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Another phone bites the dust.

Hi all, I'm on my third LG G2 since February. It would seem that they last about 4 to 5 months before a failure. The first two had the exact same issues. Dead spot about a 1/4' wide on the screen. The first two seemed to have battery issues but this third phone is terribly inconsistent. Sure, it could be certain apps running in the background, but I don't really use too much at all during the day. I watch the battery go from 100% when I leave for work to, well, the other day it drained to about 5%. Another day it went below 30%. Both days I didn't do anything except the occasional checking of my emails. Not one phone call or game either day. This is not uncommon. These were just a couple days I decided to keep track of it.

If I do play a game; I can expect it to get extremely hot and drain very fast. My wife has the HTC One and I've tried playing the same games. Using the phone at work in the same way I use the G2. Her battery drops to no less than 80% both times I used it. That included playing some games and listening to music for a few hours each day. I would love it if my G2 would allow that!

On to the new problem. The headphone jack has stopped working. Well, it works if I stay completely still but considering I was giving some really nice earbuds for Christmas, it stinks that I can't use them now.

My question is: How many times do you need to get a replacement phone before Verizon might let you exchange it for a different phone? Is that just never going to happen? At this point I don't even care if it's a lesser quality phone. I don't care if the phone is a year older than mine. Anything. I would even take last years HTC One like my wifes since that one works really well.

I've contacted LG and while they understand my frustration they just keep telling me over and over that it is not their policy to upgrade to a different phone. I just asked if they would be willing to exchange mine for the G3 hoping that the G3 would be less troublesome for me. Nope was the answer. I understand that they have a policy but I also feel companies should bend a little to keep a customer happy when it's clearly an issue with the phone(s), not my use of the phone(s). I would think that it was just me until I tested it out using my wifes phone to find out that hers worked flawlessly the days I brought it to work.

Sure, they want me to send it to them and they'll repair the headphone jack. Unfortunately the screen hasn't died yet so I don't want to do that only to get it back and have the screen give me that dead spot sometime in March, just weeks after my warranty expires.

Has ANYONE had any luck with Verizon deciding that certain people have had enough bad luck with a phone model that they would accept an exchange for a different brand/model?

I would be willing to renew my 2 year contract or even go with the Edge plan but if they don't do something I'll need to visit the other carriers to look into this buyout option I've been hearing about lately. I don't want to because other than this phone it turns out we've been very happy with Verizon's customer service.

Thanks to anyone who actually read all that. Most of which is just rambling. I'm just frustrated. I realize there are many other things in the country and world to be concerned about that are so much worse than my stupid bad luck with the LG G2. But.... I still feel that getting a different phone would be a fair option at this point.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

Snn5

In short: I am on my 4th G2 since Feb 2014. Each phone was a different issue, but ALWAYS after an OS OTA update. To be blunt, you will not get another model phone from Verizon or LG. The best I could come up with as an offer was: Early Edge, but you trade in your working phone for a Moto MAXX. You can sell your phone to buy another at full price. You can use another phone if you have one or a friends. I was offered a 2 year contract to upgrade to whatever phone I wanted, but the cost was higher than prices you see in store or online. IOW, the G3 I saw online for 29.99 on a new 2 year was actually 149.99. There was not a similar phone for less than $149.99 at the time and I did not want to upgrade only to have a 3-4 year old phone by that time the contract was over with. Plus, with all of the competition as of late and for this year ahead, I surely didn't want to get locked into a plan rate that I couldn't change only to find out that better deals were right around the corner. Your screen issue, while it is a fairly common problem, I never experienced. All you can do is replace under warranty or extended warranty with Verizon and try again. If you are out of warranty when you decide what to do, then you may have to stick it out or try another of the above suggestions. If you decide to leave, remember the ETF at Verizon, and the startup costs at any other carrier.

Please note: I wasn't even trying to get a new phone on contract or any special deal when I was offered that extension. I had been on the phone with 15-20 reps over 30-35 hours and over the course of 10 months to include multiple emails and the frustration is not worth it.

chajolm

Thank you very much for the honest and detailed answer. I figured that but I was hoping for one of those rare cases that they did, what I consider to be, the right thing. Sounds like you've had worse luck than me. I'm a guitar teacher and use the headphone jack for work. So that has been a huge deal but I've just been using my ipad for that. I would prefer to use the smaller phone. The screen issue, which I feel will arise again, makes the phone useless. Of course it's possible that there is something in the way I use the phone that makes the screen issue more likely.

You seem to have a better understanding of things at Verizon (This is my families first go at having smartphones and it's been nothing but a hassle. I might just go back to a good ole flip phone! :smileyhappy:

Do these other carries that are advertising buying out you contract really mean it or are there things that stipulations that would make it a bad decision and we would just end up with worse coverage while having a cost per month that eventually is just the same as Verizon?

Obviously Verizon is not going to let me choose a different phone so I think I would like to just look into switching.

Thanks so much, Snn5!

RushFan2112

My wife has had her LG G2 since the day it was released and has no issues. Fully updated, too. I guess there are lemons out there, but sometimes I wonder why people get a phone and always have the same issues from phone-to-phone, yet there are people out there that never have a problem with their phones.

chajolm

Who knows? I'll admit it's possible that it has something to do with the way I use it. Certain apps, carrying it in my back pocket (I do take it out when sitting on a hard chair). I've even wondered about the current in my house versus the current at work when charging it. I know, that sounds ridiculous but who knows. I use bluetooth a lot for guitar lessons when I have my bluetooth speaker with me. Otherwise I just plug it into my amp.

Off topic to the Rush fan.... I'm currently working through learning most of the popular Rush songs. They almost too good! :smileyhappy:

Snn5

OK...other carriers. I'm sure someone else will chime in here as well. They do buyout your contract, BUT...some make you pay the ETF before they reimburse you, others have you send in your ETF bill and they handle it, but meanwhile there are late charges racking up with Verizon until its handled. You also have to give them a working phone, usually the one you have activated on Verizon, meaning you have to buy a new phone. Then you have the activation fee added to it. Of course you need to make sure coverage is good where you are. For all the plan pitfalls with Vzw, there are similar hidden or not...points to signing up with someone else regarding what all you have to do to get started with them. It's easy for them to say...We pay your ETF. They will, hopefully, and eventually, but the fine print makes you give up your phone, if it works, buy a new phone and several other tiny print stipulations.

As far as flip phones go...youd have to look at prepay for that as even the few flips you MIGHT find on carriers are not what they used to be in terms of battery and durability. Plus, the plans are not much cheaper than smartphone plans. Carriers have all but done away with flips.

stef7

FWIW, I like RushFan2112's wife have had no issues with my LG G2 which was obtained perhaps 1 or 2 months after they first became available from VZW.

This may or may not be helpful with respect to your earphone plug - regardless of phone model, a lot of cycles on the jack is going to cause it to eventually fail (not implying yours didn't fail early). You might benefit from the use of an A2DP Bluetooth receiver from Amazon or eBAY to avoid physically cycling the earphone jack. This would allow you untethered listening on earphones, and allow you to plug the receiver into a real stereo. Besides using earphones, you could use amplified computer speakers. You could also use one of these in a vehicle with a stereo Aux In if the car's radio didn't already have BT capability.

This might be workable for what you need to do in your class room.

I use one of these receivers with my very old Sony stereo amplifier, and another with an Altec Lansing VS4621 2.1 computer speaker system. Sometimes people use on

For example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-Wireless-A2DP-3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Dongle-Receiver-Transmitter-Adapter-/400821634494?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d52d4c5be

chajolm

Thanks much for the suggestions. I have looked into that a bit but with the thousands of times I've plugged into my ipods/ipads/other mp3 players and amps without ever having a headphone jack completely fail; I have to believe that this one is fairly cheap. I have had some get loose and in those cases I'm able to open the device up and solder it up and all is good. I can't do that with the G2 since it will void the warranty. I can admit that I'm not sure I would feel too comfortable trying to open up this expensive phone either. Although, I would most likely do it if the 2 yr contract was up.

I have also tried blowing it out and using different brand earbuds/speakers.

My goal at this point is to just get rid of the G2. Not because I don't like the phone; because I've had too much bad luck with it. It is still my favorite phone after trying out many friends phones. There must be something the phone doesn't like about me!!!

Thanks, stef7!

Verizon_Support

chajolm We definitely want you to have a working phone. We sure would not want to see you leave due to the issues with your KG device. You mentioned having several replacements with different issues and this concerns us. Are you installing the same applications on each device? What troubleshooting steps have you tried with this current replacement?

SheritaH_VZW

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@VZWSupport

unknown

I've had mine Since Jan 2014 and it work just fine.

chajolm

Sherita -

I've done everything the troubleshooting suggests. I've done that process with every phone. It's a hassle but I've done it with this one as well.

I believe the main problem is with the refurbished phones. I was just unlucky with the new one that had the dead spot in the screen. I assume that almost all the new ones are good. The only apps I install are some games. I like Real Racing 3. Some guitar apps. Amazon apps. That's pretty much it. I don't use it too much except for plugging into an amp for guitar students to play along with music from either youtube or my library.

I just had the phone in the store today and they could even see that the condition of it is flawless. Looks new. Not a single scratch on the screen or a nick on the edges. I do not abuse my stuff at all. As for people that chime in saying they've had there's for - insert time frame here - and haven't had any problems.... Great! I wish I could say the same.

Anyway, I was told by a Jo, in a customer service chat that I could go into a store and there would be a note on my account regarding exchanging my phone for a new one of a different brand. Obviously it would also need to be a similar price, but a new one, not a refurbished.

Well, the manager shot that down and offered me a 16gb Droid Maxx. I already knew of that option. 16gb's is not a comparable phone. Mine is 32gb's and that's almost not enough. So I asked if they could do the 32gb and he said no. I asked if I could just get the HTC One since it is the same price as my LG G2, he said, "let me check the price." Then, he came back and said, "Yeah, we can do that for you." I said, "Excellent, let's do it!" He said, "But it'll cost you $499!! I thought that was very rude. I didn't get upset at all and just left the store. I actually felt bad for the gal that was helping me since she was very nice and I had taken up a lot of her time where she could've been selling someone a phone that would give her commision. Instead she got to witness her manager be condescending towards me.

I equate this to getting a new car and having problems. When you bring it in, instead of fixing it they give you a used car. After so many used cars, your warranty runs out and you're stuck. I feel like I'll just be stuck with a broken phone soon since my warranty is up in a month.

It would be nice (I know, unlikely) to have someone just tell me to pick out a comparably priced phone and do an exchange. Can you do that for me?

Anyway, thanks for your desire to make things right. To those that have had zero problems with their G2's.... I'm happy for you. It's an excellent phone. Too bad I've had a run of bad luck that has made me lost interest in owing anymore LG products.

stef7

Go for another replacement.

chajolm

Yeah, it seems that will be the only option they give me. I'm a bit frustrated again today since I need to be carrying around my ipod for listening to music as well as my phone.

I'm curious...... Can I just get the refurbished phone and then sell that, my wife's HTC and my sons, and then pay the ETF's and get out of the contract? I know I'll need to pay a lot more than I'm going to get for the phones but we'll make up the difference within the year. I'm looking into a bunch of prepaid plans. Maybe some of the Republic Wireless type of services. Who knows. I really don't like the policy of not just Verizon, but all the major carriers and giving refurbished phones and pretending they're just as good as a new one. I feel that at least the first replacement should be new.

Anyway, I've become bored with this. I'm past being upset and just looking forward to getting out of these contracts. Too bad because Verizon does have the best coverage. In fact, here at work myself and a couple others who have Verizon get reception all over the building where others do not. Argh!!

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