Are these grounds for replacement?

[dave788]

Hey Guys...

So here's the background. I purchased a BlackBerry Bold 9700 on T-Mobile back in November just a few days after it was released (3-5 days). No regrets... it's an awesome phone.

However, it's not perfect. Here's the nitty gritty.

-The black paint on the keypad has started to chip off. I've owned a ton of phones as well as three other BlackBerry's that I treated the same way as this one and paint chipping has never been a problem.

-Squeeze the phone and you can hear and feel the housing creak.

-On occasion and largely dependent on how I hold the phone to type, the backlight for the LCD erratically jumps to the highest possible brightness regardless of the lighting conditions where I'm out. If I hold it lightly or am scrolling around this doesn't happen.

-If I had to guess, I'd say that the trackpad button "clicks" in the way It's supposed to about 55-60% of the time. Any other time it tends to creak and provide little to no tactile feedback from pushing the button. It also sort of wobbles around on its own in the assembly.

-When I first got the phone and needed to remove the battery cover to put the battery in, the cover seemed to be very snugly flit and I had to "gently" caress it off the back. Now it's so loose on my phone that half the time if i pull it out of my pocket, I end up leaving the battery cover behind. I've nearly lost the cover twice because it comes off so easily. if i slide it on some sort of countertop, the battery cover will almost always and very easily slide off. Not sure if this is a battery door cover or phone defect.

-If you lightly press on the lower right hand corner of the screen, the brightness fluctuates between what it's supposed to be at and it's maximum brightness.

-Regardless of what operating system I have installed, whether it be the T-Mobile official OS or some leaked/official OS, certain programs will occasionally crash and bring me back to the home screen. The usual problem programs are Opera Mini and BlackBerry App World. Pandora has done it a couple of times as well.

-Facebook doesn't work regardless of the OS installed. I get notifications but am unable to view any status comment posts without going to the mobile site and reading it there.

-The backlighting behind the keyboard, simply put, sucks. For such a sexy phone, it's yellowish in color, uneven in some spots, and dim. Gives it a cheap vibe. On my previous BlackBerry (Tour 9630) the keypad was perfectly even, very bright, and emitted a very pure white light. Sold the Tour to my best friend who I also happen to live with and seeing them side by side really bothers me.

-The "P" key on my keypad seems to stick up a little bit more than the other keys and I find myself frequently getting my finger or fingernail caught underneath it and pulling it up.

-Despite having the same 3.2MP camera that my Tour had, pictures taken on the Bold seem poorer in quality. I've also noticed the camera flash isn't quite as bright as it was on the Tour.

-The buttons over top of the keypad (Send/Menu/Enter/Back/End) seem to have a gap around them and shift around, affecting the "feel" of the clicking them.

-The bottom piece of trim below the keypad has recently begun to shift around as well (or I've just recently noticed it).


All that said, I'd like to call up T-Mobile and ask for a replacement phone (refurbished is fine). Have these issues been addressed in newer/refurb devices? What should I say and how should I go about calling T-Mobile for a replacement?

Thanks!!

[Artemis68]

It should still be covered by warranty. Sounds like you have a unit with poor build quality that stops it from working correctly so yes, I would say that it could be replaced under the normal warranty. They will send you a refurb.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[efn77mx]

Realistically, though I DO sympathize for the other annoyances, your only real grounds to get the device replaced would be the trackpad. If it's inconsistent when clicking, then that's definitely a manufacturing defect, and you're still under warranty. Parts of the bezel and buttons floating around, they MIGHT understand that. Software issues caused by third party apps, yeah they'll just tell you to contact the software vendor.

If I were you, I would definitely call and mention the trackpad. This is the reason I am now on my third device. The trackpad stopped responding intermittently on the first one. The replacement device showed up and noticed the trackpad seemed "pushed" WAY in at the top and was sticking up at the bottom. So now I have replacement number 2, and all is well again....for now.

[MN_Wild]

Yes, get it replaced. I to have a bold from the day 1 of release and the keys all are wore off. I can still read them except for maybe the space bar. I am of the opinion it is a first run defect. I was told they would replace mine, no problem. I just don't want to have to figure out how to get all my apps working and registered on a new phone. Almost ready to give in though.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[xTemptati0n]

The chipping and how you hold the phone and its affect on the device isn't really warranty bound. The idea of crashing and clicking problems is though. Bring it to a store or call and explain the major problems, and you should get a replacement.