Problems with Leaf repairing a hardware problem on a phone with Custom ROM

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gripen

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Has anyone tried submitting an HTC phone to Leaf / Lab88 with a custom ROM to leaf for repair ?

My phone physically died and now they are saying I have to pay for the repair (phone is under warranty) since it has an "Illegar Rom" (that's from the email).

They are now quoting me R2500+ to replace the main board. In other words, it's a hardware fault.. the ROM on the phone should make no difference whatsoever. There is no possible way the software has anything to do with the failure, I've been running custom ROMs for over a year now.

It's an HTC Touch Pro 2 and I was very happy with the phone until it died - I found a very fast ROM :p - way better than the stock. How do I get them to just replace the hardware under warranty and leave the software? Anyone had any luck with this?

I'm pretty bummed since there is no way I'm paying this, I'd rather spend a little more and get a new phone -- that is if I have no other option. Can anyone offer any advice?
 
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My own opinion is that they're on questionable legal grounds. But it'll be hard to prove that ROM is not part of the hardware... it's all a matter of definitions.

How dead is the phone? Have you tried flashing in a stock ROM using the SD card method? It might still be possible if the phone boots...
 
It does not respond to the power button. Literally 100% dead. There is no way to get a ROM onto the phone, otherwise I could have reflashed it to stock and they would be happy. So even the SD card method wouldn't work. It's almost as if the battery was dead (which happened a week prior and they happily gave me a new battery no questions asked about the ROM or anything else). I think it's a cop out. Yes, I know when you flash the ROM you "invalidate the warranty" but I believe I have a reasonable case. To me, the stock ROM was really slow and I was 100% happy with the ROM, if they would just fix the hardware..
 
so they can get into the phone? how else do they know you have a custom rom?
it's likely they would replace the board & flash it anyway.
 
good question, I'm not sure. possibly by testing with another board or something. There was not much info on the email other than a quotation for repair. That's exactly my point - they would reflash it to stock anyway.. the thing is to get them to do it under warranty. I'm still waiting for a response. I don't think they have a leg to stand on as I'm happy to handle the software if they fix the hardware. Just wondering if anyone had this before so there may be some kind of precedent.
 
They must have been able to revive the phone and since they saw a custom ROM they have decided to make some money of you.

You should argue that if the board was totally gone how did they manage to check the rom version and further to that why should the software invalidate the hardware warranty.
 
Well here's their response:

Please be advised that the first repair it was noted that the device has 3rd party Rom and only the battery was faulty. It is also noted that if any other symptom failure was reported ie: touch panel not working we would have covered this in warranty as the 3rd party software has no effect on these parts. The main board has the flash on board therefore the cooked spl will have a negative effect on it and thus cause many issues. If the device has 3rd party software loaded it invalidates the warranty as per the warranty manual, on all websites that you download 3rd party roms from clearly states that your actions will nullify your warranty with the manufacturer. The hardware can malfunction due to this 3rd party software which HTC does not approve as it is developed by individuals and does not go to the quality process and screening test before launched.

Attached, please find screen shots from two noted websites stating that using illegal software nullifies your warranty

<end>

They attached a screenshot from XDA I think of a post saying you should load the original ROM before sending the phone in. I'm tired of struggling with this since I think you're right, they decided to try make some money off me. I told them if I can't get insurance to pay, I'm going to dump the phone. It's not worth R3000 to repair, may as well pay a bit more and get a new phone. They are just no budging.
 
This is what I responded (part of my response):

Just one more question, if the phone was dead as it was when I handed it in – how did you determine that it had a non-stock ROM loaded and furthermore, is the board just replaced or is it inspected for other causes of damage such as physical damage, short circuit, component failure etc. I just don’t want this “non-stock ROM” to be used as an excuse or short cut if that is not the cause for the phone to fail. If the ROM is the reason for the phone failing, then I can accept your position on the repair without any issue.
Click to expand...
 
gripen said:
This is what I responded (part of my response):
Click to expand...

They said they determined it when you brought the phone in previously.

Playing Devil's advocate here, but they are not being that unreasonable - it is clearly stated that non-stock roms void your warranty. They even go as far as to say that they would still repair stuff like your touchscreen since the rom can't affect it. Custom roms CAN cook your hardware. It happens very rarely, but the drivers in the rom interface with the hardware and if they are set up incorrectly it can cause damage. In the case of android unlocking the SPL or acquiring root access makes use of hardware exploits, which have to input specific signals on specific pins to convince chips to do things they were previously told not to do. So the whole thought that the software can't affect the hardware is a bit of a misnomer.

It's unlikely that the ROM was actually the cause, but there is no way for you to prove that it wasn't, which is why it voids the warranty.
 
Yeah, I'm not unreasonable so I can accept that and I agree with you/hear you. It's just frustrating that it could be a physical failure of a component and they don't even check that and just blame it on the ROM. If the ROM caused the failure, that's 100% my fault and reasonable to refuse a warranty claim. However, if let's say a capacitor fails and you blame it on the ROM that is unfair. The problem is to determine the cause of failure. Oh well. Maybe time to go HTC Desire - at least then I don't need to get a new ROM to get proper functionality. I'm really bummed, as I was so happy with the phone when it died.
 
thats why always flash back to stock when taking you phone in for anything
it sucks, you were careless, deal with it
same happened to me with with my SE X1
 
Nope, not at all. I would have if I could have. I'm not a newbie in this stuff :) But as I said earlier, I couldn't even power on the phone. So I was basically unlucky. Did you manage to get Android 2.x on the X1 (just out of interest)
 
was talking about the first time u took it in for the battery

havent tried android, last time i checked it out it seemed too involved and was still in begining stages
will check it out again sometime
 
Eish - Bad Luck Dude - the TP2 is a nice phone but the stock ROM is really slow - the warranty issue is the only reason I haven't flashed mine.

BTW, which ROM where you using?

@rodga: I've tried the Android port but it's still got too many issues to switch fulltime (nice thing is you can try it without flashing by booting from the memory card.

@OP: Have you seen the Desire Z - that's the phone I'm waiting for - TP2's spiritual successor
 
I am with them as well, if you flash your phone, it can 1) Cause damage during the flashing process and 2) some ROM's overclock or put the device out of it's comfort zone to try and improve performance, which can have adverse effects on many phones.

I have never owned a smartphone that I haven't flashed, and when things go bad, I repair them myself. ( and I've had to do some seriously extensive repairs, on my old JASJAR :P )

Anyway, good luck - and happy flashing :)

Just be a little more careful and don't flash a device that you're not willing to part with.
 
@rodga it was dead the first time too

@AfricanTech the simplicity series. Very cool and fast. The stock ROM is so rubbish. The Android port was good, but not good enough. I set up my simplicity ROM perfectly and then it died. Quite a pity. I would consider that ROM more functional than Android for me.

Yes. I have tested the Desire Z (early edition, was floating around the office). That's what I'm going for.. if I can find one in Dubai in November (I'm also going to the US, here's hoping). That said, the Desire Z keyboard is much worse than the TP2 - it's keyboard is the best available IMO. If only the Desire Z was 1GHz but that's not such a big deal really.
 
Erm.. So if I fry my chip and mobo because I used 3rd party software to overclock the crap out of it, should it be covered by the warranty?
 
The thing is, a 3P ROM may or may not cause the hardware to mess out. This is a factual enquiry, which if had to be made by LEAF in each and every instance, would unneccessarily consume their time/money - hence the blanket exclusion.
 
Ask them to give a report stating that it's Beyond Economical Repair (BER) then insurance will pay out for the entire phone and then you can be done with it.

If they say you must repair it, tell them that if that if they repair it they must re-instate the warranty with no exclusions otherwise they must BER, then at least you covered either way.
 
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