SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service

   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #1  

LD1

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Sorry guys, bear with me as this will be alot of ranting with a few questions at the end. And ALL comments, good or bad, are welcome.

As some of you know, I have spent the last few months traveling for work. This has made me realize how valuable a smartphone could be. I was well past my upgrade time anyway. So late in Feb, while in Arizona, I decided to call Sprint and upgrade our two phones. I called sprint and explained what I wanted in a phone and was advised that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus would be the best value for my needs. So I ordered two of them cause I wanted to have it for my final week of travel in Phoenix.

On March 1st, I activated the phones and on March 4th I flew back out to AZ. I quickly realized that the battery life was terrible. With only 1 hour of "screen on" time, my battery is at 50%. Unacceptable in my book. The wifes phone is the same way. Not to mention that about 4-5 times a day, the phone randomly shuts down or freezes. I called later that week, maybe on the 5th or 6th to express my concerns. I was guided through some steps and settings to try to minimize battery drain and was also advised to give it a few weeks as the batterys sometimes take time before they actually hold a full charge and to let the phone do its auto-updates. I understand all of this. And I told the rep that the purpose of my call was to inform them of my dis-satisfaction and that if things didnt improve, at least I made them aware of it right away.

Fast forward to now, things are no better. Last week I had issues with my cable. I called them first thing in the morning with 100% charge. After 1h and 3m of talk time, my battery was 51%.:confused: This phone is "supposed" to have a 7.5h battery life.

So last night, I called sprint and told them this is unacceptable performance and I want this fixed. Well after an hour of pleading my case, and talking to 2 different people, they basically only gave me 3 options...

1. Buy insurance and take the phone to a sprint store for repair or replacement. And if it needs replaced, it will be with a re-furbished (fancy word for used) phone.

2. Take to the store without insurance and pay whatever they charge for repair or replacement...(again with a used phone)

3. Get the extended battery which is 2100mAh vs the current 1850mAh for free but I pay $12 shipping.

All of this is because I have passed the "14-day" return window:mad: by only 4 days as of last night. My earlier call right after I got the phone meant nothing. And she never mentioned anything about 14-days when she told me to wait a few weeks to see if things improve. Very clever on their part.:cool:

Now part of this I guess is my fault. Because I rushed the decision to get this phones they advised and I didnt have time to fully research them as I now have had the chance to do. And it seems you really have to search hard to find any good reviews on this phone:mad: And looking back, the phone that I "should" have gotten is the LG optimus G. Tons of good reviews, was within my budget and one of the 4 phones that met my criteria, and a way better battery.

But the point remains that I have 2 phones that do NOT work as advertised, and they were notified within days of my issues, and I was told to wait. And now they are telling my my only options are to spend more money and/or take a used phone. I think NOT. I already have a $321 bill on the table for two phones that suck, and I refuse to pay a dime more to get these phones working like they should. I spent another hour on the phone this morning, again to no avail. They are telling me to spend MORE money to get my phones fixed. and they are 18 days old:laughing:

And to make things worse, of the total of 3 people I have talked to, all have said something different as to how to get the phone "serviced". The first guy said only with insurance. The second said it wouldnt cost me a dime cause the manufacture warrants it for 12 months (but I risk getting a re-furbished phone that is no better). That was last night. This morning the guy said that they would repair it at no cost but I STILL would have to pay them to "look at" the phone. ($60 or so). By this point I am so irate that I told him I would take the phone to the store, and if they tried to charge me anything at all to resolve this issue, that the next call to him would be to get an address to send the phones back to and I would no longer be a sprint customer of 7 years and then I hung up. I then called the sprint store, and got a DIFFERENT story. They said there is NO charge to look at the phone and diagnose it, but I would have to pay for any parts to repair or replace it:confused: It seems no one has a dang clue.

So, Tomorrow, I am taking the phone in and letting them diagnose is and go from there I guess. I also found a few e-mail address for some sprint "higher-ups" and told them my story. Weather those were good addresses and if it will do any good....who knows. But I flat out refuse to pay a single dime more to get these phones working right. And that includes the $321 I currently "owe" them for the phones, activation, etc. I dont feel I should have to pay anymore than what was agreed upon to get phones that work as advertised, and I wont even pay that until they DO work.

So now.......let me have it. Am I totally off my rocker??? Am I foolish to expect more than 2 hours of talk time OR more than 2 hours of screen "on" time with a phone rated at 7.5 hours? The one nice thing about this phone is it DOES give a nice breakdown of the battery usage. So before anyone asks, NO I dont have any rogue apps or anything sucking the battery down. With a 50% battery, and screen usage being 75% of that.....that 75% equates to 50 minutes to an hour at most. Same with talk time. The one morning I mentioned where I had to call about my cable..... Only thing I did was make a 63 minute phone call and battery is at 50% from a full charge:confused2:

My apologizes. Rant off for now.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #2  
Cnet tested that phone at 6.75 hours talk time. If you're only getting 2 hours, something is wrong.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #3  
I have never owned a Samsung phone but have had several Apple phones between myself, wife, and daughter. I think if its a hardware problem you may have to go through the manufacturer. I know that when my wife's iPhone's screen went out on her two week old phone she took it to the Apple store where it was replaced with a new phone. She did not buy the phone from the Apple store. Good luck.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #4  
I've been a smartphone user for a while. Your battery time does seem "off" but it is comparable to others. I was gonna say something or things (programs) are running in the back round but you sound adamant there isn't.

I don't believe for one second its rated for 6.75 talk time. Josh-I'm sure you read it but its BS on their part. I've had blackberry's to Iphones and none have had close to 6 hour talk time.

LD1- what do you mean by "On screen time"? Screen lit and you are playing with it? I wonder if its working hard to maintain cell signal?

I guess my advice would be to keep being the squeaky wheel.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #5  
I've been a smartphone user for a while. Your battery time does seem "off" but it is comparable to others. I was gonna say something or things (programs) are running in the back round but you sound adamant there isn't.

I don't believe for one second its rated for 6.75 talk time. Josh-I'm sure you read it but its BS on their part. I've had blackberry's to Iphones and none have had close to 6 hour talk time.

LD1- what do you mean by "On screen time"? Screen lit and you are playing with it? I wonder if its working hard to maintain cell signal?

I guess my advice would be to keep being the squeaky wheel.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service
  • Thread Starter
#6  
LD1- what do you mean by "On screen time"? Screen lit and you are playing with it? I wonder if its working hard to maintain cell signal?

Screen "on" time is pretty much anytime the screen is "lit-up". If I'm browsing the web, sending a text, dialing a number, checking e-mail, etc.

By biggest two battery users are "screen" and "voice calls". Everything else is well under 10%. I even downloaded an app killer just to be sure. And check and kill apps frequently. The phone is asleep most of the day in my pocket. But a few spurts of pulling it out and sending an e-mail, googling something, or texting back and forth with someone, and I have used up 50% of my battery with those "spurts" totaling ~1hr. So by my math, I can actually "use" this device for about 2 hours total per charge. Weather that be calling, or browsing, or a combination.

And I doubt it is related to cell strength. Cause IIRC if that is the issue, I think it shows up as AndroidOS is consuming a high % of the battery. Where as mine isnt. Just screen and voice calls is the only two that normally go over 10%

What do you think would be an "acceptable" battery life???

Off to bed now...
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #7  
I would think that you should get at least 2 hours of talk time assuming that the screen is off. On my TouchPro2 the screen and the wifi are the two biggest power drains, I get ~1 hour of talk time on a 1900mah battery out here in the boondocks.

Aaron Z
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #8  
I am a new smart phone user. I noticed that my battery went pretty quickly compared to my old flip phone. I had played on it opening apps and trying things out. A veteran user showed me how to see the apps running and how to close them. On an iPhone once opened they apparently run in the background until closed in a particular manner. If I keep the apps closed my battery time is comparable to my flip phone. I have had cellular devices discharge the battery in half an hour looking for a signal in poor reception areas. My mifi has also been hot to the touch in poor reception areas. Signal strength apparently affects battery life as well. The biggest battery saver has been closing the apps that I used.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service #9  
I think you are doing all the right things. Your battery isn't up to snuff based on my experience. I use Sprint and have had very good results visiting the Sprint store. I've done that a few times over the 6 or 7 years I've been with Sprint and always was met by a tech that was knowledgeable and took the time to help - never been charged a dime. I always visitied at a slow time of day, which I think helped. My only fast battery drain occurs when I am out of Sprint service area and the phone is constantly searching for a signal, or hitting on low signal roam.
 
   / SMARTPHONE: Poor battery and even poorer SPRINT customer service
  • Thread Starter
#10  
I am a new smart phone user. I noticed that my battery went pretty quickly compared to my old flip phone. I had played on it opening apps and trying things out. A veteran user showed me how to see the apps running and how to close them. On an iPhone once opened they apparently run in the background until closed in a particular manner. If I keep the apps closed my battery time is comparable to my flip phone. I have had cellular devices discharge the battery in half an hour looking for a signal in poor reception areas. My mifi has also been hot to the touch in poor reception areas. Signal strength apparently affects battery life as well. The biggest battery saver has been closing the apps that I used.

I wish my battery would last half as long as my old flip phone. I only charged it every other day. I know it isnt the apps killing my battery. This phone has a battery breakdown so you can see exactally what is drawing it down. It isnt the apps. Its the screen and voice calls. Not to mention that I have the android advanced task killer that I am constantly killing apps with as well.

And as I mentioned before, this past saturday, I had to call my cable company. I did it first thing in the morning literally seconds after I took it off the charger. After 1 hour and 3 minutes on the phone, my battery was 50%. Now that certainly dont equate to a 7.5hour talk time like this phone is rated for. And signal strength is excellent at my house. 3+ bars and yes the screen does go to sleep when talking on the phone.

Like I said, maybe I am just expecting too much??? And maybe 2 hours of talk time is normal for a smartphone. But I am under the impression that I should at least be able to talk on the phone for a good 7 hours before needing a charge. Based on their specs....
 

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