[SuperGlideSport]

Assuming your environment is not a factor, then it's worth considering where you are getting your replacement phones. Are they all coming from the same store? If they are, they could possibly all be from the same manufacturing lot. If it's an option, try getting your next Tour from a different store.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

The first two replacement Tours were from the local VZ service desk. The rest were sent via Fedex from their PA depot. Each has been replaced after about four weeks of light-moderate use. I attempted to carefully clean each trackball using either 70% isopropyl achohol or lens solution prior to requesting a replacement.

IMHO, a bad design compared to predecessor BB phones.

[Fuzzballz]

Hmm, let's be super pessimistic and say there's a 1 in 10 chance of getting a Tour with a trackball that will become faulty within 4 weeks. This would be a manufacturing glitch so awful that it would rival the XBox 360's red ring of death fiasco that's cost Microsoft $billions.

You've gotten 6 in a row with that "problem." That's a 1 in 1 million chance. Unlucky you.

Let's be a little more realistic and say that for every 1 with a faulty trackball, RIM ships 49 that don't have it. That's still a 2% manufacturing defect which would be considered horrible in any modern industry.

In that case, getting 6 in a row would be 1 in about 16 billion. Quite unlucky!

[given2fly10]

-1 and thanks for the lack of advice!

I think it's just a bad design with insufficient R&D and field testing.

u want advice. I think you are one stupid of a person to go through 6 phones. Why go through all that bs and money just for a phone. I woulda broken my contract after the first 2 failed. Before my tour I had the **** att bold and my trackball wouldn't work either just like on your tour is. So I broke my contract with att which was such a hassle cause the begged me to stay with them everyday or so. Ever since switching to da tour I haven't had a problem with my trackball and my calls aren't being dropped.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[gmkahuna]

I'm still on my first Tour, have had it for about 4 months, have a job where I could be elbow deep in grease or working on a computer at any given moment. I have yet to have an issue with my first Tour. Maybe, just maybe, I'm the opposite end of this spectrum. I hope so anyway because I sure don't want to go through what you have been through.

You said there was nothing on your hands BUT do you use any kind of hand sanitizer with moisturizer or something like that? This seriously does sound like it's something you just haven't stumbled on yet that is environmental. The odds otherwise just seem to close to impossible especially given that RIM knows it was a problem and is issuing replacements.

[SuperGlideSport]

Hmm, let's be super pessimistic and say there's a 1 in 10 chance of getting a Tour with a trackball that will become faulty within 4 weeks. This would be a manufacturing glitch so awful that it would rival the XBox 360's red ring of death fiasco that's cost Microsoft $billions.

You've gotten 6 in a row with that "problem." That's a 1 in 1 million chance. Unlucky you.

Let's be a little more realistic and say that for every 1 with a faulty trackball, RIM ships 49 that don't have it. That's still a 2% manufacturing defect which would be considered horrible in any modern industry.

In that case, getting 6 in a row would be 1 in about 16 billion. Quite unlucky!

Do you happen to know that RIM has a 2% defective run-rate with the Tour or are you just speculating?

As I previously stated, I like the phone and feature set but the quality I've experienced is "junk."

[SuperGlideSport]

u want advice. I think you are one stupid of a person to go through 6 phones. Why go through all that bs and money just for a phone. I woulda broken my contract after the first 2 failed. Before my tour I had the **** att bold and my trackball wouldn't work either just like on your tour is. So I broke my contract with att which was such a hassle cause the begged me to stay with them everyday or so. Ever since switching to da tour I haven't had a problem with my trackball and my calls aren't being dropped.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You're right. I must be "one stupid of a person." Maybe I just don't want to reneg on my contractual obligation which is probably more important to me than yours was to you. I'd prefer VZ & BB improve their QC and deliver a solid product that works and keeps on working beyond four-five weeks.

[Fuzzballz]

Do you happen to know that RIM has a 2% defective run-rate with the Tour or are you just speculating?

As I previously stated, I like the phone and feature set but the quality I've experienced is "junk."

Pure speculation, but no matter what the realistic numbers are, you suuuure are unlucky! Or a very greasy person

[SuperGlideSport]

I'm still on my first Tour, have had it for about 4 months, have a job where I could be elbow deep in grease or working on a computer at any given moment. I have yet to have an issue with my first Tour. Maybe, just maybe, I'm the opposite end of this spectrum. I hope so anyway because I sure don't want to go through what you have been through.

You said there was nothing on your hands BUT do you use any kind of hand sanitizer with moisturizer or something like that? This seriously does sound like it's something you just haven't stumbled on yet that is environmental. The odds otherwise just seem to close to impossible especially given that RIM knows it was a problem and is issuing replacements.

Good luck to you! Wishing I experienced the same reliability as you have. Working 60+ hours / week doesn't give me much time to tolerate these repetitive issues.

You brought up some good points though about the hand sanitizer and / or moisturizer. No, I don't use either but have been trying to wash my hands quite a few times a day due to the seasonal flu, H1N1 and bronchial infections that have been going around lately. My hands have never been cleaner!!

[SuperGlideSport]

Pure speculation, but no matter what the realistic numbers are, you suuuure are unlucky! Or a very greasy person

I haven't won the lottery lately either. And thanks for the veiled compliment!!

[gmkahuna]

Hmmm, that's all I could think of then. You don't suppose some one at work could be sabatoging your phone do you? Do you carry it with you all the time?

I know that's kind of a stretch but dang if I have any other ideas...

[RideMadone]

For the most part I just feel sorry for you. My first Tour went bad (trackball) after about 3 weeks of use and I had it replaced at the Verizon store. That was months ago and I have and no further issues. I have several friends on the tour purchased after the "Changes" and none of them have had any problems.

That said, I'm not sure why one person would have so many phones fail. No one should call the OP stupid or accuse him of not knowing how to use the phone because no one knows why his phones are failing.

That said, (again), there is no way in heck I would get more than one or two replacements before switching phone models. If you are not using too many apps maybe you could try the new curve with the track pad. Six is WAY too many bad phones.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

[SuperGlideSport]

Hmmm, that's all I could think of then. You don't suppose some one at work could be sabatoging your phone do you? Do you carry it with you all the time?

I know that's kind of a stretch but dang if I have any other ideas...

Not possible. It's always on my belt in an Otterbox Defender case.

[given2fly10]

You're right. I must be "one stupid of a person." Maybe I just don't want to reneg on my contractual obligation which is probably more important to me than yours was to you. I'd prefer VZ & BB improve their QC and deliver a solid product that works and keeps on working be
yond four-five weeks.

if you wanna honor the contract than get a new phone with verzion and not a blackberry. Again it seems dumb to go with the same phone over and over that's always giving you problems. Would you buy the same car over and over if the engine failed the first 2 times?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jfenton]

I think Verizon got rim to build them suck phones

Out of the 6 folks I personally know on Sprint, not one of us has had a trackball issue.

Seriously though....nobody can go through 6 phones with trackball failures unless there is some underlying cause, otherwise nRIM would no longer be in business.

[SuperGlideSport]

I think Verizon got rim to build them suck phones

Out of the 6 folks I personally know on Sprint, not one of us has had a trackball issue.

Seriously though....nobody can go through 6 phones with trackball failures unless there is some underlying cause, otherwise nRIM would no longer be in business.

What underlying issue? Do these phones need to be used in laboratory or sterile environments? I had a Mitsubishi analog phone for about 8 years with no problems. A Nextel iDen 600 for four years again no problems. Motorola Q for a few years with no problems. Blackberry Curve for a bit over two years no problems. The Tour..........well you now know the story. Early on I went to the Verizon store due to my trackball failing and I was behind three other folks waiting on replacement Tours for the same problem. Isolated incident? I think not. Maybe I've just got bad luck but at this point it's getting ridiculous. The problem has obviously gotten to the epidemic stage. Just not so for some cheerleaders here.

[iamnid]

After my fourth Tour I gave up and got a HTC Hero. Problems with the Tour were ridiculous. Two were trackball related, one had some type of faulty internal problem where visual artifacts would show up on the screen and the phone would reset, the last had horrible build quality and the entire top part with the two buttons fell off after less than a week.

I had a curve before and never had any problems at all, trackball or otherwise. This phone made me so angry I jumped ship. I love my Android phone.

[MrsTokyo]

obviously your handling the Tour pretty messy if your trackball has failed 6 different times and 6 different Tours. Its common to have replaced the phone 1 time do to a trackball problem, but 6?? Thats very uncommon and should tell you that your doing somethign wrong.

cant wait for the Essex to come out, this way we can stop all trackball problems forever

Fail.

I'm on #6, and none of the problems I had were owner related.. It is not as uncommon as you think.

I think Verizon got rim to build them suck phones

Out of the 6 folks I personally know on Sprint, not one of us has had a trackball issue.

Seriously though....nobody can go through 6 phones with trackball failures unless there is some underlying cause, otherwise nRIM would no longer be in business.

I'm on Sprint, and am on #6.

After my fourth Tour I gave up and got a HTC Hero. Problems with the Tour were ridiculous.

This phone made me so angry I jumped ship. I love my Android phone.

How are you liking it so far? After my 5th one I was THIS close to getting a palm pre... but I just couldn't leave TourWorld.. I just couldn't.