$50,000 Failure of Droid 2

[MelissaRRski]

After diligent research, I, a Verizon customer, purchased a Droid 2 instead of the iPhone on 2/4/11.  MONUMENTAL MISTAKE.  I'm in sales and rely heavily on the equipment for updated emails, calendar and phone calls.  For the last 3 months, the Droid 2 has had a recurring problem of not updating my emails and calendar appointments.  Several times, I had to delete and re-add the corporate sync account and Yahoo account, because it would not update email boxes and often, random appointments (which were on my Outlook calendar) would not show up on the Droid 2 Calendar. I even had Verizon reset the Droid to factory settings once.  I usually caught these missing appointments until Tuesday, May 17th, when at 8:50 am, I realized I had missed an 8:30 breakfast meeting.  This prospect had even brought a colleague with him to meet me!  It was a $50,000 business opportunity for me -LOST because the Droid 2 failed again and did not reflect the appointment on my calendar!!

I spent several hours on the phone with Verizon, my company's tech team, and Motorola.  I am out $525.02 (Droid 2, screen protectors & vehicle charger = $217.96; Droid Vehicle Mount = $43.49;  new iPhone to replace the Droid = $215.00; Vehicle charger, cover and screen protectors for iPhone = $48.57) because the Droid 2 failed in such a terrible manner. 

I feel that someone (Motorola or Android) should reimburse me the $525.02, especially because its failure cost me potentially $50,000 in business.  But all Motorola would offer was a replacement Droid 2, and "I'm sorry you had a problem."  Really?  If anyone has problems with a piece of equipment of this magnitude, would YOU trust it again?  Why would I want another Droid 2 when the first one failed me so terribly? 

My iPhone is a much better product.  It's much faster on email updates, internet connection and the applications and documents are much clearer than the Droid.  Already, I know I can trust the iPhone.

Burned by Droid,

Melissa R.

[Jax_Omen]

I would be willing to bet cash money that Melissa here installed a task killer app on her phone and has NO IDEA how to set it up properly.

In IT we call this sort of thing PEBKAC. It stands for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair".

Either way, I'm glad the iPhone is working for you, it's nice and easy to use.

[mdram4x4]

you know its always the hardware/software

users are never to blame

[Jax_Omen]

Spoken like a true end-user, mdram!

[mdram4x4]

lol, ive been it, i know all the excuses

[TBhouston]

After diligent research, I, a Verizon customer, purchased a Droid 2 instead of the iPhone

Thats where I stopped reading..What kind of research? which one was cheaper?

[JMC627]

Kinda like the ID10T error (ummm, non-IT people - it spells idiot).  HA HA HA!

[kenoshabrew]

I am curious as to my personal high failure rate with the Droid 2.  I am on my fourth one and it is currently failing.  None of these have gotten wet, and none have taken any extreme damage.  I consider myself fairly high in tech level.  I do not run app killers, EVER, no crazy scanning program.  Problems range from failed buttons to failed screens to failed keyboards, sometimes combinations.  One just simply wouldn't turn on anymore after the screen got "possessed".  My co-worker has a Droid 2 for about 4 months and has had no problems.  I had a Droid 1, and gave it to my friend.  It's from when they first came out and it's having no problems still.  I do not treat this any differently, with the single exception that I change batteries more frequently.   I have another friend who is on her 3rd Droid 2.  Screen freeze, and audio quality suddenly went to he11.   

Is there a higher than average failure rate on this phone?  

If not, I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong to cause failures.  I do change batteries often.  Could static discharge be a factor?  I use a lot of data, I use it as my GPS - so heat could be an issue.  

I use the phone heavily.  Probably more heavily than most users.  I absolutely LOVE this phone, especially after the Gingerbread update.  It does everything, it does everything reasonably well, and has that real keyboard I LOVE.  

Is there any known programs other than task killers or something like "lookout" (was told that was bad by a Verizon rep) that are known to cause problems.

I use the clock/display mount and cardock frequently.  Basically the screen is probably on more than it's off as I use it as a clock when I sleep.  Could this cause issues?

If this phone does not have a higher than average failure rate, I need to figure out what's happening to these phones.  I'm willing to bet the one with the failed volume button was a fluke, but the other 3?? 

I am a total Motorola/Verizon/Android fanboy, and I freely admit it.  My reason for pointing this out is I am ready to swear off Motorola forever because of this (in my *perception*) hunk of garbage.

Please help with ideas, and/or known reasons that make these phones fail.  Since 2 have had touch screen issues preceding the ultimate failures, maybe we could start there.  I have had the Droid 2 since literally the day it came out.

Remember I'm a fairly technical person.  However I do NOT root or do anything "illegal" on this phone.  With the problems I've had I wouldn't even want to push my luck with putting any software on there that isn't 100% certified.

Seriously - thank you for anyone's time and effort into this problem.  #5 is going to be heading to my house Friday...  

--Steve

[personal detail removed]

I'm posting this here,  as I feel as let down as the original poster, but I'm going to start a new thread as well.

[droidsw]

Enjoy your iphone.

Personally though, I would NEVER rely on ANY phone for such important information. I would utilize a laptop, a PC, or a second phone, in ADDITION to my phone. NO phone, including the one you now think is the epitome of reliable phones, is perfect.

Unless you are a drug dealer that manufactures your own product, your $50K deal involved in actuality what, a commission of some sort? No doubt, in REAL numbers, nothing near the figure you are throwing around.

Any income lost under these circumstances is unfortunate.

[poconopixie]

If you rely so heavily on using Outlook, why are you using Android. It does not natively support Outlook. And there are some issues with Android and some versions of Exhange server. It does, however, use the Google calendar and I have never once had it fail to update on my Droid.

Yahoo email is also not reliable, espcially if you are using a free account. To make that work properly, you really need to download the official Yahoo email app from the market.

I see you are using this phone for business. Do you have a business account? LOL. Yeah, I thought not.

A real professional would never rely on a PHONE to conduct business. Especially high dollar deals. Get a laptop. Phones are not meant to be computer replacements, just enhancements to them.

Sorry about your 50K deal, but don't blame Verizon and Google because you bought a phone without doing your research first.