So I recently got my droid Incredible. The phone is great and I have no complaints other than the poor battery life. The battery life is due to mainly all the apps I have installed on my phone so I can’t blame it entirely on the phone.
I used my droid Incredible for about two weeks and during the two week period dropped my phone twice. None of the two drops really damaged my phone other than the regular ding you get on the sides every time you drop your phone.
Well on Friday, while walking to my office – my phone flew out of my hand about 3 feet and slid on the asphalt for another foot. My heart dropped and I almost fainted – I picked my phone up and turned it to the screen and what I saw was just heart breaking. My screen had at least 100 different cracks from every angle. I almost cried but had to stay cool and find a solution. Now while the screen was broken in every area possible, the phone was fully functional. I tried looking for a new screen on ebay but didnt see anything available on that day plus I needed a phone ASAP so that wasnt really an option.
I called Verizon and found out that I declined insurance on the phone so the only option I had was to pay full retail for the phone. I ended up going to 4 different Verizon stores to find a Droid Incredible. I finally found it and ended up paying around $600 for a stupid mistake. It really hurt paying $600 for a phone that I paid $250 for two week prior.
This time around I got a screen protector, a case and even a holster to attach it on my belt to keep my phone secure. So please learn from my expensive mistake and hold on to your phone tight and don’t let what happened to me happen to you. Oh, and make sure to also get insurance on your device at $5 per month. I now have insurance on my phone and am less worried about cracks and drops. There are steps we can and should take to prevent our phones from being cracked and I learned the hard way.
Oh, and if anyone is tech savvy – and wants a Droid Incredible – leave a comment below and I can possibly sell my broken one to you for $200.
Bummer about your phone, Steve. I had a similar problem a couple of years ago with a $300 phone (that I got for $79 with a 2-year contract). It was a serious pain in the neck but I did discover a couple of options that are much less expensive than buying a new phone. At least the first one of these the Verizon rep should have told you about but they, of course, would rather get the commission on a $600 phone than send you somewhere else.
1) Give HTC’s repair center a call and they will probably fix it for you. I can’t say for sure on the HTC Incredible, but I know for a fact they fix the HTC Evo for $140 (plus shipping). The only disadvantage to this route is that it takes about 2 1/2 weeks. Here’s the number: 877-293-0807
2) Another option is to try to fix it yourself. If it’s just sitting in a desk somewhere, this might not be a bad idea for you. You can get the screen off of Ebay for about $60. Try to find someone that includes the tools with the screen. Then you can follow the instructions at this Youtube video to do the repair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4uy9yKqIE.
Warning: If you screw something up, there’s a good chance the phone won’t work at all any more. Also, the repair won’t be as easy as that video makes it look. They usually take the phone apart first to make sure everything goes smoothly for the video.
3) You could try a third party service to do the repair for you. I own a small company that does this repair for $110 ( http://www.jetcitydevices.com ) but there are other companies as well. A Google search should reveal other people. A Craigslist search might even show someone in your area doing it. The nice thing about going this route is that it’s still not too expensive and you should be able to get the phone back in under a week.
Hope that helps you or someone else if need be. And just so you know, if you get that Incredible fixed, you could probably sell it on Ebay for a lot more then $200. So it might be worth fixing.
Did you sell your broken phone? If not, please let me know.
Thanks.
Hi Matt, thanks…I will look around in the local craigslist and see if anyones available to fix the screen for me and if not I’ll take a look at eBay as well. Thanks for the tips – really appreciate it. I would rather deal locally and avoid shipping the phone out but if I dont find anyone local – I’ll place an order with your company. thanks again.
Steve