WTF, AT&T Wireless & Samsung!

[jpsum]

I'm completely done with AT&T.

I got my Samsung Captivate in Aug 2010. Two months later, the speaker stopped working, so I spent half a day at one of their service center to get a replacement. That's fine. I understand things break and things do fail.

Then winter comes, my phone keeps shutting off by itself (5 times per day). Found out online that it's a common issue with this phone. There's a leaked internal AT&T bulletin online and it says, if the phone IMEI number is below 5394, it will have this problem. My phone was on the list as defective. See article here: http://wifi-walker.com/samsung-galax...before-110610/

So I called tech support and they acknowledged that it is a known issue with this phone and they will send me a replacement (again). They ensured me that the replacement would not be in the defective list (IMEI number below 5394). Phone arrived and guess what? It has an IMEI number lower than my f-up phone. so ok... I was thinking, maybe they've fixed it. But I was wrong. The replacement phone is doing the same thing, only less often.

So I called again yesterday, now they are blaming me. "The replacement unit was refurbished to the exact manufacturer's specification; therefore, there must be something else wrong." They said I must go to a store and have them troubleshoot it first before they can decide what to do. I said I wasn't going to waste half a day again on this stupid phone. Also, I wasn't going to stand in a store and wait for this phone to turn off by itself, because it is completely random. I demanded a new phone, instead of a refurbish one, they declined. I threaten to file a complain with BBB and leave AT&T, they didn't seem to care.

Any suggestion? I'm so pissed that I'm willing to pay the early termination fee ($260) and go to Verizon. Also, I have AT&T internet and home phone. I'm going to cancel that too.

[Maestro]

hate to rub salt in, however Samsung is garbage they have no quality control what so every. They are only in the Cell phone business to sell more chips they make. I will also tell you that going to VZ you will get the same issue on those greener fields.

You would be better buying a Motorola. RIM or Apple at least you know you would be getting a better quality product. But then again when Cell phone companies push those cheap or free phone to lock people in this is what you get.

[Blake]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_techne...verizon-iphone unrelated to your problem, but everyone thinks that verizon is like walk on water jesus to fix all issues cell phone. not so fast.

[chinoxs203]

did you go to the att repair center in meriden? last year i brought my blackberry 8900 there they went to the back swapped a few things and i was out. att phone troubleshooting sucks. that ATT store gets all BS there

[Bobble]

Just one other point, do not expect AT&T to even care about your internet and land line stuff as they are technically different companies. I know this for fact as they screwed up my business lines a few years ago and in the process of getting certain services turned back on and turned off for other numbers they basically gave me the I dont give a f@#k attitude when I used that stating, I have 6 cell phones, 4 business lines and a trunk for internet all with your company that I'm going to pull.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Just one other point, do not expect AT&T to even care about your internet and land line stuff as they are technically different companies. I know this for fact as they screwed up my business lines a few years ago and in the process of getting certain services turned back on and turned off for other numbers they basically gave me the I dont give a f@#k attitude when I used that stating, I have 6 cell phones, 4 business lines and a trunk for internet all with your company that I'm going to pull.

I would have to agree with that statement, however, a friend of mind just did this with AT&T on the whole phone, internet, video, and cell phone and they handed them over to a what they call a customer retention manager and they lower their month costs across the board, Then again they were spending nearly $500 a month with AT&T and they are not even a business customer.

I think AT&T has been trying to maintain customer since wall street has been hammering them and VZ on customer turnover

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by Maestro

You would be better buying a Motorola. RIM or Apple at least you know you would be getting a better quality product. But then again when Cell phone companies push those cheap or free phone to lock people in this is what you get.

Did you just say....Motorola?
Holy shit you must be smoking some good hash man.

[Freakazoid]

Also for what it's worth on the Samsung note...this is my first Samsung in quite a while, but the epic is a fucking tank... I've dropped it, kicked it, had it submersed in water, and absolutely NO ill effects.

[jpsum]

Alright. I've switched to the big red. Got the Droid X. Sold my Captivate on ebay (with problem noted) for $250 to cover my early termination fee.


Oh, and the droid X was free from wirefly.com. I highly recommend them. Porting my number to Verizon was much easier than I thought. It took 15 mins.

[jpsum]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

Also for what it's worth on the Samsung note...this is my first Samsung in quite a while, but the epic is a fucking tank... I've dropped it, kicked it, had it submersed in water, and absolutely NO ill effects.

I agree. My Samsung was great until it started to shut off by itself. It has great battery life, nice screen, thin and light.

My problem with AT&T and Samsung is the fact that they knew about the issue but they insist to continue to sell the defective phones, in hopes that the phones will last one year without the issue popping up so they don't have to warranty it.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by jpsum

I agree. My Samsung was great until it started to shut off by itself. It has great battery life, nice screen, thin and light.

My problem with AT&T and Samsung is the fact that they knew about the issue but they insist to continue to sell the defective phones, in hopes that the phones will last one year without the issue popping up so they don't have to warranty it.

agreed, I'd probably blame that on ATT more than anything else though. I could be wrong about that though.

[iBoost]

That's terrrrible!

Verizon is where it's at though! I'm sure you'll love that droid x! I'm trying out the iPhone 4 atm but might have to go back to droid..:/

[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by jpsum

I agree. My Samsung was great until it started to shut off by itself. It has great battery life, nice screen, thin and light.

My problem with AT&T and Samsung is the fact that they knew about the issue but they insist to continue to sell the defective phones, in hopes that the phones will last one year without the issue popping up so they don't have to warranty it.

So you didn't like the phone, because the phone itself had known issues. But you direct the thread solely at ATT?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Sounds like you should have just switched phones after it broke a 2nd time.


Furthermore, knowing how completely fucking retarded most people are with technology you really can't blame ATT for just following their protocol on these types of issues. Why do you think Apple is so successful? Their shit is so buckled down, locked, and idiot proof you have to try harder to mess it up than not.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

So you didn't like the phone, because the phone itself had known issues. But you direct the thread solely at ATT?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Sounds like you should have just switched phones after it broke a 2nd time.

Ultimate, I don't understand your point here. Have you ever tried convincing your carrier to give you a comparable phone for free when you have warranty claims?
With all 3 big carriers (A, V, and S) this has NEVER been an easy thing to do....even when I've had 4 phones replaced in a few months time. He has every right to target this towards ATT, and that is who it should be targetted towards. They're the carrier, they're the ones supplying the phones, etc.

[UltimateBMW]

Its this bit that I don't agree with.

So I called again yesterday, now they are blaming me. "The replacement unit was refurbished to the exact manufacturer's specification; therefore, there must be something else wrong." They said I must go to a store and have them troubleshoot it first before they can decide what to do. I said I wasn't going to waste half a day again on this stupid phone. Also, I wasn't going to stand in a store and wait for this phone to turn off by itself, because it is completely random. I demanded a new phone, instead of a refurbish one, they declined. I threaten to file a complain with BBB and leave AT&T, they didn't seem to care.

If the phone was really giving him that many problems, then a trip to the store to sort it out in person isn't out of the question in my opinion. (It would probably end up taking less time than playing phone tag.) If it is his 2nd replacement, this would only be the 3rd trip to the store tops over a 5 month period. It just doesn't seem like such a big deal to me where he would get so fed up with the service provider over it. I've certainly heard much worse stories from the Red camp.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

Its this bit that I don't agree with.



If the phone was really giving him that many problems, then a trip to the store to sort it out in person isn't out of the question in my opinion. (It would probably end up taking less time than playing phone tag.) If it is his 2nd replacement, this would only be the 3rd trip to the store tops over a 5 month period. It just doesn't seem like such a big deal to me where he would get so fed up with the service provider over it. I've certainly heard much worse stories from the Red camp.

ahhh I do see your point here now then

[UltimateBMW]

Eh, I don't know. If he was that unhappy. More power to him I guess.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

Eh, I don't know. If he was that unhappy. More power to him I guess.

truthfully that's why i had to scoff at the above recommendation of motorola.

motorola is the one brand of phone, across ALL carriers I know people that have had ridiculous amounts of problems with over the years (I'm talking at least 8 different people who have had the same phone replaced 4-8 times in less than a year). Motorola is a laughable joke.


but to your post...agreed, sometimes it's just the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[BrokenVert]

Hey man my Motorolla StarTac was the best damned phone I ever owned

[ragingclue]

Known issue on that phone, just like the fact that the GPS hardware is garbage. Not much you can do about it. Samsung is notorious for dropping active support and moving on to the next project and leaving old products in the dust. Combine that with AT&T for the Captivate, and you've got a phone that may never officially get Froyo, even though Samsung already has a release with Gingerbread which shares a decent amount of hardware with the Captivate....

If you want an Android phone, go HTC or go home has always been my take on it if you want reliability and support. Also, Google's babies are good but the S is a thorough disappointment and might as well be a Captivate hardware-wise.

That being said, I have a Captivate until I either get the Atrix or wait for the LTE lineups for AT&T with Android. I had to return a couple to get rid of the sleep death issues and weak GPS, but in the end I got one that locks onto sats and keeps signal great, and I'm running an unofficial FroYo ROM at 1.4 GHz 24/7 without any kernel panics or lockups. So, I guess with the right batch, the phone's alright. Without it, it can be a disaster.

I guess what I'm saying is that you should be pissed at both AT&T and Samsung because both suck balls at supporting and updating their products. Also, if you ever got to play with a Captivate with a cooked rom and ext4 (instead of shit rfs) kernel, you'd see it's a completely different phone than what AT&T and Samsung forced it to be. The Captivate in stock form absolutely blows.

[Freakazoid]

fwiw the epic with froyo is quite nice now. i'm impressed.

and FWIW raging, I agree with you on Samsung on dropping support....but HTC doesn't do much better. My last 3 HTC phones, all no more than 2-3 years old now have lost all possible support