[Chuck Finley69]

I bought a brand new Key2 LE from WOOT.com and I was generally happy with it until the fingerprint reader died.

I talked to WOOT and they said talk to Blackberry mobile ( TCL) because of the one year manufacturer warranty.

After filling out all the forms for TCL they replied that I have to talk to some Indian company because TCL - Blackberry didn't manufacture my phone!

"The EMEI you provided is for a phone manufactured by Optiemus Infracom Limited"

I am in the US and I bought the phone new in the US and it is clearly a Blackberry Key2 LE made by TCL....so how can you try to weasel out of honoring your warranty?

I am really irked!

TCL licensed the BlackBerry name for certain markets including the USA and everywhere but India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia for reference point.

Optiemus licensed BlackBerry for India and Sri Lanka for it's domestic markets. This is the area your device was designed and manufactured for. Optiemus is free to hire TCL or can manufacture themselves, but the BlackBerry licensed device is covered under warranty by Optiemus since it's their device. You could still pursue your warranty through Optiemus but TCL hasn't anything to do with your retail transaction or you.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

TCL licensed the BlackBerry name for certain markets including the USA and everywhere but India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia for reference point.

Optiemus licensed BlackBerry for India and Sri Lanka for it's domestic markets. This is the area your device was designed and manufactured for. Optiemus is free to hire TCL or can manufacture themselves, but the BlackBerry licensed device is covered under warranty by Optiemus since it's their device. You could still pursue your warranty through Optiemus but TCL hasn't anything to do with your retail transaction or you.

The issue is the warranty link on the product page... is the old BlackBerry warranty for devices. They really should have just said as per manufacture warranty and left it at that. Their offering to provide a copy of the warranty was misleading, as it didn't apply to the product listed in any way. I expect the web guy doing up the listing had no idea who TCL and Optiemus were... just saw a BlackBerry phone and searched for BlackBerry Device Warranty (still the top listing) and linked to it.

Whole thing is a mess...

[Sigewif]

So the Indians set up a duplicate manufacturing facility in India just for this Optiemus phone?

Or were they in fact made by TCL in China and sent to India?

That's my question.

My cat is starting to get annoyed that I'm yelling so much......

From what you write, you probably did not closely follow how the licensing unfolded for the production of BlackBerry devices in different regions of the world when BlackBerry Ltd decided to quit making phones themselves and instead license the production of them to manucacturers in various regions of the world. There were 3 manufacturers in 3 regions that became licensees.
The way the sellers have listed this Indian version as "International Version" is deceptive unless it also clearly and boldly states that it is not under warranty in the North American market, and furthermore that it is not optimized for the North American market either. I just went through searching for a KEY2 and had to wade through many such listings that did not apply. I had to include BBF100-2 (for the US versions) when searching, in order to find ones for sale that were made for the US market.
In my view, the seller is primarily to blame if there is no clear disclosure of the lack of warranty in the US and no explanation of the other limitations the device has in North America.
I feel for you and also for your poor cat.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

From what you write, you probably did not closely follow how the licensing unfolded for the production of BlackBerry devices in different regions of the world when BlackBerry Ltd decided to quit making phones themselves and instead license the production of them to manucacturers in various regions of the world. There were 3 manufacturers in 3 regions that became licensees.
The way the sellers have listed this Indian version as "International Version" is deceptive unless it also clearly and boldly states that it is not under warranty in the North American market, and furthermore that it is not optimized for the North American market either. I just went through searching for a KEY2 and had to wade through many such listings that did not apply. I had to include BBF100-2 (for the US versions) when searching, in order to find ones for sale that were made for the US market.
In my view, the seller is primarily to blame if there is no clear disclosure of the lack of warranty in the US and no explanation of the other limitations the device has in North America.
I feel for you and also for your poor cat.

If everyone buying a BlackBerry has to closely follow whats going on....

There is blame to be had across the board, buyer, seller, sub-licensee (Optiemus) and real manufacture (BBMo) and the brand owner (BlackBerry). This just isn't how you do business.

This isn't the first US owner that somehow ended up with a Optiemus phone and with US Inventory so hit and miss... I doubt it will be the last. In the end it's the buyer and the brand that will suffer.

[thurask]

If everyone buying a BlackBerry has to closely follow whats going on....

Between the gray market being the only market most of the time and each user having a bespoke PRD they kind of have to closely follow what's going on, although that they're interested in the first place indicates above-normal interest in proceedings.

[conite]

If everyone buying a BlackBerry has to closely follow whats going on....

There is blame to be had across the board, buyer, seller, sub-licensee (Optiemus) and real manufacture (BBMo) and the brand owner (BlackBerry). This just isn't how you do business.

This isn't the first US owner that somehow ended up with a Optiemus phone and with US Inventory so hit and miss... I doubt it will be the last. In the end it's the buyer and the brand that will suffer.

I still say that a seller that proudly advertises an international model with a full NA warranty should take 99% of the blame.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I still say that a seller that proudly advertises an international model with a full NA warranty should take 99% of the blame.

It was Woot... where they call customers suckers.

Personally I've never heard of them, but a quick search shows me a history of not delivering on what is promised. In the end if something is a deal, there is usually a reason (they seem to sell a lot of refurbished stuff as new). I think 99% of the blame lies on the buyer.... Just think that the issue wouldn't exist if BlackBerry and BBMo better protected the brand.

And I take back the part about contacting the BBB.... waste of time in this case.

[howarmat]

woot is half satire so you have to understand some of what they say is just for laughs. They are legit otherwise and owned by amazon.

[jfalkingham]

There are sellers on Woot just like there are sellers on Amazon. You need to know who you're buying from. Lots of people but Samsung Note 9 phones from Amazon, but unless it says shipped and sold from Amazon you are getting a version through other channels and have no warranty.

[Sigewif]

woot is half satire so you have to understand some of what they say is just for laughs. They are legit otherwise and owned by amazon.

Owned by Amazon?? Wow! Is that true? If that is true, it is an "interesting" scenario and Amazon would have to share a huge amount of blame. I am brushing a tin foil hat I just came across. Is Amazon dumping products by using Woot to sell items (using ambiguous information) that would be hard to sell in the US market if they were to be sold as advertised? This would be a clever way to preserve amazon's reputation and still move gray market product. How about a complaint to Amazon? What made me speculate about this? Years ago I knew someone who sold items on EBay. He had two profiles. One for selling high-end items, and the other for what was basically junk.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Owned by Amazon?? Wow! Is that true? If that is true, it is an "interesting" scenario and Amazon would have to share a huge amount of blame. I am brushing a tin foil hat I just came across. Is Amazon dumping products by using Woot to sell items (using ambiguous information) that would be hard to sell in the US market if they were to be sold as advertised? This would be a clever way to preserve amazon's reputation and still move gray market product. How about a complaint to Amazon? What made me speculate about this? Years ago I knew someone who sold items on EBay. He had two profiles. One for selling high-end items, and the other for what was basically junk.

You can look up Woot on a few consumer sites... their more recent reviews are not that good. BBB still has them at an A listing, but the comments on BBB don't show that.

Lot of refurbished stuff, but even cases of sending out a windows laptop for an mac book.

[ray689]

You can look up Woot on a few consumer sites... their more recent reviews are not that good. BBB still has them at an A listing, but the comments on BBB don't show that.

Lot of refurbished stuff, but even cases of sending out a windows laptop for an mac book.

The BBB is a useless entity so don't bother.

[the_boon]

The BBB is a useless entity so don't bother.

Right, but the BBB100 has been very useful!

[jaideep banerjee]

I stay in India and I bought the BlackBerry to realise it was manufactured by Opteimius.

Have escalated this in multiple forums that the Opteimius devices are not at par with the others but it has resulted into nothing. The CEO of Opteimius won't reply to emails and their Twitter handle is dead.

No wonder the phones don't sell in India. The blackberry brand has taken a big hit and no one wants to buy such an unreliable product.

[Chuck Finley69]

I stay in India and I bought the BlackBerry to realise it was manufactured by Opteimius.

Have escalated this in multiple forums that the Opteimius devices are not at par with the others but it has resulted into nothing. The CEO of Opteimius won't reply to emails and their Twitter handle is dead.

No wonder the phones don't sell in India. The blackberry brand has taken a big hit and no one wants to buy such an unreliable product.

Pretty sure the BlackBerry licensing wasn't successful due to lack of sales before Optiemus support was dropped. Once unsuccessful, BBOptiemus just wants to limit the economic damages incurred to itself. There's no reason to waste good money.

[jaideep banerjee]

too soon to give up I would say. they launched their products in H2'18 and you would expect them to have some long term play.

[Chuck Finley69]

too soon to give up I would say. they launched their products in H2'18 and you would expect them to have some long term play.

You could probably get the BB license from Optiemus cheap. Be sure to keep us posted on your hardware development and expectations.