Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[245am]

Been lurking for awhile but got an interesting situation I'd love to get BB employee/experts thoughts on.

I have a Palm Pre now with BB's Blacktie protection. As I understand it, the plan should cover everything but submerssion and lost phone. If my phone breaks, it's sent to Best Buy internally (not sure about that) for repairs. In the meantime, I'm given a basic loaner phone. If repairs are not possible do to extensive damage or unavailable parts, then an in-store credit for the origianl off-contract price is given.

My first question is if that above summation is correct.

Now, my Palm is pretty messed up. The power buttons's gone, the screen sometimes won't come on and keys are sometimes dead, but the thing still basical works... for now... I also would guess that with Palm and the Pre's demise, repair parts should be pretty hard to come by. So, I'm wondering if my phone were to take an unfortunate fall and completely break in half, screen crack, etc, any guess on how likely I am to get the instore replacment credit.

That's my second question.

Last, assuming all the above happens, I think the credit would just about cover an epic, which is what I'd like to replace it with. But the Epic's likely to sell out. So, assuming it will take some time to go through the parts search/repair attempts, if one could time that unfortunate fall, would you suggest doing it now in hopes that I'll be on a loaner for just awhile before the Epic is released and hopefully my instore credit comes through, or wait until the Epic's released, and I'm on a loaner while a restock/second shipment is in.

Any thoughts/ideas/insights GREATLY appreciated... I know this sounds a bit shaddy, but worst case scenario, BB repairs/replaces my Palm (which I love) and I get back a phone I'm basically happy with anyway. But if there's a way I can switcheroo and get an Epic for free, well, then...

Thanks all in advance!

[CrystalWoW Community Veteran]

I would definitely keep in mind that if the phone is determined to have been damaged by abuse... then nothing will be covered and your plan will be voided. If the phone is damaged in a manner it was not intended to be used by the manufacturer, it may very well be denied. Such as broke in half... doesn't happen naturally.

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Greetings 245am,

Like Crystal mentioned, your service plan wouldn’t cover damages that are deemed to be the result of misuse or abuse.  You’re spot on otherwise – you’d be given the option of a basic loaner phone while your Palm Pre is out for service and an in-store credit in the event it is approved for an exchange.  Since I haven’t had the opportunity to examine your phone and am not a service center technician, however, I would be hesitant to guess what course of action the service center would take.

As far as when you should bring your Palm Pre in for repairs in concerned, I’d highly recommend doing so as soon as possible.  It may take a few business days for your phone to arrive at the service center depending on where you are in the country, but the sooner it arrives the sooner a technician can examine the unit.  After all, the less time you’re without a fully functioning smart phone the better, right?

Let me know if you have any other questions.  You can send me a private message by signing into the forums and then clicking on either my signature below or the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.