Verizon Samsung Brightside Cell Phones - Are they ALL DEFECTIVE?

to date, I still own a defective Samsung Brightside cell phone. 

to date, Verizon continues in its attempt to silence me with threats, tampering with my FIOS account, and sending ONLY ME revised terms of service. 

I will not be silenced. I am a consumer and every consumer should get what they paid for.

So this blog is for everyone who has purchased a Samsung Brightside cell phone from on or about February 2012 through today. READ THIS. TEST YOUR PHONES. 

The Calendar and Alarm features ARE EPIC FAILS! Google Samsung Brightside DO NOT BUY UNTIL THEY FIX. You can read all my posts on the Verizon Wireless forums. use the words defective, flawed, calendar problems, alarm problems - you will see how many times I've tried to get Verizon and Samsung to notice but both refuse to acknowledge a problem! I even have a written letter from a Verizon exec who VEHEMENTLY denies there is a problem with the Samsung Brightsides!!!!! REALLY? 

1. The Calendar and Alarm features are controlled by date and time, correct? So the software written for both has programming codes that "tell" the Calendar when to alert the user to a calendar event; and same for an the Alarm - you set the Alarm to go off once, daily, weekdays, weekends, or a custom alarm. But again, the Alarm is powered by date and time.

2. Look in the options under Calendar. The word "recurrence" is a misnomer because if you are creating a Calendar Event to go off just one time, you HAVE to choose "RECURRENCE" to get to any of the options. And recurrence means "something that is going happen AGAIN. So by choosing ONCE you're basically "confusing" the computer because it "sees" RECURRENCE so its expecting an event to happen AGAIN but when you choose ONCE now it has NO IDEA what to do so it just epic fails.

The programming code for recurrence is ERRONEOUS because it's written to find MORE of the same event because that's what RECURRENCE MEANS! The programming code is either erroneous in its entirety, or some part of the code is written incorrectly; or the RECURRENCE option has to be removed COMPLETELY but the programming code for recurrence is screwing up every other calendar event!

For example, if you put in an Event for today - July 7, 2011 and choose ONCE under RECURRENCE, start date as today, end date as today, start time say 5 p.m. and end time 5 p.m. and then save it; then create ANOTHER Calendar event say July 27th, and choose DAILY under RECURRENCE and then save it, when you pull up the ORIGINAL calendar even from TODAY it has the July 27th DATE ON IT !!!!!

This happens over and over and over and over no matter which options you choose, or combinations thereof.

The programming code is defective, flawed or completely and utterly erroneous OR THERE IS A BUG IN IT THAT NO ONE REMOVED WHEN THEY TESTED TO SEE IF THESE TWO FEATURES WORKED!!!!!

With all the brilliant people who write software, why can't they figure this out?

here's another thought: If you NEVER use the Calendar or set ANY events, I wonder if the Alarm will work?

Chances are it won't because again, the programming code for both features is written to use DATE and TIME as the foundation upon which events are scheduled to "go off" and ditto for alarms. the code probably has "tentacles" that reach out and control the Alarm feature which again is powered by Date and Time. 

My old Samsung Intensity II still works fine - the Calendar goes off, the Alarm goes off. Whatever software is in that phone for Calendar and Alarm should be compared to what is in the Samsung Brightside. This is not rocket science. But this is a clear cut case of a flawed cell phone and I am now absolutely undeniably convinced that ALL of the Samsung Brightsides are defective and that while the versions of software may be "different" in the "batches" of Samsung Brightsides that are manufactured and released, there remains a BUG or a broken or erroneous programming code for the Calendar and Alarm features! 

I'm not a technical wizard by any means but I have common sense and given that I have been a reporter for 30 years, I ask a lot of questions. And since March, I've asked thousands of questions and not one person has given me an answer. I think i have this figured out. I think I know what's wrong.

The problem is that neither Verizon nor Samsung will address this issue because no one has found the broken code, erroneous code, flawed code, etc. OR worse - it's a firmware issue and a recall of the Samsung Brightsides would be into the millions. 

Think about how many of these cell phones have been manufactured and sold to consumers. The monetary loss on a recall is staggering. To us, though, as consumers. Not to Verizon or Samsung. Verizon is trying its best to silence me (I have proof of same) but this is about consumers who are being sold a cell phone that, as attractive as it is because of its touch screen and the fact you do NOT have to buy a media/data package, consumers like this phone. I love my phone. I have since the day I got it. Or rather, the NEW Samsung Brightside I was given which is and continues to be defective. Same phone, same problems. 

All I ever wanted was what I paid for. that's what consumers want. Nothing more, nothing less. But when someone starts making noise about how the corporate giants won't address what could be a HUGE financial issue to them because the item in question is truly and genuinely flawed and defective and those corporate giants know how costly it will be to them to issue a recall, well, they do their best to silence the critics. 

This isn't a game. Consumers spend millions and millions of dollars on electronics, cell phones, etc. and we simply want what we paid for. No more, no less. 

No one has flat out told me whether these phones are defective, whether there is a software programming code issue - NOTHING! No one wants to accept responsibility that I may be right and I single-handedly may have uncovered a very big problem that Verizon or Samsung has yet to address or resolve! It's been FIVE MONTHS since these Samsung Brightsides have come on the market and consumers are STUCK WITH THESE PHONES WITH NO RECOURSE AT ALL! 

Defective Samsung Brightside Cell Phones - Bad Batch, Corporate Ostriches and Sucker Consumers

I admit I am not a high-tech kind of girl. When it comes to my cell phone, I want something easy. I don't need a "media package" - I have computers for that. So on March 11, 2012 when I went into an alleged Verizon retail store and bought a brand spanking new phone - a Samsung Brightside - I was thrilled that it had everything I needed for a really affordable price.

Welcome to my nightmare.

As marketed and as sold to me - brand new - the phone came with two features I need in my everyday life: A Calendar and an Alarm. To make a long story short, neither have worked from the day I purchased the phone. Every now and then the alarm will go off but for a long stretch of time, it didn't. The Calendar function has NEVER worked.

Three times I went back to the alleged Verizon retail store - the first two within a week of purchase and was told "oh well, must be a glitch, it will fix itself" and "too bad, so sad you are stuck with this phone" can't give you a refund or a new phone.

So I filed a complaint with the Mass. Attorney General's Office. THAT got Verizon's attention. I received a call from a David Hughes, a suit in the Verizon corporate offices who (a) tried to tell me that there is nothing wrong with the Samsung Brightsides; (b) who told me too bad so sad you can't get a new phone; (c) wanted to send me a "certified like new USED RECONDITIONED Samsung Brightside" and good luck with that.

Deny, deny, deny.

So I went onto the Verizon Wireless website, searched Samsung Brightside problems and oh lookee what I found: many other consumers having the IDENTICAL ISSUES! So I printed all those emails, mailed to the mediator handling my case at the AG's office, and continued to solicit information from other consumers about this phone.

Then I get an email from another consumer who named a Verizon employee in Illinois who absolutely undoubtedly had knowledge that there IS and HAS been a problem with the Samsung Brightside cell phones. Hmmmmmmm. I called this Verizon employee and she confirmed that yes, there ARE problems and guess what? These very same problems are and have been documented in an "internal Verizon employee problem blog."

Gee, Mr. Verizon suit lied to me? Oh now that's a novel concept. So I called him back, left him a "terse" voice mail and then I get a letter from him which basically blah blah blahed me to death and denied, denied, denied again and again that there were problems with the Samsung Brightside.

Clearly over 100 people from whom I've received emails must be on the same hallucinogenic drug according to the Verizon suit.

NOT!

I am not some fluffernutter 20 year old. I am a 50 year old, college educated high IQ human being. I know when I am being snowed.

There IS and HAS BEEN a problem with the Samsung Brightside cell phones. Most likely a bad "batch" of cell phones was manufactured by Samsung, distributed, marketed and sold for profit by Verizon retailers (fake or authorized) and many consumers just don't know about the defect because (a) they haven't tried the Alarm function; (b) they haven't tried the Calendar function; (c) or just don't care because they don't USE the Calendar or alarm function.

The Samsung Brightside has a touch screen which is a enticing feature for the pre-teen and teen market. And it's affordable. But with the defect, no recourse for refund, and consumers being offered a used reconditioned phone as a replacement, Verizon finds it easy to simply deny that a problem exists and will not take any steps to contact Samsung to find out if there is indeed a batch problem, a firmware problem (if that's the case, good luck Chuck because the phone will NEVER work as marketed and sold to consumers) because 100 people having the same problem with the same cell phone isn't even a penny to corporate vulture Verizon.

And interestingly enough, I've made such a stink about this that my Verizon FIOS account was screwed with (undoubtedly by some Verizon exec who wants me to disappear).

My next step is to sue the retail store from which I purchased the cell phone (according to the suit's letter, it's an unauthorized dealer so once again too bad so sad for me). But yet Verizon customer service denies problems; denies anyone has called Verizon about problems with the Samsung Brightside and refuses to give me a new FULLY FUNCTIONING CELL PHONE.

I am not being unreasonable.

I just want what I paid for on March 11, 2012.
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/773147
Stay tuned.