I have a question regarding warranty. I purchased a Blackberry 8320 from a T-Mobile store in October of 2007 - paid full price, no contract extension. In Novemeber I left T-Mobile because I was not under contract, and signed up on AT&T. Recently I found some problems with my USB connector and wanted to get things fixed under warranty. The only documentation I have regarding the warranty is from T-Mobile. I called RIM and they said they do not honor the year warranty unless you purchased directly from them. They said I should contact my service provider. I tried to explain the situation to them (i.e. T-Mobile won't do it because I am not a current customer, and AT&T does not offer that model) and they basically said SOL.

So can someone clarify the warranty situation regarding Blackberry devices. If you leave your service provider, does that in fact leave you without any type of warranty?

UPDATE (2/16/08): RIM contacted me on Friday; they said that their agreement with T-Mobile for the sale of the Blackberry 8320 (Curve) states that T-Mobile is solely responsible for the one year warranty. RIM has no legal obligation to provide any type of warranty coverage for the 8320 if it was purchased from T-Mobile. Regardless, RIM has offered to take of the situation for me. HOWEVER, T-Mobile has done nothing but *LIE* to me and their warranty documentation contains no clause for voiding warranty coverage if you cancel service. Therefore, I am now in the process of filing a claim in Arizona Superior Court against them for failing to honor the stated warranty. I plan to serve Robert Dotson, the CEO of T-Mobile USA with the claim. Then I will see what T-Mobile has to say about their warranty...

Thats a tough one. When you leave the carrier, unlock the device and use it on another carrier, you basically leave your warranty behind. Doesn't seem right, but it's the way it is.

you can always try and take it to a Tmobile store and see if they will send it out to repair for you under warranty. You still have the original purchase info?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Once you leave a carrier you void the warranty! It is in the terms of service I believe had same thing happen the other day. Customer came in to replace battery for phone they got 2 months ago but they had since cancelled not able to process warranty. All receipts gone from system.

I would check with your states attorney generals office too, I think you will find that RIM has some responsibility to honor their new products warranty no matter who the dealer is. Good luck.

Life isn't fair I guess. I don't have a problem if that is expressed clearly to people, but I have yet to be able to find anything warranty documentation that states leaving your carrier and/or unlocking the phone voids the warranty. If this is in fact true, shouldn't this be clearly written somewhere?

Outside of the T-Mobile booklet that came with the phone, I have only found this (PDF): http://www.blackberry.com/legal/pdfs/Handheld_Warranty/Handheld_Limited_Warranty_United_States_English.pd f

In both the warranty booklet I got with the from, and in the above PDF, I see nothing that even implies your warranty is void if you unlock your phone or change providers.

I have no problem accepting something that I don't like, but from what I can tell this appears to be nothing but fraud.

Can you reference a place/page/etc.? RIMs own warranty documentation says in case of any disagreement between their warranty (in previous post), their warranty takes precedence.

unlocking the device can void the warranty. I will see what I can find out for you over the next few days.

As with the other poster - I have no problem accepting this, but can anyone reference any documentation? Whenever you get a chance; I am just amazed that there are all these ways you can void your warranty that seem to be missing in any kind of warranty documentation.

It doesn't surprise me that TMobile would 'terminate' your warranty when you end your contract with them, it seems pretty typical of the terrible service offered by wireless phone companies in the US.

I'm not sure where you live, but in the state of California, a manufacturer is REQUIRED to honor the warranty of their product. The termination of your contract has nothing to do with your device. Even if it is written in your contract with Tmobile, I would still take this up with them. Working in the customer service side of business, I am sure if you flail your arms around enough and ask to talk to enough 'bosses', they will take care of you.

Best of luck.

Okay, so just an updatre everyone.

T-Mobile called me, left a voicemail and explained the same thing customer service told me previously: it is the manufacturers responsibility. I am still waiting on a response from RIM (I filled BBB complaints against both T-Mobile and RIM).

T-Mobile also replied to a fax request I sent them for information regarding their warranty and/or the manufacturers warranty. They stated that the initial documentation was provided with my phone - meaning the warranty document I have is the only form of waranty documentation provided by T-Mobile. This document, if you take the time to read it, makes it clear T-Mobile is responsible for warranty coverage as long as the person making the claim is the person listed on the account the phone was initially activated on. No mention is made that the account must remain active. So I am proceeding with the T-Mobile side of things and filing a claim in Arizona Small Claims court against T-Mobile. I'll see if their lawyers wish to clarify the warranty or somehow show me the elusive part of the warranty that describes how it can be voided for cancelling service.

I'll update this thread as I get more information.

See update on top post dated 2/16/08.