As of September 2011, the Pantech Laser phone is experiencing a number of problems. The screen flashes and has black lines running across it. It receives multiples (upwards of 12) of the same text message. The phone often does not ring when it is being called; we tested it by calling it from another phone in the same room.
We first contacted Best Buy for help, but they told us to contact the manufacturer. We then sent emails to both Pantech and AT&T. Pantech told us to do a hard reset (haven’t had the chance to do this yet) as well as take out the SIM to check the connections and ask AT&T to confirm that the SIM is programmed correctly.
AT&T called us but left a message on the wrong number associated with our account (family plan). They also emailed asking us to call them back. We will be stopping by the AT&T store to talk directly with an associate, but I don’t think this will go very far because they didn’t sell it to us (though it is a corporate store).
All in all, I think the phone has just been a great disappointment. Maybe our hopes were a little high when purchasing a non-smartphone, but we still had to sign a 2-year contract and expect the phone to last that long. It has been only 9 months, and not only did we sign a contract, but they also require a text messaging plan. They sell these phones like they are something special, but in the end they are worse than a standard phone because they don’t last.
We are still early in the process of trying to get this fixed. Unfortunately, our faith in humanity generally doesn’t extend to wireless companies. Maybe we will be surprised. Maybe Pantech or AT&T will admit that the phone is junk and should not be sold. We doubt it.
The hardest part about this is that if we need to send it in, we are without this phone for days or weeks.
Phones Review Says: We will not mention any names here, but we do wish to say thanks to a Phones Review reader that sent this in to us via email. If anyone else has experienced similar problems to that above please do let us know, we would also like to know if you got the issue sorted out and of course who is responsible to fix the issue.
Do you think Best Buy, Pantech or AT&T should be the ones to help out the customers above problems.
Update: Update: Had an update email of what is happening, here is the email.
Hi Mark, a quick update. My wife took her phone to the AT&T store. They said that they cannot really help her because she didn’t buy it from them. I understand this, but they are a corporate owned store, there must be something they can do.
Additionally, the manager said “we see a lot of phones come in with problems that are bought at other stores”. Why say this? Like AT&T sells the Pantech Laser and has never got one back, but they see ones that were sold at Best Buy all the time? I call BS on that. Stop trying to make my wife feel bad for buying it at Best Buy.
Also, he must have taken the battery out and inspected the phone some because she told me that the moister sensor sticker says the phone has been exposed to water, which is total BS. If that is the case, Pantech probably won’t even help.
This isn’t the end of this saga. There will be a resolution we are satisfied with. I am due for an upgrade and I was really liking the Galaxy S II, I will use that for leverage.
Update 2: So, we talked further with AT&T customer service over the phone. They said they could not help us if we do not have their insurance and the moisture sensor has been activated. Additionally, they explained that even putting the phone in your pocket could cause it to activate because of “body moisture”.
Still need to pursue Pantech support further. I have more to say about this and will be writing more if you are interested.