Cell Phone - General Devices Questions

[#1]

Hello,

First of all thank you to Ellen for all of your hard work and for keping this thread alive. If you check page one of this thread you will find that I was one of those that just kept my phone on 24/7.

Well here is a new anomaly to enter into the mix of battery related issues of the VX8360.

The other night I put my VX8360 on forward and went to bed, at the time it had 2 full battery bars. In this standby condition with this amount of bars I would expect it to last 2 days minimum, I can speak towards battery life on this phone because this is my 2nd one and I have used it at length for a long time and it gets used very often.

Anyway, I woke up and went to grab it and unforward ( I own a business and need it on constantly) and it had POWERED OFF completly and was dead. This is with 2 battery strength bars and just sitting in standy for 7 hrs.

It has happened since but even once is too much and I am looking into getting a different phone for what it's worth. I don't expect Board Moderator's here to fix this issue, I don't think that is the job of this board but what I do expect is for both Verizon and LG to look into issues such as this and address them. If they do not then perhaps I have the wrong brand phone and service provider. Only time will tell but ATT and the new I-Phone is looking very appealing right now.

[#2]

Hi everybody

                                                  Well, here's another datapoint to confirm the issue. I also recently purchased a VX8360 (I fired it up in May) and noticed the same darn issue. After charging it I took it on a trip and turned it off to conserve power. Sure enough, when I turned it on it was completely discharged (within a few days). 

   In fact, I've never seen a cell phone so dead.  Usually when you let a cell phone battery run down and then try to start  up the phone it will make an effort to boot, showing some video and making some sounds before realizing it doesn't have adequate power and gracefully shutting down.  Mine wouldn't even do that--It was just completely dead.  After repeating the scenario I realized I had a problem and returned it to Verizon.  They "tested" the phone and battery (actually they only have one protocol for such situations) by timing how long it could keep a call going with another phone that was transmitting music or,at least, that's the basic idea.  Of course it passed with flying colors and, since they had never heard of the issue,I had a hard time convincing them there was a problem.

The end result was I got a new vx8360 which has already shown similar symptoms.  One night I shut it down and when I started it up the next day it had  significant power loss. I've been keeping it on 24x7 since and it's doing great!

   I called cust service @ *611, which is a corporate #, not a store, and the agent was entirely unfamiliar with the issue and couldn't find any internal memos on it but offered to push it up the chain and request feedback after i pointed out this thread.  So, I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens. I'm entirely convinced, however, this is a class issue with the hardware and/or firmware that needs to be fixed.

[#3]

WELL, I may have just gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning - but here goes...

I'm getting darn tired of of being a "victim" - at the hands of companies charging top $$$ for products and services of poor quality - who advertise and PRETEND to be "OH soooooo interested in providing customer service" - yet then also PRETEND total surprise and ignorance of serious issues, even after just previously having heard HUNDREDS of similar complaints on exactly the SAME issues!

Does Verizon and LG *know* about this rapid battery discharge issue with the VX8360? OF COURSE THEY DO! Perhaps not at scattered individual stores - but   they dern certain do back at the head office - but steadfastly choose to pretend ignorance - hoping affected users are low enough in number - or perhaps meek enough - to not warrant any remedial action from either company.

Will anything of substance happen because of the MANY incidences and complaints registered in this thread? Don't count on it - meanwhile, the best "service" we can offer as ignored customers, is to as widely as possible, make other potential Verizon and LG customers aware of issues with both companies, and either warn them off, or at least let them make choices from an informed perspective...

{please keep it relevant}

Message Edited by BradC on 06-20-2009 10:18 AM

[#4]

We aren't out of options, so let's stay cool. My vote is to give them a chance to make this right even though LG wanted to swap my new VX8360 for a refurb, which of course would have had the same problem! If I had wanted a refurb I'm sure that I could have bought one for a lot less money than I paid. I know that there is a law against selling refurbished merchandise as new, but apparently there is no law against selling a defective item and then replacing it with a refurb which is just another name for someone else's defective unit.

Sorry, I digress. Oh yes, as I was saying, we aren't out of options. I think that they really are trying to come up with a fix. I also think that the VX8360 may not be the only model affected. If you read the LG board you will see other threads with battery issues on other model phones. Anyway, I certainly hope that they weren't just trying to appease me. I'm a reasonable person and all I want is for LG & Verizon: to admit that there is a problem; try to come up with a solutions in a reasonable amount of time; if no solution can be found they need to provide us with resolution by way of REASONABLE & REALISTIC options. {keep it relevant}

Message Edited by WendyM on 06-20-2009 12:31 AM

[#5]

WELL I GUESS WE ARE NOT ALONE WITH THIS LG VX8360 POWER HUNGRY MONSTER AYE? WE ARE NEW VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS WHO CHOSE THIS BEAUTY!  WE HAVE MAYBE ONE CALL A DAY AND THE BATTERY WILL NOT LAST MORE THAN TWO DAYS. I HAVE TRIED POWERING UP WITH THE PHONE ON & OFF, BUT NEITHER SEEMS TO MAKE ANY DIFFERANCE.  I POWERED IT UP FULL YESTERDAY , SHUT IT DOWN IN THE EVENING, AND THIS MORNING IT WAS DEADER THAN A DOORNAIL! IT IS A NICE LOOKING PHONE, BUT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE REASONING AS BEING NORMAL FOR THE PHONE! WAKE UP VERIZON! S.

[#6]

Beware of Bluetooth!

Here is a new wrinkle on the battery drain issue. I sometimes use a Bluetooth headset and I ALWAYS have Bluetooth turned on. This has never been an issue since I always forward my calls & turn my phone off when I return home. Until this phone that is. With all the phone swaps I hadn't paired my headset to this phone until recently. Fortunately I remembered that the Bluetooth will cause rapid battery drain when it is turned on because the phone is constantly trying to communicate with the Bluetooth device. Soooooo... with us all leaving our phones on all the time it is extremely important that we turn the Bluetooth off whenever we aren't using it. What a pain in the you know where.

Recently I was in my car and had just put my headset in my ear when I found that I couldn't make a call. Of course Bluetooth was turned off. OK, what was the utility to turn it on again. Oh yes: menu, 9, 3, left soft key; I fumbled with the keys while I was driving finally getting it turned on. I sure hope I don't forget to turn it off again. Since then I programmed one of my shortcut keys & it has helped a lot. Go to: menu, 9-settings & tools, 6-phone settings, 2-set shortcuts & either 1-set my shortcuts or 2-set directional keys. I think the latter is better & chose the left directional key because it points to the speaker phone which is for hearing & speaking just like a headset is. Then scroll down to the key you want to use and pressed set; scroll to the 3rd entry - Bluetooth on/off and press OK. Now when I want to use my headset all I have to do is press the left directional key which will toggle the Bluetooth on, then off. There is a Bluetooth icon at the top of the screen when it is on, so I always know which mode it's in.

I hope this warning helps save someone's battery and the shortcut instructions save someone's nerves. If it does it will have been worth the time it took to enter this post.

Message Edited by Ellen on 07-02-2009 06:09 PM

[#7]

Now that most of us carry a spare battery because of the rapid drain issue, does anyone know of a good external charger?

I don't like removing a perfectly good battery in order to reinstall a totally dead battery just so I can charge it in the phone. Beside the fact that it is a nuisance, I'm concerned about wear on a flimsy plastic part that was not designed to be opened & closed on a frequent basis. I tried a Universal charger that is made in China (come to think of it everything is made in China these days :smileysad and it broke the 1st day before it had completely charged the battery even once.

 Verizon doesn't carry an external charger, and LG doesn't make one. Any info you can pass on would be helpful and appreciated.

If we can't name manufacturers, models, etc on this forum, or on this thread, please PM me with anything you can contribute (good, bad, or whatever). You can also post your reply to a new thread that I started "Good External Battery Charger".

 



Thanks,

Ellen

Message Edited by Ellen on 07-02-2009 06:08 PM

[#8]

Watch for the fix! These phones are over-the-air programmable and it's unlikely that LG or Verizon is going to make an announcement when they do have the fix because to do that they would have to admit that there was a problem to begin with. However, I have been told by a rep in their call center that as soon as they are able to come up with a software fix it will be made available to everyone with that model. The trick is how to know when that is. Fortunately it doesn't matter. We should be doing over-the-air programming at least once a month to update our tower information. There is a way that we can also check for, and update, the phone's operating system. Go to the menu page and press 9 (Tools & Settings), 0 (Phone Info), 4 (Software Update), 2 (Check New). If a release is found that is newer than the one on your phone, you will be given the opportunity to update. It's fast, easy, and best of all you don't have to leave your easy chair or wait for a rep for a live chat.

If anyone tries this and does find a newer release, please post it to this thread so the rest of us will know that the fix has finally arrived. Until then, I guess that we will just have to clench our teeth and wait.

[#9]

I'm glad I finally found this forum.  I got 2 new VX8360 phones 2 weeks ago.  On my wife's phone, the battery kept dying.  The other worked fine until yesterday.  It had 2 bars of battery, I shut it off overnight, and this morning it would not power on - DEAD.  I had tried to get some satisfaction on my wife's phone at the store where I bought it, but as other above have found, all I got was the pat answer - "that is normal operation, all our phones are like that!"  I guess I'll keep both phones turned on all the time now.  Problem is, I had to commit to a new 2 year contract.  Now I'll have to decide whether to keep these phones (we do like them), or try to exchange for another phone that we may not like.  I do hope they come out with a fix soon.

Jim

[#10]

My VX8360 also drains completely overnight -- even when it has been turned off the entire time.

The first time it happened, my local Verizon office exchanged my new VX8360 for what they said was a refurbished VX8360. Within a week, the same thing happened. When I returned to the store to complain, a Retail Supervisor said the phones were fine but they should have given me a new battery. He exchanged my battery but did not give me back my new phone or another new phone. Within two weeks, the problem happened again.

Since then, I have called and emailed my Verizon reps about the problem -- but they have not replied as of now. I have asked them to give me a lesser featured phone, just as long as it is not an LG. I have also advised them I would pay more for a better phone as long as it is not an LG. 

The VX8360 battery drain posts are many and go back for several months. Consequently, is hard to believe that Verizon and LG have not taken steps to solve the problem and to give us what we paid for. It is short-sighted and unresponsive behavior like this that forces people to file complaints with appropriate state and Federal agencies or to enter into class action lawsuits.