Waiting a month for cracked screen repair, please fix this support hole Microsoft.

[Luke Beales]

I'll outline my experience just for some background information to hopefully help out other Australians with their decisions.

• Mid 2015 - Heard rumours about a new super windows phone when my Lumia 720 was due for a replacement. Decided to hold out and buy my first flagship phone.
• Late 2015 - Lumia 950 was announced, it's everything I hoped for. Pre-ordered.
• Dec 2015 - Lumia 950 arrived. Fantastic phone. A bit buggy as many people found but otherwise it is incredible.
• Mid Dec 2015 - Went looking for cases and screen protectors. Nothing at any phone shop so ordered off ebay as I was getting paranoid.
• Late Dec 2015 - With phone case and protector in the mail, phone slipped and fell face down on a deck where a nail head happened to be poking out. Cracked screen but everything seemed to work.
• Early 2016 - Fiddled about with insurance claim to have it repaired. Discovered after a long duration of back and forth, with a paid quote from a repair shop, that these phones can only be repaired at one place - fonebiz in Sydney.
• Feb 26 2016 - Logged return with fonebiz, spent a lot of time after that waiting for insurance, finally sent phone off many weeks later.
• Mar 17 2016 - Phone arrives at fonebiz
• Mar 24 2016 - Fonebiz finally get around to sending a quote through for the repair costs.
• Mar 29 2016 - Insurance finally tell me to go ahead. I accept the fonebiz quote and receive an invoice straight away. Fonebiz site shows status as "awaiting parts".
• Apr 19 2016 - No word from fonebiz, I email asking what's going on. Still no response to this day, and the job status still shows "awaiting parts".

So there is a lot of insurance mixups up there, but the key is that there is only one repair place for Microsoft in Australia, and they don't communicate. And what's worse is that they don't keep spare displays in stock it seems. I have been mocked by people with iPhones telling me they can wander in to an Apple store and get it repaired on the spot, and they have a point. Now I understand Microsoft doesn't have many stores however if it takes over a month (and maybe more) to get a spare part, how can they possibly be taken seriously, and what's more how can I possibly recommend any Australian purchase a Microsoft Lumia handset? Believe me, I used to recommend it. Not as a ******, but as someone who appreciates how much nicer and logical the OS is to me. But all I tell people now is to go to the local post office and buy one of the cheap $100 handsets if they want Windows - as then it'll be cheaper and quicker to get a replacement.

Help me promote your handsets Microsoft as I feel like you are working towards something great, but you badly need to fix the support (and promotional) side.

 

[cracgor]

I'll outline my experience just for some background information to hopefully help out other Australians with their decisions.

• Mid 2015 - Heard rumours about a new super windows phone when my Lumia 720 was due for a replacement. Decided to hold out and buy my first flagship phone.
• Late 2015 - Lumia 950 was announced, it's everything I hoped for. Pre-ordered.
• Dec 2015 - Lumia 950 arrived. Fantastic phone. A bit buggy as many people found but otherwise it is incredible.
• Mid Dec 2015 - Went looking for cases and screen protectors. Nothing at any phone shop so ordered off ebay as I was getting paranoid.
• Late Dec 2015 - With phone case and protector in the mail, phone slipped and fell face down on a deck where a nail head happened to be poking out. Cracked screen but everything seemed to work.
• Early 2016 - Fiddled about with insurance claim to have it repaired. Discovered after a long duration of back and forth, with a paid quote from a repair shop, that these phones can only be repaired at one place - fonebiz in Sydney.
• Feb 26 2016 - Logged return with fonebiz, spent a lot of time after that waiting for insurance, finally sent phone off many weeks later.
• Mar 17 2016 - Phone arrives at fonebiz
• Mar 24 2016 - Fonebiz finally get around to sending a quote through for the repair costs.
• Mar 29 2016 - Insurance finally tell me to go ahead. I accept the fonebiz quote and receive an invoice straight away. Fonebiz site shows status as "awaiting parts".
• Apr 19 2016 - No word from fonebiz, I email asking what's going on. Still no response to this day, and the job status still shows "awaiting parts".

So there is a lot of insurance mixups up there, but the key is that there is only one repair place for Microsoft in Australia, and they don't communicate. And what's worse is that they don't keep spare displays in stock it seems. I have been mocked by people with iPhones telling me they can wander in to an Apple store and get it repaired on the spot, and they have a point. Now I understand Microsoft doesn't have many stores however if it takes over a month (and maybe more) to get a spare part, how can they possibly be taken seriously, and what's more how can I possibly recommend any Australian purchase a Microsoft Lumia handset? Believe me, I used to recommend it. Not as a ******, but as someone who appreciates how much nicer and logical the OS is to me. But all I tell people now is to go to the local post office and buy one of the cheap $100 handsets if they want Windows - as then it'll be cheaper and quicker to get a replacement.

Help me promote your handsets Microsoft as I feel like you are working towards something great, but you badly need to fix the support (and promotional) side.

Just so you know, Microsoft may or may not read this. This is just a fan forum. I'm sure everyone is sorry for your difficulty. It sucks.

 

[skydiverian]

If you're in Sydney why not try the Microsoft store on Pitt Street for help?

 

[Luke Beales]

I understand Microsoft most likely won't read this. My issue is that I do recommend brands and products to people and often get asked which brand is best. My preference is to tell people to use whichever they click with most. Go use an iPhone, if you like it, buy it. Same with android, and the same with windows. Try the keyboard. Try navigating around settings. Try the email and messaging clients. See which one matches you the most. That just happened to be windows for me.

Problem is while I still believe that's the best way decide which device is right, I have to caution people. If you drop your iphone, take it to an apple store and you'll walk out with it repaired. If you drop your android, take it to the abundant places in shopping centres that will be able to get parts in a few days, and might already have them. And buy a popular android device! But for windows I now can't recommend in the same fashion. Drop your windows phone, send it off to the one repair shop which doesn't even have parts, and keep a backup phone around for those times because you could be out for over a month. That isn't right. And so even if they "click" with windows, they'll only buy the cheap phones which doesn't do much for the brand - as that's the device they'll demo windows on to other people.

I can't be the only one who has this issue, and this may be specific to Australia, but it seems like a giant oversight to me assuming that nobody will ever need their phone repaired.

 

[Luke Beales]

So there has been a little progress on this. We complained as high up as we could go, which got as far as the manager at the Sydney store. This seemed to get something to happen, so this is in addition to the initial timeline.

• Apr 27 2016 - Complained to Microsoft as much as we could to get a resolution.
• Apr 28 2016 - Received an email from Fonebiz saying "I’m writing to advise that Microsoft have authorised for your handset to be replaced which will be shipped out within the next few days.".
• May 5 2016 - Just received a parcel from Fonebiz. Docket says it has been repaired, and the software updated.

This is what arrived.




So this raises a few questions:

1. It was meant to be replaced. Their docket says it has been repaired. What has been done? Is it a new phone just without a box? Is it my original phone with all the parts repaired? Is it a refurb?
2. It's not a replacement retail phone which is what I expected from the wording in that prior email last week.
3. For a $1000 phone to arrive in that minimal packaging, with that sticker on it looking as it does. It looks horrible.
4. Did they put the sticker on and not clean the screen first, or was that sticker already on the replacement screen as a part from microsoft?

Am I wrong for expecting something decent? Is this the standard across all brands for phone repairs or is it limited to microsoft and/or this repairer? I have never had a phone sent off to repair before and just curious if my expectations are set too high. Is this just how companies are now?

 

[Guytronic]

Is this just how companies are now?

I just had a different brand repaired and returned in perfect working order.
Return packaging and the protector on the screen is typical of a repaired device.

If the device is working satisfactorily why stress?

 

[Laura Knotek]

This is not an issue limited to Microsoft or Australia.

I live in the US and bought a Moto X Pure Edition last October. My device died on April 15, while I was watching a YouTube video. I never dropped it or did anything to damage it. I sent it to Moto's repair facility in Texas on April 15. On April 29, I received a refurbished device. However, Moto never removed the previous owner's Google account prior to doing a factory data reset, so it was a brick to me. I couldn't set it up with my own Google account. So off it went on April 29 back to Texas. I'm still waiting for a usable device.

 

[skydiverian]

To follow up on my previous post, since I'm in Sydney at the moment (and my other half dropped her Lumia 620, breaking the display) I went into the store to see what they could suggest. Fonebiz was the only option, they can't handle repairs in the store. Unfortunately that's academic for my 620 since it apparently was never officially release in Australia and with it not getting Win10 it's time to recycle it.

However, it also had a mainboard failure last year (refused to install 8.1 - I tried the WDRT which resulted in a bricked phone). To cut the story short it was returned in similar packaging to yours, though it was clearly the same phone in the physical same condition (though they relocked it to the carrier and I had to update it to 8.1 myself).

If you want to check that it is the same phone, go to the dialler and type in *#06# to bring up the IMEI number - it should be as it was before if it the same phone (unless, like my 620, it's had a mainboard change which resulted in a new IMEI).

In my case I filed it for repair via Microsoft's support website - they use Anovo in the UK, who also repair phones for other manufacturers. After some weird queries (that they would have to return the phone since I didn't include the sim tray adapter, even though the Microsoft website stated to take every removable part off before posting) when I pushed it they got on with the repair and shipped it back pretty quickly.

 

[Robert Novak1]

This is why I fix things myself.

BTW I have never had an issue with how Microsoft sent back my repaired items. if it is fixed and functional, that's pretty much all I care about

 

[poit57]

A couple months ago, the Microsoft support website directed me to https://palcotech.com/ located in Alabama for an out-of-warranty physical repair of my Lumia 920. This was the same official repair center that Nokia used in the US prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia. Last week, I was looking for a support for my mother's Lumia 1020, but rather than directing to a third-party repair center as before, the Microsoft support page informed me that no repair service was offered because the phone was over a year old.

Based on my recent experience and the OP's story, I'm now curious if Microsoft recently did away with all out-of-warranty repairs for older Nokia devices and if they changed their repair center partnership for the current Microsoft branded phones. I'm also curious as to the difference the OP paid in insurance deductible versus what a more local repair center would have charged. Was the insurance coverage even worth the hassle?

For my 920, I shipped the phone from Oklahoma to Alabama and had the repaired phone returned within 2 weeks. I normally try to do repairs myself, but I was stumped on this one. Palco Tech provided much better service than the local, independent repair shops I've dealt with in the past.

 

[kamokin]

I understand Microsoft most likely won't read this. My issue is that I do recommend brands and products to people and often get asked which brand is best. My preference is to tell people to use whichever they click with most. Go use an iPhone, if you like it, buy it. Same with android, and the same with windows. Try the keyboard. Try navigating around settings. Try the email and messaging clients. See which one matches you the most. That just happened to be windows for me.

Problem is while I still believe that's the best way decide which device is right, I have to caution people. If you drop your iphone, take it to an apple store and you'll walk out with it repaired. If you drop your android, take it to the abundant places in shopping centres that will be able to get parts in a few days, and might already have them. And buy a popular android device! But for windows I now can't recommend in the same fashion. Drop your windows phone, send it off to the one repair shop which doesn't even have parts, and keep a backup phone around for those times because you could be out for over a month. That isn't right. And so even if they "click" with windows, they'll only buy the cheap phones which doesn't do much for the brand - as that's the device they'll demo windows on to other people.

I can't be the only one who has this issue, and this may be specific to Australia, but it seems like a giant oversight to me assuming that nobody will ever need their phone repaired.

You're not the only one who had gone through this mentioned dilemma. And, certainly not just Australians. Just a couple of hours ago, here in Manhattan, I expressed my rage to the do-nothing workers at a prime MS store nearby for not having even a clue of a service to repair damages on WP phones. I told them the same thing to what you said about the iPhone: I could've bought a phone from a ubiquitous Apple Store, if only I had known that I was going to have such problem to get my phone repaired from damages at MS. MS is well aware that broken screens are the most common damages for smartphones/tablets, and must have had reliable tech supports in all their stores mostly for that. I've found out Ebay sells the screen for a reasonable price. So, I'm going to do a DIM.

 

[kamokin]

"I can't be the only one who has this issue, and this may be specific to Australia, but it seems like a giant oversight to me assuming that nobody will ever need their phone repaired."

You're not the only one who had gone through this mentioned dilemma. And, certainly not just Australians. Just a couple of hours ago, here in Manhattan, I expressed my rage to the do-nothing workers at a prime MS store nearby for not having even a clue of a service to repair damages on WP phones. I told them the same thing to what you said about the iPhone: I could've bought a phone from a ubiquitous Apple Store, if only I had known that I was going to have such problem to get my phone repaired from damages at MS. MS is well aware that broken screens are the most common damages for smartphones/tablets, and must have had reliable tech supports in all their stores mostly for that. I've found out Ebay sells the screen for a reasonable price. So, I'm going to do a DIM.