[Q] Am I screwed with the HTC warranty department?

Search This thread

jtc276

Senior Member
Jul 9, 2011
782
176
Ripley, WV
Last week I was taking some photos with my M8 and noticed that they were just absolutely awful. I know the M8 doesn't have the greatest smartphone camera out there, but these shots looked like they were being taken through a cloud. Naturally I called HTC and explained the problem to them. They told me that I could do an exchange if I paid $19 for the shipping to and from them. I agreed and shipped my phone out a few days ago. Today I received an email telling me that my phone is out of warranty and if I want it fixed I have to pay $290. As soon as I read that I realized that I had forgotten to return my phone from "S-Off" to "S-On" before sending it. After Googling if that was the issue, I read that HTC usually doesn't care if you're S-On or S-Off since they occasionally ship devices out with S-Off on accident (I'm not sure if this is true, though). So I'm not sure what else it could be. I called again, made sure they knew I had the Developer Edition, and the representative told me to call back in a couple days and they'd be able to explain everything to me. Now I'm extremely worried that I'm either going to have to pay $290 or just deal with the issue for the remainder of the time I have with the device.

Does anyone have any experience with the HTC warranty department that can tell me what might be going on and how to deal with them in the event that this doesn't go my way? Thank you!
 

jwsm

Member
Dec 29, 2011
47
5
Seattle
It is caused by the coating on the camera. There had been a lot of threads about the issue. I have not had that problem yet on my phone but if it does show up, it is good to know there is no need to panic because it is just a simple fix.
 

redpoint73

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Oct 24, 2007
15,254
6,968
Normally, HTC reserves the right to void your warranty if you unlock the bootloader. But seeing as the DE comes with the bootloader unlocked, its never been clear to me how the warranty works in that case, I'd be curious to hear how they respond.

And yes, as the previous response states, the "cloudy" photos is an issue with the camera glass or coating being easily scratched, which is easily fixed by polishing with toothpaste, Turtle Wax, etc.
 

rossida

Senior Member
Dec 25, 2012
139
25
****. I just sent back my old one and forgot to s-on. I hope it doesn't happen with me. I'll have them send it back before I pay them any more money. I've had problems with both my replacement and original. I'd like to switch to a whole new phone at this point.
 

redpoint73

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Oct 24, 2007
15,254
6,968
****. I just sent back my old one and forgot to s-on. I hope it doesn't happen with me. I'll have them send it back before I pay them any more money. I've had problems with both my replacement and original. I'd like to switch to a whole new phone at this point.

Unless its a Dev Edition like the OP, S-on or off doesn't matter if you unlocked the bootloader. They have a record of your IMEI when you unlocked.
 

rossida

Senior Member
Dec 25, 2012
139
25
Unless its a Dev Edition like the OP, S-on or off doesn't matter if you unlocked the bootloader. They have a record of your IMEI when you unlocked.

Well I contacted HTC and they said warranty is voided when s-off. Trying to see what they can do since I can't afford the full price of this phone. Tbh I would go back to my s4 and send both these phones back. I'll try to keep my progress updated here. The replacement I got is also defective in speakerphone during calls and GPS locking. I pray they allow me to send this replacement back and not have to pay an insane amount for this.