T-Mobile's free trackball replacement program
 

The free trackball replacement program for certain BlackBerry phones that was supposed to kick off yesterday/today is now put off to Feburary 24th.

T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl 8100, 8120 and BlackBerry Curve 8320 owners can walk into the nearest T-Mobile shop and get the trackball replaced for free. Your phone must have been purchased from T-Mobile.

-Rich

Finally, a program that I've been waiting for since my early Pearl 8100 days... Too bad i just recently switched over to an 8520 solely because of the trackball problems :( Thanks for the news update though. Greatly appreciated (y) Welcome to the forums

Can you provide more details on this? Interested...

Very cool...

I literally ordered a new trackball 2 days ago.

What's the Tmobile program designed to do? Replace miscolored ones? defective ones?

Sprint had major issues with the Tour and trackballs. They exchanged many, later offering in-store trackball change-outs instead. I never bothered with either of these, instead changing my trackball myself with one from Cellular Nationwide Network - 3G, Sony, Panasonic, LG, SonyEricsson, Nokia, Tools, BlackBerry,.

Looks like the program has been pushed back to March 24.

I'll be interested if there really is a program. I don't quite understand why they're doing it and under which circumstances they'll replace, but my old ball is really beat.

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I am too and that's why I'll try to keep a close eye on it. Let me ask them and see if they could provide more info.

Learned about the March 24th date from their Twitter.

Got a reply: Twitter / T-Mobile USA: @YkBUrban The program will ...

"The program will work for the 8100, 8120 & 8320 right now, any condition, warranty or not! :) "

I love Tmobile.

That is kind of cool. Aren't they the ones that do the battery swap too?

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Not sure. Is this something recent or happened a while back?

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Well I checked again with Tmobile via their twitter (@Tmobile_USA) to ask them if the trackball replacement is still on as I haven't heard anything else about it. They say it is but customers need to check first with their CS. Haven't come across any concrete procedures.

It's a bit annoying getting different versions of an answer to the same question.

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Anybody try it? Haven't had a chance to get around to a Tmobile store lately.

Why don't you buy a new one on ebay for like 5$

Walked into Tmobile with some billing questions and also asked if they happened to have a spare track ball holder "the donut" laying around. They replaced the entire trackball assembly for free and since they know I travel overseas for extended periods they gave me two more trackball assy's to take on the road with me (also free). I then ended up upgrading to a new 9700 from my old 8320 before leaving the store. That wasn't free - cost me $80.00.

Wirelessly posted (L'neuf trois)

Good to know. I could use a new trackball and I think one of the clips on my chrome bezel is broken.

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Because that costs too much. Tmobile's is $5 less.

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Just wanted to say I got my trackball replaced by Tmob for free today. Trackball stopped scrolling upwards in the afternoon. Tried to clear the jam by pressing down and scrolling lke before but this time it just wasn't working.

Walked into local Tmob store, had it changed out in less than 5min.

Like others, for me this news came too late; recently updated to a 9700. Good to know they offer the service now. I'm sure a lot of people where glad to to see this as well.