I’m obviously a big proponent of Microsoft and the Windows Phone platform.   I’m not one to badmouth them usually but I’m very upset at the moment.   Since I’ve been developing WP7 applications I convinced my wife to help with testing by swapping her phone.  During the recent Smoked by Windows Phone Challenge she reluctantly exchanged her iPhone 4 for an HTC Titan.  She likes the phone but it turns out the specific device she received has a malfunctioning microphone.   When she is on the phone she sounds like she is under water or has a sock in her mouth.   As a phone it is pretty much unusable.   The problem is fairly well documented

http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/htc-investigating-titan-voice-quality-problems

http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/windows-phone/f/174/t/14950.aspx

I assumed this would be a straightforward swap to get a replacement phone.  She took her phone over to the local Microsoft store and explained the problem.   They told her that they couldn’t do anything about it and she would need to contact AT&T.   I called AT&T and they explained because the issue happened within the first 30 days there is nothing that they can do.  It is the responsibility of the original point of purchase to exchange the device or refund the money (we didn’t pay anything).  If it was after 30 days the best they could do would be to give her a refurbished phone.  I called back Microsoft and begged with the store representative to give us a new phone or her old iPhone back.  The best he could offer me was if (and according to him it was a VERY big if) they managed to get more HTC Titans in he would give me a call and we could exchange it.   He said this could be weeks or may never happen at all.  He suggested I contact HTC for warranty repair.  I called HTC and they explained that the best they could do is have us ship them the device and they would repair it and ship it back.   This could take up to 6-8 weeks.

So – my choices are either my wife goes without a phone for several weeks or I drop $500+ on an out of contract replacement phone.   She is furious because she didn’t want to switch in the first place and just 2 weeks ago she had a perfectly functioning iPhone 4.

Microsoft – If you want to be successful in the consumer space you need to work on your customer service skills. I would have NEVER had this experience in an Apple store.

Update 5/16/2012 — Derek, the store manager at the Park Meadows location, called me yesterday.   It sounded like he had probably read my blog article based on what he was saying.   He offered to swap my wife’s Titan for a Samsung Focus S.  I gladly took him up on the offer.  I went and picked it up today without incident.   I’ve had a Focus S since it launched last fall and I’ve been very happy with it.