My G2 -> Desire Success Story

On Monday 26th April I received a brand new HTC Desire mobile as a replacement for my T-Mobile G2 (HTC Hero) that I had been using since December 2009. With 3G signal problems and constant missed calls and texts, the G2 was quite obviously not up to scratch and with more and more people complaining on the T-Mobile forum, I felt that I ought to do something about it.

I am posting this in the hope that it may give others some encouragement and ideas on how to go about complaining:

My initial email went on the 30th of March:

----------QUOTE----------

To: cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk

I have a T-Mobile G2 handset on a monthly contract. The handset was received by me towards the end of last year and I am on an eighteen month contract however I am having a number of issues with the handset:

(a) It will not maintain a data connection using 3G. I myself live in a non-3G area but when I travel into a 3G area I experience the same 3G problems as a number of other users. The phone reports 3G on the screen but when browsing/downloading it will NOT transfer data. It sometimes shifts to HSDPA but more often simply fails to download and ends up switching to GPRS – a very slow data rate and certainly NOT the service I am paying for.

(b) Many times my phone will miss calls – the calls are being sent direct to answer phone and I have to re-boot the phone to start receiving calls again. This is a huge inconvenience as you can imagine.

(c) SMS messages are failing to get through to the phone or are being delayed by anything from fifteen minutes to over an our. Again, this is causing me inconvenience.

Currently the phone is unreliable and is, in my opinion, unfit for purpose and I would welcome your suggestion on what my options are with regard to a replacement. I do NOT wish to cancel my T-Mobile contract as I am overall happy with the service and the price plan, but the handset itself is NOT of a satisfactory quality.

For your information I have made sure the handset is running the latest version of the software from your web site, and have fully tested the handset without any additional applications or configurations other than the default ones. I have re-booted the phone, wiped the internal memory, etc.

----------END QUOTE----------

This was followed by receiving a call from T-Mobile. The first person I spoke to assured me that there was nothing wrong with the handset. I asked to speak to her manager and a “Floor Manager” came on who advised me that I needed to provide them with five postcodes where I was finding that the 3G wasn’t transferring data. I explained that this would be impractical at best and near impossible at worst.

He then advised me that the reason I miss calls and texts is due to living in a non-3G area so the phone is getting a weak signal when set to 3G. He advised me to set the phone to 2G when in a non-3G area and 3G when in a 3G area. I suggested he was fobbing me off, informed he I would be making a formal complaint and hung up on him.

I then sent this:

----------QUOTE----------

To: MDTMOB@t-mobile.co.uk

I have today been speaking to two of your support staff regarding problems with my T-Mobile G2 handset. This was provided by your company towards the end of last year on an 18 month contract and has recently started to exhibit two of the “known issues” that are making the phone, in my view, unfit for purpose.

The handset itself is very good, feature and construction-wise, but it has an issue with calls not being sent through to the handset (or the handset not notifying of incoming calls) and in maintaining data on a 3G connection.

These issues can be found at:

Phone not notifying of calls:

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=8010381029d6090123c3bc94d6007c47

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=80103834aaca0127056e04620070e2

No data transfer on 3G:

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=8010384abbabde01276d5f3caa005e2d

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=8010386cc3d18901276dca37bd0064b9

And then there are the other issues that I haven’t even asked your support people about:

G2 suddenly going “dead” and needing battery pull:

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=80103864a032901275f3d54db007899

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=80103834aaca0127056e0462006e1e

Your customer service people were very polite, however considering the number of people talking about these same problems I found it hard to believe that they were unable to offer any kind of solution or to admit that there even *is* a problem with this handset and 3G.

Your advisers suggestions were as follows:

On the subject of no data being transferred on 3G, he asked me to call back when I had at least FIVE postcodes where this is happening. I explained that (a) it happened everywhere when I was in a 2G area and (b) I don’t *know* the postcodes of all the places I am (for example – shopping). This sounded to me very much like a “go away and come back another time when someone else might deal with it” answer.

On the subject of missing calls (and delayed texts) the adviser suggested that it was due to the handset being set to try and connect to 3G and my home address being in a non-3G area. He advised me to go into the settings on the handset every time I was in a non-3G area and change the handset to only look for 2G. Then change it back when I am in a 3G area. This is totally, totally impractical and again suggested to me a brush-off answer.

Having been with T-Mobile for many years, with two other contract handsets in the family AND a pay-as-you-go, I am NOT looking to move networks as I am happy with the service, coverage and prices of T-Mobile. I am, however, very unhappy with the handset that I am left with and the apparent lack of concern and knowledge of your support staff, especially on issues that have been confirmed as “known” by T-Mobile staff in your own forums.

A number of your forum members have already written to Watchdog and Trading Standards and at least one has filled out an Ofcom “complaint not being handled” feedback form. I am avoiding these issues as I do not feel that a company of your size and standing need be dragged through the public eye with the Android/G2 fiasco, but please can you advise me on my next course of action?

PS: I would appreciate all correspondence in email as (a) I am able to keep a copy and maintain a history and (b) I have extreme difficulty in understanding your support staff at the call centres I am usually transferred to.

----------END QUOTE----------

To which I received this:

---------- QUOTE----------

Good afternoon Mr Anderson

Thank you for your email about the problems you are experiencing with the G2 phone.

Before I can look into this for you, I will first need to implement certain procedures in line with our privacy policy. To answer your query I need to access your account and I need to make sure you are the account holder.

When people contact us by email we do have to be careful and to make sure we have as much security information as possible. We do not want to give out account information to people who are not entitled to it, this is why we need to ask for your password.

To allow me to look in to this matter for you, please can you reply to this email with your account password.

If you cannot remember your password, can you please tell me the amount of your last bill and how you paid it.

Thank you again for your email, I am sorry I was unable to help you today. Please be assured, once I can access your details, I will look into this as a matter of priority.

Kind regards

(name withheld)
Complaints Investigation
T-Mobile

----------END QUOTE----------

My reply:

---------- QUOTE----------

My account password is “**********”.

As can be seen here: http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=8010380706d79930127a9fadba8007725 there are many people with the very same problems.

----------END QUOTE----------

Shortly after, I received a missed call from T-Mobile. I didn’t answer and they emailed me this:

---------- QUOTE----------
Good afternoon Mr Anderson

Thank you for replying to my email and confirming your security details. I am grateful for this as it allows me to access your account. I am sorry to hear of the problems you have had with the G2.

I have looked into these issues you have experienced and I am afraid these are not known faults. Due to the problems you are experiencing, I am happy to offer an exchange of the same phone.

Please contact me on the number below to organise this. I am available next week from Tuesday due to the bank holidays.

Calls to this number are charged at local rate if you are a BT customer, however please check your BT plan. If you are with another provider this may differ, so please check. (Please note calls to this number from your mobile will be charged at 40p inc VAT per minute.)

I look forward to hearing from you soon Mr Anderson.
Kind regards

(name withheld)
Complaints Investigation
T-Mobile

----------END QUOTE----------

I called and (name withheld) was actually off – she’d gone home, but someone else sorted the address. The replacement came on the Tuesday after the bank holiday (6th April) and on the following day I sent this:

---------- QUOTE----------

Dear (name withheld),

Thank you for sorting out the replacement handset. However this one is showing exactly the same issues as the previous ones with 3G and it’s 2G signal strength is even worse than the one just returned. With the previous handset I was able to make and receive calls/texts when on 2G anywhere in the house. With this handset I receive no signal downstairs and one bar upstairs. Sending texts is a major issue as even with apparent signal the phone is reporting that it is unable to send.

It is plain that the G2 is NOT fit for purpose and I would like to ask what can be done to rectify this situation as I am now paying a monthly contract for a phone that can (a) make and receive no calls, (b) make and receive no texts and (c) is not able to use any 3G signal anywhere otherwise calls and texts do not come through.

Kind regards

----------END QUOTE----------

Turned out we have a problem with our local mast – I brought this up with her later on when she called me on Thursday. The first time she called I didn’t answer and she left a message for me to call her back. The second time was about half past four on Thursday. (name withheld) was very nice and accepted that the handset was not up to scratch – the signal problem I clarified with her and accepted that it was a localised temporary problem as they are still working on the transmitter.

I did press that the missing calls were a major issue along with the missing texts and that I have been using the phone in various locations to test this fully. I had indeed driven from Peterborough to High Wycombe and back on that very day to collect my children so their records could show every single cell tower I connected to throughout the day. They do check things like that.

(name withheld) then offered a replacement handset. Just like that. I explained that I tested software and web sites on mobile devices (half true – I work for a web site testing company part time) and that I therefore needed a smartphone with the ability to run apps. I asked if they did the iPhone (knowing that officially they didn’t) and she said no.

I explained that I therefore needed to stay with an Android device but of their current range, the Galaxy Portal and the LG were both of a lesser spec that the G2 and neither had a confirmation of the latest OS updates. I then pressed that I needed a handset that was kept up to date with the 2.1 update and explained my concerns over the Sony X10 and Sony’s reputation for being very slow in issuing updates. (name withheld) asked me to hold for a second while she looked if there were any other Android phones due to come to T-Mobile in the next month or so but said no.

That only left the Desire, so I asked outright: “is it possible for you to send me an HTC Desire as a replacement?”

(name withheld) said that would be fine and she would just check that there was one available. She put me on hold for a couple of minutes and then informed me that there was no stock (I asked if I could collect one in-store but she said that this upgrade was not like-for-like, therefore out of process, so had to be sent by her) but that she would check daily and send one out as soon as they came in. Would I like it sent to my home address?

In addition she said that she would give me seven days to then transfer everything from my G2 to the Desire. I said not to worry – it all sync’s and data is on the SD card so they can do a replace and collect at the same time and she said that they wouldn’t take the G2 back but that it would be blacklisted (fine – handy mp3 player for the wife!).

Finally I asked if it was okay if, when I got home, I could write a note to her and have her confirm it so I had something for my records. She said no problem so I wrote:

---------- QUOTE----------

Dear (name withheld),

Just to confirm our telephone conversation this afternoon. This replacement G2 is showing the same problems with 3G and data. I would like to accept your offer of an alternative handset, namely an HTC Desire, as I understand that this handset does not suffer from the same 3G issues. I also understand that this handset is currently out of stock but that you will be checking stock daily and will send one out on next day delivery as soon as available.

If you could be so kind as to confirm that the above is correct, then we can touch base in a day or two regarding stock.

Kindest regards

----------END QUOTE----------

To which I received the reply:

----------END QUOTE----------

Good morning Bryan

Thank you for your email requesting confirmation of my resolution.

I am happy to offer a non like for like exchange to the HTC Desire. Unfortunately there are none in stock but I will be checking daily.

I look forward to speaking to you soon.

Kind regards
(name withheld)

----------END QUOTE----------

That was Friday 9th April. (name withheld) then did indeed keep in touch, calling me every other day to tell me that there were no Desires in. By the 22nd I was getting frustrated seeing that some Desires had indeed been sent out and emailed (name withheld) links to the forum showing people receiving phones. On the morning of the 23rd I received a call from (name withheld) saying that a Desire had been sent out to me and I ought to have it Saturday or Monday.

It turned up Monday.

I would point out that everything since my second email has been addressed to and replied from MDTMOB@t-mobile.co.uk so that is the email to get stuff done. (name withheld) has been very helpful and never once insisted I was in the wrong at all. I did however, all the time, try to get over that the lack of 3G itself was far less of an issue than the missed calls.....after all, data is not an essential part of the contract whereas the ability make/receive calls is.

So I now feel guilty but happy. And loving my Desire. Though not yet worked up the guts to test 3G and calling/texting again....currently on 2G and WiFi!

My mobile history....pt5

I have just remembered that I got to part four and stopped. There's a reason for this - I can't remember the new phones! We're up to about mid-2007 with the Windows smartphones and by this time I was deeply entrenched in the mobile phone industry myself.....which meant that in a very short space of time I went through:

3 x Imate pre-production phones

LG Chocolate

Nokia 6300

Nokis N73

Nokia N95

Samsung U600

Blackberry 8800

Blackberry 8100

Blackberry 8310

Palm 500V

Sony Ericsson M600

There are probably others - I genuinely have lost track of the most recent phones.

But most recently I have been using a Blackberry Curve 8900 as my own phone and in my last job I was given an iPhone for work use. The iPhone was awful - well....awful as a phone and communications evice at least. The on-screen keyboard simply didn't work for me and I just couldn't get used to it. The email, calendar and contacts software were basic in the extreme - great for casual use but simply not ready for use day in, day out in a corporate environment. And the battery lasted less than a day.

But for games, it simply couldn't be beaten. Free and very cheap games from the App Store made it easy to fill the phone up with the likes of Flight Control, Harbour Master and others (one of the reason why the battery didn't last too long I guess) and these games are the only reason I actually miss the phone. Must get myself an iPod Touch soon!

My Blackberry....what can I say? It just works! The keyboard means I can type faster than on my PC. The screen is a gorgeous 480x360 pixels - that almost as big as my very first laptop! 3.2MP camera gives me photos I can print out. The software makes keeping contacts and calendar up to date and sync'd with the desktop (via Funambol online sync) a breeze and all my Hotmail email accounts sync perfectly.

I can't see me moving away from Blackberry.

At least not until the iPhone gets a slide out keyboard and major software overhauls.

My mobile history....pt4

As far as I was aware, I had done with "normal" phones. The last Nokia (the 6260) had convinced me for good that smartphones were the way to go so off it went to Ebay and the hunt was on for the perfect smartphone.

The hunt ended quite quickly as back then, there really weren't many options. I ended up buying an Orange SPV C500 (same as a Imate SP3). Candybar design, nice big 240x320 screen and Windows Mobile. I really, really ought to have loved this phone. It felt great in the hand and the screen was lovely. I fell in love with the way the OS worked - if I wanted to call someone or text them or anything, I started typing their name on the keypad and it found the person and gave me options.

It's how I have liked my phones to work ever since. It took me a while to realise the difference between how phones had forced me to work before: decide I want to text someone, I first had to write the text and then decide who to send it to. Bit picky, but I liked it the other way round and Windows Mobile let me do that.

But damn! Was it slow? It froze all the time, it needed re-booting three times each day and just in general use it crawled....ten seconds to open a menu!

So - having already got in unlocked from Orange (I have stuck with T-Mobile through all of this - probably one of their most loyal customers!), I proceeded to re-flash the firmware (upgrade the software in the phone) to a non-networked one, so it didn't say "Orange" when you switched it on and got rid of all their crappy menus. Then did the sugar-cube trick which cleaned up the outside and all of a sudden I had a shiny, network-free phone.

Ebay time.

I decided that I needed a touchscreen again. And Windows Mobile. So I talked very nicely to T-Mobile (remember - I am one of their best customers!) and upgraded early and landed myself a black MDA Compact.

NOW I was happy. It was shorter than the previous phone, no thicker, and a bit wider but it had a great screen. And it was a touchscreen. So I had better games.

Oh - yes it was faster, but overall it did nothing more than the C500. But I loved it all the same and kept it for almost a year (a record for me!).

But temptation came....Jay at work had an O2 version of the T-Mobile Vario - THAT had a keyboard AND a touchscreen. A lovely sliding-out keyboard no less. Somehow I managed to convince myself to sell the Compact to Stuart (who's "Boggy's Blog" never gets updated) and found myself a T-Mobile Vario.

What to say about that? It was the same as the Compact but had a keyboard. A bad keyboard that was impossible to type on really. And when the keyboard slid out the screen was supposed to rotate.....well it did. Eventually. It was also twice as thick, three times as heavy and uglier than Mrs Ugly's ugly sister on ugly night.

I cried for my Compact but Stuart was never going to let me have it back. So within a week I was Ebay-bound again and......WOW!!! There was a NEW Compact! The Compact II. The same size and shape as my old Compact but better! I had to have it!

I got it! It was shite. It was slow. S-l-o-w. They put a new version of Windows Mobile in it but forgot to upgrade the processor or the memory. I was getting used to crying now. Right then I promised myself that I would buy NO MORE WINDOWS PHONES!

How long did THAT last?

My mobile history....pt3

After the T610, I started getting more adventurous with my phones. I wanted them to DO more, to email, to play movies, games, make the tea, etc. My next phone is one that is still very dear to my heart: the Palm Treo 600.

A full QWERTY keyboard, a big screen (a whopping 160x160 pixels!), a camera, mp3 player, email, and more. And additional software was available - hundreds and hundreds of PalmOS games and applications!

It felt good too - like it was solid. Solid metal - it weighed more than my desk phone and the aerial made it awkward in the pocket, but it didn't feel like it'd ever break.

And it didn't.

Well - apart from the speaker going all fuzzy on me. But that was easy to fix with some tin foil and a no.6 Torx screwdriver.

But the lure of Nokia-land was calling me. I'd resisted for a long, long time (though had endured Nokia phones issued by various employers - we don't talk about those beasts here) but in 2004 they had something new. Something shiny. With a flip. And a twist.

So the Treo went on Ebay and along came the Nokia 6260. It was a smartphone - Symbian S60 and it had a flip screen that twisted. It needed to because it had no external screen so no way to see who was calling you unless you lept the phone flipped and twisted. Then the screen would get knackered and would also need to be twisted round again if you wanted to make a call or text. Or anything really.

The flip was floppy. The keys were bad. The screen was poor. I hated it.

It went on Ebay very, very quickly.

And then I started on Windows Mobile devices. And there were many, all with various problems - most were slow, all were prone to freezing and needing a re-boot. But there were many and I can't even recall what order I had them in now....

My mobile history....pt2

I can't remember why I did it, but I eventually retired my Panasonic and moved to a Siemens S35i.....I have no idea why because it was one of the worst phones I have ever owned. Which is odd because the opinions on GSMarena seems to be mostly positive. Oh well - each to their own.

I have nothing else to say about this phone.

But I loved my next phone....

I was in Milton Keynes one sunny day, supposed to have been selling something - may have been air conditioning at the time. Anyway, I was hungry and headed to Tesco but passed a Phone4U outlet....or didn't pass it. I ended up inside it, signed up to T-Mobile on a twelve month contract and walking out with a shiny, brand new, silver, Motorola T720....my first colour screen phone!

The very best thing about this phone was the menu system - everything could be set to my liking....what items showed on the standby screen, what order the menu items were in, shortcut buttons and everything.

I loved this little beast but....the screen was poor. Very poor. Fine in the dark but daylight, room lights, candles, everything made the screen totally unreadable. It had to go.

I didn't learn....my next phone suffered the very same problem (maybe it was screen technology at the time) but the Sony Ericsson T610 was a delight to hold and play with. Small and perfectly formed. But again, take it outside and the screen was just hopeless. It did have a camera though....

My mobile history....pt1

One of those "Social Scene" things popped up on Facebook the other day - "Five Cell Phones I've Had" - and it got me thinking.

I have now gone through so many different phones, and my memory is so bad, that I can't actually recall many of them. But thought I'd have a go anyway.

My first was a Mercury/One2One M300:

I remember paying £15 per month for this and about £100 up front. The sim card was full-size (a whole credit card that slotted into the bottom of the phone) and it had a two line display. No texting as far as I can remember, no vibrate, no email, no games, no nothing. But I was cool because I had a mobile phone.

I was also skint because I had a mobile phone. Eventually it got cut off. Phone was boxed up and sold at Cash Converters if I remember correctly.

My next phone was some time later - an Ericsson (before they were Sony Ericsson) GA628. One line of text, stubby little aerial and a huge battery. But I was cool again - I hit the credit card and got a slimline battery for it....it was sexy.

The blue keyboard surround was changeable - I had the blue one and a red one, but best of all, I had a black one. I loved that phone.

I also found a great add-on. At the time I used a Palm PDA and with the right cable I could conenct the GA628 to the Palm and ...... get email on the move! In 1998! Of course, it was at 9,600bps and text only and stupidly expensive, but I was a mobile executive!

But then.....Panasonic made a phone which VIBRATED! No more embarrasing ring tones. No more questions from the wife about who was calling me. I had to have one. I ended up with the Panasonic G600.

Multi line display!
Vibration!
SMS!

That was it - the BIG upgrade....to get vibration and multi-line display and, I think, the first phone I had that would send and receive text messages. I didn't KNOW anyone else to send a text message to though. If I recall, I don't think I ever actually sent a text message.