How many refurbished devices to you have to get before you stop getting broken ones and get a new one

Question

I have the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from Verizon.  It is a black, 32 GB phone.  I received my first one in February and around the first of June I started having issues that I could not answer the phone.  It would ring and then lock up.  I would have to shut off the phone and turn it back on to then call the number back.  I am a Deputy Sheriff, assigned as a school resource officer for an elementary of approximately 950 children and a high school of approximately 700.  I rely on the phone heavily for communications in this position.  Email and messaging are a must.  I received the refurbished phone on June 03 and I immediately had an issue with the naive email application.  When I took it back to Verizon, they informed me the only way to correct the issue was to use a 3rd party application.  The original phone worked fine with the native app.  The phone then continued to have other issues and I have been into Verizon on 3 occasions since the 3rd with issues.  In the past 24 hours, this refurbished phone has developed an issue with the soft keys on the bottom of the device.  The menu key and the back key have stopped working.  They light up, but do not function beyond that.  I spoke with Verizon and they are sending me another "broken" and refurbished phone.  I asked what I had to do to get a new phone and not a broken one and they told me to call Samsung, they could make that happen.  I contacted Samsung and they told me they could only have me send it in for repair, that Verizon is the only one that determines to replace with a new phone or a refurbished phone.  So I anticipate receiving my new, broken phone that has been refurbished on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week.  If this one fails as well, do I get a 4th broken phone, or what is my options.  Thank you

Answer 1

Hi Joel,
Thanks for the answer.  I am aware of what the refurb is suppose to be, however, I find that more often than not, they crash pretty quickly.  I did the safe mode for 3 days, reloading apps one at a time and I did not find anything that was not compatible.  I am not sure why this device is locking up, but I know that in my job, I need to count on the phone way to much to have to keep sending it back.  I would buy out the early edge, but I read in one of the posts where a guy did that and Verizon would not accept it because it was a refurb and not the original.  Seems no matter what, the customer that pays on time, for many years always loses