Weird Advice from VM Support?

[tunaman2]

So I had a Triumph for a couple years, and bought a Galaxy Ring to replace it back in September. It was an impulse purchase - had I read all the reviews on VM's own site about the Ring rebooting and locking up, I never would have bought the phone. But I emailed tech support, and they kindly offered to replace it (this was a couple weeks ago; my "new" Ring arrived on St. Pat's Day).

Their last email said to let them know if any more reboots happened. So today I emailed them a list of what had happened with my new phone:

16:21 03/19/2014 - Put phone in pocket to run errands; got about a half mile down the road and phone rebooted.

13:37 03/21/2014 - Had phone on desk while I watched college basketball game. Phone rebooted, even though I wasn't even using it.

19:15 03/21/2014 - Tried to download "March Madness" app, but Google play kept disappearing (crashing). Rebooted phone, was able to install app.

04:28 03/22/2014 - Went to set alarm on phone, but screen would not come on (blue LED was blinking, indicating that I had a new Gmail message, so the phone was on). As a last ditch effort to get screen to come on, I attached the charger. Around 5 seconds later the phone rebooted.

03:42 3/25/2014 - Phone rebooted. Woke up my wife.

14:14 3/27/2014 - Every notification I've gotten today has been "static-ey". On my old phone, ringtones\notifications would occasionally be accompanied by bursts of static. It might just be me, but it seems MUCH more common with this particular phone.

A little while later, I got this back from them:

I

 

[ErinGoBragh]

Sounds like they are trying to troubleshoot a battery contact issue. Some of this isn't adding up though.

Are you seeing charging/battery life issues? (Ex: phone is on charger but not charging)

When your phone reboots when you're not using it, is it face up or face down or either?

When you remove the back panel does the battery feel lose in it's enclosure? (I once had a cheap international phone I used for travel that had a poorly sized battery enclosure. I discovered this while I was in India and my phone was constantly shutting itself off and rebooting. I fixed it(red neck style) with a bent, insulated paper clip and bunch of folded up post it notes to keep the battery for moving around and losing contact)

If yes, there's a good chance this is a battery contact issue (design flaw with phone hardware).

Has your phone gotten wet or been exposed to high humidity? How about dust? Do the contacts on the battery or where the battery inserts look dirty?

If yes, clean the contacts like they asked and see if that works.

 

[poipoi2]

Rebooting could indeed come from iffy battery contacts, and it may even be a known issue with the phone. It would make sense to at least try to improve the contacts before doing something else.

But yes, the reviews of the phone seem to show lots of people having similar problems.

When this phone is selling for around $80 right now, and the S3 is still over $200, I wouldn't hold my breath for them to swap it out. But you might ask them if they'll issue you some form of account credit so you can get another phone instead. And I'd point them to the reviews showing multiple people having problems.

 

[tunaman2]

Are you seeing charging/battery life issues? (Ex: phone is on charger but not charging)

Not really. On my "Old Ring", I'd sometimes leave it to charge while I slept, and occasionally the screen wouldn't come on (but the LED would blink blue 'cos I had a new Gmail message, and I'd get sound notifications. I'd have to pull the battery to get the screen to work again. And I apparently have the same problem with the "New Ring".

Battery life is OK, but sometimes a bit inconsistent. It's like this with every Android device I've ever had, though (phones + tablets). Sprint also has mediocre service in my area: it's great at my house, but really spotty in the rest of my county.

I've never had the Old Ring or New Ring not charge, though. In that respect, both phones were fine.

When your phone reboots when you're not using it, is it face up or face down or either?

Usually face up, although I'm not 100% sure about the time it rebooted in my pocket.

When you remove the back panel does the battery feel lose in it's enclosure?

Not really. And I'm pretty sure the Ring's overall design is just a slightly smaller S3, yes?

If yes, there's a good chance this is a battery contact issue (design flaw with phone hardware).

Has your phone gotten wet or been exposed to high humidity? How about dust? Do the contacts on the battery or where the battery inserts look dirty?

Nope. In fact, I don't know that it's rained here since i got the replacement phone, and I pretty sure it hasn't come within 5 feet of a toilet or sink.

If yes, clean the contacts like they asked and see if that works.

Well, I did. Though I doubt it'll help.

Rebooting could indeed come from iffy battery contacts, and it may even be a known issue with the phone. It would make sense to at least try to improve the contacts before doing something else.

Well, I did what they said. Time will tell if it helps.

When this phone is selling for around $80 right now, and the S3 is still over $200, I wouldn't hold my breath for them to swap it out. But you might ask them if they'll issue you some form of account credit so you can get another phone instead. And I'd point them to the reviews showing multiple people having problems.

Yeah, I know a free S3 is a bit of a pipe dream. I couldn't believe it myself when they offered to replace my Intercept with a Triumph (the Triumph was brand new at the time, and might have cost as much as $299 if memory serves). I'd hope they'd at least credit me what I paid for the phone.

I rarely buy extended warranties, but I actually bought the $15 plan at Walmart for the Ring. I had to go there this week to buy a cordless phone (yes, really!) and noticed that they had the S3 for like, $224 or thereabouts. If the Ring continues to suck, I can apparently get a WM credit for $129 within 24 hours of filing a claim. So I might try that.