"THEY CHECK IN ... BUT THEY DON'T CHECK OUT!" -- Our Credo

Yes, I'm shouting. Believe me, I'm as weary of talking about this as you are of hearing it, but many customers of Nokia's outsourced U.S. repair facility tell the same story. Any other locations care to share your experiences?

30 days have now elapsed since my N800 arrived in Huntsville. The only evidence I have of that fact is my Express Mail tracking confirmation. www.nokiausa.com/repairstatus has no entry in its repair database.

I've spent too much time on the phone at 1-888-NOKIA-2U with zero satisfaction. My last two calls were routed to Repair Escalation: the first of these gave no pretense of help ("give it a few more days") while the second promised to email the facility for more info and hasn't been heard from since.

According to others' experience, I now qualify for Executive Response Team intervention, whatever that means. I suppose I'll find out Monday (next business day). Personally, I'm more inclined to alert the Consumer Protection office of my state's Attorney General.

My advice to any prospective N800 purchasers: Spend the extra cash for any in-store replacement warranty your retailer may offer. I don't often do that, but in this case I wish I had. Otherwise, think twice before sending your unit in for elective surgery (cosmetic repairs or defects you can live with). If I could have foreseen this result, I would have hacked up another solution to the broken kickstand.

*** CAVEAT EMPTOR ***

Some of us found out the hard way not to get those (not me but a few others). One of the 770 owners worked at compusa and was telling people to not get them either. Mostly because they are very selective as to what they will consider user damage, and what they will consider covered under warranty.

I can understand your wanting to rant, but i don't think this is the right place to do it. Here's a tip, when dealing with the phone monkeys:

be polite.

If they can't give you the answer your seeking, politely say, I've been trying to get status on my repair for x weeks now, can I talk to a manager. Be polite about it. If they hmm and haw about getting the manager say "look, nothing against you your being very helpful, but it seems you don't have the proper access to get the information, I just want to speak to your manager who might be able to get the information."

If they transfer you or ask to transfer you to repair escalation, tell them no, be polite. Let them know that the last several times you were transfered led to nothing being done. If they still insist, then say only if your manager is on the line with me when I talk to them (hopefully the manager's manager).

Remember these people aren't paid a lot, usually around 30k usd. Ranting and raving at them only causes them more stress, and gets you no where. (I don't know if you have been ranting and raving, but even an angry tone is enough to put the breaks on wanting to help you).

Here's another tip for dealing with tech support in general. If you are dealing with a llarge group, call back several times. maybe you will get someone better next time. Also, I wouldn't be thinking about thhe Attorney General after 30 days. And I would forget about talking to the manager's manager, it is unlikely to happen, and it is possible to talk your way so far up the chain that you realy get someone who has no clue. Above all, be patient. You may not like waiting, but your $400 only bought you so much clout.

File a complaint with the BBB in the state that your Nokia is located in, not your state. I had a problem with Sharper Image and when I filed a complaint with California's BBB, the problem was suddenly resolved within a few days. You can do it online. Not saying you'll have the same results, but at least you're making it public for others that Nokia has repair problems.

Boy it's stories like this that make me realize I'll NEVER buy any other Nokia products.

LETS BE CLEAR HERE!!! Shouting is ok , and this a perfect place to complain, and warn others of NOKIA's incompetence. My 770 was 5 weeks at repair, the offered me cash, since the 800 had just come out I took it. only $240 though. I have 40 days in on my phone at the repair facilities, its not just the tablets, they just suck, when it comes to customer service, I venture a guess, the worst I have ever dealt with.

Actually you'd be surprised at how well escalation works. The point of moving up the food chain isn't to get someone with more clue, it's to get upper management's attention that there is a problem in their part of the organization.

You've obviously never been to Miami then.

Nokia repair is totally isolated from Nokia customer service. The customer service people are trying harder than they did last year. They simply do not have access to any real information on the actual status of your device in repair. They only act like they can help you, they can not. The executive resolution department also has no access to any real information on the repair status, they only offer refunds to cover the poor performance of the repair facilities. The repair facility also seems to be cut off from Nokia since they never seem to have any parts or replacement units.

My 770 has been with Nokia repair for 2 months out of the time I have owned it. I don't think $240 is adequate compensation.

Roach Motel indeed, they check in but they never check out.

Using that logic you'll soon stop buying anything.

All facetiousness aside, I am very sorry to hear these stories. I really wish Nokia had kept its US production and repair operations. Right now is a turbulent time as those operations undergo transition to mexico and a local third party (repair), and hopefully within the next several months the dust will settle and the situation will improve.

I agree, and the refund is crap, but it is your ONLY recourse, short of sending a letter and trying to take it to arbitration, good luck with that. You either take the money or stop calling us, that is the ERT solution, and only after 30 days. If you dont want the money, you have to wait, and there is no other solution, no matter who you talk to. Call nokia and ask to speak with a supervisor, or the ERT team. They will not let escalate anything, and will tell you there is nobody to escalate to. It is a bad system, designed to take all control out of the customers hands. I must say its not the peoples fault, its Nokia horrible idea of what a warranty is. But several I have run into are quite rude also, probably the fault of a system for which they need to make excuses for, and lie to end users.