I havn’t had much luck lately with my Nseries devices. First, the saga with the N95 8GB (which, by the way, didn’t get resolved). I have had a refund and decided to wait for the N96, and now it was my faithful N80’s turn…
A couple of weeks ago, the earpiece in my N80 stopped working. Everything else was fine, but if I wanted to hear someone during a phone call, the only option was the loudspeaker or a headset. As this was now my primary device, I decided to take it to a Carphone Warehouse (one not far away from me which had a dedicated Nokia repair centre - also listed on Nokia’s website).
They advised me that it would have to be sent away for repair and because it was out of warranty, a standard £45 charge would be made. I let them take it and thankfully, was able to use my brothers N73. This is where my problems began…
2 weeks later I was told that my N80 was ready for collection, so I went to the store to collect it!!!
When I inspected the device I was shocked that to change an earpiece, the keypad bezel was also prised open from either side for no reason at all, and the original surround was changed from the chrome outlined version to the bezel used for the black N80 (where the surround is all black). The areas where the keypad bezel was prised out are indicated by the red arrows.
Because of this, the outer casing of the device was bent up and damaged on both sides… Needless to say I wasn’t very happy - especially as the handset was given to them is perfect condition without a single mark. I am a bit sad and really take care of and look after any device I have!!! 
I asked for this to be rectified and about 3-4 days later I was told once again that it was ready for collection.
The keypad bezel was replaced with the correct surround, and the outer casing had also been replaced with a new one. To cut a long story short, this is what else I discovered:
- The camera toggle switch underneath the camera to switch to and from Macro Mode had been jammed in the centre, it now wouldn’t move at all.
- The memory card door wouldn’t open fully - the hinge must have been jammed in the casing.
- The screen flickered white no matter what you were on at a regular intervals and eventually stayed white alltogether - the phone was still useable, you just couldn’t see anything.
- The sticker underneath the battery containing the IMEI number etc. looked as if it had been melted off and was then stuck back on.
- The slide no longer slid all the way down and was out of alignment.
To top all of this off, the earpiece which it originally went in for STILL hadn’t been fixed!!!
This was completely unacceptable and I refused to pay the £45 charge and I now had a phone that wasn’t fixed at all - it had just been made a lot worse. I spoke to the manager of the store and asked for a replacement handset as my original one was now beyond repair.
She told me that she would speak to the area manager and try her best to get me a replacement N80 but couldn’t promise anything because the N80 is now a discontinued device. If they couldn’t locate an N80, they would give me an equivalent handset…
In the end, I didnt manage to receive a replacement Nokia N80, so I ended up with the brand new equivalent…
It was back again!!! My very own Nokia N82!!!
The N80 wasn’t at any point sent off to a Nokia Repair Centre, but a Carphone Warehouse repair centre with ‘Highly Qualified’ Nokia engineers - I think the engineer that ’fixed’ mine needs to seriously think about a career change!!!
What has your experience been like when you have sent your Nseries for repair? Have you been satisfied with the service you received???
Filed under: Technology | Tagged: News
That really was cutting a long story short!
Lucky thing getting a brand new N82 for absolutely nothing! Shame about the N80 though, going to miss my old pal - good times!!
N82!! Hell yeah!!
Congrats on the N82, but I can’t help feeling that was a cop-out on their part. The first half of the story shouldnt’ have gone as it did, and it seems they’ve given an N82 with the hopes to ’smooth’ things over (obviously, successfully).
Still, I’m a bit peeved for you that the first part happened at all.
Hi RIcky, thanks for the comment!
I agree, i think it was a cop-out on their part too… I really don’t understand how a ‘trained Nokia engineer’ could destroy an N80 for changing the earpiece - which in the end still hadn’t been fixed. There was no need to touch any other part of it.
In the end I wasn’t sure whether I had one N80, two different halves or what (the state it was in) - especially with the IMEI sticker the way it was…
I made sure they had a hard time about it don’t worry. The manager had a serious attitude problem about the whole situation and didn’t seem to care at all!
I also took the number for their head office and external repair centre the second time I went in to get the issue resolved and they didn’t want to ‘be in trouble for it’ because it ‘wasn’t their fault’.
There was no way - realistically - the N80 they had could have been repaired. Apparently, the N82 was the only option (as it was their ‘equivalent’ handset if I wanted a replacement because the N80 was discontinued and they no longer had any stock left to replace the device with.
Thanks again!
Well, shame about the N80. But to the keypad issue. When you leave your phone to a service centre. The technicians are required to inspect your phone for liquid damages. In that case (in 80% of the cases) the phone cant be repaired. And the N80 has springs right under the keypad. Thats why they where bent out. Now on the other hand. A good technician would have seen this and changed the keypad alltogether. I am not talking on his behalf, just explaining the reason why the whole phone was opened. Congrats on the new handset tough
Wow you really got a good replacement. But the loss of a good working condition phone nevertheless hurts somewhere. I had a N80 before I got me a N82-1 (black). It was a great phone.
I remember once my N70’s screen turned white when the person who fixed a new faceplate screwed it up completely. I got the faceplate for free as he did not know how to fix the ‘white’ screen. I later went to a friend’s shop, and withing 5 minutes it was working perfect. Turns out only the connectors were loose.
i was wondering, if i sent my nokia n78 to the nokia centre, how long will it take for them to repiar my phone? my n78 seems to have a big problem with the sound and the music player as it continues to scan for music files non stop..and i mean non stop, and even when you exit, you can still hear beep in the background which is really annoying.and also they say its a great multimedia phone but my nokia 3250 sound is so much better and clearer than my n78.