Droid 2 Global - Major problems - HHEELLPP!!!

[melissa32]

I have had my Droid 2 Global for a little over a year now and I truly love this phone.  I love having the QWERTY keyboard, that is an important feature for me.  Everything was fine until I received the Gingerbread upgrade over the summer.  The next day I discovered I couldn't send or receive texts or calls!  I called Verizon and completely stumped the man on the phone. I wish I wrote his name down, I want to say Ben, but I'm not sure.  I spent THREE HOURS on the phone with this kind man.  He tried EVERYTHING he possibly could before telling me I should set it back to factory settings.  He really went out of his way to help me without having to delete everything on there... but... it was useless.  So I did in fact have to reset it.  Guess what, it did nothing.  Still could not send or receive anything!  So he fedexed me out a new phone.  Well the next day I turned the phone on and it worked again... everything was working fine as if the day before never even happened.  I called Verizon back and told them (FOOLISHLY) and asked what I should do when the new phone arrived.  I was told to just return the new phone and keep my old phone.  So I listened... again... FOOLISHLY!!! 

The phone was ok for a few weeks and then it got quirky.  It would just randomly shut off, the back lights on the keyboard works sometimes... sometimes not so much!  Sometimes when I would make a call I could hear the person but they couldnt hear me. When any of these occurred I would have to turn the phone off, take the battery out and turn it back on.  Meanwhile my mom was very sick.  Then all of a sudden a new cute thing started to happen!  I couldnt use punctuation.  Anytime I accidentally hit a period or exclamation point while typing my phone would freeze.  I would get a Force Close message so the first time this happened I hit force close and went on with my day.  Next thing I know my phone was HOT... like BURNING HOT and the battery usage was down to nothing.  Again, turn the phone off, take the battery out, turn it back on.  So for the next week or so I had to do this at least three times a day because I would forget about the silly punctuation thing and hit a random period here or there.  I tried calling Verizon one night late when I got back from the hospital visiting my Mom and the woman basically told me sorry, your warranty just ran out and we have no more Droid 2 Globals anyway... You're on your own... You could pay us $200 and get a new phone.  I dont know?  Does that seem right?  I told her I'd have to think about what I was going to do because first of all that didnt seem right at all and second... I couldnt afford $200 at that moment.  She didnt offer any help like the first guy did... just told me I needed to fork over more cash to Verizon.  This is clearly a problem with the phone... I felt Verizon should have the courtesy to help me, as a very loyal customer.  But again, she couldnt be bothered and ya know what, I was emotionally drained at that point so I let it go.

New Years weekend I finally had a chance to go to the Verizon store in Bergenfield, NJ.  I walked in and explained to the man (Stephen) what was happening.  He took my phone out of my hands... and did a factory reset... didnt ask any questions... didnt ask if I had anything I wanted to back up or whatever... just reset it... He was quite rude.  There was no one in the store, he had plenty of time to have a simple human conversation with me but no he basically ignored anything I had to say and just reset the phone and gave it back to me saying "here... its fixed"  Gee... thanks... I could have done that.  I tried to make conversation with him during this by asking him if there could be an app that is causing this and he abruptly said NO THATS NOT POSSIBLE... APPS DONT CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS TO PHONES.  um?  I dont believe that... but hey hes the "expert" right?

Ok, now things should be fine right?  No, not so much... It still randomly shut off, still had the phantom calls where no one could hear me, I got a black screen of death one day and my friend said to me "You're walking a VERY thin line with this phone!"  Meanwhile my Moms health was declining rapidly and I really need a phone at this point.  I live 40 minutes away from her and I'm driving back and forth to the hospital and my house, I have 2 little boys with different babysitters every day... I really need a phone... but was stuck with this thing that would randomly shut off at the most inopportune times!  Well my Mom passed away last week.  Its been a REALLY emotional crappy few months for me and last night what happens as I'm typing a message to someone... my phone freezes when I hit a punctuation.  I forgot about the hot thing and at 3am it woke me up buzzing like crazy with an overheat alarm.  The Droid 4 is out now.  It would only seem right that Verizon would do the right thing and offer me a replacement.  As I said... I've been a customer for YEARS.  I've been dealing with this nonsense for months now.  Just upgrade me and be done with it.  No one in Verizon seems to fell the same way though.  Its all about the mighty dollar after all right?

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions as to what I could do to make these things stop happening I'd GREATLY appreciate it!

Thanks so much!!!

[robsol52]

Melissa,

First, my deepest condolences to you on your loss.  It wasn't very  long ago that I was in the same situation with my father and am in fact approaching it again with my mother now.  I also know how much you come to depend on basic things such as a phone that just works at times like this.

I had many of the same experiences that you described with my Droid 2 Global since October when the new Gingerbread OS was loaded on to my phone without any notice and without any consent on my part.  I've spoken with many Verizon personnel about this since then, online, by phone , and face to face in stores but to no avail and no satisfaction.  What many of them have admitted is that the Gingerbread OS just isn't really compatible with the older Droids but aside from some mild sense of guilt and lame apologies from a couple of them over the fact that their company basically made countless people,s phones almost nonfunctional at times and frequently useless the most anyone has offered me for this problem they created for me was to invite me to buy a new phone from them.

Years ago when the large computer giant Microsoft did this and didn't give their customers the right or even the practical ability to choose to accept  or reject their system upgrades and add ons they were forced through legal action to correct that.  I see this as the same.  When a company knowingly destroys  or damages my property  in such a manner it's just criminal (it's inconceivable to me that they didn't know the impact this new OS would have on all these phones they had already sold when they tested it).   While I haven't yet found any actions pending  against Verizon for this behavior i am looking and would readily be part of it.   If I do find something I will be sure to forward the information on to you.  I wish you the best

Regard,

Robert

[melissa32]

Thanks Robert!  I'm SO sorry you are dealing with so much pain in your family. 

If you ever hear of something as we can do please let me know.  I can not believe no one from Verizon has answered this yet.  Amazing customer service huh?  Perhaps its time to switch?

[Ann154]

This community is a peer to peer forum where customers answer questions posted by other customers. There is a group from the social media team from Verizon Wireless that assist from time to time especially with hard to answer issues.

[MelindaMarie21]

Sorry to hear about your troubles Melissa!
I too have the same problems with this phone! I have had it for over a year as well. This is my 2nd phone and it still gives me problems. The first Droid 2 Global I had would overheat and drain the battery quickly. I went to a store to see if they can figure out the cause but the person there was rude as well. Just handed me the number to call. I called the number, they tried to see what was wrong and couldn't figure it out. They sent me the certified pre-owned phone and it worked fine.

Once that update hit my pre-owned phone late last year, it destroyed everything. It was slow, it glitched. It does this thing while I text where I will complete a word and the suggestion box underneath the text message I am creating dissappears and will NOT let me type another word after I hit space. I have had to reset my phone 2 times and it will work fine for a couple months or so. Now, the backlight on my keyboard doesnt work some times in the dark and my home screen glitches. UGH! I cannot win! I am not sure if I should just go into a store and tell them I am tired of this or what? It does the phantom phone calls as well. EVERYTHING you stated in this post is exactly what my phone does</3

[shoes4everyoccasion]

I wish I could help you--- I have the same issues.  I should have known from the start. I am on my 5th Droid 2 Global.  The first 3 I went through the day I purchased the phone since they kept skipping screens.  I should have known right then and there to get another phone.  I had to return the 3rd phone a week later because the screens kept skipping around from screen to screen and the phone would randomly restart itself.   Everything went well for about a month or two, then I had to send the 4th phone back to the company and get a pre-owned Droid 2 Global as a replacement since that too had the same issues.  This 5th phone had been working recently, for about oh four or five months no problems, until the keyboard started freaking out.  Every time I would text someone it would cancel out of the screen, and then "lock/freeze" and I would have to reset it.  I went on a forum, and some guy had the same problem... apparently it has to do with your keyboard settings.  If you go to the settings and uncheck the "auto" write/correct buttons it fixes that problem.  And it did fix that problem... for about two months.  Now my phone is doing all that crap again, not letting me type or freezing when I do, and not even showing the on screen keyboard anymore.  This phone is truly a piece of crap.  I am very, very, very disappointed with it.  I'm hoping that by resetting the factory settings it should "fix" this temporarily.  HOWEVER. I bought this phone so I could use some Aps on it, and I only have run four Aps total on it.. and NOT at the same time.  So disappointed.  I cannot believe that we have spent so much money on an item that does not function properly.

[MelindaMarie21]

Wow, that is terrible! I feel the same way, I loved the fact the phone had a full keyboard and touch screen but after all these problems, I feel ripped off. I used to have T-Mobile and own a Motorola as well, I believe its the fact it is a Motorola because I had annoying issues with that phone as well. I need a new phone fast but I have to wait til October for a discount!

[gdice1]

My family and I have had similar issues with our 4 phones, since the so called update. These phones worked flawlessly until we were force fed the software update! It was a great phone, but they can no longer be trusted with the new updated operating system! Our phones are months away from discounted hardware upgrades, so we are currently hostages to the problems, unless we want to PAY full price for updates. -- I realize that this is not a Verizon caused issue -- but I would have hoped they would at least offer loyal customers either a good low(NO) cost early hardware upgrade to a new phone that works to help alleviate the problem or at a minimum, an option to "downgrade" the system on the existing phones to the previous settings! HELP VERIZON!

[melissa32]

Ok guys... so I actually got someone from Verizon to be helpful!  Get this!  Apparently when they pushed the Gingerbread update on us... the keyboard was not compatible with the Droid 2 Global...  It seems that no one at Verizon felt the need to tell us this either????  I went to the store the guy said OHH I know whats going on with the keyboard... he told me to go to the Market and downloaded Gingerbread Keyboard.  Guess what... no more problems with typing.  I still get the random shut offs but its not nearly as annoying now that I can actually type!  Hope this can help you guys too!!!

Melissa

[thejohnsonzoo]

How long ago did you make this change to your phone? 

Just curious if it worked.  I have had texting/emailing freezing problems 6 times since the software update last september 2011. I have done a hard reset, cleared the cache, turned off next word prediction, replace the phone (twice, so same problems on 3 different phones) - nothing has solved the problem for more than 4-6 wks.

Motorola says they have no known issues with this phone (but Verizon says they do?).  I have just spent the last 90 minutes on the phone with Motorola (a couple different employees in the Philippines & Florida).  I told them they owed me a new phone (another model, not Droid 2) since they messed up mine with their software update (or I told them they could restore the software to what worked prior to Sept 2011 - they said this is not an option)  They want me to send my phone to then so they trouble shoot it...I used to be the BIGGEST fan of the Droid but I hate Motorola now!!!   They are NO help!!!

[MelindaMarie21]

Its not so much the Droid software (for other phones) that i hate so much about this phone, its just Motorola thats the problem! They should have thought of an alternative update for older phones such as the Droid 2. They screwed all the Droid 2 owners.

[thejohnsonzoo]

Do NOT take no for an answer till they send you a Droid 3 or something.  I have four kids and I understand the need for a phone.   (They DO have droid 2's to send out (reconditioned) - they sent me one but it eventually had the same problem!) 

THIS ISSUE IS ALL OVER THIS BOARD.  THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO SAME QUESTION FROM ANOTHER PERSON:

The locking up while typing text or emails and throwing you out to the internet or wherever was caused by the software update in Sept 2011.  My phone was perfectly fine until this update - absolutely NO problems.   I have had this issue on 3 phones since then (VERIZON would send me new phones because they thought it was a phone problem) - IT IS NOT THE PHONE!  They replace it and it happens in another 4-6 weeks.  "Clearing the Cache" / clearing data works for awhile then you have to clear it again or do another "fix".  This is not a $9.99 phone - I should not have to clear anything but maybe my emails every 4-6 weeks and this was not a problem till they forced the software update on us!  I asked both Verizon and Motorola to restore my phone to the previous software and they refused to do this.

I honestly cannot believe that  if Verizon has been having this problem since Sept that they are still giving answers with random solutions on these boards (look at some of the others with the same problems).   They did a factory reset on my 2nd droid 2 and all it did was cause me work to reinstall eveything.  The problems came back 6 wks later.  They have records of all the times I have called (phone has had this problem about once a month since Sept) and the fixes they have tried - doesn't anyone look into this stuff?!

I was only able to text if I didn't leave a space between my words - IJustCapitalizedTheFirstLetterOfEachWord - but if I accidentally hit the space bar I was screwed - it would lock up! This has happened so many times since Sept that my family and friends now know when my phone is messing up again by my texts - time to call Verizon!!!

My recommendation - keep a record of all your calls with Verizon - dates, times, length of phone call, who you talked to, etc.  Do NOT leave them alone till your phone is working correctly...do not settle.  I used to LOVE my phone - now I just hate Motorola!  Verizon should be pushing Motorola to fix this!!!  Motorola was NO help after over an hour and a half on the phone (with numerous people from the Philippines & FLA).  They said they had no issues with the Droid 2!  Huh?  Do they read the internet or communicate with Verizon?!?!  Good luck!

[mnetcon]

I have the FIX for this problem

Had same problem on both my phones. Went to VZ store before and they said do a Factory reset.. well, I did not and went back today and they said Motorola Finally found out why the texting would freeze.

First the fix.

go to your home page.

get into setup

go to language and keyboard.click multi-touch key board setting

unclick next word prediction. exit and your problem will be fixed.

Seem with the new up grade that item is preset on. turn it off and the key board returns to normal.

Did it to both the phones. went back to normal

[shoes4everyoccasion]

My phone that I have had issues with (see prior post) decided to start locking me out last night.  I can't unlock it unless I pull the battery out and then put it back in.  Then it will temporarily allow me to unlock it for oh, about 10-20 minutes at a time.  I did a factory reset on it... still no help.  I called Verizon, and the ladies I spoke with were very helpful.  The one tried to have me buy another phone since my phone is not under warranty and has not been for about 8 months, and I took this guys advice and told them NO. With the sheer number of crappy phones that I have had, 5 to date, they should fix it. Not me.  I mentioned how it's not just my phone, that there are many people out there with these issues, and that I've followed every "help line" out there.  I convinced them to send me another Global2 refurbished phone... they would not upgrade to the Global3.  To be fair, the first 4 I had were new, and they were utter crap.  The 5th one was a refurbished phone and it was ok until they updated the software... that is until this latest issue of the not unlocking.   So, I'm hoping that this 6th phone will work out better.   I refuse to pay for a new phone until my two years are up.  That's just not fair.  Motorola needs to fix this issue.

[mnetcon]

I have the FIX for this problem

Had same problem on both my phones. Went to VZ store before and they said do a Factory reset.. well, I did not and went back today and they said Motorola Finally found out why the texting would freeze.

First the fix.

go to your home page.

get into setup

go to language and keyboard.click multi-touch key board setting

unclick next word prediction. exit and your problem will be fixed.

Seem with the new up grade that item is preset on. turn it off and the key board returns to normal.

[thejohnsonzoo]

The question is, will it last?  The "Clear the cache/data" only lasts for 4-6 weeks.

Verizon guy tonight told me the solution was to go into the settings/.../keyboard and clear everything - not just next word prediction - not sure exactly which settings he meant (don't need it any more, see next paragraph).  He said it works.  I told him Verizon should tell all their tech people and maybe tell Motorola who earlier this week told me there are no problems/issues with the phone.  If they had given me the right answer in Sept I wouldn't have been so upset.

Got Verizon to send me a Droid3 - got it today.  Absolutely free - No charges- not even shipping.  Guess I got the right person on the right day but I kept detailed records of my phone calls and I didn't back down...I feel like I deserved at least that for all the time I spent trouble shooting this issue on my phone (almost every month since Sept).  Hopefully the Droid3 works ok!!!

[MGr33n]

I have the same problems re the ghost calls. (the texting and shutting down are minor in comparison) It is most frustrating because this is my only telephone. First and foremost the phone part needs to be working. I am about to receive my 3rd refurbished replacement and am sure the same problems will arise. "thejohnsonzoo" you are fortunate to find someone at Verizon that actually cares. I find myself wasting hours on the telephone with customer support and hours at the store... to no avail. At the very least I want a different model equivalent phone.

Do you hear me Verizon, a response from someone with some authority to fix this long time on going problem for a long time customer would be greatly appreciated.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello MGr33n! Thank you for sharing your concern on the issue that you are having with your device. Such feedback is greatly appreciated as we communicate these issues with the manufacturer. You stated that you are having a replacement sent to you. I am interested in your experience with the replacement device. I will look forward to your next reply. ^AH

[LeisaRN]

I am on my 3rd (or 4th) replacement phone and this phone is starting to do the same thing.  SOOOOO tired of having to wait for the replacement, transfer my contacts, etc just to have the same thing happen again.  Wasting time on the phone, and mailing back the old phone.  Why cant you just send a new model that WORKS!!!  I am not due for an upgrade until Feb.  NOT happy with the Droid 2 global. 

[tourettesgirl]

OMG! I had the same problem back in November 2011. My droid 2 would freeze and dial by itself. I would be speaking to someone on speaker and not touching the phone and then the phone would be going to apps and flickering - being possessed. And overheat all the time, I felt it was going to explode. I was scared. So I took it in to be seen and they were amazed about how possessed it was and they will send me a new one. So I am like ok. I got it and that one did the same thing in a month. Now I am coming up to my upgrade time on January 13th and it was December 30th when I couldn't use it at all. So I called and explained what was going on and I would like to get an early upgrade since I don't want droid again. They said sure - but you have to pay for a FULL PRICE of the phone of your choice. I wanted to get the iphone since that is a good phone. But I wasnt about to 600.00 for it when i have a glitchy phone that I cant use. So they sent me a replacement yet again and sure enough same problem. Now when I got the replacement it was January 10th, keep in mind my upgrade is in three days, it was still buggy and I just wanted to get rid of the droid and switch to apple but I couldnt get an upgrade even though it was two days away. They would have to send me yet another replacement. I DON'T WANT ANOTHER REPLACEMENT! I want another phone! Sorry, I think I got off topic. But to answer the question - Droid 2 Globals SUCK!