Issue with O2's 3G network and the Palm Pre

I have experienced a new(ish) problem with my Palm Pre. It only seems to occur when the Pre has registered with O2's 3G network. The reception for the 3G network in Belfast is flaky to say the least and the problems I am seeing manifest themselves as follows:-

1) Inability to send SMS'. I get the following error message (which is a GSM timeout code I believe).

'Message failed to:XXXXXXXXXXX Could not send your message due to network error. Try again. (code:31)'

2) Inability to receive calls - all incoming calls are diverted straight to voicemail.

3) Inability to make calls - nothing but 'dead air' is heard on the Pre.

The issue is currently being actively discussed on two forums. It has been mentioned on the Palm Pre forum (by yours truly) but no other posters have replied.

PreCentral Forum

O2 Forum

Palm Forum

O2 admit poor customer care...

...well not quite. They didn't explicitly say they were at fault but they did give me a £70 credit on my account. Which is nice but I will still be leaving once my contract expires....in 23 months!

O2 Customer Complaints

I have just sent a letter of complaint to O2.

The addresses it was sent to was:-

ComplaintReviewService@O2.COM.
mycare@o2mail.co.uk

Palm Pre User Guide

It came as a bit of a surprise to me that the Palm Pre only came with a quick start guide. If (like me), you like your user manuals to be large, chunky and full of technical detail then you might want to consider downloading something with a bit more meat on it's bones.

http://www.o2.co.uk/deviceinfo/device-pdfs/palmpreeng.pdf

Ok, so its an O2 link and it goes against my beliefs to use anything from O2 but really, the user guide is remarkably similar to several versions out there on the Web.

O2 Customer Care and the Palm Pre Cracked Screen debacle

I decided my first blog should be a rant. O2 have started to sell the Palm Pre smart phone. This highly publicized device has been on the market for about a month now. I bought mine on Saturday the 31st of October. By Friday the 6th of November, 6.30 pm, a number of cracks had developed on the screen as a result of RESTING IN MY FRONT POCKET! The phone has now been rendered useless as the touch screen will no longer work.














The course of events that then took place are as follows:

1) Straight on to Google. It turns out that this is a well known issue with a small number of the Palm Pre devices in the US - where it has been available with Sprint for a number of months.

http://forums.palm.com/palm/board/message?board.id=weboshardware&thread.id=145&view=by_date_ascending&page=29

The Daily Telegraph had also ran an article about the same issue in July.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/5731369/Palm-Pre-users-in-US-reporting-handset-problems.html

2) I then contacted O2 Customer Service on 202. I was immediately told this was obviously a case of user abuse and that O2 would not exchange the phone.

3) I then contacted the O2 Store on Castle Lane in Belfast (I think that's the street). I was told by some herbert who sat under a sign crying 'GURU' that this was not a known issue. I then handed him the print out from Google. He said 'but these are just forums'.

Exactly my good man - user reviews posted on a respected forum.

I wonder if he would ignore the same cases that are being documented in O2 OWN forum now.

http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=30038&highlight=

I was again told in a rude manner that the phone would not be exchanged.

So O2 now have me tied in to a 2 year deal for a broken phone.


4) I turned to Palm in desperation. They were more helpful and at least not immediately dismissive of me as a customer than O2 were. Currently pictures of the phone are with Palm who are investigating. Given their professional attitude so far I have high hopes of having the Palm Pre replaced.

I will keep the blog updated as I received updates.

But I will sign off by saying that dealing with O2 was, without doubt, the worst customer care experience I have ever had in my life as a consumer.



Update: A few minutes after this post I got a call from Palm.....

Palm have agreed to replace the unit. Well done Palm - customer service as it should be. Professional and thorough - unlike O2 who were simply shocking.

I hope everyone who is in the same boat gets a satisfactory conclusion.

I have also purchase the following to help prevent the same thing happening again.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002KQ5EF8/ref=ox_ya_os_product

I think I might devote this blog to both Palm and Palm Pre.....

Update: Out of badness I rang another O2 shop and posed as a potential Palm Pre customer.
I said I had read online about the cracked screen problem. The guy at the other end said he had not heard of the issue but if it happened to me then they would take the phone away for investigation and probably replace it as it sounded like an inherent fault. Interesting. Was this just a line to get me in through the door or was this his genuine position. It certainly was not at the O2 store I originally attended.....

A strong letter of complaint will be winging its way towards O2 very shortl y.