[intentfire]

Yep, you heard right.
As of yesterday Bell mobility will be sending ALL blackberry smartphones away to get repaired instead of traditionally issuing new or almost always refurbished units. Some stores will also start carrying loaner smart phones (with very large deposits + loaner fees) that customers can use while theirs is gone.

Kinda ridiculous hey? Their goal is to push the $7 and $4 insurance plans to users and try and eliminate the expense of non-defective phones being sent in for stupid reasons.

*there is a loop hole though, if you live something like 45km away from a bell store or you have a disability you can be sent a replacement.

So start faking those medical conditions everyone and avoid that 4 week turn around garbage!

[Coruptyed]

Won't work.. They charge you for that to send you a blackberry its a shipping and handling fee .. I work for bell... The reason were doing this is to speed up return times of blackberries as people were waiting months to get a new one back some times... So were gonna speed up the process and we do have loaner black berries as well to use when sent out

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[Coruptyed]

Sorry forgot to add deposit is 250 dollars 125 more then regular deposit you use credit card we don't take anything you.. Its wiped when we get loaner back.. Loaner cost is 35 to 50 ... Its not the stupid there trying to get blackberries out faster you know how many people come into my store asking weres my phone its been a month 2 months one was 5 months gone before got there pearl ... It was so bad people started getting other colours (they sent out a blue but got white one instead if they chose so cause it was that long..) just to show you some insight there trying to help more

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[TravelVersion]

And on top of what Coruptyed has said, Bell is trying to avoid replacement requests for non-issues. At least now they can return the customer their old phone if the issue is user-related. It`ll speed up the process and replacement phones won't end up on back order for months at a time.

Also, the turn around time for Data repairs should be 8-10 business days so, also better than a lot of the delays customers were experiencing lately.

And yeah, I also work for Bell.

[sabouze]

how does that affect customers that purchased the extended 3 yr warranty, when i bought that they said loaner phone would be completely covered. reason why i am asking is, my trackball is starting to have left/right issues, either way i like this as i bought the phone new, and if it came defective then why should it be replaced with a refurbished, that seems like a slap in the face after paying over 500 bucks + the additional warranty costs, my carrier is bell btw

[Coruptyed]

Well its not a refurbished its your old one and its fixed.. Lucky you for though if its just a trackball issue pop into a bell store and you can get a replacement trackball for 10 dollars.. We do offer blackberry loaners though I don't see how its a slap in the face when your still getting everything for free?

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[sabouze]

so they can actually change the trackball in store, if thats the case, then i have no issues at all, excellent, thanks alot.

[GG1]

Well its not a refurbished its your old one and its fixed.. Lucky you for though if its just a trackball issue pop into a bell store and you can get a replacement trackball for 10 dollars.. We do offer blackberry loaners though I don't see how its a slap in the face when your still getting everything for free?

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Bell stores will change any trackball except BB Tours 9630 sisce they have to open up the phone to change trackball

[sabouze]

Bell stores will change any trackball except BB Tours 9630 sisce they have to open up the phone to change trackball

not according to them, when i called i made it very clear to the rep that i had a tour and he said they can change the trackball, to me i dont care if they have to open it or not, as long as they dont break it

[_StephenBB81]

10 Dollars to change the trackball on a tour? the process to change the trackball is 10-20 minutes, I can't believe they are doing it for as little as 10 dollars, or Bell, and its reps don't realize there is a very different process in changing the Tour vs the Curve, Pearl, World edition phones.

Changing the trackball on the tour voids its warranty will Bell take over all warranty claims once they change the trackball as RIM will not?

[kccman]

10 Dollars to change the trackball on a tour? the process to change the trackball is 10-20 minutes, I can't believe they are doing it for as little as 10 dollars, or Bell, and its reps don't realize there is a very different process in changing the Tour vs the Curve, Pearl, World edition phones.

Changing the trackball on the tour voids its warranty will Bell take over all warranty claims once they change the trackball as RIM will not?

That's my concern as well. I have the horizontal trackball issue on my Tour. I recently upgraded to OS 5.0 and the issue is barely there now, but once in a while it does act up. If the trackball is defective why are they charging customers to replace one? That makes no sense to me since the trackball issue is a known problem and all Tours sold so far would be under the manufacturers warranty, other than water damage, tampering, etc. I could send it in for repair and see what happens as well...lol

[Fubaz]

I found out about the hardware exchange change yesterday. It didn't make me too happy.

My trackball on my 8130 stopped working as ' enter ' when pushed.

So I went to the store, had them look at it, and then called data123.

The guy informed me about the send in to repair procedure now, and I was none too pleased that I drove 25 minutes to a Bell World, and no one mentioned anything to me when I was there getting it looked at.

*golf clap* Bell!

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[SGAngelieu]

It's true. I USED to be a bell mobility customer. I left them after 7 weeks after resigning my contract. They didn't honor the replacement warranty

[gbaker123]

I have one of the first Bell Tours and I am having the trackball issue (manufacture date July 10, 2009, made in Mexico). So what are my options to get this fixed? Pay Bell $10 (to fix a known issue) or send in the phone to RIM? Can someone please explain?

Anxiously awaiting the bluetooth phone software fix from RIM as well!!!

Thanks.

[Coruptyed]

I have one of the first Bell Tours and I am having the trackball issue (manufacture date July 10, 2009, made in Mexico). So what are my options to get this fixed? Pay Bell $10 (to fix a known issue) or send in the phone to RIM? Can someone please explain?

Anxiously awaiting the bluetooth phone software fix from RIM as well!!!

Thanks.

no dont pay it, if this is one of the first ones, there is a known issue directed to bell about the phone pop into a bell store i believe there is a direct replacement for it (dont quote me as i will have to re read the policy reguarding this) but it is known to bell about it

[gbaker123]

no dont pay it, if this is one of the first ones, there is a known issue directed to bell about the phone pop into a bell store i believe there is a direct replacement for it (dont quote me as i will have to re read the policy reguarding this) but it is known to bell about it

Please let me know as Bell is now stating they will send it away for repair, and I can get a loaner, but not a Blackberry (that sounds totally WRONG to me). FYI - I am on a corporate plan - you'd think we'd get better service than that? I've been talking to 3 different groups in technical support and spent 1 1/2 hrs with billing and technical support sorting out my issues with this Tour!

[Coruptyed]

Please let me know as Bell is now stating they will send it away for repair, and I can get a loaner, but not a Blackberry (that sounds totally WRONG to me). FYI - I am on a corporate plan - you'd think we'd get better service than that? I've been talking to 3 different groups in technical support and spent 1 1/2 hrs with billing and technical support sorting out my issues with this Tour!

your loaner phone should be a blackberry that is what we offer for them

[Mister-E]

What happens if you "lose" your phone? Is the replacement phone still $150, and let's say my screen is cracked, is it still $150 to repair it? And do I have a better chance of getting a Storm 2 as a replacement next year (as it is possible they will no longer have an inventory of Storm 1's) if I was to lose my Storm?

[Coruptyed]

What happens if you "lose" your phone? Is the replacement phone still $150, and let's say my screen is cracked, is it still $150 to repair it? And do I have a better chance of getting a Storm 2 as a replacement next year (as it is possible they will no longer have an inventory of Storm 1's) if I was to lose my Storm?

No if you lose your phone you have to buy a new one outright..
Depending how bad its cracked could be 150 to fix but to send it out and repair it is an additional 70 dollars
Storm 2 to replace storm 1 won't happen as we will still have some storm 1s incase of such maybe way down the road but like this whole is about we don't replace we fix so if your storm 1 is broken it gets fixed not replaced
Only way any of this doesn't apply to you is if you have the 7 dollar spc care when you got the storm it covers lost stolen water and physical with direct replacement .. Still probably won't do storm 1 for storm 2 though

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[Mister-E]

No if you lose your phone you have to buy a new one outright..
Depending how bad its cracked could be 150 to fix but to send it out and repair it is an additional 70 dollars
Storm 2 to replace storm 1 won't happen as we will still have some storm 1s incase of such maybe way down the road but like this whole is about we don't replace we fix so if your storm 1 is broken it gets fixed not replaced
Only way any of this doesn't apply to you is if you have the 7 dollar spc care when you got the storm it covers lost stolen water and physical with direct replacement .. Still probably won't do storm 1 for storm 2 though

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So are you saying, eventhough I am on the $7 a month insurance plan, I will have to pay $150 to fix, and an additional $70 for the sevice, a total of $220?

[Coruptyed]

No no I said it doesn't apply to you if you have the 7 dollar insurance at the end of my post you will be covered

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[SuperCM]

no dont pay it, if this is one of the first ones, there is a known issue directed to bell about the phone pop into a bell store i believe there is a direct replacement for it (dont quote me as i will have to re read the policy reguarding this) but it is known to bell about it

Is it only Corporate stores that know about this or all Bell stores? I have a Tour exhibiting the trackball issues, got it on the Saturday Bell sneak launched it in July.

I called in and one person told me I could pay $10 to get it replaced. Another said it can't be replaced in store, it would have to be shipped out for $25. Not sure why we have to pay for getting a defective device.

[hazam]

Tour trackball is not fixed at stores.

[TOphotog]

Took my Tour into Bell store in Toronto for repairs (continually rebooting - seems to be electronics problem). I had to pay $25 for the use of the loaner, and they put $250 on the card as deposit for the loaner. They said the majority of the time, you get your own fixed phone back, very seldom do you get a replacement. Very few of the Bell Mobility stores physically have any loaners. I had to call around.

I got great service from the mgr at the Bell store, considering that when I called Bell Customer Service first thing this a.m. and ended up in India, after telling him that I needed my phone repaired, the guy told me "It's not Bell's problem. We don't have anything to do with the phone." ****! I could feel my blood pressure rise drastically! Called Bell Tech support and got a great woman who walked me through the whole thing. I'm now enjoying a Tour that actually works!!!

[Coruptyed]

Took my Tour into Bell store in Toronto for repairs (continually rebooting - seems to be electronics problem). I had to pay $25 for the use of the loaner, and they put $250 on the card as deposit for the loaner. They said the majority of the time, you get your own fixed phone back, very seldom do you get a replacement. Very few of the Bell Mobility stores physically have any loaners. I had to call around.

I got great service from the mgr at the Bell store, considering that when I called Bell Customer Service first thing this a.m. and ended up in India, after telling him that I needed my phone repaired, the guy told me "It's not Bell's problem. We don't have anything to do with the phone." ****! I could feel my blood pressure rise drastically! Called Bell Tech support and got a great woman who walked me through the whole thing. I'm now enjoying a Tour that actually works!!!

that seems exactly right for the cost, glad it got fixed