I HATE BLACKBERRY STORM

How much do I hate my BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone...
(     T     H     I     S     ) much. It just plain SUX.

So, I left my pay as you go O2 contract to get the latest BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone for £35 per month for 24 months.  It started off ok, the novelty of getting emails on your phone and using facebook on the train lasted a few months.  Then it started to freeze, crash and reboot on me all the time.  Blackberry brought out their latest version v4.7.0.181 which is a complete mess.  So, lets look at the problems I'm currently having...

• The phone is slow
•  The phone freezes constantly and needs a battery reboot
• The screen locks up
• The phone kicks me out of phone calls and reboots
• I get a symbol saying I have a new message when I don't have a new message
• The keypad doesn't work
• I can't get a txt or email tone
• The ringtone doesn't work
• The alarm works intermittently
• When I receive a txt or email I can't read it and it's deleted immediately from my phone and settings don't change this
• The calendar doesn't work
•  I updated the software and it didn't solve anything and caused problems
• I spoke to a vodafone store member who told me to downgrade the software and in doing so lost everything on my phone which I wasn't warned about. 

So what have I done about this.  I have visited the Vodafone store in Portsmouth a number of times, on first name terms with the staff there.  They sent the phone off 3 times for repair, each time fixing nothing.  The final time it was sent off I got a new handset which was STILL broken.  What compensation have I received?

• 1 month free line rental
• The offer to reduce my contract in January to the lowest £7 tarrif and then to pay that off for the next 12 months and the option to take out a new contract, new number, on an iphone.

This sounded ok I guess but I didn't want to have to pay £7 on top of a new contract and lose my phone number, so I decided to write to Vodafone.  I am following @VodafoneUK on tiwtter who I messaged one evening.  They told me to email webrelations@vodafone.co.uk with my issues which I did.  I also wrote to the CEO of Vodafone (if you search www.google.com then you can find the CEO address of any organisation.  Did anything happen? Actually yes.

Vodafone web relations rang me offering me a free BlackBerry Storm 2 upgrade.  While this was an ok offer I was at this point so fed up of BlackBerry that I stood my ground and requested an iphone.  I Wrote to webrelations saying I wanted an iphone.  They contacted me back saying they understood and would help me in the new year when the iphone was released.


I got a call from vodafone, from someone called GUY.  This was because I wrote to the CEO.  I was reassured that every correspondent sent to the CEO would be followed up.  He understood my frustration with Vodafone so booked me in for a follow up phone call on the 11th January 2010 to offer me one of 2 options:

1. An iphone upgrade
2. The option to cancel my vodafone contract.

 Towards the end of December Vodafone released details of their iphone, for release on the 14th January - check http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/iphone-3gs for more details.  Since then I have been in touch with webrelations and emailed them requesting an early call back regarding upgrading to the iphone, but I haven't heard anything.  I guess I sit tight until the 11th Jan and then see what they have to say.  Either way I'll get an iphone, if not on Vodafone, I'll get my PAC code and go to o2.  I will blog my progress but until then thanks for reading and if you're having issues with your Blackberry Storm or Vodafone let me know.

 Cheers

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