HTC India service sucks.

[sids911]

Worst thing is the fact that they dont give a cr*p about you badmouthing them amongst friends and online forums.

The only solution is to get heard in upper echelons where there is a little bit sense of ownership about the products/company. Down at the customer facing levels, they are just indifferent.

[Steeroid]

I've been using HTC devices since the iPaq (also manufactured by them as are several other 'branded' products from handhelds to PCs to Laptops around the world) as well as their pocket-pc based phones since 2002 and have thankfully never had to use their 'support' which I believe is non-existent.

I am currently on my 6th 'own' HTC (all others provided by my employers), very happy with a device that does more than any other mobile computing device can do in the world today - phone, organizer, pushmail, high speed data (3.5 G), GPS, WiFi, VPN support, et al in addition to some boring stuff like playing songs and movies.

They brought touch-screens to phones as far back as 2001, which is ages before the likes of Apple thought about phones and is still ahead of the likes of Nokia that still cannot bring out a decent touch-screen phone. To me, they have redefined what phones were meant to be - and I see a lot of phones in my line of business.

The very reason for web forums such as xda-developers.com is the non-existent support. However, support forums such as XDA-developers can only help out with software, upgrades, tweaks, tricks etc. For anythign relating to Hardware, you are stuck with HTC or their local reseller/distributor.

Thankfully I have never had to replace hardware on any of my devices till date - I have heard stories from those that had to for some reason (dropped phone, poured coffee, etc), and they have cursed and sworn at the company for not providing hardware support.

Personally, I'm happy enough to look forward to their next upgrade or new device as and when it hits the market. Sadly, this feeling will not be shared by those that have had to interact with this company at least once after buying their devices. And of course by those that only wait for opportunities such as these to make wisecracks.

Ishaan you are not alone - all HTC customers around the world (not just in India) share your plight. If you can get something done by those morons, either thru guile or force, please do let us know.

[Jaggu]

To add to what steer posted, l have been using iPAQ 2 models since 3 years, and Touch since 1 year. iPAQ 1 battery conked at 2 year mark due to non usage, Touch mother board conked at 9 months. Again motherboard due to rough use. HTC replaced motherboard without any questions asked and gave another 1 year warranty on it. There was a delay in parts arriving, otherwise brilliant service.

[ashthedivx]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

To add to what steer posted, l have been using iPAQ 2 models since 3 years, and Touch since 1 year. iPAQ 1 battery conked at 2 year mark due to non usage, Touch mother board conked at 9 months. Again motherboard due to rough use. HTC replaced motherboard without any questions asked and gave another 1 year warranty on it. There was a delay in parts arriving, otherwise brilliant service.

This is the only root cause of delay in providing the prompt service. HTC warranty and out-of-warranty services is outsourced to a third party company who also takes care of Motorola, O2 and similar other products.

[somebodystopme]

Hmm was thinking of buying HTC diamond. Dont know now. I have had issues with my v3i. And service has been prompt. It was given back to me in matter of two days. With whatever problem replaced and with latest upgrade to their OS. Its working fine till now.

[jango]

Originally Posted by somebodystopme

Hmm was thinking of buying HTC diamond. Dont know now. I have had issues with my v3i. And service has been prompt. It was given back to me in matter of two days. With whatever problem replaced and with latest upgrade to their OS. Its working fine till now.

even i am planning to pick up a HTC diamond from US. I really do not want to go for the iphones. I also have o2 in mind. What do fellow bhpian's suggest should i consider o2 or HTC ??

[somebodystopme]

Originally Posted by jango

even i am planning to pick up a HTC diamond from US. I really do not want to go for the iphones. I also have o2 in mind. What do fellow bhpian's suggest should i consider o2 or HTC ??

Why from US I think Diamond will be Same everywhere, May be even expensive in US since its not With any network there. And regarding O2 I dont think you know O2 is manufactured by HTC so why not go for HTC directly? Besides there is no phone that is better than Diamond at the moment.

AFAIK Iphones are for Kids.

[jango]

Originally Posted by somebodystopme

Why from US I think Diamond will be Same everywhere, May be even expensive in US since its not With any network there. And regarding O2 I dont think you know O2 is manufactured by HTC so why not go for HTC directly? Besides there is no phone that is better than Diamond at the moment.

AFAIK Iphones are for Kids.

@sbsm the diamond is not available in India. i checked out with a store in b'lore and the most recent release in indian is the touch control for 33K. If i get the diamond cheaper in US i would definitely want to buy it from there.

I did't know that O2 was manf by HTC !!

[DerAlte]

HTC no longer makes phones for O2, T-Mobile etc. since 2007. HTC wanted to build their own brand. To get direct distribution going, they took over Dopod.

[Jaggu]

Diamond from US, you will have option for 3G and hence price will be higher. In India right now they will launch EDGE version which will be cheaper by couple of thousands, expected launch date June 20th.

O2 is also serviced by same outfit here in Bangalore, atleast HTC has a better sales here in India and parts relatively easy for them to procure.

[bigman]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

HTC no longer makes phones for O2, T-Mobile etc. since 2007. HTC wanted to build their own brand. To get direct distribution going, they took over Dopod.

Are you sure about that ? You can still buy O2, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone branded HTC devices in the UK.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

HTC no longer makes phones for O2, T-Mobile etc. since 2007. HTC wanted to build their own brand. To get direct distribution going, they took over Dopod.

No boss. They stopped branding phones for other resellers such as iMate, Qtek, etc and took over the other reseller that was using their products - Dopod.

They still brand phones for OPERATORS such as O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile etc. My HTC Tytn II is sold as the AT&T Tilt in the US.

[nitroxx]

To tell you the truth, I've been pretty comfortable with HTC..right from the days of them being branded by O2 and imate. I guess sometimes..for that matter even cars like Mercedes have call backs sometimes and major issues..I'm sorry to hear about your phone being a pain..hope it solves quickly

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Ishaan you are not alone - all HTC customers around the world (not just in India) share your plight. If you can get something done by those morons, either thru guile or force, please do let us know.

I finally did manage to get it fixed Santhosh but only by threats of using force if necessary! You guys have already read what happened on Saturday afternoon, now when I started trying to contact their manager Ms. Farah (Taking into account various time intervals for her supposed lunch, meeting, rounds in office etc.) the staff started using a new trick!

They started telling me to hold as they would find & call her & then after a few minutes would just place the receiver back on the cradle to disconnect the call! After they did this 3 times in succession, I told the guy who told me he was finding her that trying to stonewall me by disconnecting the calls was not going to be much use, on Monday I would reach their office & teach them a lesson they would not forget for the rest of their lives. It seems that worked & the guy realised that the person on the other end was not going to take this **** any longer. Suddenly they found the engineer incharge of the phone (He had supposedly just returned from his 3 hour lunch) and put him on the line.

After getting a blasting the engineer handed the phone over to his superior to whom he had explained some of the situation but not the whole story. Now this guy comes on line & rather rudely asks me if I want the phone's screen fixed or not, I was a little taken aback at his tone & question. Then I gave him the pasting of his life over the next 5 minutes telling him that if I did not want it fixed why the hell would I give the phone to them?? Apparently the engineer had explained to him that I had a budget issue & was not ready to pay for the screen replaced or some **** like that! He even let slip that they had replaced both the screen & the touch panel & that if I didn't want to spend the money quoted then they were ready to compromise on a lesser figure! When I asked him who gave the approval for replacing both the components as per my instructions he had no answer.

I promptly explained the situation to him clearly & told him very frankly that after a week of no updates how dare did he have the ***** to talk to me like that? He realised he didn't know the whole story (I had asked for confirmation to be taken from me before replacing any part) and told me that he would call me back within the next 10 minutes after studying the whole matter. I said ok, call me back.

He calls me back in 5 minutes, apologises for his behaviour & no updates from their end & tells me that my phone is fixed & ready & I can pick it up now if I like! He also tells me that they only had to replace the screen & the bill was for 4k! Now he has no answer to his earlier comment to me that both the screen & touch panel had been replaced & I needed to pay them over 8k for which they were also ready to negotiate! He also tells me that the engineer had called me and I said if he did, show me the call log, if it's right then I'll apologise for my behaviour. He says they don't keep a call log, how convenient! The manager however, was still not in sight anywhere.

What was strangest/funniest was that only a few hours ago I had been told that the screens were not here & my phone had not been fixed but suddenly after I created some ruckus my phone was fixed & ready!!

Anyway, I picked up the phone the week after this & while I was there also caught hold of the manager also gave her the details of the whole matter & gave her honest feedback about how pathetic their service was. She apologised profusely as expected but had no answer for their inaction except for offering an apology. I asked her also to show me the call log so that it could be clarified once & for all that their engineer had called me but she expressed her inability to do so. In return I offered to send her a copy of my phone bill showing how many calls I've had to make to get the status on my phone but of course offering more apologies she skirted the issue. She also offered excuses of her unavailability saying how she is so busy & all that crap but I disregarded that.

She mentioned that the case did infact come to her as the supervisor had brought it to her notice but of course even she couldn't be bothered to check with the customer as to what had transpired & what the problem was. When I asked her that since she was aware of the problems why she did not call me for me feedback, she had no answer.

So boys the lesson is, you can get HTC service support to fix your phone but all it takes is a few hundred phone calls, shouting yourself hoarse, getting totally pissed off & threatening them of legal action, public embarrassment & bodily harm! The service support is poor, spare parts availability is even worse & response is non-existent. Even when I was collecting the phone I asked if the screen guard (a plastic piece covering the screen which had two marks on it now due to the drop) was available & as expected it was out of stock but expected soon.

Next time I have a problem with the phone I would probably take it first to my grey market dealer to see if he can fix it because these guys seem to be absolute morons. Also, next time around I think buying grey market might be a viable option too, after all the service would be better than these monkeys.

Also, I would like to thank a couple of friends on the forum who called me to help after reading this thread as they had some contacts in HTC India! Thanks a ton for the offer guys! I might just have to take you up on the offer since my friend called yesterday & it seems the touch screen is not functioning perfectly right now & the phone might have to go back to the service centre! God help me if that is the case though!!

[Jaggu]

Thats a nasty experience, thankfully Bangalore center is much more organized. The receptionist is the task tracker and she logs all transactions in detail on the comp, they use some package for this.

During the service one day i called up without the slip and just had to spent 30 sec with details before she could track the phone and put me across to the engineer. Maybe here they are not that overloaded.