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Terrible T-Mobile Support

For the first time for me, I have had one of the worst T-Mobile Support experiences. Which is actually quite bad coming from someone such as myself, since I have always stuck by T-Mobile and supported or recommend them as a customer, even after 11 years or more now. What makes this even more sad, is that it is over the littlest thing you could possibly imagine, a broken charger.

It all started with their Twitter support, which many companies have now a days and it is really just the same as phone or FAQ/online support for most companies too. It is pretty much automated and they actually do not want to help you more than they do when you call them. It use to be different in the past, for example Comcast use to have great Twitter support, but the last few years that is non-existent.

It does not seem that T-Mobile wants to strive for customer service anymore. Why do I think this? Well aside from my experience, take a look at these results:

That’s not a good sign at all, and things do not look to be getting better. Especially when you have issues like mine come up, or far much worse issues for people that will up and leave T-Mobile and are not loyal. And speaking of loyalty, I am even questioning mine after this experience which I will be explaining now. Then there are just more, older articles like this one, Has T-Mobile Customer Service Taken A Turn For The Worse? or others that have continue to get written more of late.

What happened with me?

I used the option to upgrade a line of mine with a free and refurbished phone, nothing special either, just a Samsung T159 flip phone. The phone works just fine, but found out the charger actually is broken, closer look at it reveals that 1 of the copper pieces inside of the connector piece is missing.

So I decided to contact T-Mobile via Twitter and they are very much unwilling to help without wasting time and money. They want me to claim buyers remorse, which requires you to send the entire phone back and then order a new one. I am not sure how this would work with my upgrade option and so forth free (I am sure something bad would have happened), then again I do not want to pay shipping either and of course, waste more time without the phone in use, which I am sure would take up to 2 weeks. Maybe if T-Mobile would give me a free month I would actually consider doing this.

The other option would be to use buyers remorse and replace the entire kit by sending that one back and we send another. ^KM

That is it, there is nothing else they can do and have said twice now the following:

I wish we had a more efficient way but currently we do not ^KM.

Yes, thanks for really nothing. Honestly, their Twitter support might as well be automated. When I asked them if I would be able to trade one at a store, this was their response:

They should sell the cables in store too :) ^LG.

Are you serious? That was their response when I asked that and to have you spend more money because they could not even ship you a working charger. You would think that refurbished phones go through additional checks, and that would include the charger as well but I guess not.

That all having been said…

I more than understand this was not the worst support anyone has ever received and that it could have been worse. But at the same time, there is no reason why even people unlike me should have to deal with this lack of support, being told to use “buyer’s remorse” and be without a phone or have to purchase a new charger when you should not have to.

UPDATE: Samsung being awesome reached out to me and already in the process of getting a new charger replacement. I should have just contacted them to begin with. :)

Customer loyalty means nothing to T-Mobile

I really wish that customer loyalty meant at least a little or more to T-Mobile or any other company for that matter. While this post will be directed towards T-Mobile, I already know that 99.8% of other companies out there do not care about customer loyalty either, and most, if not all, should.

Why is there not some type of loyalty program or something similar to existing customers that have been around for say more than 6+ or 8+ years at T-Mobile? I have personally been a loyal customer of theirs; since I have always loved T-Mobile for that matter too, for over 8 years now. I have I never been with another carrier, and I hope to never especially the death star AT&T. Which I am glad they pulled out of the merger! :)

I am a huge tech geek I guess you would say. I normally happen to pick a phone that will last me more than 2 years not just because of the horrible decisions cell phone companies make for a customer to only be able to upgrade your phone every 2 years with contract renewals. However, in my case, a newer and better phone has since come out that I absolutely want but do not necessary need per say. That phone is the Samsung Galaxy S2 and on T-Mobile it is called the “Hercules.”

I would honestly love to see some type of loyalty program exist to where maybe you could upgrade your phone, with a renewal contract, every year once you have been with them for an x amount of years that they would decide rather it be 4, 6, or even over 8 in my case. Could this program have other perks? Sure, why not, I mean you are showing a company that you are indeed loyal to them already, would it be that hard to offer you more than they would a newer customer? I know some people might say, they are just a company, what makes them feel they have to reward you for your loyalty? I am sure anyone could argue back and forth on this all day, but in the end all that should really matter to them is that you are giving them your money rather than you giving another carrier money instead of them.

Every time I see a great new deal for T-Mobile, it is almost always just for new customers more than half the time, and the other half of the time for existing customers you can only get it if you are eligible for an upgrade. This is just wrong and should not be the case for long time customers. I do understand why in its current state but also 2 years is just a long time in today’s world.

The phone I currently have is the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and I bought it Day-1 at the T-Mobile store on July 15th, 2010. I absolutely love this phone, the problem? No official updates, period. There also seems to be none coming out out the foreseeable either. Before this phone I bought the T-Mobile G1 about a month after its release and used it up until the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant.

But with that said on no official updates, you can still get the latest Android version (or almost latest sometimes) over at the XDA Developers forums because of the great community of developers working together to still bring us updates for all our Vibrant phones. There are some developers right now, one in particular by neobuddy, already providing a Android 4.0 rom (ICS Passion) to the Vibrant. It is still a work in progress and while I have not personally tested it yet, has had for the most part great feedback from the community. I am waiting for another release or two post 8.0 until I flash mine but at the moment, it seems like it is really stable to use now.

I just wish there were plans to bring an official update to our Vibrant. Now why will they not provide an update? Simple answer, because T-Mobile considers it an ancient phone, so why provide an update when they longer support or sell it. They would rather you pay, likely more money too, to get the latest and greatest phone instead. They make money that way.

I still want the Samsung Galaxy S II (S2) “Hercules” branded T-Mobile phone though, even when I do get Android 4.0 on my Vibrant because of the latest hardware inside of it such as the 8.0 MP camera, flash, front facing camera, screen size, and so forth inside of it.

Do you feel as if T-Mobile should have some type of loyalty program? If so, why? What would you love to see them offer in such a program?

Update 12/13/2011: Samsung has stated that we will not be getting Android 4.0 on any Galaxy S phone because of TouchWiz as well as the Galaxy Tab. Source: CNET and other many sites.

Froyo coming to Vibrant and Captivate mid-October

Normally I would not write on such a story that Froyo is actually finally even coming to the Vibrant but this is just one of those times where if you put all of the Samsung news, Facebook updates and official tweets together, that you just think that this is actually true and finally going to arrive for us Vibrant users on T-Mobile.

Now, before I finally get to this story that will make you further believe it, you may already know or not that 2.2 Froyo was leaked for the Captivate. However, you cannot flash this or other versions on the Vibrant, even if the Vibrant barely different than the Captivate. I recommend waiting for the official build, even if leaked before OTA over custom roms unless others have made aware that are safe to flash and no issues reported.

Before I get to the story, this is what one of the Official Samsung Twitter accounts tweeted:

T-Mobile & Samsung hear your questions about timing of Vibrant update. Look for more info on OTA next week. Thank you for your patience.

Scott Young from TalkAndroid made a post today stating that he had bumped into someone from Samsung and after a while of talking he finally asked when Froyo was coming to the Galaxy S. He stated “mid-October” for the Vibrant and Captivate. Though he pointed out that it will take a little longer for the Epic 4G and Fascinate to get Froyo because they have CDMA. On another note, 2.2 was leaked for the Captivate as I stated above if you didn’t know.

Now this is coming from me, but Samsung did promise to have 2.2 shipped out to all Galaxy S phones by the end of this year, so even if you had to wait another few weeks for you Epic 4G and Fascinate users, you won’t have to wait long as long as they fulfill their promise. I am sure they will.

Source: TalkAndroid.com

Remove Layar from Samsung Vibrant (or other devices)

I usually do not mind bloatware to begin with, and I almost never use them either anyways. But after a while, you just want a clean device after having a while to play with it. Especially a Samsung Vibrant for how great this phone is, not just the screen.

I just wanted to take the time and explain to you how you can remove Layar and other “bloatware” applications that either T-Mobile, AT&T or others provide to you with your Galaxy S phone (Vibrant, Captivate, etc) if you want them gone for good. Now you will need root to do any of this. Rooting your phone is extremely easy and safe.

There are many methods to root your phone, you can look over at the XDA forums for easy ways to do it for your device. One quick method to root is by using the One Click Lag Fix app found in the Android Market. Do not let the name fool you, and you do not need to use the lag fix to get root either. You can unroot with this app or any other app, at anytime. Though there is no reason to unless you are sending the device back to T-Mobile or your carrier.

You can remove most bloatware with Titanium Backup which is free in the Market. You could also use Root Explorer however that is not free in the Market. So if you are in this same scenario and do not want to pay for Root Explorer than this easy method will work for you. You can also back up all of these apps with Titanium Backup in case you ever decide to want to use these again and want them back.

When you are removing applications, make sure you know what exactly you are removing. I take no responsibility if you remove something you should not that could lend up to messing up your phone or bricking it.

Use Terminal Emulator if you do not already have it, if not, you can grab it from the Market. Then in Terminal you are going to type of the following:

su
rm /data/app/com.layar.apk
rm /system/app/Layar-samsung.apk

Then there you have it, you have successfully removed Layar. You can actually use this method to remove other apps as well if you are unable to uninstall them in Manage Applications in your phone or with apps such as Titanium Backup.

If you are unsure of the application name, you can use this ‘ls’ command to find it.

su
ls /data/app/
ls /system/app/

Android Move Cache Back to Internal Memory

So yesterday I finally decided to root my Android G1. Basically so I could tether its internet to my laptop as where am I at, the WiFi signal is so low and bad. Well I decided to use “Move Cache” from the Market place which allows you to also move your cache for apps such as Browser, Market, Maps, Street View, GMail and Steel cache to your SD card instead of using Internal Memory.

Well I decided just to try it out and use it only for the Browser, Market, Maps and Street View. Well things only went downhill from there, force closed so much in each of those maps or it would be utter slowness like in the Browser. So storing cache back to Internal Memory was never really a problem, just wanted to try it since I do have an 8GB SD card that only uses 1GB. So I selected the options from Move Cache to move it back to Internal Memory, rebooted and removed Move Cache.

Well everything seemed to work until I went to the Market and then later Street View. The Market would prompt you with the following message: “A Server error has occurred. Retry, or cancel and return to the previous screen.” So if you want to go back to storing your cache in your Internal Memory than do the following in Terminal Emulator (or any other similar app out there). Especially if you went through a process similar to what I did to remove.

Make sure you are the root user. Run the following command if you have any problems: This obviously will only work if you have rooted your phone such as with JesusFreke’s builds.

su (press enter)
id (press enter)
*It should ask you to allow access, allow it.*

Market Cache to Internal Memory

cd /data/data/com.android.vending
rm -R cache
mrdir cache

Street View Cache to Internal Memory

cd /data/data/com.google.android.street
rm -R cache
mkdir cache

T-Mobile USA Delays Android 1.5

Sick of waiting for Android 1.5? Well you will be waiting just a little longer, just like myself. I am quite disappointed with T-Mobile USA right now. Everyone else has received their “Cupcake” update thus far except us (UK, Germany, etc).

They announced the following: “We’re finalizing the build this week to ensure optimal functionality and smooth delivery. Therefore, the rollout schedule has been reset by approximately a week, and we expect all G1 customers will have the update by early June.”

So according to the announcement, as long as if nothing more changes, we should start seeing the update slowly roll out the week of May 25th.

Source: T-Mobile.com Forums | Engadget.com

Oh Android 1.5 “Cupcake” Update, Where are you?!

It is very, very early in the morning here on Wednesday. So where are you Android 1.5 “Cupcake” update? Where are you!? Yes, I know as well as others it stated it would start rolling out the week of May 11th but it has not started yet but will be sometime this week.

Yet UK users and other countries already have this update, OTA or Manual. Why do they get it before us? I can understand a few days or week but it has been over 2 weeks now and we are still waiting. Yes, I am inpatient now waiting for it. Just give it to us, we know it’s done. I am sure part of the reason they are not is to let developers catch up and update their apps so they don’t break in the update when/if used. Well too bad, give it to us. I’ll wait on not using an app till they are fixed rather than wait on the update as it brings more.

Update: T-Mobile has changed their announcement stating that we will now see Cupcake at the end of this week. So expect this to be Friday as other rumors have come out today as well. You will have Cupcake by the end of the month for sure but it should start rolling out Friday. Those that can not wait can manually update, I will post instructions on how to do so when this comes out.

Update 2: As of Saturday, it is now rumored to finally come out Monday May 18th, 2009. So keep an eye out for it or do a manual install of it from Android forums out there. Post a comment if you need any help and I’ll do my best.

My Top G1 Apps [UPDATE]

This is an update to my earlier post in December 2008: My Top G1 Apps. So a while back I wrote a list of great apps that I use and recommend to others. Well overtime, new apps have come out that are either much better then another one like it or just another new app has come out that is great.

I still use Scoreboard, Shazam, TuneWiki, PhoneFlix (NetFlix) ShopSavvy, The Weather Channel, Ringdroid, Bartender and more from my previous list. Given I have already set my settings for Ringdroid and Bartender is only necessary here and there. I have removed and replaced StreamFurious with Last.FM App. StreamFurious is still very nice, I am not putting it down but I use and enjoy Last.FM much more to my liking. Check them both out, they are very similar but also very different.

Twidroid has become much better then when I last talked about it. A LOT better but I still have some problems with it, I would love to see a new UI especially. It is constantly being updated and developer seems very nice when I have emailed. There still is no Facebook App, requiring you to still have to use the browser. Sadly, it is very doubtful we will ever see a Facebook app for the Android/G1 especially given the fact that some Facebook employees hate the Android/G1 and for heaven shake, Facebook will you add T-Mobile to Mobile?

Some new apps have come my way since my last post and those would be the following to check out.

– Xbox Friends List (1337pwn) – No need if you do not have Xbox Live or do not even plan to use.
– AK Notepad – This has been out a while but it is a great notepad so far that I have found.
– aTrackDog – Check all your apps for updates.
– Txtract – Backup all your text messages.
– MyBackUp – Backup almost everything on your phone from contacts to text messages to apps.
– Movie Finder – Probably the best movie application on the G1, I love it.

I use the following as well but only when needed: SnapTell, Finance, Voice Recorder, Cubik, OI Flashlight (the lack of a Flashlight having come from a Sony Ericsson W800i still sucks and miss it) and OI Shopping list.

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