Advice needed from the insiders :p

-Chris-

Hi All,

I'm just wondering if one of you who're in the industry could advise me.

My wife bought a Sony Ericsson W302 two weeks ago from a Vodafone shop. She hates it.
She's moved from a Nokia to the SE (based on my recommendation, I'm using a K800 and like it), and she's finding the navigation & functionality a complete pain in the hole.

Little things are annoying her - such as the menus, she can't change the hotkey (bottom right of the screen) so she keeps pushing it accidentally and it keeps connecting to Vodafone Live.
She's annoyed that her sim didn't migrate any of her texts, reminders or calendar appointments to her new phone (although they migrated previously when moving from Nokia to Nokia).
The alarm clock isn't working properly - sometimes it goes off, sometimes it doesn't.
Photo quality and sound quality are pretty poor too, tbh.


I don't know how many of these are "faults" and how many are just design/user issues. I just know that she was really looking forward to upgrading her phone, but now she's totally disappointed.

She returned her phone to the shop last Wednesday to see if they could fix it, she hasn't gotten it back yet, so really she's only owned the phone for a little over a week.


I work in customer service too (car sales) and I know that there are some things you stonewall with and some things you can bend the rules for.
Also, when I worked in a Hostel, there was always a spare couple of beds, even when we were "full", just in case we needed to rescue someone who was staring down the barrel of a night on the street.
Basically, what I'm asking is, is there a "silver bullet" phrase or complaint (or begging style ) that will allow her to change her phone?

She doesn't want her money back, she doesn't want to change network, she just wants a phone that won't make her disappointed everytime she looks at it.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Mimikyu

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Random

If she's owned the phone for a week and has returned it to the store she should ideally have got a swap out in the store or the next day once they verified the fault. This is pretty common practice to the best of my knowledge.

Why did they send it away for repair did she say?

-Chris-

Fault under investigation is the alarm not going off.
Hoping a firmware update (if it's available) may improve photo quality too.

Really she's just hoping that, if she gives out enough about it, that they'll change it for her - but both of us work in customer service and so she doesn't want to make someone's life unpleasant just to get her own way (even though a screaming hissy fit and complaint letter would probably give her progress, while polite begging will get her nowhere).

Gillo

-Chris- wrote: »

but both of us work in customer service and so she doesn't want to make someone's life unpleasant just to get her own way (even though a screaming hissy fit and complaint letter would probably give her progress, while polite begging will get her nowhere).

Nice to see some people out there still have manners.
I don't the software update will help with camera, to be honest it's an entry level phone, compared to the K800 there's a big difference.
Her best beat is to see will the store exchange it since it's till pretty new, I've done it a few times, bent the rules a few times a luckily never came back to bite me on the a$$.

MarkR

If there's no actual fault, and she just doesn't like it - then I presume it would be at the store's discretion as to whether they change it for another handset..

I remember when my wife changed to SE from Nokia. Hated the way that texting worked, menus different etc. She'll never be happy with it tbh!

Soundman

With regards the hotkey. It is fixed unless you debrand the phone with generic firmware, when it then becomes a shortcut for contacts.

Not sure what to suggest about the loss of messages, et al.

With regards the alarm... Make sure that each alarms settings are set to sound for all 7 days of the week. If you set an alarm and it doesn't have the particular day activated, then it won't go off.

-Chris-

Soundman wrote: »

With regards the hotkey. It is fixed unless you debrand the phone with generic firmware, when it then becomes a shortcut for contacts.

Does debranding affect warranty or support in any way?

Soundman wrote: »

With regards the alarm... Make sure that each alarms settings are set to sound for all 7 days of the week. If you set an alarm and it doesn't have the particular day activated, then it won't go off.

I'm using an SE too, I've checked her settings and there grand.

MarkR wrote: »

I..I presume it would be at the store's discretion as to whether they change it for another handset..

Gillo wrote: »

Her best beat is to see will the store exchange it since it's till pretty new, I've done it a few times, bent the rules a few times a luckily never came back to bite me on the a$$.

That's what I'm hoping for, a little discretion and "exceeding all expectations" customer service - is there anything in particular we can say to increase the likelihood of this (other than the standard please and thanks)?

MarkR wrote: »

I remember when my wife changed to SE from Nokia. Hated the way that texting worked, menus different etc. She'll never be happy with it tbh!

That's my fear - and considering I recommended the SE in the first place, I'm worried that each curse at the phone will be followed by a curse at Chris! :D

RVN10

If there was a fault with the phone within the first 28 days it should been swapped out after that then it has to go for repair . Not to mention im not aware of any store that has technicians working in the store other than them having to send it off to a repair company.

ecodub

-Chris- wrote: »

she can't change the hotkey (bottom right of the screen) so she keeps pushing it accidentally and it keeps connecting to Vodafone Live.

This was one of the things I hated with my last two Vodafone phones, the Hotkey was positioned beside to off or end call key, I kept hitting it by accident all the time and it was costing me a fortune, the phone would be connected to the internet for hours before I realised.

The Sony Ericsson are good phones in many ways but because of that hotkey problem I left Vodafone for 3 and went back to a Nokia phone which is the best phone IMO

-Chris-

RVN10 wrote: »

Not to mention im not aware of any store that has technicians working in the store other than them having to send it off to a repair company.

I've had problems with my K800 - problems with the "take the photo" button and an inability to focus, problems charging, problems with the headset.
They took it off me, sent it away to a company in Sandyford, gave it back to me with a report that said the firmware was updated.
All-in-all, none of the problems were fixed (or even investigated afaik), I lost my phone for a few days, and my custom dictionary for texting forgot all my swear words .
I don't have much faith in the fixing in Sandyford - updating the firmware is akin to telling a PC user to reboot their PC.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

-Chris-

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Granted, but I saw the job sheet and none of my concerns were actually noted or addressed, they just went for the default option.

I don't want to get OT with this conversation though. Really I just want to make sure my wife has a phone she can be happy with for the next 12-24 months without being bounced around by generic customer service while she tries to get her phone swapped.

I need some insider help!

drunkmonkey

The phone has an apparent fault, I would be asking the store to exchange asap it if it's within the first 28 days, it does not have to be like for like so i'd throw in an extra few quid and get a better Nokia or Sony...
Nokia 3120 is in around the same price or less than the w302 and it's possible to change the short cut keys, might suit her a bit better..

RVN10

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The phone has an apparent fault, I would be asking the store to exchange asap it if it's within the first 28 days, it does not have to be like for like so i'd throw in an extra few quid and get a better Nokia or Sony...
Nokia 3120 is in around the same price or less than the w302 and it's possible to change the short cut keys, might suit her a bit better..

Just be sure to get exhanged if there is a fault with the phone it should be returned!! And the 3120 you can get that for 119euro and thats a half decent phone IMO