My N97 consumer feedback

Question

Hello,
I could not find any place to provide a concrete consumer feedback. Discussed the issue with Nokia Care Line numerous amount of times and while the issue gets escalated higher, nothing tangible has ever been realized. So I decided to post this here.
You will need a lot of patience to read the whole thing so get something to drink, sit back and enjoy.
I am based in Dubai and been staying here for 25+ years. My first phone was a Nokia back in 1997 (Nokia 8110) and then I bought the 3310. Those were the good old days. They did not have the fancy features we see in today's smart phones but they were strong and gave a great satisfaction of owning a gadget. From there I've had many Nokia phones ranging from the N-Gage, a couple of E series phones and then finally the N95 8GB. Till this date I was most satisfied with Nokia phones and as soon as the thought of a mobile or cellular comes to mind, Nokia comes to mind. I'm afraid the prestige Nokia once had has diminished and a major round of applause for that to their flagship N97.
The story begins...
I bought the Nokia N97 after great marketing by Nokia (huge model of N97 at a roundabout right outside the Radisson SAS hotel in Dubai Media City). I was mesmerized by the phone and I said to myself wow could this be it. Frankly I also blame the mindset of consumers in this part of the world. Nevertheless, I finally decided to make way for the N97 and put aside my most powerful mobile device ever (N95 8GB).
I bought the N97 on 1st Dec 2009 excited to the bone, waiting to tap those fingers on my first ever touch phone. Get home, unboxed, put it on charge and start to explore. In under 5 minutes while messaging an SMS using the QWERTY keyboard the screen starts to black out with unexplained white/yellow/red dots and lines. I nearly shed tears but decided to restart the phone and get over the dilemma thinking it was a one off. Phone restarts and comes back to life. Another 10 minutes into browsing and the same thing happens again. This is when I was heartbroken. Mind you I completely understand the fact that there can be manufacturing defects. I decided to leave it there and head to the store the next day but since it was 2nd Dec there was a public holiday for National day. I went back to the shop on the 3rd Dec and told them of the behavior. Typical response from the sales guy, "did you drop the phone?"... I grinned and said "Is that the best you can ask?" I had nothing to hide as I knew I was being truthful. I am overly cautious with my phone and so with a cool head I told him "No, I did not drop the phone". He asked me to leave it with them and they will check it out and come back tomorrow. I was there the next morning and he told me "yes there seems to be a problem with the phone and we will need to send it Axiom and it may take up to 8 days depending on when the person from Axiom collects it from their shop."
I decided to take the phone there myself. The same day I reach the Axiom service center on SZR and take a ticket waiting for my turn. I wait 35 minutes and finally my ticket # is called. I go over to the guy sitting on the desk and as soon as he saw my Nokia he went "oh Nokia, we don't repair Nokia's anymore but you can take it to the Nokia Care center. They have one right down the road" (Seriously can you may be put up a note at your center that we do not repair Nokia’s anymore so people don't have to waste their time waiting for you to tell them the same?).
I head over to the Nokia Care center and wait for another 45 minutes (gotta love it) for my ticket # to be called. Finally I have a chance to speak to a guy who is ready to listen to my problems. I explain him the whole deal and by now the phone even refused to start even after removing the battery and putting it back in. Instantly he acknowledged the problem and accepted the phone for repairs. I tried to ask why I cannot get a replacement instead since it has been only a few days since I bought the phone. He said if it was eligible for replacement then they will do so. I get a Job number and now I have to wait. The next day I get an SMS saying that my phone has been sent to high level repair factory and the minimum delay is expected to be 10 days. I am already heartbroken and how worse can it get? You will be surprised. Read on...
I get an SMS on the 7th or 8th day saying my phone was ready for pickup. I breathed normally at this point. Btw you can even check the status of the phone online; strangely and surprisingly the online URL to check the status is actually that of Axiom (http://www.axiomtelecom.com/repair.html) who first refused my phone. So is it still Axiom guys fixing phones for Nokia? I don't care, what I did care was that my phone was ready and I was there in a flash to pick it up. I started the phone while I was there and it seemed OK at that point as I tried sending a couple of SMS messages and watching the demo video etc. The guy told me that the electric circuit board was replaced and it should be fine now.
I come home all happy and excited that I finally got my phone back. Start using the phone and no problems with phone blacking out and no other visual issues either. Now I am a very heavy user and I expect smart phones to work with ALL features as advertised. Everything almost seemed to be okay but then I decided to check out the GPS and I only wished I didn't have to break my heart the second time but I did. The GPS apparently is a big failure on the N97 after reading a lot on the web and YouTube videos of users trying to mod the GPS for a better lock on position. Why would you need to mod something if it's supposed to work out of the box? This is not what I paid money for. Now I am not the most important person on this planet so I don't always need to know the Latitude and Longitude of where exactly I am at any given point but I do use the GPS API for a cool little application called Qibla that helps you determine where the location of Mecca is and this helps me in facing the right direction when I need to pray specially when I am on business travel at a hotel in Europe/America. This is something I would not compromise on.
Not to my astonishment the GPS is not just failing but it's practically dead on my device. Nokia Maps even failed to determine the position. It did not even give me a position at all. I tried everything and I mean everything under the sun. Apart from the built-in GPS, I tried the A-GPS (Assisted) and Network based methods with ISP provided access points. That alone cost me roughly 80 dirhams but not a single time did I get a lock on the position. I am left with no choice but to take back the device to Nokia Care and once again explain to the same gentleman the new GPS problem I faced after the first repair. He happily accepted the phone and the same drill again however this time he assured it was under priority and that a swap of the unit is likely. Again I get another Job number and I kept checking that Axiom repair status page online like a million times in vain. In parallel I decided to call the Nokia care line and register my feedback with them who sympathized with my problem but could only give me an escalation reference number. I knew that I just had to wait and there is nothing more I can do about it.
I was just not sure what the feeling was. Angry? Frustrated? Felt cheated. A week went by and I was starting to lose my cool. I called the Nokia care line everyday in an attempt to get things moving faster. I was assured by at least 3 agents I spoke to that my phone will be ready by Saturday 26th Dec but I guess the constant calling raised a few alarms and my phone was ready for pick up on the 24th Dec. In a flash again I was there to collect it. Got my phone, tried the GPS while sitting with the agent and unfortunately the GPS does not work well when indoors or in enclosed areas. I was just happy that I am getting my phone back so I told him I will check it in bright sunny conditions and hopefully I will not have to come back here again ever. He told me the GPS receiver was replaced.
I get home and the GPS is not working indoors. Expected. I rush down to my parking lot which is a wide open area and bright sun shining all the way down. HORROR! The GPS fails to determine the location after 20 minutes of standing there. A-GPS, Network none of them showed any signs of a lock on my position. The Latitude and Longitude showed nothing. It just said No connection after the miserable attempt to calculate GPS data. I started Nokia Maps to see if that can spot the position. The position on Nokia Maps of where I was showed me 6KM away from where I was. This did not change no matter which part of the city I went to. I was broken into pieces, felt like I was left naked.
Do I have to check on every feature that the phone has to ensure what is working and what is not? Seemed like a good idea so I checked the FM transmitter that can broadcast your music to "any" FM radio with a radio wave. The FM transmitter does not activate on my phone. I thought that it maybe has to be close to an antenna for a strong signal (physics) and so I was standing right next to my car antenna, set an unused frequency on my car FM radio and hit the activate button but nothing happens I changed the antenna on my car thinking it was the antenna (Seriously the phone can't be malfunctioning can it?) I still had faith in this phone. Changing the antennas did not help. Trying the same thing in my brother’s car did not help and I was like **bleep** man, maybe it does not work with all FM radios and I would just consider myself unlucky.
Today evening I was at the Dubai mall and there happens to be a Nokia store. I quickly stepped into the store and there lied an N97 in all its glory. For my curiosity I started the FM transmitter application and clicked on Activate and to my utter surprise the FM transmitter shows a message that it will now start broadcasting at that mentioned frequency. WHAT? There are no signs of any radio waves, no frequencies, nothing and it just starts to work like that!! This is when I figured Nokia manufactured the worst single device ever and that one got into my hands.
For any Nokia representative, forum moderator or anyone with any authority who wants to discuss my experience and I am ready to showcase you all that is not working on hand and all I need is an answer from you to this: Did I spend 2000 dirhams on a phone that boasts so many features with hardly any of them working? Or is my case just a horrible manufacturing defect product and if it is then what are you going to do about it?
Regards,
Broken
Message Edited by mvajid on 27-Dec-2009 01:44 AM

Answer 1

Hi,
Just to let you know that this is a user to user forum. We are all Nokia users here just like you. While there may be Nokia moderators here, they only task here is to make sure we behave and don't start fighting. If you wish to contact Nokia directly, you should use the "Contact us" tab to be top right of this screen but I believe you may already have done so. If you haven't already done so then you should because it gets you to Nokia Care directly. Please note that most Nokia Care Points are not run by Nokia themselves so you have been dealing with 3rd party contractors to date, so might be no harm to contact Nokia directly.
Anyway best of luck