[myTouch 4G General] tmagritte:
HTC had me converted to a fanboy--briefly. I got a MyTouch 4G off someone who's bringing them from the states (I'm in Canada). I have the bad screen. I figured T-Mobile would be less likely to help me so I called HTC directly and the first guy I spoke with had a note about the issue and immediately escalated me, resulting in a call back the next day. The second guy told me Corporate was collecting samples and would call me about replacing the phone. I was honest from the beginning about where I was and how I got the phone, but they were very nice and it seemed none of that mattered.

One month later, 5 calls later, being told in each case Corporate would call me, nothing happened. I just called back, a week since the last person told me to expect a call from a corporate, and they had no information in my record about any escalation. They suggested I call Corporate directly and ask for the complaints department. So I did that, tried to explain what was going on. Eventually, the woman got back to me and explained that:

1. they were collecting samples to see what everyone was talking about.

2. they are no longer collecting samples

3. they determined that there was no defect in the screen, only that there were 2 manufacturers but both were within spec (seriously, didn't they read the forums?) and therefore they have no reason to replace them

4. since I'm not the original owner I have no warranty anyway

On top of that she was generally snarky and kept implying that there's nothing wrong with the phone and that I'm basically a scammer trying to get something for nothing and wouldn't have ever thought there was an issue if I hadn't read the forums.

I feared I wouldn't get warranty service to begin with and if they had just said as much the first time I called I'd have been disappointed but not surprised and could probably live peacefully with my inferior version of the phone. What really annoys me is that they strung me along for a month, ultimately wasting hours of my time on the phone, just to insult me at the end.

The phone's screen really is pretty bad at anything but straight on, but there's a host of other little issues with the phone as well. I have no idea if they are hardware or software issues but I've been holding off for the last month on rooting and flashing the phone to see if a custom firmware might work better since they've been telling me this one was going back.

At this point I don't know if I should waste any more time trying HTC customer service again or maybe T-Mobile. At best my experience with this phone could be called (barely) adequate. Maybe I'll just have to live with that.

I do know I'm no longer an HTC fanboy. I think I loathe HTC. The fact that their official stance is that a single model of phone sold with vastly different qualities of screens qualifies as "in spec" and okay by them tells me a lot about HTC's philosophy on quality control.

And the fact that they won't honor a warranty for anyone who buys the phone outside of the carrier makes me really wish there was a genuine free market for phones. Instead I can stick with a carrier I don't like to get an overpriced phone or a 3 year contract, get one of maybe 2 or 3 phones generally sold unlocked, get a truly crappy phone offered by my carrier, or get a grey market phone with no hope of support and a high chance of getting a dud since manufacturers don't give a rats ass about quality control... Great.

Disgruntled Canadian....

P.S. I share this for 2 reasons: 1. just to vent, 2. warn other Canadians not to buy a MyTouch 4G or HTC phones in general, unless you're able to thoroughly test everything out.