[sikpupi]

Yeah I know this is an oddity but I wanted to extend kudos to the folks who handled my call to VZW customer support tonight.

I've had my Storm since launch day and I've been VERY happy with it. The thing has been responsive and it hasn't demonstrated any of the issues that other folks have vocally voiced on these forums.

In the last week or so, a 'dead spot' has developed on my screen though. It takes a heftier "push" to get a click out of it and more often than not, I don't get any click. I use SureType in portrait more than landscape and I love the speed with which I can pound out a message.

Once the phenomena started to manifest itself I switched to the "folded business card on the battery" trick and that worked fine for 3 or 4 days but then the problem started to appear again.

Maybe I have "lead-thumb" and am a heavy-clicker; who knows - hah.

Anyhow, I decided to touch base with VZW support tonight to see if they could suggest anything beyond what I'd already tried and the work-arounds that had been posted on these forums. It sounds odd, but I am *proud* of the fact that my Storm was one of the 1st day ones that worked flawlessly and it really choked me to have to call my cellphone-alma-mater for help.

The tech support lady (I think she was based in Ohio; I detected a certain twang in her accent; do VZW have a call center in Cleveland or Columbus??) started talking me through a few things that I could try to eliminate some potential issues. Did the phone still highlight the appropriate key when I touched the screen; "yes, it does". Did all keys fail to register a click; "nope, just those around the lower-center and center-left area when in portrait mode". Had I tried a soft and hard reboot (battery pull); "Yup, a few times to no avail".

She put me on hold for a few 30-minute stints (I'm guessing she was conferring with a supervisor) but always came back on the line quickly and apologised for the delays.

The thing that sealed the "single-call-resolution" and "good customer service" experience for me was when she said (and this is a near-quote), "Well, we've established that the root cause of the issue isn't the touch screen identifying the presence of a 'touch' but the inability of the physical 'click' mechanism to register the activity of selecting a key or action. We need to replace the unit; it sounds like it's developed a defect. We'll express courier you one and it'll be with you in 2 business days."

One word: BRAVO!

So it's with a heavy heart that I face the reality of returning my original "day-of-launch" device to the manufacturer but I couldn't be more impressed with the efficiency with which my call was handled.

Bravo, Verizon

Nope, I'm not a VZW fanboi, and I appreciate that depending on the luck of the draw, I could have ended up with a less-than-capable customer support representative but I felt the need to shout my "good" experience from the steeples.

I look forward to getting my new Storm on Monday and I couldn't give a hoot if it was manufactured in Canada or Mexico. Call me a 'glass half full' kinda guy if you like, but I anticipate it performing as smoothly (if not better) than the one my wife picked up for me on launch day.

Thanks for reading. I figured every now and then it's nice to hear a 'good' experience rather than a 'bad' one.

Good night, fellow Crackberries.