Just replaced my 950XL and I am so HAPPY!

[mranieri]

I was having some problems with my second replacement 950XL....The vibrating feature on the phone started to rattle when it went off and my SP3 would not recognize the phone when attached via usb so after MUCH debate about having to start all over again...I decided to run down tot he Microsoft store to see if they would get me a replacement.

I walked into the local store and was immediately assisted. I explained to the young lady that I am having these issues and that this is my second replacement.....it was still under warranty. She pulled up my account and asked me to wait a minute. She immediately went into the back and came out with a brand new unit. No testing....no "did you drop it" questions....nothing. I looked at the build date and it was March 2016.

I had a backup from the morning on my account so we immediately swapped my sim and sd card and booted the phone....knowing this was going to take a while...she finalized the replacement and I left.
..
After about 5 hours of restoring and then applying the updates ...everything was working well and the phone was really snappy. I was happy ...that is until I realized there was a firmware update on the WRDT (I forgot about that one) so of course I started that update as well and proceeded to update everything again!!!!

Anyway...I cannot be happier with the replacement. It is by far running much smoother that my other one. I am running Redstone as I am on the "Fast" production ring but honestly...this thing screams. My battery life has been MUCH better and this unit has not gotten hot like th eother when charging or under heavy use. It did get hot this morning while having a bunch of apps open and the Battery app told me "heavy Battery drain" " 7% in 20 minutes" I closed a bunch of apps and all went back to normal.

Just wanted to share.....

 

[Indistinguishable]

Thanks for sharing! There's always the possibility for bad apples and dud hardware. Which is why customer service is so important.

I too have found the Microsoft Store customer support to be top notch. It's one of the reasons I love being a Microsoft hardware user.

Cheers!

 

[mranieri]

I agree...My recent history with them.....I bought the original Surface RT...had an issue and they replaced it for full credit and they upgraded me to the original SP....A few months later I bought a sp2 and in 8 months it had issues...they gave me full credit and upgraded me to the sp3....which also had an issue 4 months in...and they replaced it and upgraded me to the I7 SP3..... This is now my 3rd 950 XL.....always hassle free and very apologetic!

Yes, I know I should not have all these issues but as long as they treat us right.....I will contine to support this company!

 

[TechFreak1]

This is why we need a Microsoft store here in the UK, I spent two hours trying to get a laptop replaced which was preconfigured by Currys themselves therefore an open box. The usb they gave consists of a o/s image created by the control panel tool - nothing special and they charge ?35 for it. Under their returns policy it's a no question asked return or change if unopened but since it was pre-setup the box was open. So they would need take it back unless it was faulty, heck it's with-in 14 days and it's only been used for a few hours.

The recovery setting was caput and the onekey reset button didn't work so it was reset using cmd.

I'm in good mind to file a complaint lol.

 

[John Christopoulos]

What matters the most, is not the replacements, but the fact that all of your devices had issues. Poor Microsoft!

 

[realwarder]

Sounds like great customer service, and I'm glad your issues are solved!

 

[TechAbstract]

What matters the most, is not the replacements, but the fact that all of your devices had issues. Poor Microsoft!

Microsoft has horribly quality control.

 

[midnightfrolic]

I'm on my second 950 XL. First one had faulty camera focus sensor and minor over heating. I showed them the issue with the camera and insta replacement under normal manufacturer warranty. In and out in 20 minutes at a local MS store. So far so good. I purchased the 2yr extended warranty just in case I drop it or it fries or camera goes out again.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I was having some problems with my second replacement 950XL....
I walked into the local store and was immediately assisted. I explained to the young lady that I am having these issues and that this is my second replacement.....it was still under warranty. She pulled up my account and asked me to wait a minute. She immediately went into the back and came out with a brand new unit. No testing....no "did you drop it" questions....nothing. I looked at the build date and it was March 2016.

After about 5 hours of restoring and then applying the updates ...everything was working well and the phone was really snappy. I was happy ...that is until I realized there was a firmware update on the WRDT (I forgot about that one) so of course I started that update as well and proceeded to update everything again!!!!

Just wanted to share.....

Its interesting you mentioned this firmware. My 950XL is not more than 2 weeks old and I took it out of the box updated it and it worked just fine. Except that battery consumption was way off and the device was generating heat.

Earlier though I had noticed that my device firmware was not the most current one. But when I updated the phone aside from an OS upgrade (.218 to .318) there was nothing else.

Anyways a few days back, I used this WDRT to reset the phone and lo and behold, there was that new firmware. All installed fine etc.

Remarkable difference. In terms of battery life - at idle - before the firmware, average battery discharge rate was around 8-10% per hour. After the update - at idle - 2% per hour (as per Battery Pro +) In terms of heat - the phone does not warm up like it used to earlier. But stress the device and it becomes warm. Stress means - say using Viber or Skype or Telegram (and I expect Whatsapp) for 60 mins...having more than four apps open...Of course the screen also chews up a significant amount of battery though I have it set at 35% with adaptive lighting.

That firmware did some wonders though which leads me to believe that the 950XL can be optimized even further.

 

[mranieri]

Invader...I agree it is absurd that Microsoft has these issues....do you guys remember the RROD on the xbox360?? I went though about 4 units before it was resolved...thankfully I have three XBones in the house and non have issues....

Every time I returned the SP or Lumias, they renewed the original warranty (new unit) and when the next great thing comes out...well I would have switched anyway...might as well be protected until the newer units come around.....I like the Windows environment....

As far as software...I CHOSE to be on the fast production ring because I like to be.....So I understand this stuff may not work great at first.... those people that have issues with being on the fast or even slow ring have to understand that they may have crashes and freezes.......if they cannot understand it ...get off!

None of this excuses the obvious lack of quality control Microsoft continually experiences....but I am willing to deal with it as long as they take care of me.

Mark

 

[jdballard]

Anyway...I cannot be happier with the replacement.

I have maintained since people started reporting problems withe their 950 and 950XLs that MS had some sort of manufacturing problem because of the wide variation in problems reported. It seemed either people had really bad problems with heating, freezes, reboots, etc., or they raved about how fast and responsive it was. Sure, there were definitely some OS issues, but after the initial release with some people reporting the issues and others not, it just made me think it was hardware.

I was one of the lucky ones. It got warm, and it occasionally froze and some of the out of the box apps weren't the most stable (I'm looking at you, camera app) but thankfully I never had the general weirdness that plagued so many.

Glad your new one runs great!

 

[gsjansen]

All tech products will have duds......customer service is so important. When I realized that the problem I was having with my 950 xl was battery related, the ms store manager where I brought it to, after I wasn't interested in a new phone, gave me a a brand spanking new battery, and viola, all my issues disappeared,

my experience is detailed in this thread http://forums.windowscentral.com/microsoft-lumia-950-xl/422788-new-battery-my-950xl.html

I absolutely have had nothing but positive experience with Microsoft customer service........(btw, I love my 950 xl!)