Totally Useless VZW Rep!

[Adam Z]

I must vent! I just hung up with a VZW rep and he was completely useless. I called because for the last two day, my battery is draining faster than usual and every time I use the phone for any sort of data purpose, like the apps or surfing, the battery heats up to anywhere from 105-108 degrees Farenheit.
His answer of course is to go right to the factory reset. Why is that always the answer? How much does one get paid to answer every problem, with try a factory reset? Is that really the only answer on their checklist.
I'm hoping/guessing somebody here may have another idea. Thanks for listening.

 

[Forgetful]

Factory reset.










Or install a current widget to figure out exactly what and howmuch things are using.

 

[Chrisy]

Call back and tell them you already did a factory reset.

 

[willymakit]

Call back and tell them you already did a factory reset.

+1 ^^^^^^^^^

 

[bulldogmoe7]

because as it says, it takes it back to factory, as you load apps and such take your time loading them on there, once you find the "APP" that possibly draining your battery, there you go. that is a standard answer for them and i agree with them. how do they know what you loaded or have done to YOUR phone?
so by doing that it eliminates everything out of their control. once it leaves the "store" its on you. could it be due to that update for you? possibly. maybe an app "YOU" have might be fighting against the update. who knows. but i believe that is the right answer for them to give. then you work on the issue from there

 

[worwig]

Factory reset is the best starting point for a problem like that.
It you lie to them about doing the factory reset, in the end, odds are you are wasting your own time.

 

[Chrisy]

I have the same apps and settings pre and post update. The only thing that changed is the update. Now have reboots.

 

[AstroStrat89]

as the phones get smarter the harder they are to support. and the smarter the people you need to man the phones. and the more you have to pay them, and that drives the costs up.

I've been on the other end of these things (PC support) and I can tell there are no shortage of "you'd never guess what this idiot loaded on his phone..." stories.

 

[androidguy916]

Since the update I also am now only getting about 1/2 the battery life (maybe 8 hours vs. 16 to 20 hours consistently) I was getting, my phone just shuts off without warning as if the battery was pulled whether connected to AC power or not and I have 3 to 4 reboots a day. None of this happened before the update. So, I called tech support on Saturday and explained what was happening. Of course, the first thing he said was to do a factory reset. I asked the guy if anyone else reported these issues and he said he didn't see anything in his database. I said, "Wow, really? I'm the first one to report this?" He said I was. I told him their group obviously doesn't keep up to date on any forums because every forum to which I've been has many, many posts about these very problems. I can't remember where I read it but more than one of posts said the phones were reset to factory with NO apps re-installed and they were still having the same issues. Of course, the next course of action is to replace the phone. I told the guy this is obviously a software problem and a new phone will do the same thing unless he can guarantee a pre-upgrade phone. Of course, there's no guarantee of that.

I'm quite frustrated now. I was very pleased with this phone until I did the upgrade.I don't know if complaining to HTC would do any good or fall on deaf ears.

Bill

 

[nate44]

as the phones get smarter the harder they are to support. and the smarter the people you need to man the phones. and the more you have to pay them, and that drives the costs up.

I've been on the other end of these things (PC support) and I can tell there are no shortage of "you'd never guess what this idiot loaded on his phone..." stories.

I agree. There are issues that arise where the user has no control, but for the most part if people tried to understand the process of how things work and do a little research they could fix their own problems.

 

[Mortiel]

Firstly, I do apologize for the bad experience. What that Rep told you was true. We have no reported issues in our systems of randomly degraded battery life. No, we do not keep up with forums. I am in a minority there. He did suggest the best option he had though.

Something else to note: we are not getting a lot of calls about the Tbolt battery life, but if you are getting 8 hours you are actually doing pretty good honestly...

 

[nate44]

but if you are getting 8 hours you are actually doing pretty good honestly...

I must have some kind of super bolt then, because I average double that everyday with moderate usage on stock battery

 

[AstroStrat89]

as the phones get smarter the harder they are to support. and the smarter the people you need to man the phones. and the more you have to pay them, and that drives the costs up.

I've been on the other end of these things (PC support) and I can tell there are no shortage of "you'd never guess what this idiot loaded on his phone..." stories.

as I re-read this it's not very clear.

What I mean is that the more complicated the device is the more resources you need to support them on your front line. Most of these guys answering the support calls are given a scipt to go by. 2 out of 10 are actually interested in what they are doing and are doing thier best to move out of the space. The cost of well trained support people generally doesn't not justify the return you get. Plus the people smart enough to prove good support are typically not wanting to do front line support for very long.

 

[Mortiel]

as I re-read this it's not very clear.

What I mean is that the more complicated the device is the more resources you need to support them on your front line. Most of these guys answering the support calls are given a scipt to go by. 2 out of 10 are actually interested in what they are doing and are doing thier best to move out of the space. The cost of well trained support people generally doesn't not justify the return you get. Plus the people smart enough to prove good support are typically not wanting to do front line support for very long.

All true except the script part... I have never once read from a script unless it was legal disclosures.

 

[Wildside]

We have no reported issues in our systems of randomly degraded battery life.

I've spoken to VZW customer support 3 times about degraded battery life. Each time VZW's response was "it must be a bad battery, have it tested at a store." Well, my stock battery has been tested 3 times in-store and it's not the battery. It's the OTA update that caused this but the CSRs keep telling me to test the battery.

"No reported issues in our systems", probably means the CSRs don't document that the call is about degraded battery life - if it's noted as a "hardware issue" then VZW has no record of the degraded battery life.

 

[EricWiz]

I think factory reset is the answer because it is the best point to start. I understand your frustration and it should have been explained better. I know it sucks to have to resetup everything but...

It might just work.... If it doesnt you call them back and they will send out another phone and guess what? IT will be factory.

Not trying to sound like an ass but I have been in various IS and IT jobs most of my career. Because of that I would get calls to 'fix my computer' all the time. I am not help desk but whatever.. anyway...

Know what the first thing I would usually tell the caller? -- reboot. It fixes a myriad of problems and that is why I would tell them that.

The rep should have told you that that is the first step is troubleshooting your issue.

 

[Chrisy]

I did a factory reset. Didn't want to. It doesn't help the reboots.

 

[Mortiel]

I've spoken to VZW customer support 3 times about degraded battery life. Each time VZW's response was "it must be a bad battery, have it tested at a store." Well, my stock battery has been tested 3 times in-store and it's not the battery. It's the OTA update that caused this but the CSRs keep telling me to test the battery.

"No reported issues in our systems", probably means the CSRs don't document that the call is about degraded battery life - if it's noted as a "hardware issue" then VZW has no record of the degraded battery life.

Nope, all the calls are documented as generalized categories, which this would be a battery problem. Believe me when I say we honestly get no more calls about the Tbolts battery than say any other Android's battery, granted the Tbolt has worse battery life out of the gate. Because of this, we treat battery issues BAU (business as usual). Business as usual battery problems go as below...

Battery issues have one of four root causes: The Battery, the Charger, the Device Hardware, or the Device Software. That is a lot of suspects, all with different fixes, so any way that we can logically eliminate possible suspects is helpful. Having your battery tested can eliminate the battery as a problem, so the tech can move on the the other three suspects. Trying a different charger at the store also helps eliminate the charger as a suspect. Then all you have to do is perform a factory data reset. If that does not fix it, then we replace the device.

So each time you call in and they tell you to test the battery, did you tell them you had already gone to the store and tested? If they still push back once you say that, ask to speak to their supervisor. Otherwise, they should continue as I explained above.

 

[Wildside]

Yes, I did tell them the battery had been tested previously.

The last time I called, the rep very specifically stated the OTA could not have caused a battery life issue. In fact, I started the conversation with "I've called previously about battery life issues on my Thunderbolt, can you transfer me to a Level 2 Tech?" I did not get transferred to a Level 2 Tech, had to explain the issue for the third time and was told I had to go to a store to have the battery tested.

Don't get me wrong, I love the phone and have been a VZW customer for a long time; I'm happier with VZW than I ever was with AT&T or Sprint, but VZW is not handling this issue well; reboots are an issue and battery life (post-OTA) is an issue.