Nokia 925 with Jammed Sim Card Tray - Will Nokia Care Cover This?

[MA3STRO]

I picked up my first Windows phone a few months ago: A refurbished HTC Radar that was in mint condition for only ?45. It is not a top end device and the Windows app marketplace is basic to say the least; however I really love the Windows operating system. The phone is solid too and the 5MP camera takes decent photos.

I purchased the Nokia 925 from eBay a few days ago for my girlfriend. The phone is second hand but is in mint condition. For ?250 I also got a leather case and the wireless charging case. I was really pleased. The phone is gorgeous.

Unfortunately, I was unable to open the sim card tray. The nokia key would not open it. It was jammed. I looked at instruction videos on YouTube and watched how easy it was supposed to be. Not for me. I tried for around an hour and had no success. My friend looked at it too but we were both scared about doing any damage internally so called Nokia Care for advice. They recommended bringing the phone in for repair. The guy in the shop said asked how it happened. I noted that when I got the phone, I had pushed down on the sim card slot initially as it looked like the power button. He then suggested that it was my fault and Nokia wouldn't repair it because it was user damage. I disagree that pushing any part of a phone can be construed as user damage. He also noted that the sim card could be in the wrong way and the pins could be damaged.

He said that I should just return it to the seller but then said Nokia would maybe cover it under warranty. They are sending the phone away this Monday and advised that they would call me on Wednesday with an update.

iPhones have a similar sim card tray and I have never heard about their sim card trays jamming in this way. Sim card trays are only around ?7 on eBay, however I am concerned that the pins could be damaged.

I'm curious as to how Nokia Care are going to handle this. I am covered financially via PayPal but I'd be disappointed if they do not cover it. I am considering buying a new Nokia Lumia for myself next month. I am also considering buying one for my mum. She has a very basic old-school phone that is easy to operate and said she wouldn't be able to understand smartphones etc...though Windows is very easy to use and I think she would get used to it. I'd be reluctant to buy another Nokia phone if their warranty didn't cover something like this. I realise why phone companies won't cover cracked screens etc, though design flaws like this should be covered. If not, what exactly is the warranty for?

What has your experiences been like with Nokia Care? Is their service consistently good or is it hit or miss?

 

[tofu.]

have you considered just bringing it to the microsoft store? if they can't get it open, they may just hand you a new 925 device.

 

[VinceGio]

I was going to open up my sim tray earlier today, did not want to open up either.. BUT
What I did was tilt the key towards the edges, like spin it around slowly and it popped up (The plastic thingy which holds the tray inside the phone is a bit dented and you need to tilt the key to open it).

If that does not work.. Nokia Care is your only hope.

 

[MA3STRO]

have you considered just bringing it to the microsoft store? if they can't get it open, they may just hand you a new 925 device.

Hey Tofu. I'm not aware of any dedicated Microsoft shops in the UK (certainly close to where I live). Are they launching stores in the same way that Apple did?

 

[MA3STRO]

I was going to open up my sim tray earlier today, did not want to open up either.. BUT
What I did was tilt the key towards the edges, like spin it around slowly and it popped up (The plastic thingy which holds the tray inside the phone is a bit dented and you need to tilt the key to open it).

If that does not work.. Nokia Care is your only hope.

How they do normally handle things if they do choose to repair it. Repair my device, replace it with a refurbished version or replace it with a new phone?

 

[tofu.]

Hey Tofu. I'm not aware of any dedicated Microsoft shops in the UK (certainly close to where I live). Are they launching stores in the same way that Apple did?

I apologize. I didnt not notice you were in the UK

 

[MA3STRO]

I apologize. I didnt not notice you were in the UK

No need to apologise. I didn't say that I was

 

[VinceGio]

How they do normally handle things if they do choose to repair it. Repair my device, replace it with a refurbished version or replace it with a new phone?

If the warranty is still available, then they will either fix the issue and ship back the same phone. Or Send you a new phone.

 

[PLGomez]

I had a problem with the sim tray as well. Instead of being stuck inside it wouldn't close. I would push it in but it would just spring back out. I took it to T-Mobile. They said it was still under warranty so they had another shipped to me and I shipped back my defected one. The new one has no problems coming out or staying in but I think the design for the sim tray should be reworked for the 925 successor.

 

[MA3STRO]

If the warranty is still available, then they will either fix the issue and ship back the same phone. Or Send you a new phone.

Thanks Vinx. That is reassuring to know. I was worried it wasn't because of what the guy in the repair shop said. The warranty has close to two years left so I see no reason why they will not honour it.

 

[MA3STRO]

I had a problem with the sim tray as well. Instead of being stuck inside it wouldn't close. I would push it in but it would just spring back out. I took it to T-Mobile. They said it was still under warranty so they had another shipped to me and I shipped back my defected one. The new one has no problems coming out or staying in but I think the design for the sim tray should be reworked for the 925 successor.

I agree. I have read a lot of threads online about the issue and it seems to be very common. Even people who have not had any major problems with it still do not like the design.

I'm generally not a fan of sim trays anyways. They are such a pain compared to phones with removable batteries.

 

[MA3STRO]

Here's the latest in my saga

The Glasgow shop called me this afternoon and advised that they had repaired the phone. I was very impressed with the fast turnaround time. I travelled in (20 miles) and went to the shop. I checked the back and front of the phone to see if there were any scrapes or scratches and it seemed fine. He also put a vodafone sim card in. It showed no signal though I assumed that this was because it was a no sim card and had not been activated.

Got home and I soon became aware of two things:

• The top of the sim cart tray (the silver part) had been taped down to the blast plastic part underneath. When I attempted to remove it, it started unsticking a little. The second time I did this, the silver part unstuck more. After trying to register a sim a few times, it came completely off.
  The sim card tray is still broke. It doesn't work the way that it does for others in videos. Rather than just popping out. I need to wiggle the tray from side to side a little as the nokia key does not stick to the surrounding area sufficiently in order to bring it out.
• There is a tiny scrape next to the sim card tray. It is on the phone itself, not the sim card tray (I wouldn't have minded a scratch there as that can be replaced). I have photos of the phone from before I took it in and it was not there. Stupidly, I did not see this in the shop. I checked the front and back and checked the top...but I didn't see the scratch. This was either the bright lights in the shop...or more likely, I didn't examine that area close enough. I am annoyed at myself because of this.

As it stands, I cannot get any sim card to work on the phone. I tried the vodafone sim card in the phone that I had used in the shop and I get an invalid sim card message. Yet that sim card works on two other phones. The issue is clearly the phone.

I need to determine whether the issue is with the sim card tray or the phone itself. The scratch that they have added to the top of the phone is not huge....though it is annoying that there is any at all as the phone was in mint condition. And due to the unibody design of the phone, they cannot simply replace that area with a new part. I am unsure as to what I can do about it as I signed the document in the shop (again, I'm annoyed at myself because of this).

When it didn't work tonight, my first thought was to simply return the phone to the seller. Though it is difficult to do that now with the top of the sim card tray being separated from the phone. Not to mention the scrape on the casing.

What will Nokia do? Before I was happy getting this phone repaired. Now I'm leaning towards getting a new one sent out. It costs me money to travel in every time...and the three hours or so to get in and out and deal with it all. Not to mention the time I have spent trying to get the phone to work. That costs me even more money (I work from home so I am losing a lot of time that I should be working).

I'm going to call again tomorrow. It is unclear whether the guys in the shop tried the phone with a sim card. The fact the metal part of the sim card tray came unstuck within 30 minutes of me getting home suggests that this was a rush job. Annoyingly, before I left the shop they asked me to rank their service and leave a comment for nokia. I left a positive comment as I was so pleased with the turnaround time. Yet it now seems they cut corners.

 

[VinceGio]

You should definitely contact them and say that they ruined it even more.. Hence the motto 'Customer is always right'.
If you feel that they would destroy it even more, feel free to contact Stephen Elop trough E-Mail, he/His workers will then forward it directly to Nokia Care, where they will work out a fix for you. Do not forget to include your country & Phone Nr.

stephen.elop@nokia.com (stephen.elop@nokia.com)

 

[MA3STRO]

Hi Vin,

I'm going to speak to them directly on the phone tomorrow but I'll send a quick email to them first and explain my current situation.

I am perhaps being a little pedantic about the scratch but that is the kind of thing that considerably drops the value of a phone. It seems a little careless on their part...and a little bit of stupidity on my part for not noticing.

I'm swaying towards just getting a replacement. I don't want to have to send back the phone again and again. It's not like they are going to compensate me for their mistakes. They're certainly not going to compensate my financially for the time I am wasting dealing with all this. I am way behind my work because of it all.

Appreciate your advice

Kevin

 

[bigkevbosky]

I've sent 2 phones into Nokia for warranty exchange - both were bought off Ebay - both times I was given a brand new replacement phone. Neither time was I asked for original receipt or anything. Nokia goes by the IMEI number to determine if the phone is within 1 year warranty service - they don't care who originally bought the phone.

The first time was a Lumia 900 that someone had let discharge to 0% and it wouldn't boot back up. Nokia replaced it with a brand new Lumia 900 about 2 weeks after I sent it in.

The second time was a Lumia 820 that had some damage to the volume buttons. Nokia had to wait on replacement 820s to get shipped to their service center, so it took about 4 weeks before I had a brand new replacement 820 back.

Nokia probably has the best warranty of any electronics company I've ever dealt with.

 

[rmorgan999]

I had the same issue with my Lumia 920 and Nokia fixed it via the warranty service no questions asked. Great service, quick turnaround and you can track your repair on line.

 

[MA3STRO]

Thanks again to Vin for suggesting to email Stephen Elop.

I emailed him last night with an explanation of what happened. I got up in the morning and had three emails: One from him saying that his support team will contact me, one from his support team advising that they were dealing with the issue with a matter of urgency, and another from a direct member of staff who asked me for my phone number so that she could call me.

They are collecting my phone by UPS tomorrow (Wednesday). She said she will get the phone on Thursday and if they can deal with it quickly, I could have the phone back on Friday. If not, I will get it on Monday. She sent me the UPS tracking number for the collection. It was all handled professionally.

She did mention on the phone that she spoke to the Nokia Care Point that repaired it the first time. She didn't get into great detail about it other than to say that they had spoke to the shop. I imagine they were asking what happened and asking what the nature of the repair was (i.e. verified what I said).

She also mentioned on the phone that they will address the issue of the scratch. Not sure if that means that they will touch it up a little or simply replace the phone. Either way I am very happy with the way things have been handled so far. It's not over yet, but I'm confident they will resolve it.

Nokia probably has the best warranty of any electronics company I've ever dealt with.

It certainly seems that way. It's actually tempting me to make my next phone a Nokia as well. I wish other companies such as HTC would put more emphasis on customer service. Good to see Nokia leading the way on this. I can see a lot more low to mid range phone users switching to Nokia over the year anyways due to how affordable their lumias are becoming.

 

[raul_junior]

Thanks again to Vin for suggesting to email Stephen Elop.

I emailed him last night with an explanation of what happened. I got up in the morning and had three emails: One from him saying that his support team will contact me, one from his support team advising that they were dealing with the issue with a matter of urgency, and another from a direct member of staff who asked me for my phone number so that she could call me.

They are collecting my phone by UPS tomorrow (Wednesday). She said she will get the phone on Thursday and if they can deal with it quickly, I could have the phone back on Friday. If not, I will get it on Monday. She sent me the UPS tracking number for the collection. It was all handled professionally.

She did mention on the phone that she spoke to the Nokia Care Point that repaired it the first time. She didn't get into great detail about it other than to say that they had spoke to the shop. I imagine they were asking what happened and asking what the nature of the repair was (i.e. verified what I said).

She also mentioned on the phone that they will address the issue of the scratch. Not sure if that means that they will touch it up a little or simply replace the phone. Either way I am very happy with the way things have been handled so far. It's not over yet, but I'm confident they will resolve it.



It certainly seems that way. It's actually tempting me to make my next phone a Nokia as well. I wish other companies such as HTC would put more emphasis on customer service. Good to see Nokia leading the way on this. I can see a lot more low to mid range phone users switching to Nokia over the year anyways due to how affordable their lumias are becoming.

I'm kind of saddened because I doubt that if Stephen becomes CEO of Microsoft he will continue responding to customers by email since he will have so much responsibility on his hand

 

[MA3STRO]

I'm kind of saddened because I doubt that if Stephen becomes CEO of Microsoft he will continue responding to customers by email since he will have so much responsibility on his hand

Not sure if you were joking but I will take the bait

There is obviously someone who is employed to handle his emails and filter his emails into support queries etc. A CEO simply cannot deal with issues such as that day to day. I imagine that email address gets hundreds or even thousands of emails every day.

 

[raul_junior]

Not sure if you were joking but I will take the bait

There is obviously someone who is employed to handle his emails and filter his emails into support queries etc. A CEO simply cannot deal with issues such as that day to day. I imagine that email address gets hundreds or even thousands of emails every day.

haha I actually wasn't joking because that's his actual email and people on these forums know its not a machine because each time its a different response, but either way if you email the CEO of Samsung,apple or some other do you think they will reply?