Recently my Samsung Galaxy S was subjected to one of Verizon's automatic
updates in the middle of the night. When I woke the next morning, the
screen was frozen with the "Samsung" logo. After some Googling, I figured
out how to do a hard reset on the phone, which did not work. It put me
into a boot menu but the volume up / down keys did not permit me to make
a selection.
Looking more closely, the phone was obviously trying to access a spare copy
of the fstab file, which in Unix circles tells a system what filesystems
(disks essentially) are to be mounted. Here, it could not find the file.
After calling the online tech support and having no luck I was advised to
take it to a suuport center.
At the support center, I was summarily informed that the phone was dead.
That phone was just three months out of the manufacturer's warranty. I
was asked if I had purchased the extended warranty, which I had not. I
then tried to explain to these people that the phone was obviously still
functioning, and that it was a problem with their update protocols that
destroyed the phone, and the phone itself was not defective.
Anyone who knows Unix systems (and that is basically what an Adroid phone is)
knows that all you have to do to destroy such a system is to delete a few
essential files as root, then reboot it. Voila! Dead machine. Don't even
bother trying to tell me this is impossible; I have seen it happen. Unfortunately,
explaining this to Verizon's crack technical people was like explaining
quantum theory to zoo animals.
The crack technical team was kind enough to point out that I was eligible for
an upgrade to the Nexus, the only phone I liked, for a mere $300.00. The
Galaxy S was now obolete, barely a year since its introduction, so a direct
replacement was out of the question. I had basically just been told that I
should have purchased the extended warranty as an insurance policy for THEIR
screw-up, and because I didn't, I now had to pay $300.00 just to get a phone.
Fortunately, I had an old Samsung SCH-A930 which is not the latest and greatest
by any means, but still works. I am using that phone now, and plan to until
I finish evaluating my alternatives, including dumping Verizon permanently.
The point is that my Galaxy S did not fail. It's not like the screen went
crazy, or the battery refused to accept a charge, or the sound stopped
working. THE PHONE IS STILL FUNCTIONAL; IT WAS VERIZON'S FAULTY UPDATE
PROCEDURE THAT RENDERED IT USELESS. I checked a few Android forums that
are not connected to Verizon, and saw at least two other people who had the
same problem I did. The threads for their posts stopped abruptly when the
volume up / down buttons did not allow them to choose a boot option. That
tells me that no one has a ready solution when a phone gets into this state.
Were this scenario to play out for, say, a thousand people, people who did
not have a spare phone they could activate, that would represent $300,000.00
in upgrades (and maybe even more in extended warranty monies) in Verizon's
collective pocket. Food for thought.
What do I want? I want Verizon to own up to the fact that their update
procedure destroyed an otherwise fully functioning Galaxy S telephone, and
investigate this, as it appears my case is not unique. I also want them to
replace or resurrect my phone at no cost to me, since it was caused by them
and not by any form of normal wear and tear or defect in my phone.
I have every confidence that Verizon will do absolutely nothing to resolve
this, other than quote the same chapter-and-verse nonsense they have up to
this point. Absolving oneself of all responsibility is easy, particularly
when, superficially, the symptoms of the problem allow you to do so.
Taking proper ownership of a problem is ugly and expensive. That is why
after posting this, I plan to post this on 1010wins.com, Fox News, and
any other convienient web site where I can cut-and-paste this letter.
Of course, should Verizon decide to do the right thing, I'll be more than
willing to listen, but I'm not holding my breath.
