I thought the collective genius that is BAIC could provide some suggestions in regards to my craptastic cell phone situation. Last night the screen of my AT&T Galaxy S4 decided it no longer wanted to display anything. The buttons light up and the device makes sounds as it is supposed to but the screen is dead. The phone is still under the one year warranty from Samsung but they are requiring roughly 10 business days minimum to have it shipped to them (2 days), inspect it and possibly repair it (5-7 days), and return it to me (2 days).

In light of that, I'm going to need a phone for the basics (talk, text) for the next two weeks. I would obviously like to keep the expense to a minimum, so does the collective have any thoughts? Obviously, I've heard about the "disposable" phones but I thought it would be worthwhile to see if anyone has any experience with this type of situation. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

-Brian

 

I had a similar situation and had my old school Nokia reactivated for the down time. Do you have an old phone laying around?

 

there are a couple of local cell phone repair places that can generally do stuff same day

 

No insurance on it then? I'd see if a local repair place can do it faster. Not free if covered, but a heck of a lot faster. Check with your carrier? Sometimes they have "loaners", or borrow someone else's old phone. My S4 cracked randomly - it was working one minute, cracked the next, in my pocket, probably knocked against something. Insurance overnighted me a replacement (for a deductible of course).

 

You have a Sim card so remove it and get yourself something used and cheap off Craigslist.

Or go get the cheapest go phone at&t has and use that for a few weeks. When your phone comes back, throw that one in the drawer for future emergencies.

 

I was just in this situation and just got my phone back from samsung. They suck beyond all recognition. I hate samsung customer service with all my heart.

 

Me too. My phone bricked during an update 1 day past my "10 no questions asked return" and at&t would not give me a new one and said their insurance did not cover software. Samsung said at&t should just give me a new phone. Had to send mine in for repair and it took 3 weeks!

 

They took 2 weeks for mine. And didnt fix anything. My phone overheats when google apps are used but they couldnt replicate the problem.
Then they lied to me twice saying they would send a new phone and new car charger and when i call back to ask about the service they tell me im mistaken cause they dont do that.
**** samsung and everyone affiliated with them.

 

Why not just take the phone into a shop and get it fixed quicker? Most shops are able to replace screens within a few hours

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I forgot that I had an old Motorola Atrix laying around. It uses an older, larger, SIM card so I'll have to go get them to program me one of those for use until I get it back from Samsung. I'm not looking forward to the next two weeks, but so be it.

-Brian

 

+1

Get some smart phone off of CL, throw your sim card in it, use it, then resell it once your S4 is back. Might even make a small profit if you find a decent deal, lol.

 

Bear was nice enough to loan me his extra phone while mine was being repaired. But its verizon so that wont help you.

 

Just head to a big box retailer and buy a burner phone.
keep all the original packaging, use it for the 3 weeks you need it for
then return it withing the 30 day window most places have. if you have a little extra cash you can buy a basic android device and still retain most functions your S4 would have.


people do this at my work all the time

 

No need, just need an adapter off amazon. What size is yours?

 

No need to spend the money, however small the amount. I just walked into the AT&T store when they opened and I had a new one in 5 minutes. I'll have to repeat once the S4 comes back but it's a small inconvenience. Thanks for the idea though.

Also, I remembered why I got a new phone in the first place...the speaker in this Atrix doesn't work anymore (can't hear anyone during calls, no ringing, etc.) It's basically a glorified text machine at this point

-Brian