Anyone experienced their blackberry warranty replacement phone program?

[chymali]

Here's the deal. I totally smashed my phone. It looks pretty normal but it's missing the back part (the thing that holds the battery together), there's scratches to the phone (not the screen) and the screen doesn't work anymore except it shows this white screen with black blotches and cracks. Basically, phone isn't cracked, but scratched and works fine except for the white screen which makes the phone appear cracked even if it's not.

I called Rogers seven times over the course of two days and went to three stores to try and get it fixed. I offered to pay and the store is saying they don't do blackberries, tech support is saying they do and both refuse to do anything. Eventually, some dude at the store tells me to call tech support and tell them that the screen is just white and leave out the part that I dropped it.

I followed his advice and they're going to send me a refurbished phone. But, I really don't want to be charged $520 or whatever it is they're charging nowadays cause they decide my phone is customer induced... so what should I do?

Has anyone been through the same thing with Rogers? I mean, to be fair, I was just listening to their employees when I left out the part that I dropped it. Plus, what should I do about the missing back part?

If they charge me that amount can I return the refurbished thing and ask for my phone back or just argue my case? I mean, I didn't start out with that story, they told me to. I know it sounds bad, but by day two without the blackberry, I just want my phone back and I want someone to tell me if I can get it fixed or get a new one.

So, any advice?

[Elucwhy]

I think you're better off just admitting that you dropped it and asking for a discount on a new device. If your screen's cracked, then I don't think there's any way you WON'T get charged the $550.

A friend's blackberry 9700 was utterly smashed recently, his car ran it over (don't ask how). He called Retentions directly and told them what happened and they offered him a new Iphone4 for new customer pricing even though he had just HUP-ed for his blackberry Nov '09.

Just call retentions, tell them what happened and they should offer you some sort of deal on a new BB. Good luck!

Oh I forgot to say, you should return the refurb for now just to avoid the penalty charge