Originally Posted by shallimus

Executive summary: I broke my screen. I live in Canada. My N900 has a US IMEI. I called Nokia Canada and asked how much it would cost to replace. Nokia Canada told me they won't touch it and I need to live in the US before they can help me. Please share thoughts/advice.

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First things first: yep, it was clumsy. In response to my name being called in the office, I turned round, strode confidently towards my colleague and promptly walked into the corner of a desk. My excuse? I hadn't had my coffee yet. Only a glancing blow, I thought. Maybe, but it was enough to crack the lovely, shiny LCD on my N900.

So... broken screen. I'm confident I can get the data off my phone this evening when I get home, so I'm not worried about that.
I realised immediately that this obvious accidental damage isn't covered by warranty, and I have no problem with the fact that a repair is going to cost me some money. Surely, I thought, a call to Nokia's Ajax, Ontario customer service centre would set me on the path to a speedy (if expensive) fix?

No such luck. That's the Ontario in Canada, by the way. I live there, and apparently Nokia feels that I should be punished for this in some way. The repair rep I spoke with made it clear from the outset by her tone that she did not appreciate having to pick up the phone to take my call, and things went downhill from there.

She asked for my IMEI, I gave it to her. She put me on hold, and came back a minute later to ask for my location.

Me: "Toronto, Canada".
Belligerent Nokia Rep: "In that case, we can't help you. If you send this phone to us for repair, we will send it back to you."
Me: "Huh?"
BNR: "You need a US address, and you need to send it to the US for repair."
Me: "I don't have a US address, because I live in Canada. Why can't I send the phone to Nokia Canada for repair?"
BNR: "This phone was not intended for sale in Canada."
Me: "I understand that, and I am willing to pay for the repair."
BNR: "Our technicians are not licensed to repair this phone."

I explained that I don't mind where my phone goes to be fixed, so long as it gets fixed. My further questions were met with stubborn repetition. I wanted to know how I could proceed without a US address, and she offered no new information. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and after sighing loudly, she put me on hold. After 10 minutes on hold with no update I realised that my call was probably not going anywhere near a supervisor, and I ended the call.

I called them back, got someone else and asked them to explain why why Nokia Canada is apparently unable to offer a repair for the N900. "Which model was that?" "The N-nine-hundred. Nokia's current flagship phone." "The N900?" "Yes. Your current top-of-the-line phone."

After some coaxing from me, Rep #2 (who was certainly polite, at least) told me that someone "probably from the Executive Team" would call me within 24 hours. I'll update this thread once that happens just in case anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation.

So in conclusion, my questions are:

• Leaving aside my initial disappointing experience, is there anyone at Nokia who can actually help me get my phone fixed? I'm willing to pay for the repair. I don't expect Nokia to cover accidental damage under the warranty.
• Is it possible to get a US-model Nokia phone fixed without a US address?
• If Nokia are unwilling to repair my phone (remember, I am willing to pay for their trouble) does anyone have experience of third-party N900 screen replacement in the Toronto area?

Originally Posted by roger_27

when my european N80 broke, I sent it to a nokia certified repair shop. they took it, and they themselves sent it to Nokia, which then sent it back to them, which in turn sent it back to me.

maybe you can do something like that? drive to a nokia store across the border (not sure how close you are) and drop it off for repair, and come back and get it ?

Originally Posted by n61adm

An option is to use a mail forwarding service [...]
Another option is to go to a UPS Store/Fedex Kinkos that accepts parcels on your behalf [...] You may need to drive over to the border to do this.

Originally Posted by roger_27

when my european N80 broke, I sent it to a nokia certified repair shop. they took it, and they themselves sent it to Nokia, which then sent it back to them, which in turn sent it back to me.

maybe you can do something like that? drive to a nokia store across the border (not sure how close you are) and drop it off for repair, and come back and get it ?

Originally Posted by n61adm

One more thing I would recommend. I added my N900 to StateFarm's Personal Articles Insurance. It is about 40CAD a year and covers accidental damage and has no deductible. Its really a wonderful product vs the usual warranty service. I can PM you the name of my REALLY WONDERFUL agent if you decide to go for this. (You can put in almost anything on this policy, camera, laptop, etc and it covers theft, accidental damange, etc).

Ouch... sounds pretty bad, cusomer-service vice....Reminds me of german bureaucracy (and belive me... those guys can be a royal pain in the *****....

But to offer some help: do you have any friends and/or family living in the states? so that maybe they could give "their" N900 to repair....

Originally Posted by shallimus

Great idea, and I will investigate this once I get a fully-functional N900 again. If your agent is good, please do PM me. Mine is OK, but no better than that.

Originally Posted by shallimus

I want to deal with Nokia in Canada, which is where I live, and where I earned the money to buy this Nokia product. Does anyone know why are they unwilling to help me?

You can also go to a third party repair shop and get it fixed, or order and LCD online and do it yourself (It's really not that hard, I open phones all the time and I'm no technician) but either way your warranty will be void. But then again, why does it matter if it's void if you cannot even use it right