Cellumax - Hazeldean

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• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   By Myles Davis

  2017-10-03
  I’m going to first list the facts, with no opinions from me, so others can judge for themselves. Then I am going to write my view. (WARNING: could be considered long story) FACTS: Saturday at 5pm I brought my one and a half year old 99$ phone to Kanata location to have cracked screen replaced. No other customers were there. I supplied the new screen, bought on ebay for 9$, compatible with my phone. Everything else (touch i/f, speakers, camera, wifi, Bluetooth, cellular transmitter for calls/texts, charging port, etc) worked when I brought it in. Only screen was cracked. I asked the guy (call him Mr. X) if he could replace it for around 50$. He said yes, but it would take an hour, and he has to take the back apart and disconnect some things, and he doesn’t know if the new screen I supplied works or not, so if he removes the old screen to install the new one and the new one doesn’t work, he can’t put back the old one, and I would need another new screen. I said, of course, that is my fault if the screen I gave you is no good. I told him what is important to me is that if you take it apart phone works, so I don’t have to buy another one and spend 10-20 hours to install tons of apps, and redo tons of settings (my phone is rooted, so that is a long process as well). I waited in the mall for 45 mins to an 1 hour. He stayed 15 minutes past closing time to finish, and then gave me the phone to test the touch screen. I tested the touch interface and it worked. There was some dirt stuck behind the newly installed screen that wasn’t there before, which makes it look like a pixel is always black (might make you think there is a dot over some letters when typing). I didn’t like it but I didn’t mention it. Also the new screen seems to be inset lower than the old, which makes it rough when swiping near the border edge. Also there is some damage/dented plastic to the case border where it meets the screen, and bent plastic case area where the charger i/f is. I didn’t mention any of this. He told me to try the camera, because that was what he was most concerned with, so I did, and it worked. I was glad he finished within the hour and stayed a bit later. I paid 50$+tx and left and went to my car. In the car I noticed the cellular network connection didn’t work (thus could not text or make calls), the speakers did not work, and the although I could plug my usb charger into the phone, it would not detect it and charge. Also it was not plugging in and out easily, the charger port and case did not line up anymore. I went back in right away but he was gone, so I took a business card and called one of the numbers (they have 2 on the card) from home and explained all this to the person I spoke with (call him MR.Y) and he said no problem, bring it back at 11:30am tomorrow (Sunday) and he will take care of it. Sunday morning I drove there (40 min round trip, 10$ gas) even though I had no plans to go out that day, and Mr.X was there. No other customers were there. After explaining to him the situation, and then waiting 5 minutes for him to start working on it he then removed and replaced the battery, and we waited for it to boot up. Nothing changed. The battery was already low and with no way to charge it. He asked if I would let keep it overnight, I said I prefer not (for data/privacy reasons, and to get my phone working again as soon as possible), can’t you look at it now. He said its better if the technical expert (who is in tomorrow, Monday) takes a look, because he doesn’t feel comfortable enough to open it again. But he assured me they would get it all working again. So I said I would drop it off again tomorrow (Monday) morning, and he said bring it after 9:30-45am. Since I work close enough nearby, I agreed, although it cost me another hour of work time to go and drop it off. Monday morning I drop it off and someone else was there (call him Mr.Z, but it could have been Mr.Y). There was a customer there paying for some work done on her phone. I waited a few minutes for the customer to be done, then I explained the situation to him, and he said he would take a look at it and if I would like to wait an hour it should be done. I told him I have to go to work, so here is my work number and you can call me when its done, he said yes. I said around when, and he first said it should be done around 3pm, so I can come after work and I said I work until 5pm. He said people usually finish work around 3pm so that’s why he suggested it. Then he said, well you can come at lunch if you want. I said, I’ll just come when I finish work, so you have more time, so 5pm or so. I said you can call me when it is done, you have my work number. He said fine, we are open until 9pm. He asked for my password to unlock the phone (I use the swipe lock feature). So I showed him the motion to unlock it, so he can test things afterwards. I arrived at 5pm or so, and MR.Z handed me the phone. No other customers were there. He said, see, it is fully charged now, and the cellular transmitter works, you have service. I tested the charging plug and it did go in better now. The battery was charged. I said what was the problem. He said he reconnected something. Then I tested the sound and played a video for him and there was no sound. He picked up his phone and my phone and held them to his ears and called my phone to try a conversation. There was no sound. He said he didn’t know about that problem. I told him I mentioned it already (see above). He said ok, no problem, I’ll open it again and look, but I don’t want to rush it now, so it will be ready tomorrow morning. I wasn’t happy it was still not working as it was when I brought it in on Saturday, and that he wasn’t planning to fix it immediately on the spot, but I was not planning to wait around with no idea how long it would take again. So I agreed to come tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon. He said it would be ready by 11:30am and I said I might as well wait until my lunch time to come. Tuesday noon arrived, no one had called my work, and I left to get the phone. Mr.Z was there. No other customers were there. He handed it to me and said try it out, try to play a music video like I did before for him. While I tested the sound/speaker out, he said he there was water damage spots he noticed, and that he had to put in another part (speaker related). He mentioned he worked on it until 8:30pm last night. He didn’t say when he started. He didn’t’ mention the cost (to him) of the part. I said well, the water could have been there before Saturday (since I don’t know why Mr.X would have spilled water on it), but more importantly everything was working when I brought it in. It seemed to work ok. I connected to the malls wifi to test it, it seemed to work ok. He said, and I agreed, “maybe” touching things when replacing the screen caused the speaker issue, coupled with the “supposed” water damage. I said well at least I’m glad you got it all working again. Then he said it was like 39$ but if you don’t want to pay sir, and for all the time, then that’s ok, I don’t want to make a long conversation with you. I was not happy. I said, so you want me to pay? It was working fine when I brought it in, and then Mr. X somehow made things stop working. He again said that’s ok sir, I don’t want to make any issue, if you don’t want to pay, while walking away from the counter towards his register. I said I don’t want to leave things not on good terms. He said no we are on good terms sir, don’t worry. If you want. Then he said if you went to the big companies, they wouldn’t even have replaced the screen for you if when they opened it they saw water spots. Then I said, but if that’s the case you should have told me upfront (and I wouldn’t have proceeded), and then also told me when Mr. X opened it since I could have been shown the water spots (I was there in the mall waiting around on the initial Saturday and Mr. X new it). Then he said It’s a cheap phone, but I put a lot of time into it. If you work and make hours for your company, don’t you get paid for that time (He has no idea where I work or what I work in). He again said that’s ok sir, I don’t want to make any issue, if you don’t want to pay. He and I were both upset at this point. I just turned around and shook my head continuously while I walked away. MY VIEW: I’ll be blunt (since the above was lengthy). I was mad they wasted my time and gas on Sunday, and more time on Monday and Tuesday. I was without the phone for 3 days (no email/txt/calls/alarms/etc) at a total cost of 50$+tx + 10$ gas unnecessarily wasted (with screen supplied by me). And lost about 3 more hours of my time than the original 1 hour promised on Saturday. I was worried they wouldn’t get it working again after THEY broke it. I wasn’t happy I had to risk privacy of my data since I had to finally leave the phone in their hands Monday and Tuesday for longer periods of time without me being present (which was my goal originally on Saturday). They (Mr.X, Mr.Y nor Mr.Z) never once said the word SORRY. They never called me at the work number to tell me when/if it was ready/done. They made me come in again on Tuesday after saying it was fixed Monday after work (even though SOUND was still not working, and they were already aware of that. Mr.Z assumes all people work until 3pm, and get paid for their time no matter what the outcome of their work is, which is not the case (at least not for me). Customer service is rude, communication is low, competence is low. I will never be their customer again, never recommend them, and always repeat this story to anyone considering being their customer. We’ll see how long the phone lasts now, and if truly everything still works.

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