How can Nokia get away with it?!

Question

Words cannot express how angry I am today, Nokia are taking every opportunity to make sure I never buy one of their handsets EVER again.
A few days ago I discovered the new v5 firmware was available for my N70, fantastic I thought, perhaps this will finally solve the problems I have with my phone, constantly resetting itself, not being able to enable SMS delivery reports, not being able to manually select a network, dropping calls when switching between 3G/2G, the list goes on..
I call Phonezone in Newton Abbot, my nearest service center, and ask them if they have the new firmware for the N70, yes they say, are you sure its v5 you have I ask, yes they say. Great. So today I make the 60mile round-trip to Newton to have my phone upgraded. I hand my handset over and come back for it 45 minutes later, all seems to be OK, but it still hasn't fixed the SMS reports or network selection problem, then I think to check the firmware version, low-and-behold, they have simply reflashed it wih version 3.
I head back to the shop, explain I already had version 3 and wanted version 5, the guy says he thought he had done that, and when I show him the version display on the handset he mumbles about some problem with 2 different versions of the generic software. I ask if he will put v5 on for me now, but he says he's now too busy, but he can do it if I leave my phone over the weekend, I can't be without my phone for that long and don't live in the area, so I say no, his only other alternative was for me to come back the next week.
So to summarise, I went 60miles, spent £15 on fuel, £2 on parking and £3 on coffee while I waited to have my phone reflashed with exactly the same thing as it came with. I could have stayed at home and achieved the same by doing a hard-reset.
Why is it Nokia persist to offer upgrades in this ridiculous manner? With my Sony Ericsson I could have sat down with a (free!) cup of coffee and done the upgrade online from the comfort of my chair in under 10 minutes. With Nokia I will have had to travel for 2 hours, 120 miles, at a cost of nearly £40 just to have a phone that is under warranty flashed with a firmware that may or may not fix my problems!
Absolutely ridiculous. Get this sorted Nokia, you've already lost me as a future customer.

Answer 1

It's not this single event, it's Nokia's whole after-sales support arrangement that has me annoyed.
The support and repair system is completely decentralised, with seemingly random shops having Service Center status, which is why you end up with situations where big cities like Exeter don't have a single Nokia service shop but tiny towns like Newton Abbot do. This de-centralisation leads to a complete breakdown in policy enforcement and standards.
The previous time I was getting the firmware upgraded I phoned round several service centres, one said they couldn't upgrade N70s without sending them away for 10 days, another said they would but they would not install the generic firmware for me (as I was on 3 at the time), another said they would swap the firmware over to generic but for £20, then final one I called said they would do it for free. These discrepancies becomes more evident in the actual service centres, some seem to be very professional, know exactly what they are talking about and what they are doing, others seem to know very little about the phones and make up policy on the spot.
Two of the service centres I have visited have been very organised, given me a receipt for my phone, had me fill in proper Nokia staionary forms and generally been professional, the others I have visited have not given me a receipt for my phone, even on request, not asked me to fill in forms, and not really seemed to know what was happening.
As for charges, I have been told on seperate occasions (sometimes by the SAME service centre) that firmware upgrades are:
- free under warranty
- free under warranty if there is problem with the handset
- £10 under warranty, £20 if not
- £20 regardless of warranty status.
And as for changing firware variant some of the replies I've had:
- we cannot change firmware variants, it is illegal
- we can change the variant but it will cost you £20
- we can change the variant for free as part of a normal upgrade
What is the correct policy?! I would say to anyone who's service centre tries to charge them for an upgrade, just phone around, eventually you will find one that will do it for free!
Then there is the attitude of the staff, as before, some are very nice and understand that performing firmware upgrades is part of their duty as service centres and they do it when you ask, as quickly as possible. Others seem to take the attitude that firmware upgrades are a 'favour' they are doing for you, that because you're not handing over any money they can make you wait or refuse to do it.
Having been a Sony Ericsson user for many years this system just completely baffles me. SE have an expansive support website for every phone they make, with latest firmware, patches, new applications, tools, FAQq, Tips and Tricks and troubleshooting guides. All this can be done from the website, even the firmware upgrades. SE's ethos was very much one of allowing the owner of the phone to have access to the latest upgrades as and when they want. Nokia seem to keep firmware upgrades almost a secret, then make it hard to get them when the are available. Your average Nokia user, who doesn't use websites like this, has no idea that upgrades are even available.