Location/place: Bangalore
Name of company/service: Motorola Inc.
I had purchased a Motorola Defy Plus mobile phone in the first week of May. I used the phone for about 15 days. The mobile phone has been advertised as being water resistant. There are numerous videos on YouTube showing people throwing the phone into a swimming pool and the mobile running perfectly fine after that. The phone comes with an IP 67 rating. The ‘7’ in the rating means that the phone can resist water if exposed to water, up to a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. I wanted to try the water resistance ability of my phone and hence immersed it into a small bucket of water. The immersion was only for 5 seconds and upto 5-6 inches of depth (The phone can withstand water up to 1m depth for up to 30 minutes). However, on removing the phone,to my shock, it stopped working. On the next day I called the customer care and they said that the phone is ‘water resistant’ and not ‘water proof’. I argued that I completely agree, but in my case, the phone did not resist water at all, even though it should have. I told them that I understand that once water gets in to the equipment, it will get damaged, but water should not have entered into the phone in the first place. There was a manufacturing defect and I should be provided a free replacement. The customer care executive after numerous follow ups agreed with me, but stuck to his claim that water damages are not covered in warranty and I shall have to pay for the repair (which costs Rs. 4,500 at the Authorized service center for repairing the display which got damaged). Finally, after about 20 days of follow up, he agreed to forward the complain to the Service Team of Motorola which has been sitting on the complain for more than 10 days now, with no response whatsoever. I purchased the phone for Rs. 14,200. I barely got to use it for 15 days before this incident happened. Had I known that the water resistance claim was just a hoax, I could have bought a phone from a more reputed company like Samsung or Sony Ericsson for approx. the same price and same/better features. If anything can be done by anybody to redress this grievance, I would be more than grateful. To anybody who wishes to purchase a Motorola mobile phone, please think twice and even then, do so at your own risk!!!
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