Global Shortage of Replacement GPS!!!

Once again they messed up. Appaearnetly there are far more poeple with GPS issues than they anticipated. All that "lens problem and GPS is bad only for 0.0001% of owners" - BS, utter BS. I'd say a big chunk of phones manufactured has this problem.

I sent my phone off to Nokia freepost to be replaced two weeks ago. This was arranged by Nokia head office after I complained about the issues I was having with my phone. The repair centre phoned me late last week to say they had received my phone but had no replacement phones in stock and they weren't expecting any in until at least November 7th. They offered to repair my exisiting handset but I refused as this was it's 4th time in repair for the usual gps, lens scratch, speakerphone issues.
I have also been offered 5 free music tracks as compensation. I bought my N97 on August 8th and since then it has been in repair for 8 weeks. Enough said really.

Superpalace wrote:I sent my phone off to Nokia freepost to be replaced two weeks ago. This was arranged by Nokia head office after I complained about the issues I was having with my phone. The repair centre phoned me late last week to say they had received my phone but had no replacement phones in stock and they weren't expecting any in until at least November 7th. They offered to repair my exisiting handset but I refused as this was it's 4th time in repair for the usual gps, lens scratch, speakerphone issues.
I have also been offered 5 free music tracks as compensation. I bought my N97 on August 8th and since then it has been in repair for 8 weeks. Enough said really.

i complained about mine and insisted on a replacement, spoke to someone at head office on Wednesday last week, had replacement handset delivered on the Saturday. Only thing was they only had white ones left, but now i actually prefer white! (although don't get me started on the fact that v20 is out for black and not white ones....)

Ah! So you must of got one of the last white phones! The initial message which was left on my phone last Thursday was that they were out of black N97 but had white in stock! By the time I called back they were out of both!

Ahh, this explains why I haven't had a call from my local Nokia Care Point. They're meant to be calling me when the part comes in, and I booked my phone in for repair at least two weeks ago.

I'll just sit tight then, rather than bother them...

zxon

I would call them anyway - i would be interested to see what they say to you - dont forget you can also get your 5 free songs!!!!!! 😮

Hi
All
I just got my phone back today only took two days for them to do the work but took a month for them to get the GPS camera back cover in. As the engineer told me big shortage of parts but the good new is the phone now works GPS is spot on and i've been using it all day will take a little longer to test the camera cover but it does look a little different the cover does look like its set a little higher.

I phoned Nokia care this morning to ask if they had dispatched my replacement N97 phone as I was told that they would have new stock delivered on November 7th. Apparently this has now been delayed and they were hopeful that they would get new stock by the end of the month..........Seriously very very poor service.

Superpalace wrote:Ah! So you must of got one of the last white phones! The initial message which was left on my phone last Thursday was that they were out of black N97 but had white in stock! By the time I called back they were out of both!

Erm...yes, sorry about that😃

Guys, I need the lens, gps and touch screen fixed. Am I best to take it to at care centre or just send to nokia direct?

How do you get one of these free post envelopes? Is there an online form to fill in?

Cheers!

BanziBarn wrote:Guys, I need the lens, gps and touch screen fixed. Am I best to take it to at care centre or just send to nokia direct?

How do you get one of these free post envelopes? Is there an online form to fill in?

Cheers!

You can send it back (in UK) for free - see link below. Make sure you get a proof-of-posting form stamped by the post-office for insurance purposes tho!

http://www.nokia.co.uk/NOKIA_UK_23/EUROPE_NOKIA_COM_3/Get_Support/Repair/freepost_forms/Freepost-return-form-V13.pdf

However, my experience of the Freepost service is the first time you send in the handset, all the engineer does is re-flash and format the device, then send back to you a week later.

The second time you send it in, the engineer either fixes the problem, or checks the NSU logs and product-code, and invalidates your warranty if you have de-branded the phone.

You are MUCH safer phoning your local NCC, checking required parts are in stock, then taking the handset in for (hopefully) a same-day while-you-wait repair.

dez_borders wrote:

You are MUCH safer phoning your local NCC, checking required parts are in stock, then taking the handset in for (hopefully) a same-day while-you-wait repair.

Cool, thanks, I'll take it in. :icon14: I did actually phone them today to warn them I was brining the phone in so they could order the parts but they weren't having any of it, they wanted me to bring the phone in before they would do anything.

TurtlePower wrote:zxon

I would call them anyway - i would be interested to see what they say to you - dont forget you can also get your 5 free songs!!!!!! 😮

What's this about free songs? :con?

BanziBarn wrote:Cool, thanks, I'll take it in. :icon14: I did actually phone them today to warn them I was brining the phone in so they could order the parts but they weren't having any of it, they wanted me to bring the phone in before they would do anything.

Thats a shame! My NCC is an 80 miles round trip, so I would be better off sending the handset in to Nokia Repair Centre - once I hear the GPS antennae shortage is resolved.

Let us know how you get on...

zxon wrote:I think I'll give them a ring tomorrow and find out what's what.

What's this about free songs? :con?

Called Nokia Care UK this morning, waiting for a call back regarding stock-availability of replacement GPS antenna parts. Will let you all know the outcome.

dez_borders wrote:Thats a shame! My NCC is an 80 miles round trip, so I would be better off sending the handset in to Nokia Repair Centre - once I hear the GPS antennae shortage is resolved.

Let us know how you get on...

I've got a feeling it's not actually a Nokia Centre as I can't find it on the Nokia Web site. It's a Carpone Warehouse branch......

The Wife is taking the phone in this lunch time so I'm waiting for feedback as to what they say. 😊

dez_borders wrote:Called Nokia Care UK this morning, waiting for a call back regarding stock-availability of replacement GPS antenna parts. Will let you all know the outcome.

Nokia care did not (read could not be botherered to...?) call me back.

Instead, I phoned my local (Edinburgh) NCC and was told although they had no lens cover replacement parts available, they had plenty of 'N97 GPS shields' in stock and that the repair could be done the same day if they had the handset no later than 2pm. I drove up (80 mile round trip) yesterday afternoon and now have vastly improved GPS recepion. See before and after GPS Status screens from GarminXT (n.b. I mocked-up the before image, as I didn't take a snapshot prior to the repair, but it accurately shows the magnitude of GPS signal improvement you can expect after the N97 GPS repair).

I also noticed that the Location app shows GPS location accuracy as averaging better than 20m instead of varying wildly from 20m to 200m.

Took my N97 into the Nottingham UK branch of carphone warehouse who are my local service centre yesterday.
Explained that I had the problem with the GPS dropping its signal and that Nokia had released a new back plate with extra shielding to sort the problem.
" thats a new one on me " he says " I'll check with our sevice technician " 5 mins later " Our service technician hasn't heard of any problems with the GPS or of any replacement parts " " leave it with us and we'll see what we can do " " I'll log it in as a software fault ".
Have I any faith in getting it sorted - no not really.

zxon wrote:I think I'll give them a ring tomorrow and find out what's what.

What's this about free songs? :con?

My Nokia care point phoned me to let me know that my phone would still be a while before it is repaired and offered 5 free songs on from Nokia Music.

Whhooooaaaaa 😮

Anyway still waiting for mine to come back! Had an email on the 13/11/09 saying according to the system its repaired and due to be delivered to my door.

Obviously not a next day service!!!!

My whole N97 experience has been soured by the GPS and Camera issues and this parts crisis and returns fiasco is just making me think dont buy Nokia again!

Is the iphone 3Gs beset by all these type of problems? My friends one seems to work really well - unfortunately!!

bobthebuilder wrote:Took my N97 into the Nottingham UK branch of carphone warehouse who are my local service centre yesterday.
Explained that I had the problem with the GPS dropping its signal and that Nokia had released a new back plate with extra shielding to sort the problem.
" thats a new one on me " he says " I'll check with our sevice technician " 5 mins later " Our service technician hasn't heard of any problems with the GPS or of any replacement parts " " leave it with us and we'll see what we can do " " I'll log it in as a software fault ".
Have I any faith in getting it sorted - no not really.

The Service technician is basically talking B😮ll😮x - The Nokia Care Point in Luton that i dropped mine into said that there was a Nokia Service Bulletin for the GPS and Lens scratching issues

Hope that helps - sorry i dont know the Tech Bulletin numbers - try phoning a Nokia Care Point and ask them for them if CPW persist in being stupid!!!

TurtlePower wrote:Is the iphone 3Gs beset by all these type of problems? My friends one seems to work really well - unfortunately!!

My friend's iPhone 3GS has terrible receiption issues, compared to his previous mob on same network.

bobthebuilder

I had a look at the Repair Case receipt given to me and this is what they have entered in the comments section word for word

"ref : sb.-17 camera lens scratch. sb-019 gps issue"

hope this helps

TurtlePower wrote:bobthebuilder

I had a look at the Repair Case receipt given to me and this is what they have entered in the comments section word for word

"ref : sb.-17 camera lens scratch. sb-019 gps issue"

hope this helps

Thanks TurtlePower I'll quote that to them if it comes back without a new back plate.

Just a quick update. I just called my local (14 Mi away) Nokia Care Point and they still haven't got the parts in yet. They're still waiting for Nokia and couldn't tell me how long it'd be. Apparently they're coming from Germany (???).

zxon wrote:Just a quick update. I just called my local (14 Mi away) Nokia Care Point and they still haven't got the parts in yet. They're still waiting for Nokia and couldn't tell me how long it'd be. Apparently they're coming from Germany (???).

Germany makes sense for the Carl Zeiss stuff - thats where they live.

Makes less sense for the GPS stuff.

Regards
Neil

Another quick update, people!

I got a call from my local Nokia Care Point, about half an hour ago, confirming that the parts have now arrived! :call: :biggrin:

I'm heading down on Saturday to get them fitted. They said it should only take a couple of hours as well, but advised that I back up my phone in case they need to wipe it (not sure why they'd need to do that, but very well).

Tonight, for those who want to see the improvements (if any), I'll take a screenshot of my GPS accuracy in the Location app, and then I'll do the same on Saturday when I've got the GPS shielding installed. :icon14:

Where abouts in the country are you? I'm waiting for my local care point to phone me back regarding these parts.

I have every intention of backing the phone up before taking it down there. Once its in the hands of engineers you have no idea what they may do to it. 😃

Regards
Neil

nbriscoeuk wrote:Where abouts in the country are you? I'm waiting for my local care point to phone me back regarding these parts.

I've been waiting 6 weeks for these parts to come in. I don't know how long you've been waiting though.

I phoned Nokia to see if I could speak to that Anovo place so I could send the phone in at an opportune moment. They couldn't do that and they didn't know how long the repair would take!