Technology

I used to love technology. Computers, game consoles, digital cameras, my plasma screen television; you get the idea.

In the past six months I have had to deal with not one, but two smart phones bricking within the first year of purchase. Were they refurbished, second hand phones? No, both phones were brand new, off the shelf from the Best Buy closest to where we live. The manufacturer of the phones was LG and our carrier is AT&T.

We have been loyal customers of Best Buy for more than 20 years, purchasing major appliances and home entertainment products for our home(s). We keep coming back for one simple, yet important reason; Best Buy takes care of us even when it may not be in their best interest to do so. The most recent example of their superb customer service involved a Samsung washer we had purchased and a manufacturer’s recall. The model we had purchased could, under the right circumstances, explode causing extensive damage to both property and any hapless victim in the blast radius.

When we expressed our concern over the replacement washer not matching the dryer we purchased – we bought a matched set – Best Buy volunteered to replace the dryer as well as the washer so the units would match. In addition to the replacement units, they credited our Reward Zone account with $50 for the inconvenience of the recall/replacement, which we put toward Christmas presents.

They took care of us.

In September my wife’s LG G4 phone bricked. She had come downstairs to check her messages, the screen went black, and the phone ceased to be a phone and became a fancy paperweight. Unconcerned, we headed to our “local” Best Buy 35 miles away, filled out the requisite warranty paperwork, and 2 days later we had a replacement phone…which also bricked 24 hours later.

The replacement phone was the same model (LG G4), same color (dark blue), but it was in no way, shape, or form a comparable replacement phone to the one my wife would ship back to LG. The phone we received was a “refurb” and God only knows what the previous owner had done to it. The battle scars the replacement phone carried included multiple scuffs and scratches covering the body, a damaged camera lens, and a power/toggle switch that was best described as wonky.

At this point we were pissed. Two bricked phones inside of a week, a shrug from LG, and a carrier that refused to help us because we had accepted the phones from Best Buy (a certified AT&T retailer) instead of the AT&T Store (AT&T holds the contract and is receiving payments according to our contract on the phones).

Things were about to get worse.

The following week we went back to Best Buy with the intention of upgrading to a new phone leaving the whole mess behind. No more refurbs, no more extra trips to our “local” Best Buy; new phone, no problems. We were way off. We had to purchase appliances for our house anyway, so off to Best Buy we went. While Michelle took care of the appliances, and I would take care of the phone upgrade since the account was in my name.

Since the phone in question wasn’t working, AT&T wouldn’t accept it for an upgrade, LG wouldn’t replace it, and for whatever reason, Best Buy couldn’t accept it through their system despite their best efforts. We weren’t eligible for an upgrade until the original bricked phone, now at the warranty center, had been paid off.

We owed $250 give or take $15 so we decided to go ahead and pay it off and try to make the upgrade go as smoothly as possible. There was more than enough money in the account to cover everything but, due to “suspicious activity” our bank had frozen our cards. The suspicious activity in question? Our purchases of a new washer and dryer (yes, the ones Best Buy would replace a month later due to a recall), and a new microwave.

When I tried to pay for the phone the card was declined multiple times; first for the $250+/- for the phone to be paid off, followed by multiple attempts to upgrade the phone-become-paperweight-in some warranty center owned and operated by LG. Still, we had no replacement phone that functioned despite a manufacturer’s warranty, a geek squad service plan, and a big, fat middle finger from AT&T. Remember, the phone-now-paperweight is only nine months old. Hostess Twinkies have a longer shelf life and they only cost about 99 cents.

At this point and time, we had been at Best Buy for more than three hours dealing with this bullshit. No phone, no progress. Due to my son getting out of school at 3:15, we had to head 35 miles in the other direction only to immediately head back to the Best Buy in an effort to resolve the issue.

Once again, Best Buy came to our rescue.

We paid off the phone at the AT&T Store using cash, then Best Buy deducted the cost of paying off the phone from what we paid for the washer and dryer we had just purchased. LG did nothing and AT&T kept tow of the $50 in extra upgrade charges that actually went through while still giving us the finger, but hey, we did finally get a new phone.

December 27, 2016, I’m getting ready to take a photo of my wife and son as they are playing Rock Band. The screen of my beloved LG V10 flashes black and passes into the mild, winter night taking my contacts, photos, and music with it. The LG V10, the flagship smart phone of LG one year ago and endorsed by Joseph Gordon Levitt, just bricked with no warning or reason. Dead after a year of faithful service.

I am no longer an LG user. I refused to go through the aggravation, frustration, rage, and stupidity of trying to deal with LG. I paid off the phone, picked out the Galaxy S7 Edge I wanted, and came home. Now I’m actively shopping for a new carrier. AT&T’s days of working with me are numbered.

 

Regards,

John