Sending In My Nexus One For Repair

There was a problem with my Nexus One. After reading so much about HTC Singapore’s service, I was quite apprehensive about claiming the warranty repair service for mine. This is particularly since my Nexus One is unlocked, as I’ve read so much online about how other people had a very hard time claiming warranty for defects that could not possibly have been caused by rooted software. My experience, however, was quite different, and I must say that I’m both surprised and, overall, quite pleased with the outcome of the warranty repair.

The first thing about the repair service that got me excited was the piece of information on their website that they do pickup and delivery service for the phone. This is so convenient! I still recall about how in the case of Nokia phones, of which I owned too many and had to send in for repair a good number of times, I would have to queue for like 2 – 3 hours just to drop off the phone, and maybe another 2 – 3 hours, several working days later, to pick up the phone.

So I called HTC Singapore’s service number. The automated voice prompts weren’t very helpful in directing me to speak to someone about repairing my phone. But I eventually got a human on the line. It didn’t take too much time… not unlike how long it takes to speak to a human from my credit card company nowadays. The call didn’t start off very well. The HTC representative claimed my phone wasn’t under warranty. It turned out because they had no record of warranty registration. Huh? There was nothing to inform me about the need for warranty registration when I bought my Nexus One. Anyhow, he told me I should make a copy of the invoice and bring it down with my phone to their service centre.

Uh. I thought the website said there was courier pickup? So I asked, isn’t there a pickup option. Oh yes, he told me there was, and he could arrange that for me. Duh! That’s the whole purpose of calling them up eh. If I was going to walk into the service centre at HabourFront, I would have just turned up there. It’s not like I ever had to call Nokia to make an appointment to visit their service centre!

It was about 11am when I called. HTC Singapore could arrange the courier pickup as quickly as the same afternoon. The courier eventually came by at 3:30pm. That’s awfully quick. Nice.

The repair was estimated to take 3 – 5 working days, according to the representative I spoke with on the phone earlier. After the courier picked up my phone, I didn’t hear anything from HTC. There is no repair number. There is no way to check online the repair progress.

On the 5th working day, I called HTC. I was told my phone was ready. Good. I don’t know if it had only just been fixed, or perhaps it was already done some time ago. Anyway, they would arrange to deliver. So, the courier called in the afternoon of the 5th working day (not counting the pickup day), and my repaired phone was delivered .

Minimum fuss, maximum convenience. Apart from waiting 6 calendar days (I count Saturday as a working day since they are open on Saturdays). Oh, and it would have been nice if HTC could offer a loaner phone, perhaps at a nominal charge.

But it’s the free courier pickup and delivery that really wins me over. For the next phone I buy, I’m gonna check if there is such service provided. (Otoh, some people will point out that if the phone is good, there would be no need for repair in the first place!)

Just for information: The problem in my Nexus One is that the power button was spoilt. It doesn’t register anything. I can’t press it to turn on the phone, I can’t press it to turn off the screen, etc. There is simply no input. It turns out, from searching the net, that this problem isn’t all too rare, and could have resulted from poor design of the button’s internal. If you have a Nexus One, try not to use the power button. Use TrackBallWake to wake the phone, and some widget or app like Lock Screen Button to lock the screen.

Update (28 Mar 2011): The Lock Screen Button app has been renamed to Screen Off Utils.