[Captivate General] jmore:
Hopefully this is not a trend...

My daughter, who is away at school, received a notice on her phone a couple of weeks back that there was an updated available. She was a bit nervous about doing it so waited until she was home over the weekend a week and a half ago and asked me about it. I told her to go ahead and do it. She hit the button to install the update. It downloaded, displayed an error message and the phone turned off. It wouldn't turn back on. We searched a bit, tried all the known key combinations to reset it, but it was a brick.

So the next day I headed over to the AT&T store. They tried a few things and agreed that it was dead. They checked the phone over and stated there was no physical or water damage. They contacted the warranty center over the phone, arranged for the return and handed me the phone handset to agree to terms. Turns out the only way they would warranty the phone is if I sent them the phone and agreed, in advance, to pay $459 if they decided it was not a warranty issue. I asked for clarification, repeated what had happened, and they just kept saying that was the requirement. I mentioned that the store rep and manager had already checked the phone, that there was no physical or water damage, and tried to understand why I would still have to agree to these terms. I asked if they would just agree to send the phone back if there was any other problem. They just kept repeating the same thing, I had to agree to the $459 potential charge with no recourse. They kept stating that I "would probably not be charged." I would not agree and asked the agent and manager on duty if there were any other options. They mentioned an AT&T service center about a half an hour away.

The store wrote me a referral to the service center and told me they could replace the phone on the spot. So off I went. A half an hour car drive and a wait in line and I was informed by the service center staff that they do not stock the Captivate and it would have to be returned to a warranty center. I said, do it. They said, no, I have to return it and that meant -- you guessed it -- agreeing to the same terms. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated at this point. So a half an hour drive home to cool off... or not.

The following day I started searching and found stories of people getting warranty service through Samsung. Wondering what their warranty terms are, I phoned Samsung's number. After repeating the phone death story, they said it was a warranty issue and emailed me a shipping label to send it back. Happy that things were looking up, I boxed it up and sent it off.

Fast forward a week and I just received a notification from Samsung that the phone is being returned, unrepaired. Here is the verbage used:

I get on the phone with Samsung, inform them the phone has never been wet, that both I and the AT&T folks looked at it and the water indicators showed no exposure. They explained that their service personnel do "a very thorough inspection" and that is their determination. Done. Discussion ensued, but there was absolutely no willingness on their part to take another look at the phone, explain further, or otherwise help.

So I'm out $200 plus a two-year contract or ETF fee with AT&T on a three month old phone. My daughter is quite meticulous with this sort of thing and trustworthy and tells me the phone has not been wet. I believe her. The liquid indicators agree. The phone died

during an update

that I now see is notorious for bricking phones. Both AT&T and Samsung would rather push it off on a customer than stand behind their product. I've been a Cingular/AT&T customer for over ten years, but apparently that's irrelevant.

So that's my story. Consider yourself warned.

BTW, if anyone figures out how to "unbrick" a phone in this state (won't turn on at all after failed update) I'd love to hear about it as the phone is physically fine.