I took the day off from work last Friday to get this high-pitched whine issue with my Photon taken care of once and for all, and after nearly eight full hours shuttling between stores and sitting on hold with several different departments of Sprint customer service, I have solved it: by getting a different phone. The quest to have this happen was not easy.
First, I'd like to compliment Adrian from the Multiple Returns Department. He and his supervisor were the ones who finally found a way through Sprint's red tape and shipped me a new phone. I wish I'd just had to deal with him instead of the myriad script-reading cronies I ended up with.
Now, with the positive out of the way it's time to regale you with a tale of headaches, replacements, and lots and lots of dropped calls and hold music. Sit back, grab a beer and laugh at my expense if necessary.
Background:
I've posted before here and here about this strange dog-whistle kind of sound that happens any time use headphones on my Photon 4G. It's not confined to phone calls (as many of the tech reps I talked to tried to say), but happens constantly for any kind of sound coming through the headphone jack.
Throughout this debacle I've been posting updates on the Motorola User Forums, in this thread. You can follow along with what happened there, and I may repost my parts of the thread in another article later. For the purposes of this rant, I'm starting on Wednesday the 21st of September, the day I received my first replacement Photon from Sprint in the mail.
As soon as I took the new Photon out of the box, I checked for the whine. I wasn't disappointed. I went into my local Sprint store and informed them that the replacement had the same problem as my original. The store in question was this one, and I've had extensive dealings with two of their employees, Donna Hodge and Pam Tengbergen. Donna has been sympathetic and tried to help every step of the way. Pam, on the other hand, simply quoted company policy and offered an "I'm sorry."
On Wednesday I dealt with Pam, who basically told me I was SOL. I'm past my magical 30-day return period, after which all phones suddenly become toxic and unsellable. She couldn't hear the whine I described (though she did say she believed me that it was there). She didn't offer to have their tech take a look at it.
Before I left the store I talked to a customer service rep on the phone and he told me it was Sprint's policy to try and replace a phone two times before they give you a different handset. I told him fine, ship out the third Photon and I'll return it just the same.
The Day in Question:
Thursday and Friday came, and I had no tracking number and no third phone. I called Sprint again, and was transferred to the "Multiple Replacements Department," which I didn't know existed. I spoke with Adrian, who told me to try going to the Sprint corporate store (here). He also gave me the direct phone number for his supervisor, and said he'd call me back in a few hours to check and see if the issue was addressed.
Adrian provided above-and-beyond customer service, and he was by far the exception among his coworkers at Sprint that day. I just wanted to state that again. This man deserves an award.
I went to the corporate store, and their on-site technician said he could hear the sound. He said it looked like something was wrong with the wiring in the headphone jack and that it would take 2 hours to fix. I left the phone with them and came back in 2 hours.
When I received my phone back, no work had been done. The tech left me a note saying that the whine was a "known" issue with Motorola and I'd have to wait for them to fix it. Keep in mind that up until Friday morning, all the Sprint techs I'd talked to claimed to have never heard of my particular problem. I find this sudden discovery suspect.
I told the rep this was unacceptable and asked to speak with his manager. The manager was sympathetic, but offered nothing to help. He said, and I quote, "Honestly, that's why I never by the latest and greatest."
Small note: Adrian from the Multiple Returns Department did call me back as he said he would, but the phone was still in the hands of the useless corporate tech at this point so I couldn't answer. When I called back, his supervisor was busy so I left a voicemail.
I went back to Total Choice Wireless in Atascocita and asked if perhaps, since they were a third-party retailer, their company would be willing to eat the cost of a new handset for me. They said basically, "If Sprint won't do it, we won't do it."
At this point I was ready to cancel my service with Sprint and go somewhere else, so I began my horrible, stilted dance with Sprint Customer Service. Over the course of roughly four hours, I called at least a dozen times and was transferred as many times to tech support, sales, and "Advanced Product Returns," where I was given to a supervisor who said he could help, but then hung up on me.
I repeated my problem every time, with every rep to whom I was
transferred, because although all of them had access to the ample case
history for my phone none of them seemed to be able to read it. Most
often I was asked to "confirm" that the problem was something completely
different than what I'd just told them.
I called back and asked for "Advanced Product Returns" again, which landed me with a regular rep who put me on hold for 45 minutes, checking in with me every ten or fifteen, only to tell me the same thing: "We can't replace your phone with a different model."
I asked to speak to the Retention Department to cancel my plan. I got someone from Retentions, who said "Hello, this is <inaudible>, how may I--" and hung up on me again. I find it ironic that throughout the day I dealt with several dozen people who work at a phone company, and most of them seem to have very little knowledge on how to properly use a phone.
In an act of total (and fortunate) desperation, I called the number Adrian gave me earlier that day, and this time his supervisor answered immediately. She said she did get my voicemail, but due to a snafu with their phones my phone number was cut off.
She transferred me back to Adrian, who listened patiently as I detailed the run-around I'd been given all day. Adrian asked what my desired outcome was, and I said simply "I want a different phone. Not a new Photon, a different phone from a different manufacturer with the comparable features."
Adrian emailed the whole thing to his supervisor and put me on hold while he waited for her answer. He came back and asked if there was a particular model of phone I was interested in. Samsung recently released the Epic 4G Touch, which at least on paper is pretty much feature-identical to the Photon, so I told him that one.
After another brief hold, Adrian gave me an order number and told me I could call the number he gave me for his supervisor if I had any more issues in the coming week. Late Saturday I received an email confirmation that a replacement phone had shipped, and was due the following Thursday (September 29th).
Conclusion:
Adrian and his supervisor single-handedly saved Sprint my account. Had it not been for their common-sense, helpful service the company would have lost all of my money for good. Theirs is the example of what customer service should be, and the rest of the company should take lessons.
There are obvious failures at every level that Sprint needs to take notice of. First and foremost: it is not the customer's fault that Motorola hasn't acknowledged or fixed an issue with a phone, and I should not have to suffer with a faulty device while they figure it out. Sprint is the front line here, and they should have taken the phone back and given hell to Motorola, not me.
Second: train your reps on how to use the phone system without cutting off the caller. It's ridiculous that I was cut off five times over the course of the day by incompetent hold button abilities. Also, make them actually read all those copious notes they take every time I call in. It would save me having to repeat my story fifteen times.
Third: Lose the "after 30 days you're pretty much screwed" attitude. Electronics fail, especially when they're a first-generation device. Sometimes issues aren't immediately apparent, or (heaven forbid) the customer spends their 30 days trying to find another way to work around them. Telling a customer that they're just unlucky to have bought the most expensive and newest device you advertised is bad for business. You very likely would have lost me had someone not intervened at the last minute.
For now, I wait. I'll post a rant on the Epic Touch as soon as I get it and have some time to play with it. Hopefully *fingers crossed* Samsung didn't buy their headphone hardware from the same OEM as Motorola. We shall see.
Update 09/29/2011
I emailed dan@sprint.com (the CEO's personal feedback email) and talked to a lady named Robin B. in his office. She said that Adrian would be given proper recognition for being the only person able to resolve my issue and that they were taking all my other suggestions into consideration. She apologized for the runaround I received, and asked if all my concerns had been addressed.
So far the Samsung Epic 4G Touch is performing just fine, so I told her I was okay for the time being. I have her desk phone number and the one for Adrian's supervisor should any new issues crop up. Rest assured, if I do have any more problems you all will be the first to know about.
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