Well many things have happened since the original post about my HTC Sensation. This post is a chance to complete the story.
You will recall that my HTC Sensation is a train wreck of reliability that randomly turns itself off as well as having various other software bugs. HTC's only solution has been to do a factory reset which they promised would resolve any problems caused by apps, and problems/corruptions in the provided Android operating system. When I rejected that solution as unacceptable because it is an unreasonable requirement on the customer to repeatedly reset/reformat a phone due to bugs inherent in its design, I was told the only option was a repair (where the first step is a factory reset naturally). I rejected this because I knew that I would only receive a reconditioned replacement handset, not an actual repair to my own and like a factory reset, a replacement would not resolve problems inherent in the handset's software and hardware design. A reconditioned handset would effectively be someone else's faulty handset that has been cleaned up and factory reset before being sent out to someone else (perhaps with some testing).
Firstly about a month after my blog post I found a page on the HTC website blog entitled "Your phone. Your thoughts. Tell us what you think" so I did in rather blunt terms!
HTC Blog - Tell us what you think
Funnily enough there were a lot of other people expressing deep disappointment with their HTC handsets. I got a (very prompt) response from HTC's head of social media Darren Krape, and I forwarded him details of the myriad of problems I had experienced with my handset including bugs I had reported that still hadn't been fixed. He passed my details on to a Customer Service manager at HTC UK who offered a repair. This was rejected for the reasons already mentioned.
An aside at this point is another problem I found. When I got a message from HTC
tech/customer support it sometimes requests a login. I don't have a
login (and I couldn't find a way to create one!) so I try and request my login details using the "forgotten your password" option
which also fails. This is pretty much par for the course with HTC - a
support portal that just doesn't work!
The Second thing is that in July 2012 HTC publish some sobering financial results (Q2 2012 financial results: 57.8 percent net profit drop) which leads Chief Executive Peter Chou tells his staff to "Kill Bureaucracy" Engadget Bloomberg.
To me this is a massive mea culpa from HTC. While it may be a welcome admission that they have thoroughly messed up it is also a sign of desperation. Companies only apologise when they really really have to because 1. People just aren't believing the marketing blurb any more, and as a result they aren't buying the products! and 2. they have annoyed so many existing customers that they've crushed their repeat business too.
Nice try, Peter. Rather than telling us all how sorry you are that you've realised what many of your customers have already found out to their cost; why not sort out your massive massive quality issues, as well as fixing bugs quickly, updating handsets regularly for at least 2 years after launch, etc etc.
The third thing that happened is that I wrote to Peter Chou. Having received no satisfactory solution from the normal customer/tech support channels I figured the guy at the top was in the best position to give a solution, unrestrained by the tech support scripts. I have done this before with other companies and usually been impressed at the way those at the top will sit up and listen to a genuine problem from a customer and will see it resolved properly and quickly. Used very sparingly when other channels have been exhausted this approach is effective and can be mutually beneficial: Customer is delighted when complaint is taken seriously by those at the top who comprehensively try to resolve it; and Company gets massive walking advert from delighted customer who is only too happy to tell anyone who will listen what an excellent experience they've had from that company.
Well you can probably guess what happened. I sent my letter to head office in Taiwan, and it took over a month to get any reply. I received no reply from Peter Chou, nor any of his colleagues at head office, as my letter was passed to the same HTC UK support office that had already, and repeatedly, offered unacceptable resolutions to the problem i.e. nothing more than a repair. To have my letter ignored by HTC Head office like this was an insult. In the end, in complete exasperation, I gave up and finally accepted that my HTC Sensation is a big pile of crap and HTC don't give a rat's sphincter about it, or losing a repeat customer as a result. Remember this above all when you're handing over hundreds of pounds to buy a HTC handset that you may be stuck with for 2 years or more.
I should say that, save for one exception, all the agents I have
spoken with at HTC have been polite and courteous at all times, and this
is a serious achievement for any customer facing roll which is
inherently stressful. Even more so here as 1. Tech support is
difficult at the best of times; and 2. If my experience with HTC
products is anything to go by, HTC support agents are likely to be
getting a lot of incoming support requests from very upset customers! Courtesy doesn't solve the
problems I've had, and it is those problems that mean I will never buy
HTC ever again, and will make sure as many people as possible know this
as well as the reasons why. That said courtesy counts for a lot; and
hasn't gone un-noticed.
For now my handset struggles on because I refuse to ditch a £500 handset that isn't even 18 months old, and I can't afford a replacement anyway. I have managed to resolve the main problems to make this more tolerable.:
1. HTC Locations starting when I put the handset in its Car cradle.
Solved by completely disabling HTC Locations. Apps built into the stock ROM cannot be uninstalled, but they can be disabled. To do this go to Settings | Apps | All Tab | Select the App in question | Tap the Disable button.
This is also great for disabling HTC widgets that demand every permission Android has available which is a massive security risk. Clock/Stocks/Weather widgets do not need the ability to access "Services that cost you money", "Your messages", "Your personal information", "Your accounts" etc.
2. Random SD card removal bug
This still crops up from time to time and only when I'm playing MP3 music (in Mixzing which otherwise has been fault free), and using Google Maps. The phone reports that the SD card has been removed unexpectedly - with both music and maps stopping. Only solution is a reboot. I've found no solution to this.
3. Random Turn offs
This was primarily resolved by removing an app called "TasKiller", but they do still occasionally happen. This turned out to be a physical problem with the handset. I think the battery was able to move about just enough to lose contact with the handset terminals. This was resolved by inserting a business card between the aluminium unibody and the battery. The phone screen now bulges slightly, but perceptibly, above the unibody edge.
The business card bulge is now an ever present reminder of the costly mistake that was buying HTC!
