4th Fascinate in 7 days!

[randallg]

My wife and I have been available for our NE2 upgrade for 5 months, but since we never had a smart phone, I had been researching on line and talking to people that have the iPhone, Fascinate, Droid X, etc. to try and make a competent decision.  I went to Verizon last Friday and said Walmart has the Fascinate for $48.88 with a new 2 year agreement and can you match?  They said "run as fast as you can to Walmart at that price"... we can't help you wih the price...so, I went across the street and bought 2 Fascinates, headed home and thought life was just fine...2 hours later, my phone started flashing, shut off and when I rebooted, it flashed again and all info I had entered had disappeared...Called Verizon and the tech support said it must be defective and take it back for a replacement...took phone back to Walmart and they swapped it out for me.  Then on Sunday, I checked for system updates available and found that my Build number was D101 and wouldn't update...should have been EA28...so back to Walmart to swap out again...sales rep called Verizon and they said my phone was obsolete and would never take an update and for Walmart to check their phone and send the older phones back ....Are you kidding me? Problem solved?...Nope...Monday, my wife's phone made some weird scrathcy, static noise and then shut off.  I pulled the battery and restarted...everthing worked great until last night then the volume went to max and we couldn't do anything other than shut it off and restart...pulled battery again...waited 1 minute...installed battery, turned on and speakers screaming and alot of static noise!..Today I head back to Walmart and exchange it again...This is the absolute last time I will swap out the Fascinate...I have 8 days left on my 14 day "worry free" guarantee on my phone and I guess my wife will nw have another 14 days when I swap hers out today...What an inconvenience!  Can anyone tell me how to get service on a Fascinate when the 14 days (Walmart) or 30 days (Verizon) has expired???  Do I just throw the phone out and and pay full price for a new phone?  Samsung website says 1 year on the phone and battery.  Anyone else ever had this or similar problems with the Fascinate?

[PJNC284 · Accepted solution]

The 14 day WFG starts when you get the phones and doesn't reset when you get a replacement.  The WFG is just a period where you can return the phones altogether without being obligated to the 2 yr contract. You still have the yr warranty where you can get a "certified like new" replacement if it's due to a manufacturer's defect and you can purchase the additional insurance from verizon to cover accidental damage also.  

As for the issues you're talking about, I've had the Fascinate for about 5 months and it's worked perfectly.  

[jfigura]

My first Fascinate back in October had issues and wouldn't update over the air. Verizon has told me that there was a large batch of phones that were defective and wouldn't update. 

The issue you are having with WalMart, is why it is hard to buy online or from other dealers. Sometimes the phones have sat there too long without being reflashed with newer firmware, In your case, the DI01 firmware was already outdated. The phone should have come with at minimum, DJ09. EA28 was just released so it is likely that WalMart phones wouldnt have had that update. That's the one advantage of buying in the Verizon store, even for more money, you are at least assured of getting something that hasn't been sitting on the shelf for months.

As for the other weird issues, Never had anything like that happen to my own Fascinate. Don't think I've ever really heard of it elsewhere either, but that doesn't mean anything anyway

The Fascinate is a good phone. BUT, I would go back to WalMart and insist the phone they give you have the DJ09 update as a minimum. They can easily tell this buy looking on the side of the box. If they don't have DJ09, return them, and start over elsewhere. The Fascinate is a great device and will be even better in a few weeks when we get the 2.2 software update.

[maryl]

Geez, if I had that much trouble with my fascinate, I would've returned it and asked for my money back....

[shannonkish]

I am on my 3rd fascinate since November 16th.