say that I am the one that did the mangling of the first phone so that small charge seemed pretty friendly, And I suppose neither of us could tell the second was going to die, since it acted brand-new right up to the end. I’m saving my judgment for today’s phone #3 -- if it doesn’t behave like a NIB, then we’ll have issues.

 

[scrosler]

They try their hardware button secret sequence (which I'd love to know) to no avail. So I'm getting another "new" phone tomorrow and meanwhile they loaned me a phone-phone.

My confidence in Android, Sprint and all things technological went straight out the window -- what's the point of being able to do almost anything most of the time? My previous phone did much less, but I could count on it being able to do so at any moment. Anyway, I'll probably get over it and all will be forgotten, but right now... grrrrrr.

Im sure the secret sequence they tried is called a hard reset and is detailed all over the web and on this forum...

Turn the power off. If your LG Optimus S is frozen, pull the battery out and reinsert it
Hold the Home and Volume Down button
Press and hold the Power button until the device turns on
Follow the on-screen instructions to reset your device


As far as you having no confidence in Sprint and all things techincal... Sorry to hear that. You make take solace in knowing there are 1,000's of people who have never had an issue with this device. I personally own two of these phones that get used heavily and they have never once malfunctioned.

I hope you have better luck with the next one.

 

[sonicbluemustang]

Used? You really never know what you get. May some chic had that phone at one time and she got mad at her boyfriend and threw it at him. Hence the word "refurbished" ......used and abused.

 

[jefboyardee]

Maybe the “chic’s” boyfriend was really fat so it didn’t hurt the phone. Sheesh

I‘d of course rather not get a refurb, but I’m sure I already signed my permission for that somewhere. Besides, my first one, that really was new, was letting dust in under the lens, so they’re not perfect either. And besides again, I got the thing for nothing and there’s already a saying about that.

But I will get upset if this third one, which so far acts and looks new, goes sour too.

 

[scifan]

My wife and I both have Optimus S phones... mine's rooted, her's isn't... aside from crying about space her phone's worked fine... (did have to pull the battery once to get the GPS happy again). Mine's been running great... rooted I see significantly better battery life than she does.

I have had my phone spontaneously reboot once or twice... but mostly that's been when I've been putzing with my framework file...

One of the guys I work with has a Optimus V... he's currently on his 4th phone... he's had problems with spontaneous reboots, and with the Network dropping off-line... have 2 cousins who have these and they've had good experiences as well.

Thus far, this is the "best" lower-end android phone I have had experience with...

 

[jefboyardee]

this is the "best" lower-end android phone I have had experience with...

No argument there, despite the problems I?ve had. But, after having a taste of android life, it sure does make me want to spend money for something bigger and faster -- which is what they wanted.

 

[trekkie1701c]

My phone has crashed a few times, just mostly when I was messing with it though (like trying out higher clock speeds for prolonged periods, messing with system files, installing programs that mess with system files, etc). I did notice that it would sometimes spontaneously reboot while charging, though admittedly I had to jury-rig the charger to make it work as I'd managed to mangle the cable (though not the phone's USB port) and it's possible it was constantly going "charging not charging charging not charging" and that was causing it to just say "FU" and crash. Hasn't seemed to do it on the new charger I got.

Definitely a far cry from my last two phones; my first cell phone just decided one day to no longer work, and it was a pain to get a new one (took over an hour on a payphone working with tech support before they'd admit that yes, maybe a simple phone that could only make text messages/phone calls that was throwing up an error message and refusing to boot was actually a problem with the phone and not me not knowing how to turn it on, and then I had to wait a week to get a new one since they had to ship it directly to me.

Next phone I upgraded to a Palm Centro. Nice, durable phone. Shattered the screen on my first one a year in, then my second one a few months later decided that a great time to start crashing would be right after I dialed 911 because some nutjob was deciding that the best way to solve a dispute with another nutjob was with a gun right outside of my apartment.

So, can't really say I've found any comparable problems with my Optimus S I'm very pleased with it, and while I can't really commend LG on their updates, I'm really liking how good the hardware is for how little it costs. When I next upgrade will probably get another Android phone

 

[jefboyardee]

I still have a collection of Samsung i500s, the original Palm smartphone circa 2003. Every time my droid breaks I’m tempted to say the hell with it, I’ve had enough of them, I’m going back to the days when my Palm did relatively very little but did so reliably. But then I get a new droid and I can’t imagine life without it.

 

[mmcastig]

I've had similar luck back in the day with my Moto Q. I went through about 4 of them and each time thought to myself "where do they get these things?" Flash forward a couple of years and I have a pretty good idea as to where their "refurbished" phones come from. If you order a new phone they send you a plastic bag mailer so you can "recycle" your old phone. I looked at that address when my new Optimus came in the mail and noticed the mailing address happens to be my place of employment. It's a plant in Dexter MI. I probably shouldn't tell you the name of the actual company. What happens is that we get the phones in the mail and grade them on cosmetic condition. Then they're sent off to have all of the personal data erased. Sprint phones are unique in that you wipe the whole phone by putting a code. GSM phones, and Verizon have a different way of doing it. For Sprint you put in ##786# and the RTN menu comes up and you can view a bunch of stuff about the phone. In order to do the actual RTN (Return To New) you have to have the SPC code. Putting in the code erases the entire phone, phone number included. Good luck getting the code if you want it for any reason though it's 6 digits and Sprint makes my company wait months to get them. As far as the "refurbishing" goes any actual refurb phones are sent to China for a new case, and then sent back to us for an audit. As far as audits go, you power it up, press all the buttons, test call, record a video and sent it off to make sure it charges. If, like in the case jefboyardee, there is a problem with the phone where it will reboot randomly it's actually pretty easy to miss. The scrubber that wipes the phone puts in the code, waits for a reboot, pushes some buttons. The auditor takes the phone and makes sure the scrubber pushed the right buttons. The integrated tester plugs it in and makes sure the charger light comes one. Then it's put into a box and stored until it's shipped out. Since it's an environment in which the company wants to produce as much as possible no one really spends much time with the phone. So, unfortunately, problem phones do slip through the cracks.

tl;dr: The refurbishing process is a bit more complex than you might think.

 

[jefboyardee]

Thanks for the Inside Baseball! I figured making a loser into a refurb was a wham-bam operation and they don’t give a rat’s patootie what was wrong with it coming in. I can only hope I picked a random winner this time. So far so good...

 

[skife]

I've had similar luck back in the day with my Moto Q. I went through about 4 of them and each time thought to myself "where do they get these things?" Flash forward a couple of years and I have a pretty good idea as to where their "refurbished" phones come from. If you order a new phone they send you a plastic bag mailer so you can "recycle" your old phone. I looked at that address when my new Optimus came in the mail and noticed the mailing address happens to be my place of employment. It's a plant in Dexter MI. I probably shouldn't tell you the name of the actual company. What happens is that we get the phones in the mail and grade them on cosmetic condition. Then they're sent off to have all of the personal data erased. Sprint phones are unique in that you wipe the whole phone by putting a code. GSM phones, and Verizon have a different way of doing it. For Sprint you put in ##786# and the RTN menu comes up and you can view a bunch of stuff about the phone. In order to do the actual RTN (Return To New) you have to have the SPC code. Putting in the code erases the entire phone, phone number included. Good luck getting the code if you want it for any reason though it's 6 digits and Sprint makes my company wait months to get them. As far as the "refurbishing" goes any actual refurb phones are sent to China for a new case, and then sent back to us for an audit. As far as audits go, you power it up, press all the buttons, test call, record a video and sent it off to make sure it charges. If, like in the case jefboyardee, there is a problem with the phone where it will reboot randomly it's actually pretty easy to miss. The scrubber that wipes the phone puts in the code, waits for a reboot, pushes some buttons. The auditor takes the phone and makes sure the scrubber pushed the right buttons. The integrated tester plugs it in and makes sure the charger light comes one. Then it's put into a box and stored until it's shipped out. Since it's an environment in which the company wants to produce as much as possible no one really spends much time with the phone. So, unfortunately, problem phones do slip through the cracks.

tl;dr: The refurbishing process is a bit more complex than you might think.

i can get your "SPC" code wich sprint calls the "MSL" in about 2 minutes with just the esn of the phone.


To the guy *****ing about his phone boot cycling:

Its not sprints fault, sprint didn't manufacture the phone, they didn't build the OS. You opted out of the insurance (hence the $35 fee) within the 30 days you've paid the $35 they can exchange your phone as many times as necessary without you paying again.

Phone break, its good to have insurance.