I Do These Things So You Don't Have To
Update (7/5/12): Did a few tweets back and forth with @samsungsupport today. You can see at least my half of the conversation in the Twitter widget on the right. I have to say, having someone log onto a database and read the same information back to you that you can read yourself on the web isn't really satisfying. Phone support does the same thing. So where things stand now is that Samsung is still waiting for a part. There is no estimated date for the repair. Replacement phones "are not covered by the warranty." And I still have no phone. I have no phone other than the rock-solid, backed by a real company that cares about its customers and image iPhone 4 that is.
Update (7/1/12): After I shipped my phone, on June 25th via UPS Ground, to Texas, Samsung finally acknowledged receipt four days later. Received a note yesterday that my repair is on hold for parts, with an estimated repair date of July 6th. The phone will be repaired and shipped promptly as soon as the parts come in. Apparently, just shipping me a working phone isn't an option. If I didn't have this iPhone 4 lying around here, this would mean I'd have no phone until all of this was done. Nice job, Samsung!
What good is it, having a blog, if you can't use it for some personal ranting once in a while? The "Sunday Run Album Review" for this week will have to wait while I get this off my chest.
On May 19th, I received my Galaxy Nexus Android phone from Google. This was awesome. I paid not much more than an on-contract iPhone for a phone that would accept the SIM from my two-year-old iPhone 4. I could let my contract lapse and live the good life of the non-contract mobile phone customer. The newest Android version measured up nicely to iOS, and I would get to keep my grandfathered, unlimited data plan.
Sure, there were some things I knew I'd miss: free iMessaging to all of my iPhone-owning friends, a few iPhone-only (or just iPhone-better) apps. Surely, though, that would be worth it to free myself from contracts, the boredom of the seemingly never-changing iOS interface, and the horrendous piece of junk that is iTunes.
Turns out there were some things I didn't know I'd miss as well: customer service and quality control. I've experienced excellent customer service before, so I know it when I see it:
Amazon: I once ordered a gift for someone on Amazon, and paid extra to have it delivered overnight. They were leaving the next afternoon, you see, and we wanted to hand it to them personally. UPS then began sending me messages telling me that my object wouldn't be delivered for several days. I complained to Amazon (though, I'm not sure it was really their fault), and they gave me a $30 credit toward future purchases. Then the thing showed up on time anyway. When I tried to give the $30 back (??), they said, "Keep it. Thanks for being a loyal customer."
Band That I Will Not Identify Publicly (to keep them from getting in trouble): I was thinking of buying the vinyl release of a particular album, but the packaging didn't indicate whether or not a download code was included. I contacted the band directly, and they responded that, "No, for various reasons, we couldn't include a download with the album. Here are the files, though. Thanks for supporting the band." I hadn't even bought the record yet! I went right back to their website, though, and ordered directly from them. The transaction ended with an email that said something like, "Thank you! You've done something wonderful for us, our families, and the city in which we live!"
Apple: This one is most relevant to our discussion. About a month after I got my iPhone 4, it stopped connecting to the mobile network and said something like "SIM Error." I called Apple. The tech on the phone said, "Hmmm. Your 30 days of free support have lapsed. Well, let's see what we can do anyway." Turns out, all he could do was make an appointment for me at the Apple Store. That's a bit of a drive for me; but when I walked in, the "Genius" on duty swapped my phone for a new one fresh out of the box, no questions asked. I didn't have AppleCare. Now I realize that I brought the phone in for a hardware failure, but in a testament to Apple's quality control, that phone was rock-solid for the next two years. In a further testament to Apple's quality control, the phone I upgraded from was a refurbished iPhone 3g that I passed on to a family member and is still in use to this day.
Now to discuss Google / Samsung. As I said, I purchased my Samsung Galaxy Nexus directly from the Google Play store a little more than a month ago. It shipped promptly, and I had it in my hands within two days. Yesterday, it stopped charging when plugged into the wall and it stopped showing up as a device when connected to my computer.
Google's tech support is available 24/7 and they are very friendly. All they could do, though, was tell me to pull the battery and, when that didn't work, tell me to perform a factory reset. When the factory reset didn't work, they connected me to Samsung for warranty service. Warranty service consists of shipping my phone, via UPS ground, to Texas so that Samsung can diagnose the problem. If the problem is covered by warranty, they'll fix / replace the phone at no charge. If not, they'll tell me what it will cost me. Turnaround time for this is 5-10 days, "not including shipping time."
Who knows? Maybe everything will turn out fine, and I'll get a working phone back from Samsung in less than two weeks. Even if that does happen, though, Google has a lot to learn about dealing with customers and standing behind their products. Their initial customer base may have consisted mostly of people like me -- technophile, early adopters who don't like asking for help. But if they'd like to make the most of their Motorola acquisition and get into the handset business, then they're going to have to become a little more customer-friendly. They could learn a lot from Amazon, Apple, and a not-so-small indie rock band.
I won't suffer too much without my Galaxy Nexus, though. My iPhone 4 still works just fine.
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