[HTC One S] zoesdad70:
My HTC One S Saga.

The Homescreen problem has completely ruined my One S experience and I've been quite vocal on the Vodafone forum as a result of what I see as poor service. During the whole saga, I made notes and comments and thought it may be useful to publish them. Some of this you may have seen before. I apologise now for such a long post but I just wanted to post the whole sorry story in the hope that lessons can be learned and no-one else has to suffer the same hell.

Here follows a (nowhere near complete) list of the main points posted on the Vodafone forum during the six months of my One S ownership. There follows my thoughts and conclusions on the subject.

In the table below, the numbers in brackets refer to the post number in the 'Home screen button problem' thread on the Vodafone UK forum.

13 April : Bought phone outright from my local Vodafone store. The sales person did not advise me that I needed to change to a microSim and it was three days before I could get back to a VF store to get one. Not a good start!

20 April : Homescreen problem first reported on Vodafone forum

30 April : After a week of problems, I posted on the Vodafone forum (25). At first I thought the problem was a misbehaving app, but after resetting the phone to factory and still getting the problem I realised it wasn’t.

15 May : James (VF) asks for users to send in phones.

17 May : I report problem to HTC

22 May : James (VF) reports they cannot reproduce the problem (82)

29 May : Phone sent to HTC for repair

30 May : Lee reports on VF forum that Devices team are investigating (101)

14 June : Lee reports that VF are still looking into this (141)

15 June : Phone returns from HTC – Has been replaced

16 June : James (VF) asks for updates (155) from those who have had their phones replaced. Also restates that VF cannot replicate the problem and have not been feeding anything back to HTC despite saying they were in earlier posts.

17 June : James (VF) advised user fnally (post 160) to try a factory reset (162)

26 June : I posted that all was still ok (180)

11 July : Problem strikes the replacement phone – On holiday at the time! (198)

12 July : Ben states VF still unable to replicate problem (200)

13 July : Reported problem to HTC

16 July : Asked by HTC to reset phone – They confirmed that the problem was not one they recognised.

19 July : DaveCD (VF) advised to send to HTC rather than VFUK (210)

19 July : Problem seemingly disappears after disabling Facebook on the phone (214)

20 July : Problem is back.

24 July : User spitfireIV reports HTC are investigating the problem (225)

24 July : Tom (VF) asks for more phones (227)

28 July : User rdlock reports that HTC are awaiting an update for the phone (234)

31 July : HTC offer to repair phone again

2 Aug : Tom (VF) states that HTC are working on a fix.

3 Aug : DaveCD posts that the problem is still under investigation (253)

13 Aug : Phone sent to HTC for repair

17 Aug : Email from HTC saying they are now recognising the problem

24 Aug : Phone returns from HTC. It later emerges that my phone was lost for a few days and was then returned to me, with nobody able to tell me if it actually reached the repair technicians.

25 Aug : Homescreen problem is still there.

26 Aug : James posts about upcoming update (307) saying “figures (sic) crossed it fixes the problem”. Says this despite VFUK not being able to reproduce the problem.

28 Aug : I post (314) asking for an update of the VF investigations into the issue. No response.

29 Aug : Couldn’t use phone for over 10 minutes because of problem

31 Aug : Tom (VF) posts (321) pushing all responsibility onto HTC and the pending update

: : I ask (322) if we can return our phones if the update doesn’t fix it. No response.

1 Sep : I post (323) quoting advice from Citizen’s Advice about phones being fit for purpose and the onus being on the seller, not the manufacturer.

2 Sep : James (VF) posts (324), backing up Tom’s statement that the fault lies with HTC and it is up to them to fix it.

14 Sep : OTA update 2.38 is released and fails to fix the issue on my phone.

: : Posted on the forum (364) asking for VFUK’s advice. Absolutely no response.

15 Sep : Tom (VF) asks in post 369 for people to report success or failure of the update.

25 Sep : My phone goes to HTC for a third repair after discussion with HTC repair centre and the fact that Vodafone are pushing their customers in that direction.

3 Oct : Phone comes back unrepaired due to major ****-up with HTC repair centre.

4 Oct : Phone goes back to HTC

10 Oct : Tom (VF) asks for serial numbers of affected handsets (429)

15 Oct : Phone comes back from HTC – Homescreen problem remains and is worse than ever

18 Oct : Phone returned to HTC for the FIFTH time.

I owned the phone for a total of 188 days and it has been in repair for 47 of those. (Approx. 26% of the time!)

Of the total time I’ve had the phone in my possession, I’ve had approx. 3 weeks where I’ve not suffered from the homescreen problem (Approx 11% of the total time I’ve owned the phone).

I use my phone for satnav, kindle and for my railway ticket.

•	When navigating, the problem can strike and will force the phone out of the satnav software. Switching off mobile data helps solve this but then I don’t get the traffic service which is something I pay for

•	My railway ticket is electronic and I have to show the phone to the inspector/conductor. Several times the phone has fitted when doing this resulting in an embarrassing delay while I regain control of my phone.

•	I read using Kindle on my phone and have to switch data comms off in order to ensure I don’t get kicked out of the kindle app.

Thoughts

What’s really disappointing here is Vodafone’s lack of ownership of the problem. They supplied the phone to us and are legally bound to ensure that it is fit for purpose and free from defects. They admit that they cannot reproduce the problem so quite what their repair centre was doing to repair the phone was anyone's guess. Initially they were asking for phones to be sent to them, presumably to fulfill their legal obligation to offer a repair. Later they decided to avoid this obligation and started pushing everyone onto HTC for repair. Six months from launch, the problem still exists and may lie undiscovered in many more handsets as the problem only shows itself when using a low strength Edge signal. It was also disappointing that Vodafone were unable to reproduce the problem when they received affected handsets. This may have been due to their procedures requiring a factory reset on the phone when the receive it. This is a known method of temporary relief from the problem and it may take a day or two of normal use before it comes back. What's also unknown is if VFUK gave handsets to staff for real world testing.

Both companies showed a complete lack of empathy towards One S owners. From their point of view it seems we have to accept that the phone is faulty and that it had to go for repair. No matter that we paid good money for the phone and are then left without one for weeks. All you get is “Sorry” and “Thanks for your patience”.

HTC’s UK repair centre is very disappointing. Lack of communication and incompetence resulted in several failed repairs and also cosmetic damage to my handset. Even packing the phone securely for return is something that evades them; my One S has been returned three times in a box for a larger phone and has not been secured inside it, leaving it to rattle and thump all the way back to me.

The lack of urgency from HTC coupled with Vodafone's testing period meant approximately six weeks of a delay in getting the firmware update out to us since it was announced. Version 2.21 was seemingly available at the start of August, yet it was mid September before we got the update.

Communication from both Vodafone and HTC are very poor. Neither will disclose any information about what is going on behind the scenes. Vodafone frustrated us by refusing to even say if they had the update, never mind what version they had or when they expected to release it. This is in sharp contrast to Vodafone Australia who keep their customers up to date through preparation, testing and release. Also VFUK kept insisting they were investigating but never revealed the results of these investigations, despite being repeatedly asked, leaving us to believe no investigation was carried out.

HTC never told us anything either until mid August, four months after launch. No public recognition of the problem was made before this and after we were told that the problem was recognised there was still no communication about a resolution. Even when the fix was released, it became apparent that not all phones were fixed. Indeed, my contact at HTC revealed the fix only worked on 60-70% of handsets.

In September, a German website (www.chip.de) seemed to quote a statement from HTC which indicated a definite fix for the problem was coming. My phone, on its fourth repair, was subjected to "Apply modification/fix per Service Advisory". This actually made the problem even more apparent and quite why this wasn't picked up in testing is a worry.

Lessons learned:

•	As Vodafone only give you 7 days to return the phone for a refund, it’s best to avoid being amongst the first owners of a new handset. Also, if anything is slightly amiss, take the phone back for a refund within the 7 day period – In hindsight I should have asked for this when I wasn’t advised about the need for a microSim. Lack of knowledge about the handset shouldn’t be accepted, no matter how new it is.

•	Vodafone will never accept responsibility for a problem, even when it is written in law that they should. Perhaps the forum isn’t the correct place to try and sort out problems, as questions on policy are simply ignored. Time and again I asked for advice from Vodafone on my situation and was simply ignored. Possibly the small-claim court is the only way to get VFUK to recognise its responsibilities.

•	HTC are in a mess. Signs of improvement are there but it will take time to restore confidence after this debacle. Their repair centres (Regenersis) are incompetent and communication problems between support staff and engineers seems almost non-existent.

•	No real acceptance, by either HTC or VFUK, of liability or indeed recognition of just how badly owners were affected by this problem. Apologies were made and handsets taken for repair but to have a brand new phone go away for repair after only a few weeks is disgraceful. Owners were left frustrated by having to send their handsets in, often being separated from them for weeks. No compensation for being unable to use the phone as intended and being expected to simply accept this as normal. This simply wouldn't happen in any other area of retail, especially when everyone has paid, or is paying, good money for the phone. I've lost count of the number of people I've urged to stay away from the One S.

•	Vodafone and HTC will still expect me to continue to give them my custom when my contract is up for renewal and when I need a new phone. After this debacle, I see absolutely no reason why I should stay with Vodafone; their attitude, that we should just accept our phones being sent for repair, stinks as does their attempt to make the problem HTC's problem. As for ever buying another HTC...

Just as an example, my phone cost me £375 and I expect it to last me 2 years. It's been away for 47 days, so that's approximately £23, assuming the phone costs me approximately 50p per day. That's not counting the fact that if I didn't have my ancient Nokia 6100 I would have no phone at all in order to use my contract. Then there is the sheer frustration of being unable to use my phone as intended for most of the time I've owned it. As for compensation, apologies are all Vodafone have.

If you are considering buying a One S, I urge you to think carefully. From data collected by SneakyGhost on the XDA forum, it is apparent that even the latest versions of the handset can be affected by this problem. My opinion is that the handset has a known fault and should not be sold. True, not every user may be affected by the problem, but if you are then as yet there is no known 100% certain solution to the problem. By the very nature of this problem, you may not suffer the effects until the 8th day after you get the phone; Vodafone will merely stick to their legal obligation to offer a repair, which could mean several weeks without your handset.

My One S saga ends here, as HTC are replacing my troublesome handset with a shiny new One X. However, I'll still be a Vodafone customer and an HTC owner and will continue to assist in this story as and when I can.