So my N810's touchscreen went kaput. Not the screen itself, just the input portion. I called Nokia about it, and the woman I talked to asked if I had my receipt. I did not have it at the time of the phone call, because the email server I use was down for maintenance. She asked when I bought it, and I told her it was only a couple of months ago. She replied that it would DEFINITELY be covered by the 1 year warranty. I asked about the receipt again and specifically told her it was an eBay purchase. She said that was ok, that Nokia honored warranties from on line sales, and again stated that it would DEFINITELY be covered. She gave me instructions on where and how to send the device for repair. I asked her if she wanted me to wait until my email was back up so I could include the receipt. She said that IT WOULD NOT BE NECESSARY, they could look it up when they got it. I sent the N810 according to her instructions, and waited.

I waited two weeks, and heard nothing, so I called them back. The guy I talked to that time said he had no information on the device, but that he could see all of the details of my previous call, and he would get back to me. To his credit he did get back to me two days later. He told me that THE REPAIR FACILITY that they contract repairs to decided to deny my warranty because the manufacturing date was too long ago.

I explained that I had only purchased the device in June. His response was that Nokia honors warranties based on date of purchase, not manufacturing date, so if I would just forward the receipt to him at Nokia, then Nokia would pay for the repair. I was specifically told to forward the confirmation email that I got from the seller, which I did during the call. He said he wouldn't look at the email until Monday (this was a Saturday), and he abruptly thanked me and ended the call.

He called back Monday night, and told me he never got the email. I checked my records, and sure enough I had typed the address wrong, and had a failed delivery notification. I saw the mistake, and forwarded it again, correctly this time. He received it immediately, and said that all looked good, and he would be contacting the repair facility to arrange the repair. I was again assured that Nokia honors "internet sales" and the unit would be repaired under warranty.

Two days later, the same customer rep called me back and told me the contractor denied the warranty because I only forwarded the sales confirmation email, and that I should have taken a screen shot, and attached a jpeg of it. This is extraordinarily offensive to me, because it implies that I've tampered with the original email. But, I played along. I asked if I could still send him the screen shots, and was told yes. He said that would fix the situation. I asked him to hold on while I sent him the screen shots of the receipt. He said he would hold, but the call was disconnected.

Two days later I called back and asked for the rep. by name, and got him. He checked for the email, found it, and said everything looked good. He said he'd contact the contractor, and get back to me.

Three days later, He called me back. He said my warranty was denied, because I didn't buy it from an authorized Nokia dealer. I was a bit in shock after all the assurances I received that it would be covered, if I'd only jump through one more hoop. I asked what the repair would cost me, fearing the answer. His answer was one I did not expect. He told me that they would not fix it because they had no parts on hand to fix it with... He said he would contact the contractor to begin the procedure for returning the device to me.

This whole time they strung me along, hoping I would just give up so they wouldn't have to tell me the contractor had no replacement parts.

To add insult to injury, Nokia sent me a form on the Contractor's letterhead which stated I had the option of paying $100 for them to attempt to repair my "phone" and $8 to ship it back, or simply have it shipped back un-repaired free of charge.

I am appalled that Nokia has let a contractor dictate their warranty procedure, and has made promises to me as a paying customer, that they had no intention of keeping.

My wife and I have been long time Nokia fans and proponents. We're both convinced now to never buy or recommend another Nokia product. With this kind of attitude towards its customers, I now understand why they have been hemorrhaging market share so badly.

Thanks for nothing Nokia.