VERIZON: RECALL THE THUNDERBOLT!!!!!!!!!!!!
CVincent
Newbie

I'm SICK AND TIRED of this phone, or should I say the crappy software updates they keep dropping on it.  EVERY update creates a NEW screw up.  Gingerbread has brought back not only random reboots but also lock-ups during use, of EVERY function on it.  I've had it lock up when I'm texting, emailing, surfing, gaming and talking.  This is unacceptable for a $300 phone that you are locked in to for 2 years.  The number one culprit that seems to lock it up is an app you can't get rid of, Sense UI.  HTC/Verizon have really dropped the ball on this phone.  The ONLY people I know that are having good results with this phone are those who have rooted it.  Once they strip off the bloatware, they have a phone that is exceptionally powerful and works well.  Anyone who leaves it stock and allows the OTA updates has had nothing but frustration.  I've TRIED to give you guys every opportunity to fix it but with a phone that now reboots or locks up 20-25 times a day, I've had enough. I COULD root it but I should not have to root a phone that I paid this much for just to make if functional.

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Kyla1234
Contributor - Level 1

I agree. I COULD root mine as well, but why should I have to?? Why should I have to be the one to make my phone work?? Biggest waste of money ever!! 

 

And now I have to steal my hubby's upgrade to get a new phone, when I just stole it in Sept to get this thing!! 

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CVincent
Newbie

Well, they keep deleting the link to the online petition I posted but if you are as frustrated with the Thunderbolt as I am, at least +1 this thread and search for other social networking locations where other customers are voicing their displeasure and requesting a recall or an option of swapping for a working phone.

 

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RMLJ
Contributor - Level 1
I'm happy with mine over all since the Past update. Can get over 24 hours unplugged. I listen to my music through my Bluetooth stereo headphones 8 to ten hours a day. Surf the web when ever needed. I've seen a few glitches since GB but nothing to cry about. No reboots at all. Nav works like it should when I need it to. I get my emails and txts go to the correct person. When I need 4g speed it works most of the time as long as the network is functional. 4g is new to Verizon so ups and downs should have been expected. I like that I can talk on the phone and surf the web or txt at the same time. Sure I wish I had waited a bit to purchase for a lower price buy.... I'm sure there are better phones out there but not all of the complaints that I read about are the phones fault. Sure I think that Verizon should compensate us thunderbolt users in some way or another for the problems that were released in the past but its highly unlikely that they will they kind of have a monopoly on coverage and they know it. I see a lot of posts about complaints about problems that in reality were caused by something a user has done. People demanding replacement phones for problems that are not hardware issues but most likely caused buy something installed buy the user or OS issues because of releasing updates to early to appease inpatient people. Yes they should have waited to release the phone until it was more solid but how happy were the people waiting for the bionic to release. Set your phone to 3g don't sync every 5 minutes be carefully about what you install on your phone and clean up your sd card from installing and uninstalling useless crap. It's a computer they are not perfect and won't be. If everyone keeps complaining like they do these companies will just start getting the phones working pretty good and then not send out updates that give you new features. Ice cream sandwich nah it will cost us to much replacing phones because of update issues that are not a hardware problem but we end up sending a replacement phone because of customer threats and anger. How many times have you replaced your windows pc. Microsoft just makes you buy a new OS every couple of years instead of fixing the crap they sold you back in the 90s. Ok I think I'm done now lol I'm happy with my phone.
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AZSALUKI
Legend

they won't be taking mine from me. LOVE IT!!!!!!! have you had it replaced?

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chuck07
Enthusiast - Level 3

They knew that this phone would be a disappointment. 

When I went to buy my phone it was when they had the 230/1yr 200/2yr pricing. 

 

I wanted the 1 year, made that clear the entire time. 

 

Go to check out and he says that for 230 I can get a case and screen protectors also. Sweet, I thought. He put me on the 2 year agreement. I noticed this as I was walking out the store. Manager said it was too late to do anything. 

 

I used to recommend Verizon to everybody because of their customer service. Not so much any more

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Dnakaman
Contributor - Level 1

chuck07 wrote:

They knew that this phone would be a disappointment. 

When I went to buy my phone it was when they had the 230/1yr 200/2yr pricing. 

 

I wanted the 1 year, made that clear the entire time. 

 

Go to check out and he says that for 230 I can get a case and screen protectors also. Sweet, I thought. He put me on the 2 year agreement. I noticed this as I was walking out the store. Manager said it was too late to do anything. 

 

I used to recommend Verizon to everybody because of their customer service. Not so much any more



You do realize that there was a buyer remorse period (I believe it is 14 days for most).  You could have returned the phone at any time during that period, no questions asked and gotten out of your contract.

 

You said you noticed it as you were checking out, you could have cancelled right then.

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chuck07
Enthusiast - Level 3

It was when I was walking out. 

I asked about that and the manager told me that I could not buy the same phone after returning it and it would be a $35ish restocking fee.

 

So I would have to pay at least $70 to fix what they messed up. 

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Tidbits
Legend

Actually no...  You could have had them change it while you are there without the stocking fee.  They messed up and they could have credit that.  I have had that happen before a while back where I bought a phone outright and they tacked on 2 year agreement.  I went back the next day when I noticed it and got it corrected.

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Wildman
Legend

chuck07 wrote:

It was when I was walking out. 

I asked about that and the manager told me that I could not buy the same phone after returning it and it would be a $35ish restocking fee.

 

So I would have to pay at least $70 to fix what they messed up. 


That sounds like a situation that you handled incorrectly because if I received something I did not request or ask for and I notice it that soon I can guarantee that I wouldn't have walked out without it corrected.. But you do realize that the 1 year contract has been pulled for some time now so when the TB was released I don't believe it existed any more anyway.

 

Also since you just bought the device and havent even used the device I am sure if you talked to the right person you could have got that resolved if it was possible...  Since you accepted the situation you shouldnt be surprised the outcome..

 

No Disrespect but stating facts...   I usually can work with any situation but when you force something on me you may see a diffrent responce.  You get what you allow.

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Wildman wrote:
"That sounds like a situation that you handled incorrectly because if I received something I did not request or ask for and I notice it that soon I can guarantee that I wouldn't have walked out without it corrected.. But you do realize that the 1 year contract has been pulled for some time now so when the TB was released I don't believe it existed any more anyway."

The HTC Thunderbolt was released on March 17, 2011. The one year contract option ended on April 15 or 16, 2011. The reason I know this is I actually purchased my Thunderbolt at the one year contract price on that Monday before. Which at the time was 70 dollars higher than the normal two year pricing (originally $249.99 for two year contract).

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Wildman
Legend

Thanks for the info Ann, I really did not know the exact date but I know it was recently...

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Wildman wrote:

Thanks for the info Ann, I really did not know the exact date but I know it was recently...


No problem! :smileyhappy: It was also during the brief period that I had three android phones and an android e-reader in my house which could connect to two different cellular carriers.Androids.jpg

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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budone
Legend

chuck07 wrote:

They knew that this phone would be a disappointment. 

When I went to buy my phone it was when they had the 230/1yr 200/2yr pricing. 

 

I wanted the 1 year, made that clear the entire time. 

 

Go to check out and he says that for 230 I can get a case and screen protectors also. Sweet, I thought. He put me on the 2 year agreement. I noticed this as I was walking out the store. Manager said it was too late to do anything. 

 

I used to recommend Verizon to everybody because of their customer service. Not so much any more


Chuck, one year pricing disappeared in January, so this phone never had one year pricing.

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

budone wrote:

chuck07 wrote:

They knew that this phone would be a disappointment. 

When I went to buy my phone it was when they had the 230/1yr 200/2yr pricing. 

 

I wanted the 1 year, made that clear the entire time. 

 

Go to check out and he says that for 230 I can get a case and screen protectors also. Sweet, I thought. He put me on the 2 year agreement. I noticed this as I was walking out the store. Manager said it was too late to do anything. 

 

I used to recommend Verizon to everybody because of their customer service. Not so much any more


Chuck, one year pricing disappeared in January, so this phone never had one year pricing.


Uh, NE2 program ended in in January. The annual upgrade option also ended in January at the same time as the NE2. The one year contract option ended on April 15 or 16, 2011.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Wildman
Legend

Basically the OP main issue was that they couldnt get their plan corrected without them wanting to pay a restock fee and basically that should not have happened if the user noticed the mistake before leaving, I still think that could have still been resolved by getting on phone in store and speaking to CS on the situation.

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chuck07
Enthusiast - Level 3

I talked to the person who rang me up and the manager in the store for about 5 minutes, manager kept telling me that I should have caught it before it was checked out. 

 

I was starting to get angry, but had to go to work, what could I do at the time? Talking to them wasn't doing anything. 

 

I should have called, but figured that I would get the same run around. 

 

1 yr price was 229, 2 year was 199 through some employee discount program at the time. 

 

 

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Wildman
Legend

chuck07 wrote:

I talked to the person who rang me up and the manager in the store for about 5 minutes, manager kept telling me that I should have caught it before it was checked out. 

 

I was starting to get angry, but had to go to work, what could I do at the time? Talking to them wasn't doing anything. 

 

I should have called, but figured that I would get the same run around. 

 

1 yr price was 229, 2 year was 199 through some employee discount program at the time. 

 

 



Well sometimes you have to take it further...  I would have simply not used device until I could talk to the CS and attempt to have situation resolved because you had 14 days to void contract and there isnt a restock fee...  Since you didnt followup on this in that time the issue isnt Verizons...  

 

I do understand your side and I do not want to seem empathetic but if you did not agree with the outcome its best to fight for a solutionn and not simply accept it and move on.

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chuck07
Enthusiast - Level 3

Yeah, I know.

 

I just didn't have time to do that at the time. 

I can't just not use a phone, I kinda need that for my job. 

 

I was told that there was a restocking fee even within the 14 days. 

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Tdeglow
Newbie

Was it a Verizon store or was it a Authorised reseller? The only way to tell from outside is that there is a tag on the sign saying they are a reseller, inside it's a different world. Resellers opperate with only one or two people while an actual Verizon store has at least 3-4 sales people and a manager or two. If you were in a reseller that might have been your problem. A reseller can (and usually will) charge a restocking fee.

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Rochelle
Newbie

I have an HTC Thunderbolt phone.  For the past two weeks it tries, several times a day, to install a software update.  It fails every time.  Either the phone locks  up and displays a red triangle with a red exclamation point, and then I have to take out the battery and put it back in so that I can use the phone, or else it downloads the software and then fails the update.

 

I called Verizon Tech Support.  They  advised me to go to a local office to have the phone reset to factory settings and if that didn't work they would send me a new phone.

 

The local office set the phone to factory settings and then tried the update.  Three hours later the download worked and the update failed.  They wrote notes in my account and told me I would have to call tech support to get the new phone.

 

I called tech support and they said they would send me a new phone.  When I received the phone it was a used phone (refurbished).

 

So I called Verizon Tech Support and they said no one should have told me I would get a new phone.

 

They also told me that when I returned the phone, using the Fedex return label they provided, that if the phone got lost that I would have to pay Verizon for the full cost of the phone and I would have to call Fedex to get a refund!!!!!!

 

So they can't fix the software problem with the upgrade (and HTC can't fix it either), they send me a used phone that I don't want, and if the package gets lost they are going to bill me for the phone that I didn't want!  (Note that even if they had sent me a new phone I would still have had to send back my phone and I would still have had to pay Verizon for it if the package got lost).

 

I have never heard of such poor service.  Verizon should be responsible for tracking down the package with Fedex and not the customer.

 

I asked to speak to the supervisor and of course they never called me back.  This must be part of the customer nonservice training.  While I was in the local office a woman came in and asked politely to speak to the office manager.  She was told that the manager was busy and couldn't talk to her - she would have to come back later.  She said that she couldn't do that and after a few minutes lo and behold the manager was available to talk to her.

 

Note that I have had Verizon Wireless service and equipment for several years and have never had any problems before.  So it was even more shocking to have such terrible service now.

 

Does anyone know of a reliable wireless service provider and a reliable smartphone?  Any advise or recommendations greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

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