1. 10-Dee-Q's Avatar
    i own a small phone shop in a small town where i live.
    i myself have been a blackberry user since the original Bold era, actually i always carries 2 phone with me all the time , cause i have 2 numbers, 1 personal line on my iPhone and 1 business line on my Blackberry.

    i've been upgrading my phone every time the new devices comes out cause i'm a a little bit of gadget freak.
    iPhone original> 3G>3Gs>4 and soon the 4s
    Blackberry Bold 9000 > Curve 8900 > Bold 9700 > Bold 9780 > and now Bold 9900.

    anyway enough about myself.
    i just want to complain about blackberry 9900 which i just purchased few weeks a go
    and i'm sure a lot of other people have the exact, more or less the same problem with their 9900/9930.

    -Build quality issues: i exchanged my phone up to 5 times for God sake! 3 times i had phones that the trackpad is missed aligned badly, and most of them do squeak very loud when pressed. 1 of them have flickering screen. 2 of them have back button that doubled in functions as the menu button. 1 have touch screen that can't be "touched".
    2 have bezels that are not lingned properly, making it super sharp to touch the edges of the phone. and few other issues as well that i'm tired of mentioning (you can check about these build quality issues in this forums as lots of other people reporting this as well.

    -after finally i get my "perfect" 9900, slight squeak in the back button and trackpad that a little bit crocked ( but too tired to exchanged and i'm afraid i'm getting worse unit if i do) Then i'm faced with other problems :
    -Very poor battery life ( yes i know you can turn of 3G, these and that, but doesn't it defeat the purpose of buying a top of the line phone if you must turn off those features ? )
    -Trackpad that like to move by itself , especially in browser ( yes i know software upgrade might resolve the problem , but do all customer of these phone must upgrade their phone all the time to be able to use it as a "normal" phone ? )
    -Blacked out screen when calling somebody, thus i can't check calendar or notes when im on a call ( yes i know software upgrade might resolve the problem , but do all customer of these phone must upgrade their phone all the time to be able to use it as a "normal" phone ? )
    -Charging problem, i have to take out the battery and re insert it before my phones recognized the charger ( yes i know software upgrade might resolve the problem , but do all customer of these phone must upgrade their phone all the time to be able to use it as a "normal" phone ? )

    apart from these problem that i experienced, there are tons of other issues that people on the forum posted, and also from complained by my customer, such as :
    -battery that can't be charged to 100%
    -my wife's 9900 button was ok when i bought her, but after few weeks, now the menu button is stuck , it still can be pressed but have no tactile feeling.
    -some of my customer complained that their keyboard fell out, i mean some of the key, not all.
    -and theres also more problem but i just write down the most common one here.

    i know that some of the problem is fixable by software update, but like i said, most of the user out there don't even know that they have to upgrade their phone OS to be able to enjoy their phone as good as RIM advertised, if the upgrade is for additional feature aside from what RIM promised on the Bold 9900/9930 advertisment , then i can understand, but these problem is within what RIM advertised !
    Listen RIM if you can't make a proper OS yet for the phone to be functioned properly , then don't sell your product yet! finish developing a stable OS before you release those phones to customer that's what profesional company do. Don't make us (especially those early adopter who actually your most loyal customer ) be your lab rat!

    i know that some of the build quality issues can be solved by returning the phone in exchange for a new one. But Blackberries are are a business phone, and most business men or women don't have lots of time going back and forth to the shop or service centre , to exchange their phone, then still we must back up all the content, and restored it again and so on, it's waste of time. and time is money!
    before you can build something that's can be passed as a good quality product , don't release it to the market yet! furthermore like i said these is your most expensive phone , and supposed to be the best you can offer for us. Don't you feel how dissapointed when we have to exchange few times before we can enjoy our phones as you said we will ???

    i don't know wether RIM read this thread or not, but if they are , please take note, that i'm writing this for your own good, so that you can still gain trust from your loyal customer. remember that is our "money" which run your company, without our money, you are nothing.
    customer satisfaction is very important in these business, and let me share with you even though my shop is small and in small town, i want all or most of my customer to be happy.
    in my shop alone your Blackberries 9900/9930 return count is amazingly 4 out of 10 !
    that's mean every 10 person who buy blackberries 9900/9930 from me, 4 will return for exchanges because of the problem above.!
    thats the worst return rate i ever saw !

    if RIM don't read these forum, please somebody in this forum who have the privillage to let RIM know about what their customer is complaining about.

    That;'s all for now, i still do use my 9900 everyday as i really love the keyboard but sometimes i really regret purchasing this for my own use over my good ol trusty 9780/9700.

    i hope RIM can listened to customer complains to make a better company, and hopefully their next releases will have less issues , i don't says no issues as we all know that al phones will have some issues m but just not as much as these 9900/9930 series.

    for those that have a perfect phones , i'm glad for you , but please feel for those who get defective or faulty unit, instead of mocking them, please support them, anyway this forum is made for us blackberries users to unite right ?

    adios amigos...

    please pardon me for my bad english, thank you very much.
    10-12-11 02:49 PM
  2. ifraser's Avatar
    I don't understand how you have been so unlucky, I too have had most bold models (currently the 9900) yet the only issue I have had was caused by someone knocking over a table and cracking my screen.

    The 9900 is still changing as the OS's evolve. Having changed my OS on my 9700 constantly I know battery life and quality tends to vary.

    The latest 9900 OS makes battery life batter, apart from the last couple of days with the BIS outage. And the screen response is a **** of a lot better.

    I think RIMs build quality is great.
    10-12-11 03:15 PM
  3. grover5's Avatar
    I don't have a single problem from your list. If I did I would be mad as well. Sorry for your bad luck but I can only say I love my 9900 and would not trade it for any phone on the market.
    10-12-11 03:22 PM
  4. Strider2112's Avatar
    I can edit that for better english if you want before you send it to RiM.

    Also I am confused as to how only parts of the keyboard can fall out - it is one solid piece (at least it is in every other BlackBerry), that's weird but ok.

    Edit: Also you should look under the battery and find out where the device was made. As odd as this statement may seem all my BlackBerrys have been made in Mexico and they all have been 100% fine for me (aside from the odd quirk here and there) and I have a friend who has BlackBerrys made in Canada and she has never had a BlackBerry that works.
    10-12-11 03:34 PM
  5. r.santa1's Avatar
    Id have to agree with build quality issues after owning, 8900, 8330, 9000, 9700, 9650 , 9780 and 9930's...and most of them we had two between wifey n me.

    Lots of replaced devices for ear piece, buttons dead, track ball or pad issues (not crooked or squeaky as i dont care)....

    My 1 i phone 4 went 10 months with not a single issue, then earpiece became staticy on calls. Apple replaced and not another issue since.

    So far so good 2 our 2 9930's...minus squeky trackpads once in a while..may temperature issue? hot or cold...wierd
    10-12-11 03:49 PM
  6. OniBerry's Avatar
    I had more issues with my 9780 than with my 9900. Noticed a bit of a trend as well. Most of those who purchased their handsets unsub'd (Full retail), do not seem to be experiencing the same level of build quality than those who have purchased them from their carrier(s). Not sure of the connection. Just an observation. I know it can be difficult to exchange a handset for one that you can actually inspect prior to accepting, but sight unseen is always a bad idea.
    Last edited by Oniberry; 10-13-11 at 06:08 PM.
    10-12-11 04:01 PM
  7. papped's Avatar
    The 9780 had plenty of widespread, known issues (double-typing anyone?), yet you call it trustworthy. A lot of people had problems with the 9780...

    I think you are labeling anecdotal experience as an overall statement to build quality, which is flawed.
    10-12-11 04:02 PM
  8. vermonde's Avatar
    um a proud owner of a 9900 that does not work..month old
    10-12-11 05:33 PM
  9. PondHockey's Avatar
    Two comments. I don't believe a word you are saying and if I did I would suggest you either get out of the phone business or find a better supplier of RIM products. I'd love to see a close up picture of a misaligned trackpad.
    10-12-11 05:54 PM
  10. mikeconnors81's Avatar
    I haven't had any of the issues you speak of. I must have had really good luck since my first Curve 8330 until now because I can't think of any time I have had issues like these. Between my wife and I, we have owned 7 BB devices and never had a problem.
    10-12-11 07:27 PM
  11. FBA's Avatar
    I have 2 9900's and have already had one replaced due to an inconsistent trackpad that wasn't very responsive at low speeds and had too much free run at higher speeds.

    Build quality (fit and finish) is good, but they all suffer from crappy WiFi/Bluetooth/Mobile radio's with noticeably poorer signal quality than their predecessors. There have been a number of reports from users here regarding misaligned and squeaky trackpads, but I haven't experienced that myself.
    10-12-11 09:14 PM
  12. bradkb's Avatar
    As a loyal blackberry customer, and one that has been waiting for my carrier to get these for 2 months, my contract was up for renewal and I could not wait.

    As soon as they got them in stock, I was there, one of the first for Orange in the UK, and after 1 weekend, I have choosen to cancel the upgrade and return it.

    My old trusty 9700 can last a few days in between charges with 3g enabled, and sometimes either bluetooth or wireless. The 9900 on the other hand, enable either and I was down to 50% battery within 6 hours, running the latest firmware (think it was .353) and no offense RIM but that is pants.

    Also found, with a qwerty keyboard I had no use for the touch screen, it was nice, but not needed.

    So my choices now are the 9780 or the new curve.

    But the one thing I missed on the 9900 was the left convenience key, I used that for password lock, and just noticed the new curve dont have it either.

    RIM - why do you take stuff away that works?

    Blackberry has always been excellant battery life, reliable and pretty much bullet proof, over the past couple of years I feel RIM have started to fumble, but what choices are there? iPhone - Crap battery, Android - Crap battery.... is there another alternative smartphone?

    I go away camping alot, but need email for alerts etc and need a few days battery life...

    My backup was a USB battery pack, could charge my 9700 about 6 times, but the 9900 refused to charge off it. Thanks RIM.

    Get your act together... otherwise I is off.... as soon as I find an alternative.
    10-12-11 09:45 PM
  13. 10-Dee-Q's Avatar
    @ifraser and @dmarch
    congrats for your great phone :P
    i guess you are among the lucky ones that have a "good" build quality 9900
    anyway i'm happy for you, money well spend , unlike most of them who don't.

    @Strider
    thx man, but i don't know how to send it to RIM. or wheter they will bother to read my mail or not . in my country, the BB is mostly made in Mexico or Hungary.
    but most of the one that have problems are those from mexico, reagardless of where they are build, i think RIM should produced better build quality phones, cause we customer don't really care where the devices are made, we only understand that we spend our money to get a RIM's Blackberries, and we expect them to be more or less perfect.
    btw the key fell of problem are for those who uses the original RIM pouch.
    the middle part of the keyboard are usually the one that fell off. from my observation, i think that is due to the pouch being super tight, but i'm just a normal person, the "expert" at RIM should know better about what's going on, well i guess.

    @r.santa1
    thx for agreeing with me on bad build quality.
    i never had issues with my previous blackberries. only the 9780 that i sold to my customer , few of them have double typing keypad, but still the count rate is about 1 per 10 phone sold, so i guess that is not so bad. btw i live in tropical country maybe our humid weather contribute to the problem ?

    @oniberry
    9780 have the double typing problem, but like i said the count rate is quite low in my shop, about 1 per 10 phone sold. all phone in my country is not telcos subsidised. in my country we pay full priced, which is US$ 600 + per phone for the 9900.
    and the proccess of returning for exchange can take up to 1-2 weeks, imagine how the customer react ? most of them are really upset because of this.
    and i'm authorized shop for RIM. not those black market type but still if i asked the RIM headquarter in my country to send me a new 9900 for retail they will send me within half day. but if i request them to send a replacement unit , it can take up to 2 weeks cause they said the stock is limited.

    @papped
    i'ts not only my experiences, my customer also feel the same way.
    like i told you the double typing issues on the 9780 is far less compared the issues that 9900 is having.

    @vermonde
    you were saying ?...

    @Pond HOckey
    you don't believe what i said ?
    its okay, i don't force you to. but look at other threads in this forum, lots of other people experiencing the problem i wrote above.
    and i did post the "croocked" trackpad problem somewhere in this forum before.


    @mikeconnors 81
    i'm happy for you :P

    @FBA
    i guess if you asked RIM their answer will be "future OS releases can help you on that" but im sure that's not the answer you are looking for.

    @bradkb
    feel so sory for you.
    10-13-11 02:20 AM
  14. HD123's Avatar
    @ OP - I was once like you my friend, a fire in my belly.. voicing my concerns. Unfortunately this company has serious issues which finally now even their large shareholders are publicly lambasting them for. Average joes like us have not been able to change them, hopefully a reality check from their shareholders now will. #RImJOKERS
    10-13-11 03:45 AM
  15. HD123's Avatar
    Two comments. I don't believe a word you are saying and if I did I would suggest you either get out of the phone business or find a better supplier of RIM products. I'd love to see a close up picture of a misaligned trackpad.
    RIM has more build quality issues and complaints than any of the major phone brands. Who are you tell someone who is in the business to get out of it. Clearly you dont know anyone in the telecom sector because they would also tell you how low RIMS build quality and reliability is.
    10-13-11 03:50 AM
  16. greggebhardt's Avatar
    DOes anyone think that RIM is reading letters like this right now?
    10-13-11 05:19 AM
  17. popeye's Avatar
    Maybe you should not throw it that hard when upset. That can misaligned allot of things.

    I have had issues but 5 times that is a record-sorry.
    10-13-11 05:54 AM
  18. PondHockey's Avatar
    @ifraser and @dmarch
    congrats for your great phone :P
    i guess you are among the lucky ones that have a "good" build quality 9900
    anyway i'm happy for you, money well spend , unlike most of them who don't.

    @Strider
    thx man, but i don't know how to send it to RIM. or wheter they will bother to read my mail or not . in my country, the BB is mostly made in Mexico or Hungary.
    but most of the one that have problems are those from mexico, reagardless of where they are build, i think RIM should produced better build quality phones, cause we customer don't really care where the devices are made, we only understand that we spend our money to get a RIM's Blackberries, and we expect them to be more or less perfect.
    btw the key fell of problem are for those who uses the original RIM pouch.
    the middle part of the keyboard are usually the one that fell off. from my observation, i think that is due to the pouch being super tight, but i'm just a normal person, the "expert" at RIM should know better about what's going on, well i guess.

    @r.santa1
    thx for agreeing with me on bad build quality.
    i never had issues with my previous blackberries. only the 9780 that i sold to my customer , few of them have double typing keypad, but still the count rate is about 1 per 10 phone sold, so i guess that is not so bad. btw i live in tropical country maybe our humid weather contribute to the problem ?

    @oniberry
    9780 have the double typing problem, but like i said the count rate is quite low in my shop, about 1 per 10 phone sold. all phone in my country is not telcos subsidised. in my country we pay full priced, which is US$ 600 + per phone for the 9900.
    and the proccess of returning for exchange can take up to 1-2 weeks, imagine how the customer react ? most of them are really upset because of this.
    and i'm authorized shop for RIM. not those black market type but still if i asked the RIM headquarter in my country to send me a new 9900 for retail they will send me within half day. but if i request them to send a replacement unit , it can take up to 2 weeks cause they said the stock is limited.

    @papped
    i'ts not only my experiences, my customer also feel the same way.
    like i told you the double typing issues on the 9780 is far less compared the issues that 9900 is having.

    @vermonde
    you were saying ?...

    @Pond HOckey
    you don't believe what i said ?
    its okay, i don't force you to. but look at other threads in this forum, lots of other people experiencing the problem i wrote above.
    and i did post the "croocked" trackpad problem somewhere in this forum before.
    Click to view quoted image

    @mikeconnors 81
    i'm happy for you :P

    @FBA
    i guess if you asked RIM their answer will be "future OS releases can help you on that" but im sure that's not the answer you are looking for.

    @bradkb
    feel so sory for you.
    If that picture is your idea of a defective track pad then you have an realistic expectation of manufacture tolorences. This device and company philosophy is to offer customer flexibility within their platform. If you have neither the time or desire to properly configure your device with proper software versions and hardware settings then again I state your place of business in my opinion is not vary credible and it would probably be best if you stuck with a platform like Apple that gives little flexibility.
    10-13-11 09:49 AM
  19. Gray's Avatar
    You people can be nit picky.... I've never had any problems with my 9930 or any other blackberries I've used over the last 10 years.
    Last edited by Gray; 10-13-11 at 10:03 AM.
    10-13-11 10:00 AM
  20. PiotrJot's Avatar
    (...)
    Also found, with a qwerty keyboard I had no use for the touch screen, it was nice, but not needed.
    Hmmm.... I love the touch screen combined with keyboard. As a matter of fact, I am still using, but a lot less, my old 9700. I often find myself trying to touch the screen

    So my choices now are the 9780 or the new curve.

    But the one thing I missed on the 9900 was the left convenience key, I used that for password lock, and just noticed the new curve dont have it either.
    (...)
    Perhaps the new 9790 is going to be the one and only for you? New specs, more power, more memory, AF camera, and the form of 97xx
    I only wonder about the battery life...
    10-13-11 11:06 AM
  21. blackmoe's Avatar
    Two comments. I don't believe a word you are saying and if I did I would suggest you either get out of the phone business or find a better supplier of RIM products. I'd love to see a close up picture of a misaligned trackpad.
    There is a thread in the forums on 9900 build quality and many have experienced the misaligned trackpad and a picture was posted showing worse alignment than the picture the OP just posted..

    Calling someone a liar without anything to back it up states volumes about you.
    Last edited by blackmoe; 10-13-11 at 11:33 AM.
    hanathan and proctph like this.
    10-13-11 11:31 AM
  22. 10-Dee-Q's Avatar
    @dubai_bb
    Thx for your comment.
    i;m sure we are not the only one who suffer these as well.
    and i actually hope that RIM will listen to these and make changes for better releases.
    it's a shame cause Blackberries are the number 1 phones in my country.
    but if they continue producing craps and make us as their lab rat, then i guess they won't be at the number 1 spot in the future.

    @greggebhart
    i really hope they do.

    @popeye
    if somebody else tell me the stories that i'm telling here, i most probably also woulndt believe it, after all RIM is big company, and they supposed to make good phones.
    but unfortunatelly i experienced it first hand. and like i told you this is the first time ever i had a badly build phone from any brand of mobile phone. i dont expect you to believe me , i just letting people know.
    but you can roam around the forum and you will find similar thread like this, maybe that will give you how bad the build quality of this phone are.

    @pondhockey
    the picture doesn;t really show how bad it is
    but you get the idea
    in my own eyes its very bad
    its off centre, crooked, and squeaked when pressed, and the back button sometimes behaving like the menu button , maybe because of the trackpad is kind of in the way of those button.
    i know this are not a fair comparisons, but imagine if you buy a car, lets say a low priced hyundai, i'm not talking about those ferraris or lamborghini which are hand made to perfection. let we talk about hyundai, cheap budget car, you pay your hard earned money. then when the car arrived at your door step , to your dissapointment, the steering wheel are not alingned with the wheel, i know you can go to the nearest service centre to get them re aligned for free, but its brand new! we payed a full price for it , why do i need to service it because of something that we don't do!
    then maybe the one of the door is not closing properly, or maybe in the advertisment the car is supposed to have 170 Horse power , acceleration 0-100 km/h at 7 second, but to your amazement , it took 15 second to do that, and when you complained to the dealer, they say you must upgrade your car ECU software to be able to do that, and when you asked when is the software available, they'll tell you that the software is still in developmetn, you can try coming back here every 1 months or so to try which software work best for your car.
    etc
    i'm just illustrating what happen here.
    sure it's not a fair comparisons, but you get the idea didn't you ?

    and to make matter worse , this is bold 9900/9930
    the MOST expensive phone in RIM line up!
    it supposed to be the best of the best that they can offer !
    if these problem coming from a gemini or pearl, i can try to swallow it cause that's their budget line up, but this phone is their most expensive phone, so i guess me, and most of the user outthere deserve to get a phone that have good build quality and can be use as good as what RIM advertised before.

    BTW my company/shop has been around since 1990 and we have dealt with many kind of problems from phones that we sold, but like i told you the return rate of this blackberries is the worst of all.
    and reagarding "If you have neither the time or desire to properly configure your device with proper software versions and hardware settings then again I state your place of business in my opinion is not vary credible and it would probably be best if you stuck with a platform like Apple that gives little flexibility." statement, let me asked you
    what OS is the best for your 9900 right now ?
    .440 leaked ?
    and is it really the best ?
    battery life is still horrible, in 3G mode.
    so what is the best software setting i should do to make my customer happy ?
    telling them to comeback back and forth every month to check wether RIM already release OS that can provide us decent battery life ?
    as for the hardware , should i accomodate every customer that returning their phone to exchange it because of the build quality issues? thats what i do, but you will have no idea how time consuming it is!
    i myself is an apple freak, i'm not starting the apple vs blackberry debate here, but just want to let you know, that iphone 4 that i sell is giving me or my customer less problem in terms of build quality issues, as for the OS, those who still runs 4.0 OS on their iphone have no problem at all, apple did releases new OSes but only to make additional features available. not to make the features that the phone supposed to have, work !

    @gray
    good for you, but not everybody is as lucky as you.

    @blackmoe
    thx for the heads up


    like i told you guys from the begiining of this thread,
    for those who have a perfectly build 9900, i'm glad for you guys, but please have some thought for us who have bad build quality units, we work hard to pay for these phone, and we expect something better than this.
    10-13-11 12:38 PM
  23. decypher44's Avatar
    I honestly think some people are waaaay too picky. Some of the "trackpad misalignments" are laughable.

    Having said that, I AM jealous of those of you who have issues with your phone. I wish my life was so great that a hair's-breadth tilt on a trackpad on a phone would warrant me spending so much time complaining about.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    10-13-11 05:24 PM
  24. PondHockey's Avatar
    There is a thread in the forums on 9900 build quality and many have experienced the misaligned trackpad and a picture was posted showing worse alignment than the picture the OP just posted..

    Calling someone a liar without anything to back it up states volumes about you.
    No place did I call the person a liar. It could be implied that I question his business practice and without question would state that even bringing up trackpad problems based on the submitted picture a waste of time and hurts the credibility of all other claims. The Bold 99xx is the best communication device available bar none.
    10-13-11 06:26 PM
  25. cbreze's Avatar
    I agree with the OP. RIM's build and OS quality of release units is pretty poor. I was going to get one but could not find an acceptably working unit in 3 diff stores and 6 units total. I walked and am happy with another platform.
    Most average Joe/Jane's do not know anything about upgrading their BB's software and guess what? They should be able to just use it out of the box. Wow! What a concept, being able to use my several hundred dollar device without having to make repairs first. The public speaks with their wallets as they certainly should. I'm glad to hear some got good devices, but sounds like it's a crap shoot as to what.
    10-13-11 07:22 PM
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