Bad service at Cingular for defective & unrepairable phones

[RonJeremy]

My wife's Nokia 3360 phone had a software defect in it and I brought it back to the Cingular store after owning the phone for 8 months. The technicians at the Cingular store sent the phone out to Nokia and they tried repairing it under the warranty. The phone came back from the Nokia repair center and it still didn't work properly. So Cingular gave me another Nokia 3360 phone, just like the Nokia 3360 model phone which I originally owned, but it was refurbished. I was really mad when they offered to give me a used and refurbished phone to replace my defective/unrepairable one which was still under warranty and only 8 months old. They wouldn't give me a brand new one. This is a bad business practice for Cingular.

My question here is why did the Cingular store give me a "refurbished" Nokia phone? Why didn't they want to give me a "brand new" Nokia phone when mine was defective and still under warranty? I demanded them to give me a brand new phone and they told me that they could not do that. Cingular told me that they only give out refurbished phones to customers who's current phones are still under warranty that are defective and unrepairable. To me, this is bulls**t.

Cingular should be able to give "brand new" phones to customers who's current phones are defective, unrepairable and still under warranty. Do all the Cingular stores give this type of B.S. excuse to their customers and tell them that they can only give refurbished phones to the customers who's cell phones are under warranty which cannot be repaired? I think that this is really bad business. Cingular should be able to give "brand new" phones in exchange for the defective unrepairable ones. Why don't they want to do this? This is not good.

[falfiee]

The phone is warrantied by the manufacturer, which is Nokia, Cingular provides the service
and the avenue to purchase a phone at a reduced price with a contract. It is not Cingular's
decision which phone Nokia replaces your defective phone with. If you are displeased then
you should contact Nokia, you can get their phone number from their website.

[RonJeremy]

Wait a minute here. You are very wrong.
Cingular 'REPRESENTS" Nokia as a DISTRIBUTOR of Nokia phones and other Nokia products. And Nokia, on the other hand, must "HONOR" their warranty. If Cingular doesn't want to exchange a defective and unrepairable Nokia phone that is still under warranty with a "BRAND NEW" phone, then they shouldn't be selling any Nokia products. To me, this means that Nokia doesn't want to warranty their products 100%. It's simple as that.

Any manufacturer who cannot repair any of their products due to unrepairable facory defects while their product is still under warranty, should give the customer a brand new product. No questions asked. It's not the customer's fault that the product was defective and unrepairable. It was the manufacurer's fault. And they should be smart enough and have enough business sense to give the best service to their customers rather than giving them used and refurbished cell phones. To me, that's doing business in a Mickey Mouse way and also low class. If I wanted this type of warranty service from a manufacturer, I would move to a place like Algeria where they give really bad service and do Mickey Mouse business like giving out used and refurbished phones just like Nokia does.



.

[AnthroMatt]

First of all, it is common practice for ALL cellular providers to replace defective/unrepairable phones with refurbished models if they have them in stock. Secondly, though I am not sure of Nokia's specific policies, manufacturers will often replace unrepairable, under warranty equipment, with refurbished models.

Secondly, I hate when people complain about getting refurbs. Refurbs have been checked over and inspected and returned to like new condition...like a "certified" used car.

Warranty does not have to mean "brand new" replacement, it just means working replacement.

[RonJeremy]

Refurbished phones are still used phones. The one that they gave to me looked okay, but it didn't look like it was brand new. It did look used. The original defective Nokia phone that Cingular took from me in exchange for the refurbished one was in mint condition. I just think that giving a refurbished phone to a valued customer (yeah right) in exchange for the defective one is just them giving out a phone which is used and which is not in mint condition. Even if the refurbished phone works well, it still isn't a factory fresh and brand new mint condition phone. It isn't a virgin factory fresh brand new phone just like the original one which you bought brand new at the store. I don't think that this is right, no matter which carrier does it this way. This practice shows you that the cell phone manufacturers don't care about giving to their customers brand new products in exchange for defective unrepairable products which were originally purchased brand new by the customer in the first place. If the phones were purchased brand new by customers, then customers should in return get brand new phones if their original ones are factory defective and unrepairable by the manufacturer. Period.

The current stupid and unethical policy that all these phone manufacturers have regarding giving out refurbished phones to customers who bought their original phones brand new is bullsh*t. It's unacceptable. Customers are getting screwed when cell phone manufacturers do this unethical business practice to their valued (yeah right) customers.

And by the way, a refurbished phone is not a "like new" phone. I don't care how much it's been tested and certified. It's still used. It's not in factory mint condition like the original one that the customer bought brand new. The customer's original phone that was defective and unrepairable was bought "brand new" and the customer is entitled to a brand new phone, not to a refurbished used one.

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[AnthroMatt]

Then perhaps you should read warranty conditions prior to making a purchase. As I am not a Cingular customer, I have not seen their policy, but I know for a fact that both Verizon and Sprint make it very clear you may receive a refurbished phone as replacement for a defective unit. Often times manufacturers have a very similar policy. The best way around these policies is to buy from a store such as Circuit City, where they have no refurbished models on hand and have to give you a new one if you purchased their extended warranty.

I realize you are upset, but I don't have much sympathy. As I said, I am not fully aware of Cingular's policy, but if it is anything like Sprint's or Verizon's you could have found out well in advance of signing a contract.

[CingularTech]

I think everyone besides RonJeremy understands what is going on
Secondly, "if" your phone was still under Nokia's warranty, and "if" they were unable to fix it, then they(nokia) would have repalced it themselves with a remanufactured, factory tested unit. Sorry, but your NOT going to get a virgin" unit as you call it simply because the 3360 is no longer in production anymore and finding one would be about the same as you being the actual Ron Jeremy....very slim

[RonJeremy]

But I "AM" the actual Ron Jeremy. What makes you think that I'm not?

[njsvrzncdma]

Bottom line is that your going to get a refurb no matter what you do. Kicking and screaming may help but in the long run your getting a refurb. If and only if they are out of them will you recieve a new model.