[dejanh]

Ok, so this is getting a bit ridiculous. I know that I am by nature a perfectionist and want things to be a certain way but here's the quick and dirty (sometimes literally) summary.

1st PlayBook, 32GB variant, major back-light bleed on the lower right side of the screen visible in daylight, returned
2nd PlayBook, 32GB variant, inset power button, almost impossible to press, bowed back, to be returned today
3rd PlayBook, 64GB variant, dead pixels, about 2" x 1/4" (yes, that is inches) strip on the top and on the left side of the screen, returned
4th PlayBook, 64GB variant, loose power button, dust collecting underneath the glass panel after 16 hours of use in a low-dust environment, to be returned today

So, I am a huge RIM fan and I only buy RIM products for my mobile needs, but this is turning out to be an ugly joke. Four PlayBooks in a row, every single one is defective. There is no way that is a coincidence. The QC really seems sub-par. I am very disappointed. If the 5th unit does not end up working as expected I am done with the PlayBook, for good

[boldkeyboardholic]

wow you are one of a bad luck guy or very you have extreme high standards. got lucky with my pb but got an mexican bold 9900 :/

[herculesinwyoming]

my power button is a little small, but otherwise my pb has been perfect

[dejanh]

wow you are one of a bad luck guy or very you have extreme high standards. got lucky with my pb but got an mexican bold 9900 :/

I have high standards, but let me assure you that these are very real problems. The only one that is remotely "passable" in my book is the 2nd 32GB PB I got with the inset power button. That one is just a PITA to use and I am not willing to settle for that + with the price on the 64GB units it makes no sense for me to settle for a 32GB unit when I am primarily thinking to use this for media during traveling.

The other 3 are all majorly defective, even if you are not a perfectionist, especially the one that had literally 1/4" width of pixels dead or stuck on the left side and another 2" by 1/4" at the top.

I am just ranting really because I am really disappointed. This is turning out to be one of the worst RIM purchasing experiences to date, and I thought my Torch experience was bad having had 1 that the touch-pad died and 2 of them literally die on me.

[nimrodity]

my left side is ab bit weak.I have backlight bleeding on the left side of the display and and the left side creaks a bit.I would be happier without that but i can live with it,otherwise overall great build quality

[Chaddface]

How do you get dust collecting under the screen? I have many times had mine in the wood shop and get a thick coating of fine saw dust(MDF). Just a shot with the air hose and it's new again. Never a speck of dust under the screen. The area between the glass and LCD should be sealed and certainly not open enough to allow dust to collect in a matter of hours.

[kbz1960]

Wow talk about some bad luck. Think I would've went to a different store if possible.

[TheScionicMan]

Who are you getting these replacements from? The store or RIM?

[peter9477]

dejanh, are you purchasing these all from the same place? Where did they come from?

Also are you perhaps in some remote country (from me ;-) ) where these are getting shipped through rugged territory, maybe on horseback and through a desert for part of the way. By someone with a grudge against RIM? ;-)

Seems like very bad luck, at the least... I've dealt with eight and other than the flush power button on two, no issues at all.

[dejanh]

Wow talk about some bad luck. Think I would've went to a different store if possible.

Indeed. That is what I will do. I have a feeling that FutureShop may have a ty shipment...all of mine so far have been from the same store. Everything is going for a refund in an couple of hours.

[hpjrt]

What a shame! Where did you get these units? Is it possible that the units you got had been returned and instead of returning them to Rim the store simply tried to palm them off on unsuspecting customers? Have you contacted the store's management or Rim?

I have been very lucky with mine. My power button is small but adequate and since I have had almost no need to use it since initially powering up, it hasn't been an issue.

I'd be tempted to get my money back and seek out a different source for future purchases of a Playbook. Good luck!

[dejanh]

What a shame! Where did you get these units? Is it possible that the units you got had been returned and instead of returning them to Rim the store simply tried to palm them off on unsuspecting customers? Have you contacted the store's management or Rim?

I have been very lucky with mine. My power button is small but adequate and since I have had almost no need to use it since initially powering up, it hasn't been an issue.

I'd be tempted to get my money back and seek out a different source for future purchases of a Playbook. Good luck!

Units are all coming from the same FutureShop in Burnaby (Metro Vancouver), BC. I'm off to get them returned now. I may try a local BB instead, or maybe London Drugs. I have generally had a pretty good experience with London Drugs...at least in the past.

One thing that I did notice is that they seem to have a lot of older units, ones with lower serial numbers, generally starting with 13431 or 13432.

[peter9477]

One thing that I did notice is that they seem to have a lot of older units, ones with lower serial numbers, generally starting with 13431 or 13432.

Based on what you've described I suspect you'll do better if you simply refuse any package which has those serial numbers.

I've just checked those for which I have records here:

1343-1: button flush
1343-1: button flush
1343-4: button raised
1343-3: button raised
1344-6: button raised
1344-7: button raised
1343-8: button raised

Never realized there might be such a good correlation before. (I realize that's too small a sample size to be statistically significant but it's a start.)

[ody360]

Units are all coming from the same FutureShop in Burnaby (Metro Vancouver), BC. I'm off to get them returned now. I may try a local BB instead, or maybe London Drugs. I have generally had a pretty good experience with London Drugs...at least in the past.

One thing that I did notice is that they seem to have a lot of older units, ones with lower serial numbers, generally starting with 13431 or 13432.

So that's where the stolen playbooks are going... like in this post: http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...2011-a-681175/

The serial number is similar as the one being reported!

[Chaddface]

Based on what you've described I suspect you'll do better if you simply refuse any package which has those serial numbers.

I've just checked those for which I have records here:

1343-1: button flush
1343-1: button flush
1343-4: button raised
1343-3: button raised
1344-6: button raised
1344-7: button raised
1343-8: button raised

Never realized there might be such a good correlation before. (I realize that's too small a sample size to be statistically significant but it's a start.)

Just to add:
1343-0
1343-1
both have flush buttons.

[blue-b]

I've bought 3 and they were all beautiful, I'd try a different retailer. BestBuy owns Futureshop, not sure if they share the same wharehouse too, maybe try London Drugs if they sell them.

[dejanh]

I've bought 3 and they were all beautiful, I'd try a different retailer. BestBuy owns Futureshop, not sure if they share the same wharehouse too, maybe try London Drugs if they sell them.

I returned both units to FutureShop and told them that they may want to look at what is going on with their units since that is now 4 faulty ones. Apparently they have been having 39% defective return rate, 39%! That is insane. That is 4/10 units sold get returned as defective.

I just picked up the very last 64GB unit from London Drugs near my house. It's a 13434 unit, so the power button is slightly raised. It's not great, but it is possible to press it relatively normally without having to jab it with something. Not as nice as the 13435 and 13436 units I tried, but functional. No dead pixels, no visible screen artifacts, and no excessive back-light bleed; always a good sign! Does not appear to be any dust behind the glass panel, but it is a brand new unit that I just opened (the 64GB from last night was fine as well until some hours later sitting in the open). There is a more noticeable bow to this unit than any of the previous ones, but I do not believe that it is detrimental to the function of the unit (not much left to right bobble when lying flat). Also, nothing that a gel skin case would not fix I guess.

Let's see how this goes. 5th time's the charm, maybe?

[Unsure2]

39% seems way too high for returns due to defects. Were these factory sealed units? Is it possible these from a stock of original returns?

[robtanz]

Got 3 playbooks in my house and no problems.

[blackjack93117]

I get the feeling he has been getting the last of the batch - all of the returned units. All of this to-do about the power button seems overly to-done, though - it is hardly used - if it works would be good enough for me - in fact I accepted one that was flush and hard to press, but as long as it did the required reset, np.

[dejanh]

I get the feeling he has been getting the last of the batch - all of the returned units. All of this to-do about the power button seems overly to-done, though - it is hardly used - if it works would be good enough for me - in fact I accepted one that was flush and hard to press, but as long as it did the required reset, np.

Yeah, that could be it. They could have been factory refurbished or who knows what...anyway, we'll see how this new one does. In regards to the power button I am not that finicky about it, as long as works. The one unit with the flush button you had to sometimes retry pressing it 10 or more times before it would react even once. It was definitely not "usable".

[madman0141]

Five bad playbooks in a row? Friend that does not happen. If these are suppose to be new and you are buying these from the same store then the store is selling refurbs that they are refurbing in the back room. I bought my one and only playbook when they first came out and no problems. Remember Rimm doesn't sell boost phones nor are they a knock off company like the company I will not name that uses that spooky guy as "The McCann Twins" Go online and order a brand new one from sprint or Rimm and you will not have five problems in a row. Don't leave BB because of something they did not do to you.

[kennyliu]

I am with the OP. I and my wife had to return two Playbooks (bought from different retailers) back in July-August as they had multiple dead pixels, the bulge, and the light bleeding issue. One of these two also had the battery health at 78%.

Now, we have a 16Gb with a bulge (decided not to exchange fearing we'll get another one with dead/stuck pixels) and a 64Gb, which is perfect (Hooray!! The 64Gb is mine and I love it).

I have been reading this forum since July and know there have been quite a few threads on these issues. If you search, you'll find a few polls as well that indicate there is quite a serious problem with the quality control with as much as 25-30% people reporting dead pixels or the bulge.

I am wondering if the lack of QC was one of the leading causes of the poor sales.

In any case, I hope RIM tightens quality control arrangements with Quanta.

[dejanh]

I am with the OP. I and my wife had to return two Playbooks (bought from different retailers) back in July-August as they had multiple dead pixels, the bulge, and the light bleeding issue. One of these two also had the battery health at 78%.

Now, we have a 16Gb with a bulge (decided not to exchange fearing we'll get another one with dead/stuck pixels) and a 64Gb, which is perfect (Hooray!! The 64Gb is mine and I love it).

I have been reading this forum since July and know there have been quite a few threads on these issues. If you search, you'll find a few polls as well that indicate there is quite a serious problem with the quality control with as much as 25-30% people reporting dead pixels or the bulge.

I am wondering if the lack of QC was one of the leading causes of the poor sales.

In any case, I hope RIM tightens quality control arrangements with Quanta.

Well the thing is this...and I don't know why I did not mention this earlier but all of the boxes that PBs ship in have security seals on them and those seals were intact on all units that I bought. This means that they are factory sealed, which in turn means that they have not been tampered with in the store, which in turn means that the defective units either got damaged in shipment (unlikely due to the range of problems) OR they came out of the factory poorly made. Unfortunately it really seems like it is the latter. RIM quality did go down significantly ever since they started manufacturing outside of Canada.

[anon(757282)]

Photos or video proof needed. I find it extremely unlikely and beyond statistical probability that there could be so many units going to the same buyers with the reported issues. This just does not happen.