My email to Stephen Elop and response!

[I Unquello]

So after reading about Nokia's customer service reputation, I decided to go straight to the top and try to contact Stephen Elop after using my black 920 for a few days and discovering some defects along with everything that is right with this phone.

Things have gotten interesting! While I doubt Stephen Elop himself read my email, I have been getting responses and have an interesting resolution coming my way if necessary.

First off, the emails:

(15NOV12) To whom it may concern:

While I doubt this is actually Stephen Elop, I figured I would send this message regardless.

Firstly, congratulations on the release of your new Windows Phone 8 phones. I came out of smartphone retirement and switched from Verizon (after 12 years) to ATT, just to get a Lumia 920 (in matte black and a white one for my wife). These phones are truly amazing. I'm a staunch follower of technology and keep up to date on the latest and greatest. I've previously had Android smartphones and have tinkered with Apple's offerings.

I can say - with no reservations - that the Lumia 920 is the best smartphone I've had the pleasure of using; if not one of the best pieces of tech overall. You and your team deserve a hearty congratulations on a job well done. I hope this (and the 820) can do your company (and WP8) some good and turn the duopoly of Android and Apple into a solid oligopoly (we'll see what Blackberry brings with BB10).

With that being said, I do have a couple of points of concern:

• There is a fogginess surrounding the earpiece speaker that doesn't wipe away/appears to be on the inside of the glass screen.
• When I press the very top of the phone on the section above the NOKIA logo on the front, the chassis creaks. I've seen others with this issue on forums (forums.wpcentral.com). It doesn't appear to be universal, thankfully.
• I too, have been underwhelmed by the camera's daylight performance (soft focus, blurry, color balance, etc.) The night/dark performance is amazing. Well done there. As a professional photographer, I'm also a little disappointed in the lack of tweaking abilities in the stock camera app. It's not a huge issue and I realize I'm a niche customer in this regard. I've heard the rumors that your company is working on a patch to address the camera issues. I'm confident it's not hardware-related, because as the camera auto-focuses, I see it hit what I believe is amazing sharpness and then backs off to a softer setting when capturing.
• In certain applications the speaker blows out. I'm not sure if this issue is because of a blown out speaker or the specific application. The most noticible is the notification sounds in Xbox Live working on my avatar.

Just to be clear, I have never dropped my phone, got it wet, let my kids touch it, etc. I've babied it and have treated it as the premium device it is.

I write this email not to nitpick, but hopefully to help make an amazing product even better. I'm going to stop by the ATT store after work tonight to see if I can get the unit replaced with a new one. If they do not replace my unit, would Nokia be willing to do so? I rarely complain to manufacturers. If this was a standard Android device, I wouldn't have felt the need to voice my concerns. However, Nokia has positioned itself as a premium WP8 manufacturer and I hope my message can give light to issues that would damage that position in my opinion.

Once again congratulations on a fantasitic device. I hope the issues can be addressed and perfected on your side.

Best regards,

I Unquello (my screen name here for privacy)


THE REPLY:

(15NOV12) Hello there,

Thanks for the comments and observations - I am sorry that you have encountered these problems. I will ask my team to assist.

Regards,

Stephen

This response came from Stephen Elop's account with a CC to Alf Noto (VP of Customer Relations) and Customer Assistance! Again, I doubt it was Stephen Elop himself, but regardless, getting a response was exciting. You can search to see who Alf Noto is as well. This level of response to my email was very heartening to this point.

On the 16th, I went to the ATT store and got a replacement device. BTW that one has the same problem as the other one. I have one more waiting for me at the ATT store right now that I have to pick up after work tonight (21NOV12).

So on the 16th I got this email:

Good day I Unquello (again subbing my screen name),
We have received your complaint from the CEO and we are happy to assist you. Can you give us the best time and number to contact you to further discuss your case or you can contact me at 866.665.4298
Regards,
Macy (Nokia.Resolution@nokia.com)


I had a busy weekend and had wanted to see what ATT would do before I responded to Macy's email. So I got the exchange, waited a few days, and responded with this:














(20NOV12) Good morning, Macy,

I appreciate your prompt reply. I exchanged the first phone at the ATT store with no issue. I am [on] my second unit now and my 14-day evaluation period with ATT ends on Friday the 23rd.

I exchanged my previous matte black handset for another black handset. In the store everything was fine. And after having it for the weekend, I'm finding the same chassis looseness/creaking that I had on the first handset. My wife's device (white) does not have this issue. I am thankfully not seeing the screen delamination that I was seeing on the first device.

Is this chassis creaking/looseness on the matte black devices just something I need to expect? If the white one did it too, I'd believe that it was due to design. However it strikes me as odd that, in my experience, only the black one displays this behavior.

This is still the best phone I have had the pleasure of using; you still have my congratulations on that. It's just disappointing to have a phone of this caliber to have such a silly issue as a loose chassis.

I really don't want to take it back into ATT, but I'm not happy that this issue remains. What is Nokia willing to do to resolve this issue?

I think your company has a real premium device with the 920. Everyone I've shown it too has been impressed. I've got a few considering purchasing it when [they] have the opportunity to upgrade their phone.

Thanks again for your assistance with this issue.

Please feel free to email me or call me at [my number] any time between 8am-5pm.

Thanks,
I Unquello

THE REPLY:


(21NOV12) Let me contact you today based from your prefferred time

Regards,
Macy

As I said earlier, I have a phone waiting for me at the ATT store when I get back there tonight. I had gone over lunch and they were out. They were getting one sent over to them from another store. When I got back from lunch I received a phone call from Nokia customer care (not Macy, but one of her counterparts). We had a long conversation about my experience thus far. They told me they themselves hadn't received any of these specific complaints that I was raising and proffered that it was due to unfortunate luck on my behalf. They also found it strange that the matte black was doing this and not the white.

This is what excites me at this stage, I told her that I had one more device on hold at ATT for me to pick up after work. She asked me to keep careful track of how this one performs. She was confident that the 3rd time would be a charm. However, she said if this 3rd phone didn't perform, I was to let her know. If that happens, she'll ship me a matte black set that has been passed through quality assurance to ensure that I am getting a device that is up to snuff.

At the end of conversation, she kind of laughed and asked how I got the CEO's email and why I decided to email him. I told her that I didn't want to just rattle off complaints, but to offer some constructive criticism with the hopes of making a great device all the better. I said I figured I'd just try emailing his name at nokia dot com and sure enough it worked!


tl;dr

I am disappointed in the defects I've seen so far. However, I am being genuine when I say this is best phone I've used thus far. We'll see what happens with the phone I get from ATT tonight.

I'll keep you all posted as the story develops.

 

[smartass1379]

If I could get Stephen Elop's email I would really appreciate it

 

[I Unquello]

It was Mr. Elop. That was confirmed over the weekend. That's pretty impressive, I've gotta say!

 

[Dos101]

Received exactly the same reply as you, and am also dealing with Macy. Was told last week (Monday) that they will be sending me a new phone and to provide my serial # and shipping address, but that stocks are low so I was asked to be patient about receiving a replacement phone.

Still though, a **** of a lot more customer service than I ever got from Rogers.

 

[anon(1019781)]

However, she said if this 3rd phone didn't perform, I was to let her know. If that happens, she'll ship me a matte black set that has been passed through quality assurance to ensure that I am getting a device that is up to snuff.

This part kind of annoyed me. Aren't they all passed through quality assurance? You'd think that with the perilous position they have in the smartphone market and the relatively low number of handsets they sell compared to Samsung and Apple, Nokia would be triple-checking every Lumia 920 to make sure that people aren't reporting bad experiences and thus tarnishing other people's impression of Nokia touchscreen handsets.

 

[robstunner]

Emailed him as well over the weekend, he responded with a cc to Rothschild, haven't gotten anything since.
Sent from my Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[I Unquello]

Generally, in manufacturing, not every single produced item is passed through a rigorous quality check. There simply isn't always time or resources to make that happen, and in all reality, it usually isn't necessary. Once you get your line set up to produce properly, a check of say every 10, 50, 100 (etc) products will be adequate to represent your production capabilities.

 

[I Unquello]

I have to give a hand to my local ATT store. They overrode the usual corporate 1 phone replacement policy and got me my third one - which has been stellar thus far. It is also comforting to know that Nokia has my back if anything (aside from user clumsiness) happens to it.

 

[aximtreo]

My situation is somewhat different but along the same lines. I had posted here before about the cluster F**k I experienced when trying to buy the 920 from AT&T online. For some reason the first online order did not go through so I continued to try and order. It turns out that each order was entered separately and as such they were being refused because my "credit" would not support 12 or so online order. No S**t Dick Tracy. I stewed for a few days and finally wrote a letter (copied Stephen Elop) to AT&T Customer Service in Georgia. The letter to AT&T probably just arrived today so haven't heard from them as yet. I sent an email to Mr. Elop with a copy of the letter I sent to AT&T. Within 2 hours I had a response back from Mr. Elop saying that they didn't know what they could do to help but would look into it. I haven't heard back from Nokia or AT&t but will post the results here later.

 

[Alien5D]

Hi there,

Can you please give me Elops email address? I have 3 Lumias and having problems with 2 of them. Cyan has 7 dead pixels and the Red has color issues, it has a green hue.
AT$T is giving me problems about replacements, they said I would get refurbished units... These are colors that aren't available at the corp stores.

BTW, I emailed nokia.resolution@nokia.com on the 11/28 and haven't head back from them.

Thanks

 

[Padmasali]

I Doubt all the hardware issue relate to Lumia 920 only exist in US [at&t]... because i not found these type of hardware issue beside ATT&T Lumia 920...

 

[e24mpwr]

Pretty cool. Gives me hope for Nokia...

 

[I Unquello]

For all asking me to post Mr. Elop's email address, I don't have express permission from him to do so. On the other hand, about 1 min of Googling and/or guessing should get you what you're looking for! :winktongue:

 

[based_graham]

I e-mailed him to and he got his team replacing my Rogers L920 very nice guy to deal with

 

[akiman911]

I e-mailed him to and he got his team replacing my Rogers L920 very nice guy to deal with

What was the issue with your phone?

What did you do with the defective Lumia?

 

[jon Luc]

Hey did you actually end up getting your replacement?

I went through the same route and got the same responses from the ceo and then a ccr rep but they keep pushing back my delivery date.
It went from hopefully within the week to another 1-2 weeks and now probably 2 - 3 weeks. This was just around christmas time too.
I just wanna find out if im getting jerked around because I couldve just sent it through the rogers repair service and wouldve gotten it fixed by now.