Nokia N80 Internet Edition Software Update Issue

Question

Hi,
I would like to express my disappointment for the poor service that Nokia has given me. I purchased a Nokia cellphone because I believed it was a reliable company. Nokia is operating in a global world, promoting online upgrades internationally. This does not rely on borders, and yet, on the ground Nokia is inflexible and has not responded to the mobile global population. Despite being within the warranty period, I have to pay a considerable sum of money to fix a problem caused by the online upgrades that Nokia promote.
I used the New Zealand Nokia website to update my Nokia N80i software, and the message on my PC said that the update was completed successfully. When I tried to use the phone there was a message on the screen telling me to contact my retailer. From then on my problems started.
I called the New Zealand Nokia call centre (where I live) and I explained the problem and they advised me to go to the nearest care center, and I did that. As this unit was purchased from abroad (Singapore), I was advised that as the New Zealand care centre is unable to service my Nokia N80i.
I was told to send the phone to a Nokia Care Centre in Singapore because they would have the current issue on hand. Even though the fault was caused by the computer updates, I was informed that the issue would need to meet Nokia's warranty guidelines and be within its warranty period (my phone was under the warranty period at the time) for the repair to be covered under warranty. In any case, I had to cover all handling charges such as courier charges. Having received this advice I paid for the phone (with warranty card) to be couriered to Singapore.
Nokia NZ told me if the phone has been posted to the care centre in Singapore, I should tell them IMEI Number, Date of Purchase, Airway Bill / Consignment Number - which I did.
I then went through a very painful process of dealing with Customs Singapore regarding GST charges. Before it left customs (as I didn't want to pay GST on an item I wasn't importing into Singapoer), I received a call from the Singapore care center advising me that they cannot fix my phone as it is from the Hong Kong market (even though it was purchased in Singapore!!!!) I'm not sure how they could tell me this now (when they hadn't received the phone in Singapore) as they couldn't tell me this when the phone was in New Zealand.
They now said I needed to send it to Hong Kong instead. I told them I could not afford to pay anymore money as I already spent lots to send the phone to them, only to have it return to New Zealand at my cost (which happened when I didn't pay the excessive GST charges).
Nokia then told me to throw my phone in the rubbish and forget about it because they are not responsible for it.
This whole process was ludicrous. The phone was working fine before I tried to use the online update feature, and yet, Nokia refuse to take responsibility for the faults caused by their updates.
Right now I am left with a dead phone. Can anybody help me to fix it?

Answer 1

I am very sorry to hear about your predicament. I always keep my fingers and toes crossed when I update firmware as it can be a risky exercise.
Nokia warranties are usually only valid in the country the phone is meant for, except for European phones where the warranty is valid all over Europe.
I read another thread where someone else got their phone to work following a similar problem to your. Have a look at the thread below.
/discussions/board/message?board.id=hardware&thread.id=7082
Hope this works for you.
Message Edited by cjlim on 04-Feb-2008 09:17 AM