"Buyer Beware" rules! bureaucracy triumps over customer care

[CHAHUC77]

"Buyer Beware" rules! bureaucracy triumps over customer care

　

I have never changed my wireless provider. I started with Altel. Verizon bought them. Altogether, I have been with the same wireless provider for over 25 years without ever the need for complaining.

One year ago, I made the jump to my first smartphone, a Droid Maxx2. I was going out of town for a month of cancer treatment and my wife wanted me to step up from a Motorola flip phone to a smartphone. I did. I chose a more budget priced phone over the flashier ones. The Droid Maxx 2 from Motorola, the supplier of all the phones I had had over the past 30 years, since the beginning. All have worked flawlessly...until now.

Verizon, Motorola, and all the Droid Maxx 2 users that have had problems with this phone and the SD card know NOW that the problem exists. Verizon and Motorola NOW know that my Droid Maxx 2 was defective out of the box. I do not know if Motorola has acknowledged it, but technicians and employees know it. I am not concerned at all that a device had a flaw or was defective. That happens.

I am concerned at how long it took Verizon and Motorola to even discuss the fact that these phones (or some of them) would not interface with the micro SD card. Many of us have collectively have spent lots of money trying different cards and have invested hundreds, even thousands of hours (together) looking for a fix, a workaround.

The real problem is that Verizon (and, I suppose all these government regulated wireless providers) have carefully constructed policies regarding warranties and customer care that restricts them from doing the RIGHT THING for people while quoting their policies as excuses like corrupt priests in some dark world video game in a galaxy far far away a long long time ago. It should not happen today.

I still owe, as of now, 54% of the cost of this new phone to Verizon. Yet my phone, the phone Verizon sold me as new was defective out of the box. Really, I sympathize with everyone involved. No one really enters into this "wanting" to harm another or to take advantage. Certainly, I have not done so. I am sure that every dollar I have paid to Verizon for over 15 years (or however long they have owned it) was good. They still take my payment every month.   I am absolutely certain that if Verizon discovered they had billed me wrongly over the last 5 years and I owed them an additional 3 dollars a month, they would collect it. There would be no expiration date on their pursuit of their money for services rendered.

The only one that is harmed here are the users of Droid Maxx 2 phones that have this defect like me. I understand that I was offered, at additional cost, a warranty that would have covered everything including even intentional drowning in the toilette which I declined. But, there is a little factoid here that should be considered when it comes to the time span over which a customer may discover a problem.

I think Verizon should consider this fact. For most of us, the micro SD card is not even needed for quite a while until the internal memory is filled. For me, it was long after the warranty was expired before I knew this problem existed. As the internal memory filled, I tried to use the external memory and as a fair minded person, I assumed it was my fault and that it would be "fixed" somehow when I discovered what I was doing wrong.

.However, it was not my fault. The phone is defective.  And, Verizon is apparently, at this time, happy to continue to collect full price over time while I am reminded every day that I bought a defective phone.  And, in spite of living in the 21st century and with all the clichés about enlightenment and customer care, it is still "caveat emptor" in the new world of big business.

I know those words sound very accusatory, maybe even more so than necessary because I know that, in every company, there are managers and people with the authority to make wrong situations right when it is brought to their attention.

That is what I wish would happen in this case.  That would be ideal.  But, it may not.  I suppose I could switch companies and let them bought out my defective phone balance.  Or, maybe there are other avenues of complaint.   BTW.  My phone, after the reset is working quite well without the microSd card.  I will simply have to make it a point to not use many of its capabilites and keep the internal memory low.

Thank you.  Sincerely,

Chuck - long time Verizon customer.

PS.  I pay over 130 a month for phones for two senior citizens.  That is almost 1600 a year.   If a company wanted to do the right thing, you would think they could find a way.  I believe that way exists.

Someone needs to speak up for all the people who bought defective Droid Maxx 2s.

[CHAHUC77]

I would like to add to my own post that it seems obvious to me that the SD card does not make contact appropriately inside.  Many of you will not be familiar with the rather unusual format in which the SD card is inserted into the phone.  It is interesting, but different from other devices I have had.  The sdcard does not slide into its own slot.   Instead the card fits (not without some difficulty) into a drawer that slides all the way out of the phone.  The sdcard contacts face upward.  The SIM card lays on top of this same drawer.  The drawer is then slid back into the phone.  Obviously, the contacts on the sdcard are supposed to slide under and make contact with the devices internal contacts.

That contact is NOT taking place.  The device may briefly "see" the sdcard, but then it disappears.

Seems like this could be "fixed" if anyone with Verizon or Motorola wished to make customers happy.  Or to do the right thing.  Or to treat paying customers like valued persons instead of just ATM machines.

I think it would be fair if Verizon does not want to fix the phone or deal fairly with customers with defective phones, they at least should suspend charges and consider the account paid instead of continuing to collect as though this is a fair trade.  My phone can never provide the service and complete functionality it possesses without the additional memory.  So, I should not have to continue to pay the full price.

Perhaps, it is time for pressure to be brought to bear on these huge companies that are accountable to no one apparently.  Of course, they are regulated by the FCC or some other government agencies, but we know that means nothing to the public.  That only describes a client relationship between government and big business.

BTW.  If someone has a Droid Maxx 2 and the external memory works just fine, I would love to hear from you.  I assume there must be many of you.

[Ann154]

More likely, the active users that frequent this community will have moved on to a newer phone.

[CHAHUC77]

Ann154,

I appreciate your comment.  And, given how often many change phones, that may be true.

However, I just bought the phone one year ago, Verizon added it to my bill as a monthly charge and I still owe half. So, it is a current issue and problem for me and, I think, an ethical challenge for Verizon.

They have to decide if rare situations like this where someone is harmed, without any malicious intent, by the structure of the bureaucratic layers in place, will they decide to make it right and allow a more enlightened path to guide.

Or, at they and we stuck in the same old world of stick it to the customer and we don't care in spite of all the ravings that we live in a more enlightened, progressive time where corporations act like good neighbors and talk about values all the time.

I actually thought that maybe some of their admin looked at some of these comments and might contact me.  But, looks like that ain't going to happen.

Chuck

[joey2007ua64]

Your warranty is provided by the device manufacturer not Verizon.  Motorola has a 1 year return and replacement warranty for most of their phones.  I bought a Moto Z Droid which retailed for $624 last November under a holiday promotion through Verizon for $240.  When the battery started failing in October, I went to the Motorola support website and filed a claim.  I placed the phone in the mail on 24th and received my like new replacement on the 26th.

Since you still owe 54% on your device payment plan, you may still have a few days left in your warranty.  You should check on the Motorola Support website and file a claim as soon as possible.

Motorola Support - Find Answers | Motorola Mobility, Inc.