Sprint rep suggests rooting phone OK

[kevincwelch]

I was in one of the local Sprint stores today to check out the Photon, and I was talking to one of the reps about the performance and battery life about the phone. He outright stated that he got better performance after rooting the phone and installing a ROM. (I don't know whether there are ROMS for the Photon yet, but that's not the point.) I asked him why he would mention doing that since I thought it voided the warranty. He said that even though Mototola would have voided the warranty, Sprint would still back the service and assist with phone problems.

I thought that was an interesting line. Renegade sales rep or Sprint reality? Anyone comment?

 

[Paul627g]

Try and bring in your phone rooted and see what they say in the repair/service department...

I bet you will get a different story.

 

[Robbie Doo]

Try and bring in your phone rooted and see what they say in the repair/service department...

I bet you will get a different story.

That's a funny suggestion Paul. However, I'm thinking why wouldn't they fix my phone's hardware issues with my insurance? Why is it their concern what OS I have on my equipment? Yeah, I know, normally logical things don't work anywhere but we can fight back as their "breadgivers".....LOL

 

[Paul627g]

Yes I hear you. I too have sat right there and had a repair tech working on my device and he's talked about having a rooted device... But I've also seen them turn away customers that had rooted devices come in for repair.

 

[cerobles1]

So this question is a waste of time. It's like saying "don't do drugs" but do people stop using drugs? No. and if somebody is drugged and goes to an ER is he gng to be turned down because of the use of drugs? Maybe not. It's the same with rooting. If you own an Android based device there's a very high chance that u would at least had heard if not know what rooting is. So the fact the Sprint represantative mentioned rooting as an option to obtain better battery life doesn't make it legal and will always void the manufacture's warranty on your phone. plus, what does he care? He works with the techs that fix our bricked phones, so he can befriend them to the point he'll have the "hook up" Always root with caution. So far we have been lucky to brick our Epics and turned them in for another one that's working. Stop trying to get smarter than the manufacturers and don't mess it up for the rest of us.

 

[kevincwelch]

So this question is a waste of time. It's like saying "don't do drugs" but do people stop using drugs? No. and if somebody is drugged and goes to an ER is he gng to be turned down because of the use of drugs? Maybe not. It's the same with rooting. If you own an Android based device there's a very high chance that u would at least had heard if not know what rooting is. So the fact the Sprint represantative mentioned rooting as an option to obtain better battery life doesn't make it legal and will always void the manufacture's warranty on your phone. plus, what does he care? He works with the techs that fix our bricked phones, so he can befriend them to the point he'll have the "hook up" Always root with caution. So far we have been lucky to brick our Epics and turned them in for another one that's working. Stop trying to get smarter than the manufacturers and don't mess it up for the rest of us.

You undermine your credibility by responding to a question you consider to be a waste of time. This is a discussion forum. If you think something is a waste of time, move along. And by the way, it's a violation of federal law (EMTALA) for any ED to turn away any person who walks in (or for that matter stumbles in -- drugged or not) until stabilized.

 

[Robbie Doo]

So this question is a waste of time. It's like saying "don't do drugs" but do people stop using drugs? No. and if somebody is drugged and goes to an ER is he gng to be turned down because of the use of drugs? Maybe not. It's the same with rooting. If you own an Android based device there's a very high chance that u would at least had heard if not know what rooting is. So the fact the Sprint represantative mentioned rooting as an option to obtain better battery life doesn't make it legal and will always void the manufacture's warranty on your phone. plus, what does he care? He works with the techs that fix our bricked phones, so he can befriend them to the point he'll have the "hook up" Always root with caution. So far we have been lucky to brick our Epics and turned them in for another one that's working. Stop trying to get smarter than the manufacturers and don't mess it up for the rest of us.

Well, I'm assuming that would be different service than tech support. If someone goes into ER all drugged up, of course they will get the care no matter what because they are human beings. As for the phones it's "iffy". You may get turned away or maybe not, it depends.

 

[travel2usoon]

Try and bring in your phone rooted and see what they say in the repair/service department...

I bet you will get a different story.

I have had a Sprint store repair and replace my rooted Epics several different times without question...Even with leaked Froyos and custom roms. YMMV but it has been fine in San Diego area.

 

[kmarx]

I was in one of the local Sprint stores today to check out the Photon, and I was talking to one of the reps about the performance and battery life about the phone. He outright stated that he got better performance after rooting the phone and installing a ROM. (I don't know whether there are ROMS for the Photon yet, but that's not the point.) I asked him why he would mention doing that since I thought it voided the warranty. He said that even though Mototola would have voided the warranty, Sprint would still back the service and assist with phone problems.

I thought that was an interesting line. Renegade sales rep or Sprint reality? Anyone comment?

I heard the PHOTON which is a phone I am interested in too. Gets better reception than Samsung and HTC.. It's also a phone that will be able to upgrade the 3G EVDO Rev A to Rev B I was told.

 

[Galane]

Sprint salespeople told me about the tethering apps that get around Sprint's extra charges for tethering.

 

[5111]

I tried to get my speaker fixed at Sprint while rooted and they told me no.

 

[jmuru]

If we restore the phone to stock EC05 or EI22 before going to the Sprint store, is there any way for them to know we had it rooted before?

 

[Carenath]

If we restore the phone to stock EC05 or EI22 before going to the Sprint store, is there any way for them to know we had it rooted before?

If flashing through CWM to a 'stock' OS, it may be possible to detect as the modified recovery would still be there if the rep looked for it.

If flashing a complete ROM through ODIN (including Radios/etc) I would feel it unlikely that they would catch it as the phone's OS, Kernel, and Recovery would all have been returned to bone stock.

This is of course just my two cents as while I've rooted and un-rooted many phones, I've never done a warranty swap on one. Anyone else want to chime in?

 

[Paul627g]

Only way to be safe before going into your local Sprint store tech is to use Odin and one of the procedures we have listed in the thread below. They are all official builds and as long as you have any one of these on your device they will never know or be able to find any signs of you rooting your device.

: [How to] Factory Restore (or Fix a Bricked Phone)

Of course clean up your sdcard too.... Not that they look there but a picky rep may frown if he finds a bunch of ROMs and kernels, etc.. laying around on your sdcard... Still if your not rooted and complete stock they can't do anything just because you have files sitting on your sdcard.

 

[DaveWW00]

I had a similar experience a year or ago where the sprint repair tech suggested i try rooting and roms. took it in a few months later for another quick repair and a different tech noticed it was rooted but didnt seem to mind at all. still fixed it anyway and didnt give me any trouble

 

[Pigman]

I had my speaker fixed on my Evo 4g while running CM7. I went in with the Epic for my wife trying to get the text message dropping the area code fixed, and the tech said he could do a full reset but that wouldn't fix the issue. I said I probably should just root the phone, he immediately agreed and suggested that it would probably fix the issue. So I rooted the phone. No more dropped area codes.

 

[Paul627g]

I had a similar experience a year or ago where the sprint repair tech suggested i try rooting and roms. took it in a few months later for another quick repair and a different tech noticed it was rooted but didnt seem to mind at all. still fixed it anyway and didnt give me any trouble

I had my speaker fixed on my Evo 4g while running CM7. I went in with the Epic for my wife trying to get the text message dropping the area code fixed, and the tech said he could do a full reset but that wouldn't fix the issue. I said I probably should just root the phone, he immediately agreed and suggested that it would probably fix the issue. So I rooted the phone. No more dropped area codes.

Just a word of advice.... Yes you both were lucky in your situations. I have responded to and dealt with situations in the past where people have walked into a Sprint store with a rooted device and a repair tech/sales person "noted" in the customers file that they were running a rooted device and would not attempt any repairs or warranty related requests until the customer returned with a unrooted/stock device.

So yes there are techs out there that run rooted devices themselves and support the idea of rooting but as per Sprint policy they don't have to honor and make repairs on a rooted device.

FYI, my local tech and I have sat back and talked about his rooted EVO while he was doing repairs to my Epic 4g in the past.. So yes, its true but he even commented they won't touch a rooted device in that particular store/chain of stores.

Basically what I'm getting at is we don't want to give the wrong impression to customers/users that it is okay to attempt to walk in with a rooted device and expect them to service you. Still better to make your backups via Titanium, etc... and Odin back to stock for any repair/warranty claims.

 

[Duby1186]

My front camera warper and my epic was rooted at the time. To be safe I odin back, created a second google account (so if they were nosy they wouldn't see my purchesd apps like TB.) They replaced the whole sccreen and I went home and re rooted then got back in my main google acct and reflashed. id just be safe and adin before I need repairs.

Sent from my Epic 4g using TapaTalk

 

[LASuxs]

I actually thought my device had hardware issues because people weren't able to hear me on the mic, but only on the speaker of my headset. So i took it in to get it fixed, fully rooted and noticeably customized. Several different reps and techs gave it a check and try, they couldn't fix it so they ordered me a swap.

and i wouldn't bother hiding files or past purchased apps, i'm pretty sure they're not allowed to view through your files. and thus they'd be in a lot more trouble than it be worth it bringing up they caught that you were once rooted

P.S.
turns out the mic was fine it was just had accidentally upgraded voodoo

 

[jerseykat1]

its a coin toss! i was able to successfully get a replacment on a rooted phone, when my charging light would not go out. Just be nice if they so no try the next 2 closest stores, and if that fails just put it back to stock. 90% of the stores wont bother going through the phone with a magnifiying glass, just act like your a noob (uuuhhhhhh whats rooting).