I was ecstatic to get my VZW Droid Incredible last Thursday after pre-ordering it online. I was quickly disappointed when I turned it on and had only 1 bar on my signal, and the -db hovered around -96, while my wife's World BB issued by her employer maintained a full signal.
Some background: I live next to RDU, home of the research triangle, UNC, Duke, NC State. This was rated by some organization, and I cannot remember which, as having top 3 wireless coverage and broadband in the US. Other posts have mentioned that the Triad region in NC had issues with towers and rebooting. Luckily, that has not happened in the Triangle. I have only the signal issues, like many are having.
Steps I took: First I needed to know if my phone was actually defective. So on Friday, I went to Best Buy first, and my phone signal was -80ish, while Verizon Incredible store models were -60ish. So I went to a Verizon store, where I was made to feel like a completely irrational person for wanting a phone that kept a usable signal for the money I was paying.
The models of Incredibles in the store had 20 point differences in signal strength. This is where I met Shawn, who is a complete moron with no social skills of which to speak. Shawn is a smug, unhappy, little man who works at the Verizon store in Durham, NC. He told me that the -db number is irrelevant and the bars are the actual indicator of signal (lie). He told me he would not exchange my phone, and I would have to wait for 24-48 hours for a hybrid PRL to get pushed to my phone. I told him that no PRL is going to fix the issue of having a bad antenna in the phone. He absolutely shut me out and did not listen to a word I said. I told the customer in line next to me that they should reconsider their purchase until VZW resolves the antenna issue, because if they got a defective phone like I did, VZW would certainly not do the right thing. This made Shawn angry. Shawn gave me my phone after doing something to it, and I left with a non-working phone to the parking lot, where I called customer uncare at *611.
The rep on the phone empathized and explained the hybrid PRL solution, to which I told him it still does not fix a defective device. I explained to him the variation in signal strength, and he said it was not a good comparison to use VZW store phones, as they are calibrated to use only the tower closest to the store. (fishy?) So I asked if the tower closest to the store would have picked up my phone if that was also the tower I was closest to? He said maybe. And I don't doubt that VZW might do this to make the store phones appear to have the strongest signal available, but I bet mine had picked up the same tower.
VZW shipped thousands of these phones, right? A couple have to be defective? I would think so. Unfortunately, I got a bad one.
So, I left with my one bar signal/ -99db Incredible in an area that is blanketed with towers. And guess who is following me out of the parking lot. Apparently Shawn or one of his lackeys called the Durham PD, in case I decided to have a meltdown. The cop turned off after I got on I85. I never cursed or threatened anyone in the store, I would not jeopardize my livelihood and ability to support my family over any cell phone. So Shawn's calling of the PD was completely unwarranted. If you cannot tell already, I really did not like the way I was treated by Shawn, the strongest word I used was "unacceptable" or maybe "reprehensible".
So it gets worse from here: On Saturday, I spent my hour long work commute on the phone (different line) with VZW who told me that I would not be able to return the phone until I followed Verizon's remedies. First the hybrid PRL had to be pushed, and I had already gotten it by Saturday and no big surprise here, it didn't fix the issue.
So the rep connected me to tech support (a term I use loosely). That rep seemed to believe that I needed a Master Reset to fix the issue. She would call me back at 5pm on my lunch break and I would give her my work number and we would do it together. So 5pm came, she never called. I called Customer uncare, and a customer service guy and I reset the phone. I told him I would try it for 24 hours, even though I knew it wouldn't work.
So later that night, I was sitting next to a nurse with a Moto Droid and she was using her phone. My hospital has Verizon signal repeaters installed in the hospital, one of my reasons for switching to VZW after my iPhone phase. She had full signal, and I had none...completely no signal whatsoever! She laughed and said my husband was wanting that phone so bad, but this is changing my mind.
So, Sunday on my way to work, I spent my hour commute with VZW again. This time, I was fed up. I was not called to troubleshoot; I was mad after having zero signal last night in the hospital while someone else had a full signal. I was calling to cancel.
I told the rep right away that one of two things were going to happen, either she replaced the phone, or she could connect me to the cancellation department.
This is where I learned something about VZW. They don't care if you are happy, they care if you are a paying customer. All the time I was troubleshooting, I was using my 30 days of money back guarantee. I was being put off with a non working device. They were not out any money for additional equipment and in order to do this, they blame the customer. "I" needed a hybrid PRL or "I" needed a master reset.
She told me she would look at my account, then came the rebuttal and lie. "Sir, I see you are not running the latest version of the software" (the only update addressed exchange servers and not antenna) "This new software will probably fix your reception problem" I was not happy that once again I was not being listened to.
I said, "No, I am not going to troubleshoot anymore, I am done and I am canceling service"
Then and only then, did she finally utter the magic words: I will list your phone as "DOA" (Dead on arrival). They will fedex you a new phone, but you will need to let them bill you for the replacement, then it will be credited back in 15-30 days to your credit card when we receive the defective phone.
So this is what I did. I am not crazy about VZW holding even more of my money hostage. But if you are having trouble with your antenna, my advice to you is pop out the battery and call them and tell VZW it wont work at all, wont even turn on. You will solve a weeks worth of frustration, troubleshooting, being blamed for the defective device.
This horrible experience is hopefully ending, as I got my replacement via Fedex this morning, and have -10db to -20db better signal strength over my first incredible out of the box. Now to wait and see if they botch the return of the old Incredible.
Some background: I live next to RDU, home of the research triangle, UNC, Duke, NC State. This was rated by some organization, and I cannot remember which, as having top 3 wireless coverage and broadband in the US. Other posts have mentioned that the Triad region in NC had issues with towers and rebooting. Luckily, that has not happened in the Triangle. I have only the signal issues, like many are having.
Steps I took: First I needed to know if my phone was actually defective. So on Friday, I went to Best Buy first, and my phone signal was -80ish, while Verizon Incredible store models were -60ish. So I went to a Verizon store, where I was made to feel like a completely irrational person for wanting a phone that kept a usable signal for the money I was paying.
The models of Incredibles in the store had 20 point differences in signal strength. This is where I met Shawn, who is a complete moron with no social skills of which to speak. Shawn is a smug, unhappy, little man who works at the Verizon store in Durham, NC. He told me that the -db number is irrelevant and the bars are the actual indicator of signal (lie). He told me he would not exchange my phone, and I would have to wait for 24-48 hours for a hybrid PRL to get pushed to my phone. I told him that no PRL is going to fix the issue of having a bad antenna in the phone. He absolutely shut me out and did not listen to a word I said. I told the customer in line next to me that they should reconsider their purchase until VZW resolves the antenna issue, because if they got a defective phone like I did, VZW would certainly not do the right thing. This made Shawn angry. Shawn gave me my phone after doing something to it, and I left with a non-working phone to the parking lot, where I called customer uncare at *611.
The rep on the phone empathized and explained the hybrid PRL solution, to which I told him it still does not fix a defective device. I explained to him the variation in signal strength, and he said it was not a good comparison to use VZW store phones, as they are calibrated to use only the tower closest to the store. (fishy?) So I asked if the tower closest to the store would have picked up my phone if that was also the tower I was closest to? He said maybe. And I don't doubt that VZW might do this to make the store phones appear to have the strongest signal available, but I bet mine had picked up the same tower.
VZW shipped thousands of these phones, right? A couple have to be defective? I would think so. Unfortunately, I got a bad one.
So, I left with my one bar signal/ -99db Incredible in an area that is blanketed with towers. And guess who is following me out of the parking lot. Apparently Shawn or one of his lackeys called the Durham PD, in case I decided to have a meltdown. The cop turned off after I got on I85. I never cursed or threatened anyone in the store, I would not jeopardize my livelihood and ability to support my family over any cell phone. So Shawn's calling of the PD was completely unwarranted. If you cannot tell already, I really did not like the way I was treated by Shawn, the strongest word I used was "unacceptable" or maybe "reprehensible".
So it gets worse from here: On Saturday, I spent my hour long work commute on the phone (different line) with VZW who told me that I would not be able to return the phone until I followed Verizon's remedies. First the hybrid PRL had to be pushed, and I had already gotten it by Saturday and no big surprise here, it didn't fix the issue.
So the rep connected me to tech support (a term I use loosely). That rep seemed to believe that I needed a Master Reset to fix the issue. She would call me back at 5pm on my lunch break and I would give her my work number and we would do it together. So 5pm came, she never called. I called Customer uncare, and a customer service guy and I reset the phone. I told him I would try it for 24 hours, even though I knew it wouldn't work.
So later that night, I was sitting next to a nurse with a Moto Droid and she was using her phone. My hospital has Verizon signal repeaters installed in the hospital, one of my reasons for switching to VZW after my iPhone phase. She had full signal, and I had none...completely no signal whatsoever! She laughed and said my husband was wanting that phone so bad, but this is changing my mind.
So, Sunday on my way to work, I spent my hour commute with VZW again. This time, I was fed up. I was not called to troubleshoot; I was mad after having zero signal last night in the hospital while someone else had a full signal. I was calling to cancel.
I told the rep right away that one of two things were going to happen, either she replaced the phone, or she could connect me to the cancellation department.
This is where I learned something about VZW. They don't care if you are happy, they care if you are a paying customer. All the time I was troubleshooting, I was using my 30 days of money back guarantee. I was being put off with a non working device. They were not out any money for additional equipment and in order to do this, they blame the customer. "I" needed a hybrid PRL or "I" needed a master reset.
She told me she would look at my account, then came the rebuttal and lie. "Sir, I see you are not running the latest version of the software" (the only update addressed exchange servers and not antenna) "This new software will probably fix your reception problem" I was not happy that once again I was not being listened to.
I said, "No, I am not going to troubleshoot anymore, I am done and I am canceling service"
Then and only then, did she finally utter the magic words: I will list your phone as "DOA" (Dead on arrival). They will fedex you a new phone, but you will need to let them bill you for the replacement, then it will be credited back in 15-30 days to your credit card when we receive the defective phone.
So this is what I did. I am not crazy about VZW holding even more of my money hostage. But if you are having trouble with your antenna, my advice to you is pop out the battery and call them and tell VZW it wont work at all, wont even turn on. You will solve a weeks worth of frustration, troubleshooting, being blamed for the defective device.
This horrible experience is hopefully ending, as I got my replacement via Fedex this morning, and have -10db to -20db better signal strength over my first incredible out of the box. Now to wait and see if they botch the return of the old Incredible.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram