Blackberry Phones and Services in India

[naveen.raju]

Unfortunately, there are no authorized BB service centers in India. If you get through Airtel/Vodafone, they would provide service backup. But from other individual shops, you will need to approach them. I use 8310 and 9530. Both phones are from US. My 8310 faced some hardware problems and I had to give it to my friend in Blore where he repaired it himself.

Also, BB components are very very expensive. Kindly make a note of it.
As Xehaust had mentioned, check out Redington service centre. They service BB phones.

Cheers.!

[valhallen.282]

Had a chat witha vodafone guy he says that only if you have bought the phone from us can we service it. Same for airtel. The moment they put in the imei into their systems they know which dealer has sold it.

So now NO all is not lost. There does exist a Redington service centre you can give it to them or back to your dealer. Secondarily there are a few guys who are auth service guys but for things like import berries.

As it turns out a friend of mine mechanically nuked his berry. Screen broken modem damaged 3.5 mm jack trashed. Things like that. His was an unlocked 8520 so can't give it back to airtel(he tried), vodafone wouldn't accept it. Redington insisted on having it sent to airtel. One of the guys there gave him a number of a guy who services phones. Now I understand this forum does not let us advertise phone numbers. But if you are in bangalore and need the BB help PM and ill give you the number.

PLEASE NOTE: I AM *NOT* AFFILIATED TO HIM IN ANYWAY! My friend used his service I haven't but he did a good job of it.

[harry10]

So as i understand the warranty is clearly BS. If their is no service centre how the hell warranty matters?
Now my Q is as i was thinking of getting it from ebay is it advisable?

[buntydey]

Hi Guys, got one question. I have a Blackberry Bold, that I bought from US. I am unable to use the built-in GPS; it is not able to find any satellites. Any ideas if this works in India?

[valhallen.282]

@harry10 no the warranty isn't BS its for 18 months. You buy from a dealer he gets it fixed or directs you to redington. That's the right way. And there are enough people who claim warranty from redington.

@buntydey you need to be patient it takes a while. India has sufficient coverage just nothing in BB maps you have to use google maps or something. Having a BIS plan helps greatly as the phone is able to use A-gps or Assisted gps.

[buntydey]

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

India has sufficient coverage just nothing in BB maps you have to use google maps or something. Having a BIS plan helps greatly as the phone is able to use A-gps or Assisted gps.

Getting maps for India is not a trouble; but my phone is displaying "Unable to find satellites". Its not showing any latitude/longitude informations. Do I need to get a data plan for the build-in GPS also ?

[valhallen.282]

I have an 8520 so I do not know. But my dad's sony elm also took a while to detect satellites even with A-Gps. Plus I had him stand out in an open space. I'm not sure how it helps. But yes I think a data plan would help. Is it a verizon BB by any chance?

[quadra]

almost bought a 9300 today, price quoted was 18600. Dummy looked awsome
The shop confirmed that it carries 18month warranty

[better4worse]

Originally Posted by quadra

almost bought a 9300 today, price quoted was 18600. Dummy looked awsome
The shop confirmed that it carries 18month warranty

Quadra, I bought the 9300 3G Curve, a week back for the same price 18600. I had to pay extra for the BB case and the scratch guard screen film. So that close to ~ 19K in all. Its a pretty good phone, moved my regular plan to the AIRTEL BB 899 plan, its been fun uptill now. Waiting for OS 6 upgrade.

Yes, it carries the 18 month warranty. The dealer also mentioned an additional warranty scheme worth 1500 bucks which was provided by a 3rd party vendor (not RIM or Redington), for the said amount they would cover a lot more items on the BB phone and would provide ON SITE service as part of the warranty. I didn't take the offer, but after reading all the service related issues, maybe it isn't that bad a deal !

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Need urgent help here!

I installed 2 apps on my 8520 today - WorldMate and Opera Mini (ver 4.2). Though I got the warning that Opera Mini is unsigned, I still chose to go ahead with the install, since I didnt like the ver 5.1.

After the Opera install, I did a battery pull (which I think was a grave mistake!).

Now I'm stuck with what is called 'The White Screen of Death' or 'The Hourglass of Death'. The phone refuses to boot up. The red LED comes on and when it goes off, the white screen with the hourglass keeps flashing for a few minutes. However it does not go beyond that and the entire cycle repeats.

I tried the safe mode i.e. holding the escape key during start up. But the phone refuses to boot in safe mode too.

What is the problem here?

Also, as luck would have it, I dont have a recent backup of data. The last backup was made sometime last month. Is there a way to retrieve data from this nuked phone and then re-install the OS?

My primary concern is data. I dont mind OS reinstall etc.

.

Originally Posted by Xehaust

Hey Nishant,

Try the following steps for BACKING UP your data:
1 - Disconnect your computer from the internet.
2 - Open BB Desktop Manager (BBDM).
3 - Connect your phone to computer & see if BB Desktop Manager recognises it. (Remember to open BBDM before connecting your phone)

IF YES (It is recognised)
Its your lucky day & you should back up all your data immediately.

IF NO (Not recognised)
Try removing the battery from the phone & then connecting it to the computer (wihout the battery). BBDM recognises it - Backup.

Try the following for RESTORING YOUR PHONE back to normal:
(All your data & 3rd party apps will be erased)
BlackBerry 101: How to Reload the Operating System on a Nuked BlackBerry | CrackBerry.com

Thanks for the tips Xehaust. Unfortunately, my computer did not recognize the phone in any mode. So I had to resort to a OS reinstall. More unfortunate was the case that my last available backup was Sep 15.

Nonetheless, the phone was up and running after the OS install. I suspect BBs are very sensitive to unsigned software (in my case I was trying to install Opera Mini 4 which was unsigned) and hence my OS crashed.

Originally Posted by quadra

does bb have service centers in india like nokia care ??
What is the procedure to get the phone fixed for hardware failures ??

Originally Posted by Xehaust

Though surprising, but the answer is no.
You will have to hunt around for an independent shop that specialises in fixing a bb. But i have heard of Redington service centres. Perhaps someone who has fixed their bb can comment on this.

Originally Posted by harry10

So if there are no dedicated service centres for blackberry what use is the warranty to us?
Anyone here who has claimed warranty?

Redignton has their official service center in Bangalore. You have to send the phone to them and they usually send the refurbished/repaired/new phone (depending on the severity of the problem) in about 3-4 weeks. A friend's Bold conked off recently and this experience was narrated by him.

[quadra]

@Nishant: Glad to see BB back in action. Crackberry lists this as a known issue.

I called croma today, they are offering 9300 for 18600 + giving a bluetooth headset free.

Called up airtel today, they told they have dedicated service center for BB, not the usual airtel relationship center.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by quadra

@Nishant: Glad to see BB back in action. Crackberry lists this as a known issue.

I called croma today, they are offering 9300 for 18600 + giving a bluetooth headset free.

Called up airtel today, they told they have dedicated service center for BB, not the usual airtel relationship center.

If you are getting it at that price from Croma, I'll suggest you go ahead. Plus, if you use a MasterCard debit/credit card, you can get a 5% (max upto Rs 1k) cashback. So its a no brainer deal buddy!

Croma has good warranty and also an extended warranty at a decent price. Enquire about that as well.

[quadra]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

If you are getting it at that price from Croma, I'll suggest you go ahead. Plus, if you use a MasterCard debit/credit card, you can get a 5% (max upto Rs 1k) cashback. So its a no brainer deal buddy!

Croma has good warranty and also an extended warranty at a decent price. Enquire about that as well.

Got it captain. Will hunt it down soon

[buntydey]

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

I have an 8520 so I do not know. But my dad's sony elm also took a while to detect satellites even with A-Gps. Plus I had him stand out in an open space. I'm not sure how it helps. But yes I think a data plan would help. Is it a verizon BB by any chance?

Its from AT&T valhallen.

[lurker]

My blackberry Bold screen has a fault screen showing washed out colours all the time. At first i thought it was the fault of moisture ingress and the problem used to resolve itself when the set was exposed to sunlight. But now it seems even that isn't helping.