[Suertetres]

Very sad...Picked up my 16gb Playbook from Staples with my $100 off coupon tonight to spend 2.5 hours on the phone with RIM, to be told to take it back and it doesn't work.

Tech Support was awesome, great guy, too bad Staples didn't pull the playbook and sold a bad one to me. another day waiting.....

Anyone have this issue and find a work around?

EDIT:

Guess I should have explained the issue, after RIM couldn't solve the issue, i googled my problem and found a Crackberry article about 900 Playbooks being recalled by RIM for an undisclosed reason, my serial number happens to be one of them.

[SmakBerry]

Just take it back tomorrow and exchange it.

[Suertetres]

Thats the plan, just frustrating

[SmakBerry]

ya it is, Staples should have pulled the recalled stock. Unfortunately it appears to take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

[Quarkie]

Very sad...Picked up my 16gb Playbook from Staples with my $100 off coupon tonight to spend 2.5 hours on the phone with RIM, to be told to take it back and it doesn't work.

Tech Support was awesome, great guy, too bad Staples didn't pull the playbook and sold a bad one to me. another day waiting.....

Anyone have this issue and find a work around?

EDIT:

Guess I should have explained the issue, after RIM couldn't solve the issue, i googled my problem and found a Crackberry article about 900 Playbooks being recalled by RIM for an undisclosed reason, my serial number happens to be one of them.

Yeah - knowing your issue would make a tad easier to identify with.


I picked up one last night at Staples & was wondering if that's what the whole $100 off thing was about... I thought I'd gotten a bad one, too because it didn't boot to the usual setup & update OS thing. And it only had 4 apps & it didn't look at all like the OSes I'd dealt with (I'd gotten one within the first week.) I ended up talking to RIM but it was just some pre-OS sort of deal & I had to update from within Desktop Manager & then it seemed "normal". I'd gotten that whole thing (tired to run setup before hooking to PC) where it couldn't load the license agreement. But it was OK after updating via PC. At least it appears so, though I haven't had time to really mess with it.

[drhodes11]

Wow, sorry to hear that. Goodluck returning it because Staples return policy for electronics is horrible. Given, they should have done their job and never sold a recalled product to you.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dasDestruktion]

I thought I had a similar problem at first. I bought my 64gb at release. Then, a couple weeks ago, I bought a 32gb for my father for his birthday. I went to his house and attempted to work through the initial setup for him. No matter what I could not pickup his wifi connection. Called RIM for some assistance but the serial number had already been registered for support under a different name. They said the PlayBook I had in my hands only had 15 days of support left! BestBuy sold me a returned device. Unmarked as such and resealed. Needless to say, I returned that device (RIM said it was a hardware issue and suggested I return it to BestBuy) and had a nice chat with the manager. I took my business to Staples and the device they sold me was new and in working order.

Weird that you recieved a recalled device. Most didn't make it tonretail I heard!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dkingsf]

Wow, sorry to hear that. Goodluck returning it because Staples return policy for electronics is horrible. Given, they should have done their job and never sold a recalled product to you.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I've never had that issue at all. In fact, Staples has taken back opened software for full refund with no questions asked, as well as electronics as long as it's returned in the original packaging. Perhaps it's just a particular store.

[Suertetres]

Well the local Staples did not have one in stock so I drove 40 miles to pick one up. Sat down in the store and turned it on and it had a dead pixel in the middle of the screen. Switched it and I should be good to go. Now hoping all goes well with my OS upgrade when I plug it in!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Quarkie]

Well, I'm about ready to contact the Atty Gen. The one I got the other night & said I was able to hook up to BBDM & load 1.0.7.2670 - it's a recalled unit.

There were some red flags. The tape on either side of the box was sticking up, as if it had been opened & someone had tried to put it back nicely. Then, when I went ahead & cut it open, the PB was backwards in the sleeve (and the sleeve didn't stink as much as they usually do when you first open them). Then, when I turned it on, I didn't get the usual setup screen - it was already set up, with only 4 icons & OS 1.0.0.13?? - totally foereign-looking thing. (I've had at least 5 PBs starting about a week after they came out, so I've seen just about all OS versions.) There was a guest account with password.... A lot of things just set my hackles up.

I was told to hook it up to BBDM & update the OS. I did. It went to a setup screen when done. Updating a machine that's already able to go to a home screen shouldn't start over, otherwise we'd all be constantly reloading devices.

So, then I called RIM to see if they could check the SN against the recalled ones. (You'd think that would be an easy thing, but they acted as if they didn't have a list.) While I was on hold, I did a little surfing & found a link with a list of the recalled SNs:

RIM recalls 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers (update) -- Engadget

Yep - my SN is in there! That also explains why, then I gave the SN to register the device, they said it wasn't eligible for the 90 days of free support, but they passed me up to a tech, anyway. RIM was nice - they said if Staples gave me any trouble, call & they'd do an RMA & get me a brand new unit.

The way I see it, Staples comes up with this coupon for $100 off, which, coincidentally, happens to be the exact cost of their little extended warranty for the "new" price of the device. Their warranty allows exactly one replacement in that 2 year period, which gets used up right away. (I wonder if they got any kind of money or credit from RIM on those recalled units. Were they required to send them back? Did they take a credit & then sell the device anyway? Hmmm....)

So, it will be returned. I'm trying to decide exactly how I'll play it. You can bet I'll have a copy of that SN list on me.

These people are slimy. I'm documenting the heck out of it & it's all going to RIM & possibly the Atty Gen and/or police.

I think Staples just lost my business for good.

Moral of the story, boys & girls - if you want to try to use the Staples coupon, take a list of recalled SNs with you. And be very careful - the coupon has some rather curious wording:

"no cash/credit back"

We specifically asked what happened if the unit were defective. We were told we still had our usual 14 day return/exchange period. Can't wait to see what really happens when we try...

[Quarkie]

Update:

Took the 16 GB back to Staples & confronted the manager. She was very nice & apologetic. She claims that RIM only gives them one shot at returning those recalled units. She had 2 in stock at the time & one was on the list, the other wasn't. End of story. She doesn't know how more bad units could come later. (I'm sure many were in transit. Perhaps people didn't check the warehouses?)

She went into the back - just one unit left. I pulled out the list of serial numbers & it was on there! She seemed stunned.

I'm not sure I buy the bit about RIM only giving them 10 days to return all bad units & other would still be in circulation. But, to her credit, she let me order a 64 GB in te store & honored the coupon (which said in stock only). At least I know the 64 won't be on the list...