chicknlil
Android Enthusiast
As many of you are aware, I've been an ardent supporter of the Captivate from the getgo. I grumbled at people when they gave up on the phone after less than 30 days. I preached patience when we were promised updates (both to "fix" the GPS and to Froyo). And I continued to champion this phone even as I became increasingly frustrated with all of its issues. I've had the phone since day 1, rooted it within a week or two, and have progressed to the point where I'm now comfortably flashing ROMs to it. But it irritates me to no end to feel like I had to flash ROMs to get rid of lag, to improve the audio quality and to (sometimes) improve the GPS. As much as we paid for these phones, we shouldn't have to accept that. But I was willing to, until today when my phone decided to start doing the dreaded random shutdown/reboot.
I'm a Premier customer with AT&T, have been with them just shy of 6 years, and have a Family Plan. I called up when I got off of work tonight, spoke to a nice gentleman in business class service. I explained to him that while I was willing to tolerate the GPS issues, the lack of updates, et al ...I was not willing to tolerate the shutdown/reboot issues. He offered to send a reboot signal to my phone, or to do a reset. I explained, politely, that those were not acceptable options to me and again, politely, asked to speak to the Retentions department.
This, my friends, is where you need to get to if you have any hopes of replacing your phone early. I repeated my situation to this representative, and explained to her (in a non-threatening manner) that I could get the same number of minutes plus unlimited data with T-Mobile for about the same price. Then I asked her what she could do for me to make things right. Remember, I got my Captivate on launch day (July 19, 2010) ... I'm not supposed to be eligible for a new phone until July 19, 2011.
After determining my phone preferences (Android, something not refurbished), she offered either the Inspire 4G at $79.99 or the Atrix 4G at $179.99 - basically, the 'upgrade' prices on either, plus an additional $20 discount. Since I was leaning towards the Atrix, she's going to call me back tomorrow (since it's not officially released yet) so we can talk more.
You too can potentially upgrade early. The keys are to be polite, persistent, and to reach the retentions department. Know what your options are elsewhere (be it T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint), and make it a point to express that you're willing to pay your early termination fee if you don't feel like you're being valued as a customer. If you're a good customer, they will work with you.
Hope this helps someone else get a new phone, and I wish the folks who are sticking with their Captivates well. It was my first smartphone and a great learning experience for me.
I'm a Premier customer with AT&T, have been with them just shy of 6 years, and have a Family Plan. I called up when I got off of work tonight, spoke to a nice gentleman in business class service. I explained to him that while I was willing to tolerate the GPS issues, the lack of updates, et al ...I was not willing to tolerate the shutdown/reboot issues. He offered to send a reboot signal to my phone, or to do a reset. I explained, politely, that those were not acceptable options to me and again, politely, asked to speak to the Retentions department.
This, my friends, is where you need to get to if you have any hopes of replacing your phone early. I repeated my situation to this representative, and explained to her (in a non-threatening manner) that I could get the same number of minutes plus unlimited data with T-Mobile for about the same price. Then I asked her what she could do for me to make things right. Remember, I got my Captivate on launch day (July 19, 2010) ... I'm not supposed to be eligible for a new phone until July 19, 2011.
After determining my phone preferences (Android, something not refurbished), she offered either the Inspire 4G at $79.99 or the Atrix 4G at $179.99 - basically, the 'upgrade' prices on either, plus an additional $20 discount. Since I was leaning towards the Atrix, she's going to call me back tomorrow (since it's not officially released yet) so we can talk more.
You too can potentially upgrade early. The keys are to be polite, persistent, and to reach the retentions department. Know what your options are elsewhere (be it T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint), and make it a point to express that you're willing to pay your early termination fee if you don't feel like you're being valued as a customer. If you're a good customer, they will work with you.
Hope this helps someone else get a new phone, and I wish the folks who are sticking with their Captivates well. It was my first smartphone and a great learning experience for me.
). So I don't know if doing that again will be possible as we technically would have had a month left on our Vu's before being eligible to upgrade again, so that's kind of like asking for an early early upgrade or something 
. And on top of that we had to return the Motorola Backflip and get that exchanged (I hear that Motorola got the Eclair update out just a little behind schedule, but not months after it was expected, how much do you want to bet we will hear of froyo on that before the Captivate? Motorola may not be the top brand of phones like it was a few years ago, but at least they know to keep their customers happy. I stuck with motorola for 6 years through the Razr, K1, some other non-featured phone before that, and I would have stayed with the backflip if I had known the Captivate wasn't getting 2.2 anytime soon). I was so glad when I got the captivate, I was thinking that buying a $200 phone would certainly solve the problems we were having with the free ones, but of course the advantages are certainly few and far between...
