I sent an e-mail to nokia care and they confirmed that i could bring my phone to a nokia repair center and that it would repair (or replace i don't know yet) my phone under warranty.
Alright peeps, after a hell of a day discussing with Nokia back & forth I finally have a bit of a result. Mind I am in Belgium, but I guess the guarantee is Europe-Wide. Imho it comes down to which Nokia centre has been informed about the N900-USB issue, so it might not be the same situation in every country.
What I did was to give Nokia a bell this afternoon, first of all to ask whether they have received an update from Nokia HQ about the USB issue or not. As it turns out: Nokia Belgium has not, and it seems like that I am the first customer in Belgium with this issue (that's what the Hotline guy told me). Anyway, he said it should be under warranty & fixed, but I do not know whether he fully grasped the situation.
So I complained to him that the Nokia Care Centre here in Brussels totally refused to repair of my device (that was 2 weeks ago: he said he couldn't repair it, sending it in would produce the same result, oh yes and no warranty) and he was quite surprised to hear that, so he told me to go to a different one which I did. I called them before and they said they will take a look. When I got to #2 I had the impression the Nokia hotline guy had already made them aware that I would turn up or they had other people come in with n900 related problems, but when I got there the guy knew what was going on and said that we have to send it to Nokia BE.
Because:
After talking to him for a while he said they are the biggest Nokia store in Belgium and they have NOT received the n900 yet, therefore cannot offer any repair/exchange. In his opinion there must be a reason why the Phone has not been released in Belgium yet, and he presumed that Nokia certainly has a lot of problems with the device, therefore it has not been given out to retailers here yet! Bear in mind, this is all speculation!
He also said that in his opinion this issue is Nokia's wrongdoing and that they are aware of certain troubles with the device, but he didn't know anything precise (great guy btw). In the end it would be their decision what to do with my device.
I had to send in the device, after signing a sheet that the store (because I did not buy it there) will not be responsible for any repair fees/exchanges, which is fair enough, but they will support me in any way to get the device back from Nokia, either repaired or exchanged. I felt alot better after this, trust me.
To sum it up:
Nokia Care is NOT YET aware of the USB port troubles, but are certainly acknowledging that there are some troubles. As of now, no messages have been passed to Nokia Repair Centres: some are refusing all devices with these issues, claiming it's not under warranty, and others say they know about the issues and do not agree with Nokias policy, but their hands are tied. All they can do is send it to Nokia.
I have the impression things are rolling in the background, but I might be wrong. I am still not fully convinced that this will end well for me, they might contact me soon and tell me that there's nothing they can do. But hope never dies For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I sent an e-mail to nokia care and they confirmed that i could bring my phone to a nokia repair center and that it would repair (or replace i don't know yet) my phone under warranty.
So good news
... and the more of these occur, the better it will be for everyone.
Hard for a company to say "we won't repair this under warranty for you" when they are for someone else.
Nokia Care is NOT YET aware of the USB port troubles, but are certainly acknowledging that there are some troubles. As of now, no messages have been passed to Nokia Repair Centres:
I highly doubt that's the case in general.
Nokia CARE is aware of the problem at a high level (I made sure of that)... and so are some CARE centers, as has been indicated by some people receiving warranty repairs.
Alright peeps, after a hell of a day discussing with Nokia back & forth I finally have a bit of a result. Mind I am in Belgium, but I guess the guarantee is Europe-Wide. Imho it comes down to which Nokia centre has been informed about the N900-USB issue, so it might not be the same situation in every country.
What I did was to give Nokia a bell this afternoon, first of all to ask whether they have received an update from Nokia HQ about the USB issue or not. As it turns out: Nokia Belgium has not, and it seems like that I am the first customer in Belgium with this issue (that's what the Hotline guy told me). Anyway, he said it should be under warranty & fixed, but I do not know whether he fully grasped the situation.
So I complained to him that the Nokia Care Centre here in Brussels totally refused to repair of my device (that was 2 weeks ago: he said he couldn't repair it, sending it in would produce the same result, oh yes and no warranty) and he was quite surprised to hear that, so he told me to go to a different one which I did. I called them before and they said they will take a look. When I got to #2 I had the impression the Nokia hotline guy had already made them aware that I would turn up or they had other people come in with n900 related problems, but when I got there the guy knew what was going on and said that we have to send it to Nokia BE.
Because:
After talking to him for a while he said they are the biggest Nokia store in Belgium and they have NOT received the n900 yet, therefore cannot offer any repair/exchange. In his opinion there must be a reason why the Phone has not been released in Belgium yet, and he presumed that Nokia certainly has a lot of problems with the device, therefore it has not been given out to retailers here yet! Bear in mind, this is all speculation!
He also said that in his opinion this issue is Nokia's wrongdoing and that they are aware of certain troubles with the device, but he didn't know anything precise (great guy btw). In the end it would be their decision what to do with my device.
I had to send in the device, after signing a sheet that the store (because I did not buy it there) will not be responsible for any repair fees/exchanges, which is fair enough, but they will support me in any way to get the device back from Nokia, either repaired or exchanged. I felt alot better after this, trust me.
To sum it up:
Nokia Care is NOT YET aware of the USB port troubles, but are certainly acknowledging that there are some troubles. As of now, no messages have been passed to Nokia Repair Centres: some are refusing all devices with these issues, claiming it's not under warranty, and others say they know about the issues and do not agree with Nokias policy, but their hands are tied. All they can do is send it to Nokia.
I have the impression things are rolling in the background, but I might be wrong. I am still not fully convinced that this will end well for me, they might contact me soon and tell me that there's nothing they can do. But hope never dies For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Sounds like NOKIA uses Passenger Pigeons for communications...
Maybe they are actually using email, but the USB dock snapped off their N900s and they can't check their email?
It's possible...
I can't say what mode is being used. The insinuation was that Nokia employees are just as frustrated at communications problems inside a communications company.
... and the more of these occur, the better it will be for everyone.
Hard for a company to say "we won't repair this under warranty for you" when they are for someone else.
I am sorry (and I have mentioned this before.
But I am not willing to have faith in this until I hear from people with "Landing pad damage" that they have had nokia repair or replace the phone.
I know I sound overly pesemistic. But I do think I have reason.
As for the timeline. As i mentioned after MarkS quoted the policy on engadget the centre I went to recieved an update the very next morning.
The update was not what we wanted to hear. But if the new announcement a few days ago is what we expect. Then no one with pad damage should be getting a phone returned from Nokia care centers if it was looked at after thursday just gone.
Lets watch this for a few more days and see what happens .
But we should be seeing people with pad damaged phones getting them returned early next week. Then I will bew willing to give Nokia credit for doing the right thing.
For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed. 
