Cracked screen voids warranty for a phone with no signal from day 1?

[Disappointed_01]

My husband's Samsung Galaxy Nexus has always had poor signal.  We can hold his phone right next to my Droid 4 and I'll have 4G with 4 bars of signal and he'll have only 1 maybe 2 bars of signal, no 4G or even 3G. He can't even pick up the WiFi in our house!  In addition, there are times I call him and his phone never rings.  He drops calls all of the time.  While the OS and apps work great, this phone does not work as a PHONE. 

So he took it to our local Verizon store and they said it probably has a faulty antenna and that is a warranty item.  Awesome news!  But wait, here's the $300 catch.  Even though the phone has not operated properly since purchasing it in April, the warranty is voided due to a crack on the screen.  A crack that mysteriously appeared there on day 4 of ownership, while never having been dropped or abused.  Oh, did I mention this was a pre-owned phone?  According to Verizon, some lady owned it for a day and decided she wanted to go back to her "dumb"phone.  Maybe that's because this phone doesn't work as a phone!!!  At this point we wish we could go back to our old Casio G'Zone dumb phone.  At least it could send and receive calls.

So, can Verizon/Samsung really walk away from any responsibility to provide a working phone because the screen is cracked?  We don't want them to fix the screen.  We can live with a cracked screen.  We just want the antenna problem that it's had from the beginning fixed!  Any ideas for a way around this problem?

[androiduser123]

Yes, it does void your warranty. If you don't have insurance, the warranty will not cover this phone because of the cracked screen. Part of the warranty states that Verizon takes your phone and replaces it with a different phone. They don't just fix your phone and send it back. And because there is a crack in the screen, the warranty is void because they can't replace it with one similar because of the crack.

[rcschnoor]

If you go thru Verizon, you will not get a replacement without paying the $300 fee.

You can go to the Samsung website and check their support options. They may be able to provide a repair/replacement at a considerably lower cost.

Did you get rid of your old Casio G'Zone dumb phone? If not, there is nothing keeping you from reactivating the device on the line currently with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi there Disappointed_01!

Let me take on some extra responsibility right now and help out. After all, I don't want your husband dealing with these persisting issues.

Now, when there is device damage, we cannot replace it under warranty. Instead, we opt for insurance. Do you have insurance? If not, no worries as we can troubleshoot your husband's device further. In fact, given that this is a signal issue, I'd first like to recommend removing/reinserting the SIM for up to 30 seconds so as a force a refresh with the network http://vz.to/znMW74 . Please try that and update us. To speak on the issue of the device damage, we don't have information on prior owners nor can we speak to the device damage occurring after you had purchased it. Instead, we do want to come up with solutions so I hope to hear back.

EvanO_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[#5]

Why did you purchase a used phone?  You should have returned it within the 14 day return period if it wasn't working properly and had a cracked screen.

[YoukosoVinny]

I'm very sorry that this happened but you can get your phone screen replaced by a local phone repair shop, or you can DIY with the phone repair kit which I would not recommend because if you break it, only you are responsible for it but it is an option .

I know the sheer irony of Verizon warranty not covering cracked screens, when that's the basic thing that everybody is going to need but hey I guess that's the way it has to be, may be they'll change it.

My phone alike many other people with the Galaxy S3 having crashes, restarts, and freezes happening everyday was unable to be replaced because of the cracked screen.

I really like the options that Verizon offers but to be honest I've only encountered one kind person on the customer representative line, and that was the person who let me know about the warranty situation and also the reason I am still with Verizon. Seems like there's an underlying unkindness in their texts and speech. but that's unrelated. Hope you get your phone screen replaced, have a nice day!

[Ann154]

Actually it is the manufacturer's warranty. Verizon Wireless is only facilitate it for them.