[dougrp]

Had my 13 day old pre do this to me at work one night. I had it in my pocket and when i got off my shift i noticed it was cracked. Bought it from Best Buy. Sprint hung up on me twice and the local store told me to have fun paying the full retail for a new one... Got in touch with best buy and told me it was a deleted stock item and they could only trade me for a different phone. Got in touch with the first palm tech who assured me i had to pay them 200$ for the phone to be repaired. I just asked to speak with the manager and they sent me to the Corporate office. Which is the first place anyone ACTUALLY helped me. The guy was in shock that it was a 13 day old phone and i could not get any help from any of the previous people i had called. He assured me as long as there were no chips or dents or cracks else where that he would have my phone fixed ASAP. HE gave me Palm's Fedex customer number to pay for overnight shipping to Palm and over night shipping back to me. H even put a rush status on the phone repair slip for me. I had my pre back in 4 days good as new. Hope this helps. Just call Palm as long as its in the first year of warranty =S

[sparkyr]

I had the same problem... I went to the repair center on Mission st. in SF, CA. They looked at it for about 30 seconds, saw the spider lines were coming from the trackball, made sure there weren't any obvious signs of droppage, then took it to the back to check if there had been water damage ever. a couple minutes later my replacement was order and is supposed to come in the next day.

much easier than i expected. they were well aware of the issue.

[leginius]

Mine's lasted a year and I've come across just about every problem (mushy power button, wobbly slider, paint flaked off center button and speaker piece) but now I've got a crack that has run from the USB port (the door broke off ages ago) toward the bottom half of the screen.

I desperately want a new phone, but I don't want to deal with Sprint's awful customer service. I'm just sort of praying Palm puts out a new phone before it gets unbearable.

[nocoolnames]

So took my phone out of my pocket and had thread like cracks radiating out from the button. Never dropped or damaged phone and have no clue how it happened...keys in pocket mabey?? Sprint took 2 weeks to send me a new phone after arguing that its a common defect in the pre, they always promised to send a new one but never did. Now we wait and see if sprint tries to charge me for the one i sent back to them even though they said they wouldn't. Anyone have any ideas what might have caused the screen to crack or how to prevent it so i can make sure it doesn't happen again, i cant deal with sprints CS again!!

[Dushku2309]

Happening here in the U.K to..My 2nd Pre ( 1st was replaced due to Web OS problems) second developed a 'hairline crack' that ran the entire length of the screen. Now on my THIRD Pre and the now infamous ' spider web' crack has appeared through no fault of my own. Used the 'phone as per usual in the morning, even had it in the snuggly pouch, kept it in my pocket as I always do then went to use the 'phone only to be stopped by a series of cracks running from underneath the screen emanating from around the 'gesture' button area.

Called 02 who had no clue what to do about it -aside 'bring it in and we can fix it for you for a fee of £101.72. Called Palm (Europe) who put me through to their call centre in Argentina! . Lovely lady there told me to forward on pictures of the 'phone, so they could determine if the problem was caused by me or the 'phone!! Have you tried taking pictures of a phone with a mirror like cover ?!!

Read the warranty from 2009 and it states that 'cracks and scratches' are not covered by the manufactures warranty.Now I'm not a lawyer, but if this is a widespread problem and judging by this forum AND Palm's own forum ( where there is a 38 page thread on this very subject) then surely this is now a manufacturing defect and should be addressed by Palm and they should either a) acknowledge this problem or b) instigate a recall of the product. Much like Toyota do when their brakes fail !!

[cstoli]

I had my Pre replaced because of cracks around the corners. I first noticed the cracks while sitting at the pool (85-90 degrees). So I am sitting at the pool again yesterday and I slide my new Pre open. I watch a crack start spreading near the bottom right corner (right where my right thumb was). These cheap plastic phones don't handle heat/sunlight very well. I could only imagine what would happen if I left it in my car for a few hours. I doubt that I will replace it again. I have had the Evo since launch day and will be keeping that phone. If/when there is better hardware for WebOS, I will think about coming back...

[free hurricane]

do you guys recommend calling palm about this problem? I took it to a sprint store and the lady acted like her she was the ****ing queen of palm pre repairs.

[beantastic]

Well I am here to join the club I left my phone on my bed when I came back it was cracked. Here is the aftermath...






The button works but the touch function is 100% gone.

[beantastic]

Just as an update I took my Pre to sprint and they told me that Palm was replacing all Pres that cracked from the track ball so good news for me. On the downside now my wife wont let me buy a plus to convert to sprint...

[Dushku2309]

Update : Palm admitted that the screen cracking is a design fault that has yet to be fully addressed. I sent it to be fixed and within 7 days it was returned to me, all new and shiny. Two months later - I heard a 'pop' noise and the 'phone had cracked again from the gesture button and spread in a spider web like pattern all over the 'phone. Contacted Palm, again, who have asked to me to once again send off the 'phone to be repaired. And once again, they have admitted it's a design fault that has yet to be rectified. I've now even read of Palm Pixies screens cracking for no apparent reason.

I am about to contact Palm's Corporate head quarters as I am just 10 months into a 24 month contract and on to my FOURTH Pre after two developed Bug issues and the next two 'spider web' cracks ! Would you buy a car that had parts fall off it, that the manufacturers were aware of and would go to admit it will happen again and again ? No, I thought not. I need a replacement of the Pre with a different model altogether. This is a shoddy way to run a company.

[sgt.muffin]

i have a pre plus with verizon and the screen cracked internally after no apparent damage. i have only had this phone for about a month and a half. the phone has been dropped but it never recieved cracks from the dropping only scuffs on the corners.

they will fix it under the warranty if i THEY determine i have been abusing it. they say that if it shows signs of abuse they will charge me $199 to fix it.

what are you guys saying to palm to get them to replace it?

[jhoove09#IM]

I had the "no reason" cracks happen to me today. Let me fill you guys in on my past dealings with Sprint. I had my first Pre for over a year. It developed the USB port crack and sprint offered a replacement, free of charge. When the replacement arrived, the sound from the handset (not the speaker) didn't work and I could only make calls on bluetooth. When my second replacement came in, it seemed fine. I have only had it about a month and I noticed the two halves of the phone seperating on the right side. It seemed okay but I took it into Sprint just to be sure. They said it was not covered under their service and I'd have to call Asurion if I wanted it replaced so I didn't. Now, a large crack has developed on the inside of the screen going across the bottom right hand side. The right side of the gesture area and the space over the launcher icon stopped working. Is this something I should go to the Sprint Service place about or call Palm directly?

[mrfoo84]

I have also had this same problem. Approximately 2 weeks ago I took the phone out of my pocket and the screen spider cracked from the ball on up. Of course the screen was rendered useless. I have all the insurance from Sprint on it and took it to the store. They said that since I had got the phone from a previous insurance claim, they could not work on it or fix it at all since it was not in their system. That sounds like a bunch of crap to me but I was told to call Asurion and they would probably not charge me, since this seems to be a defect. Of course Asurion was no help, seeing as they were going to charge me $100 to have it replaced. So as a last resort, I did a bit of research on here and the Palm forums and contacted Palm about the problem. I mailed it back to them and they did send me a replacement phone within about 7-10 days as advertised. Within 12 hours of having my phone, the screen has cracked again, this time coming from the top left. Again my screen is useless. This is my only phone, I don't have a house phone and I already had to go about a week and a half with no phone. I was happy with Sprint/Palm when I got the replacement phone in the mail, now I am just really upset that the screen is so crappy and I once again have to go through some process. The Pre is my first smartphone and I really like the phone/operating system and can see myself having a future with Palm but I am very hesitant to get another Pre. I stood in line on 6/6/2009 and my first Pre was dropped A LOT and the only reason I had it replaced was the power button did not work. There were physical impacts on the corners of the glass and yet the screen never cracked and now I have 2 that have cracked with no abuse.

On another note, does anyone have any advice when I go to the Sprint store? I REALLY don't think it is fair for me to have to wait another 2 weeks for a phone and I think Sprint should take care of me while I am in the store. Unfortunately I do not see them ready and willing to help me with the problem. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Twisthem488]

I've had the same thing happen to me on two Pres now. The first time I had it replaced without any hesitation by Sprint. This time they refused to do anything except file an insurance claim. I ended spending a couple hours on the phone and (Politely!) talking to many different reps until one agreed to deduct $50 off of my next two sprint bills to counteract the $100 deductible through Asurion. Its not the best solution but they did manage to keep me as a customer and I get to keep playing on a Pre.

[rlanza1054]

Hi all, after only having 2 Pre's since the beginning, my Sprint Pre's screen cracked last week just before I was going out the door for my niece's wedding.

I ordered a replacement via the insurance (deductible was $100). They delivered it as soon as I was walking out the door. So instead I turned back on my old trusty tank, my Treo 650. I was running too late to get involved with a setup that could take hours (I have about 250-300 apps) to download all my apps.

I'm not sure I did the right thing. Not sure if there might have been better options.

They said once I made my decision, I would not return the phone for a refund or different equipment if I felt later it was the wrong decision.

It's been said that Sprint is about to come out with 5 more new Smartphone's before the end of the year. I felt it was worth waiting to see all the choices before committing one phone and then regretting it if a model comes out that I would have liked better!

I am having one or two issues before I just turn on the replacement phone.

I want to save as much as I can before shutting down the bad phone and turning on the replacement.

I'm looking for keyboard commands to help me in the following apps: Preware (I want to save my latest list of installed patches and whatnots.) I am also trying to perform one last SAVE/RESTORE. I can get the app up and running, but I can't get it to do a save.

Does anyone know how to use a keyboard alternative for these twp apps.

Thanks!

Rob

[crossman]

My palm pre plus has a cracked screen also. Anyways... to make a long story short I also got a phantom crack but I do however have some touch control on the left side of my screen. I use the keyboard to navigate my apps for now. My hotspot is a huge asset to me and I am able to bring the card up, BUT... am unable to toggle it on. Does anybody know of a keyboard command to initiate the mobile hotspot? Maybe a patch from homebrew that auto turns on the hotspot when opened?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. TY in advance to all who support these forums.

[rlanza1054]

what phone number did you use to call Palm (HP). I should call them, since I just paid $100 for a design flaw.

Rob