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.

if the seller stated that they were authorized, or that the device came with full warranty, i would contact them.

If they won't help, and if you paid by credit card, then you should be able to get a refund through the CC company.

Those are very good suggestions. Thank you.

I've never had to try that before. Do you know if it still work if you use paypal?

It really depends, and 2 months is usually a very long time for credit card companies to issue a refund. The thing is you bought from a guy on eBay -- not a Nokia store.

If you can, contact the eBayer, and ask him to provide you with his proof of purchase (assuming it's an individual). If it's a retail store, ask them for their bulk purchase agreement (or something like that, the name changes from country to country). Basically, the store's proof of purchase.

Either way, the item came from Nokia. If you're lucky, it's an individual who still has the receipts and you're within one year of the original purchase. If you're unlucky, the warranty is expired or it's a store and they can't help you.

Either way, if the eBay ad said it included full warranty you should challenge the sale through eBay directly (PayPal and eBay are very much integrated, so this is very easy to do).

Regarding asking refund from your CC company, like I said in the beginning, because it's been so long it's going to be difficult (unless you have Premier services in which case you in some cases get up to 180 days from DoP). You can try, but I think you won't have that much luck.

Repair usually doesn't cost very much. If you get a good contractor it can be done for under $100 (don't forget you have a device which is a few years old, warranty only goes for that long).

Yes, they told you that they would definitely cover it, but they probably assumed that you bought it from a Nokia seller or something (they don't really think out of the box -- the processes simply aren't in place for such scenarios, ironically). Last thing you could try, go to a Nokia official reseller where they still sell N810s, and give one of the sales guys a $50 so he gives you a proof of purchase, then submit the device again with the "valid" PoP.

There's a lot of ways you can "beat the system", but it usually involves shelling out. Sorry to hear this happened to you. Good luck though.

PS: I once had an N810's screen fail on me. Because my warranty had expired some time ago, and I bought it through some guy on eBay in the US, I knew I'd had to pay. I bought some screwdrivers, took the device apart using the repair manuals (widely available on the internet, swing by IRC if you need help finding them -- watch out for viruses) and reconnected the connector myself. All good to go.

I think you'd have to try get a refund through paypal first. If the device was sold to you as new and/or with warranty then your best bet is probably to chase the seller first, then paypal, then the CC company.

Here is my suggestion, find the same a-hole that you bought the broken one from on ebay, buy another one from him (hopefully better quality and pull a switch and return the defective one.

It wasn't defective when I bought it. I haven't had a chance to go back and look at the terms of the auction yet, so I don't know if I'll be able to return it. In either case I would not do the return switch. I just don't think that's ethical. Even if I did, it wasn't the vendor's fault, it was sealed in the box, and the box was flawless. There was no reason to even suspect there would be a problem.

The device worked fine for two months or so anyway before it broke. I wouldn't even be that upset with Nokia if they hadn't repeatedly lied to me and strung me along.

well i'f i'm not completely wrong on this isent it ebay or rather the seller on ebay that should stand for the repiars? and if it was a auction from a private seller don't you have some sort of return thingy? i know here in sweden we atleast have a 6 month return policy by law on used item even if it's never been used but because you buy it from a buyer that's not a "real" store.