Samsung Stratosphere- are you hating it too?

Question

I bought this phone in April of 2012 because my Droid 2 charging port broke inside the phone.  I loved my Droid 2.  The Stratosphere is a similar style with a slide out Qwerty keyboard.  From the beginning it was not as steady and dependable as the Droid 2- but the bigger screen and the newness of the phone seemed to compensate.  A year and 3 months later- it has been a miserable experience.  It freezes constantly and needs the battery pulled to restart.  The boot up time is ridiculously long (yes I have downloaded apps- but isn't that what you get a smart phone for?).  I tried a new battery, same result.  I tried a bigger battery to help with the fact that a battery charge lasts about one outing to the store and back.  Same result.  Yes, it was a Samsung certified battery and pricey.  I sometimes get a reminder that someone called- but usually a day later.  Or again the day after that even though I addressed the issue.  Recently, it has been especially wonky.  My contact list was diminishing by the day.  Down to the point where I only had those in my Google circle were saved.  Then down to the 4 imbedded contacts for your bill, your data, etc.  I went to the local Verizon store after digging in the website for help- because the website pointed me in the direction of a customer service specialist at the store.  Unfortunately, that was the worst customer service I have ever received from Verizon.  After describing my phone events, I was told that this is a problem inherent in "Android" devices.  Not once did the rep take my phone, work through the system and look at it.  He took my information and quoted me a price for an "early" upgrade to a different phone of $199 with a $50 rebate.  I did that already for a broken phone 15 months ago.  So this is what he told me to do.  My son is on my plan.  He is eligible for an upgrade.  He wants the Samsung 4.  He told me to take over my son's Droid 2 (4 year old phone still kind of working) on my plan.  Or use my son's eligibility and leave him with the 4 yr old phone.  Either way- Verizon was getting $200.  And my phone wasn't getting fixed.  And I was actually told to downgrade in order to "handle" my problem.  This is an unacceptable answer to my problem.  For all the hundreds and hundreds of $$$ I pay Verizon year after year- I wonder why there is not a better solution to phones that don't work as necessary.  Verizon sells products made by other companies- sure.  But figure out a way to back these products instead of sending us out the door with a brand spanking new 2 year lock-in for that phone.  When it doesn't work for 2 years they say "oh sorry, that's just what those phones do?"  And then require another big payout of $200 + only to be locked in once again for 2 years on a phone that has no promise of working that long?  I don't need that- I just want either a reconditioned one or a lesser value one to nurse me through the rest of the contract.  So my son can keep his upgrade he has earned.  Lastly, after working through the Verizon website and reading forums and endless blogs elsewhere I found my contacts in the backup assistant filed under "trash".  Now I am sure they will believe that I did something wonky myself to cause that.  But I assure you I did not.  They were there on my phone and then not.  Text messages came in under phone numbers instead of the names because somehow when my phone backed up contacts some magical evil gremlins sent it to a very odd world.  Long story short, at least for now I have a usable phone that will serve until the next event.  Hopefully, working until April.  And yes, I see that they are coming out next week with the new setup where you don't have contracts.  But believe me, they will still get their portion of $flesh$.  Pay me now or pay me later.  And then send you out into the world to either enjoy or suffer with a product they don't back up.  Each and every month I give Verizon over $200 of hard earned money.  It is a ridiculous amount we all give a HUGE company.  It wouldn't hurt them to have a FREE program to backup the products they sell with either reconditioned or new.  But to get that you need to tack on another $$ to the $$$$$$ you already pay.  Enough of our $ already- and stop whining about how Verizon eats a large portion of the actual cost of the phone when they sign you up.  They make it back and more- and who says a phone needs to originally cost $600 anyway?  They sell so many it is a mind boggling amount of money swirling around in cell phone land.  In the end, I'm done with Verizon.  I am moving to a month to month phone system and away from this corporate giant who can't be bothered with little me.

Answer 1

    Nannerknob, I regret to hear that you're having so many issues with your Stratosphere. My mom has one and loves it and I want you to feel the same way. Is your phone freezing on any specific app or task? If you have an antivirus or task killer installed, please remove as those can cause these types of issues. Have you ever completed a factory reset for these issues http://bit.ly/PQplpM? All of our phones do come with a 1 year manufacturer warranty, outside of that timeframe, you would need an extended warranty for the device to be exchanged. Do you have an extended warranty?
MarquiaF_VZW
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