Thread: Blackberry Tour - 50% return rate!

The Blackberry Tour seems to be following the footsteps of the Storm. The Blackberry Tour at release suffered a trackball issue, as every one knows from all the complaints about it. Because of this the Tour return rate is hitting 50%. Verizon and Sprint tours are being returned as quickly as they were sold. Verizon is angry enough about this that they are telling their stores to expect a shift in support to the Motorola smartphones based on Android. If RIM does not do anything quickly to compensate this problem this will hurt them (RIM) market share and financial situation. If Verizon pushes users onto Android based smartphones due to the BOTH Blackberry devices they have recently released and both having a return rate of 50%, this will seriously hurt RIM's relationship with their biggest partner (verizon). RIM admits that they are aware of the issue but nothing has been done. Some say it is because they are pushing away from the use of trackballs and moving into the trackpad world.

[Source -Electronista]

good luck to verizon pushing me onto Android based smartphone

This makes the storm 1 look better and better. I'm glad I did not switch.

It would sure make me happy to have an official release from RIM that I can show Telus

I did try the Tour but after 2 days I notice I could not go back to a full keyboard phone after getting use to touch screen. It's sad to see another blackberry having such hight return rate.

I can't picture my self NOT using a blackberry device... even worse, I cant picture my self using a MOTOROLA ... :-P

I must admit that I had problems with the trackball of my original Tour. I returned it and got another and this has turned out to be the very best Blackberry that i have ever owned. I have had 6 or more Blackberries over the years to compare this phone to. Additionally, I have installed the leaked Beta OS V5.0.0.191 which is super fast and the my trackball is working extremely well. So well that I had to reduce the sensitivity setting to 70/60. I love the Tour.

Originally Posted by glockguy

It would sure make me happy to have an official release from RIM that I can show Telus

Telus is still denying any issues with Trackballs....

Anyone that can provide documentation to me would be a HUGE help

Originally Posted by BlackberryOS

The Blackberry Tour seems to be following the footsteps of the Storm. The Blackberry Tour at release suffered a trackball issue, as every one knows from all the complaints about it. Because of this the Tour return rate is hitting 50%. Verizon and Sprint tours are being returned as quickly as they were sold. Verizon is angry enough about this that they are telling their stores to expect a shift in support to the Motorola smartphones based on Android. If RIM does not do anything quickly to compensate this problem this will hurt them (RIM) market share and financial situation. If Verizon pushes users onto Android based smartphones due to the BOTH Blackberry devices they have recently released and both having a return rate of 50%, this will seriously hurt RIM's relationship with their biggest partner (verizon). RIM admits that they are aware of the issue but nothing has been done. Some say it is because they are pushing away from the use of trackballs and moving into the trackpad world.

[Source -Electronista]

Holy Crap...this sounds kinda major!!

i had a tour and storm and both were cool devices but had many issues... :aargh4:

LOVE my Tour.....HATE the trackball...

Curves had trackball issues.....this is WORSE than what we could call an issue

I would say that the return rate of 50% is a little dramatic, but it is higher than what VZW would like it to be. But I do agree that the trackwheel, although somewhat primitive, was a better navigation tool than the trackball. The biggest issue the t-ball has been that is more moving parts. When you have more moving parts there is a greater chance of it not working.

My curve was great, my Tour was awesome. I ordered my tour at 3AM the day it was launched, and had no issues. But I know alot of people that have issues.

One thing VZW should notice is that the "return rate" is more of an exchange rate. People arent going to a different device, they want the Tour. Just one that werks.

VZW won't abandon RIM, they are too far vested in each others interests (not to mention Vodafone) to allow a break in their relationship.

Android will be neat, but there are more people using VZW BBs than any other PDA. And right now BB = $$ at VZW. Think BOGO for RIMs handsets right now is just to move merchandise?

FB

hi rick here, i went thru 4 tours in less than a month. every time i went to download a app and or due a quick pull reset after it went thru i got a white screen with a small phone with a line thru it saying software reset. i took it back to verizon and of course got a new tour...but 4 times???? thats when i traded for the storm. i have the curve 8830 for a back up. the manager at verizon is awesome here in toledo, no complaints here.

That is unbelievable! Very disappointing. I'll probably hold off on the storm 2 until I hear how that turns out. A Leaked 236 would make my decision a lot easier.

Originally Posted by Seanren78

That is unbelievable! Very disappointing. I'll probably hold off on the storm 2 until I hear how that turns out. A Leaked 236 would make my decision a lot easier.

+1
10char

50% return rate? thats misleading....50% exchange rate they should say....it's not like people are getting rid of blackberries...they are just exchanging them for a working device.

scott,

I think your statement is a little more correct. I'd say that more are exchanging versus returning completely.

The issue that I have is that RIM doesn't seem to want to fix the issue. Alright, they're moving to the trackpad, fine, got it! BUT what I think they need to do is call the service providers who have offered the Tour and when this one that is being developed, which has the trackpad, gets released (actually prior to it), they should be sending enough to the providers so that the providers can then get in touch with the customers and exhange them for people who already HAVE the Tour with the trackball.

That's what I'd do if I was the CEO of RIM. Even though the company will take a hit on it, it looks to me like 80%+ of the Tour is usable for this new device so why not keep your customers and service providers happy?

I think that now they are all about money and turning a profit rather than quality which is what they've always been known for. That's why I'll stick with them over any flippin' Android phone that VZW may try to push.

I think people are just paranoid about their tours. I had two people who came up to me and complain that their trackball isn't work well. I checked their phones and it was working fine. It was scrolling up and down left and right like it should be. They wanted to return it and get an exchange and I ask them is that necessary? The trackball problem that RIM is reporting is that you can't scroll to the right over time. It doesn't include the fact that the trackball slows down when the phone is running multiple apps.

I've seen the defective trackball in action and it's a noticeable issue but not to the point that you hear a about a few trackball problems and you think yours is defective as well.

I'm still on my first Tour and the trackball have been flawlessly working for me and so are all my friends Tour. Here's my stat, I know 15 people in my group of friends have the tour and all 15 of them are working fine. At one time I met this guy who showed me his trackball problem at the gym and it was the only legit defective trackball. Comparing the ratio I've encountered, I don't think the stats are right. Of the 50% of the tours that got returned I'm estimating only 10% of them are actually defective and the other 40% are just paranoid.

Don't believe everything you read people that artical was written by the electronista staff. Verizon nor RIM never claim such statistics and electronista got the number off thin air. Not only that electronista does not reference where they got their sources but decline to comment on their sources. If you all read their past aritcles, they seem to be blackberry haters.

Originally Posted by thymaster

Don't believe everything you read people that artical was written by the electronista staff. Verizon nor RIM never claim such statistics and electronista got the number off thin air. Not only that electronista does not reference where they got their sources but decline to comment on their sources. If you all read their past aritcles, they seem to be blackberry haters.

One of our members uses a signature that says believe half of what you hear and none of what you see. Electronista have not been kind to BB's just like Cnet won't say anything bad about the iPhone. Does the Tour have issues, yes it does. I have been through 4 of them because of hardware issues. So I think 50% exchange rate is probably more likely because I still have the tour and the storm and the 8900 and 8320 lol.

Originally Posted by jlevy73

One of our members uses a signature that says believe half of what you hear and none of what you see. Electronista have not been kind to BB's just like Cnet won't say anything bad about the iPhone. Does the Tour have issues, yes it does. I have been through 4 of them because of hardware issues. So I think 50% exchange rate is probably more likely because I still have the tour and the storm and the 8900 and 8320 lol.

I would say a large percentage of the Storm 1 returns were software issues but that still points back to RIM. I also agree that the rumors get out and people panic, especially after the Storm 1 debacle. People are starting to expect the worst from RIM, sad but true. That's why in a blog post recently I said that RIM really needs the Odin/Onyx release to go smoothly to save face and win back some lost fans. I hope like hell they do.