Here some good news for those of you still rockin’ a BlackBerry…old skool yo. Beginning February 15th, BlackBerry Pearl 8100/8120 and BlackBerry Curve 8320 customers that are experiencing issues with the trackball, will have the option to visit a T-Mobile Retail Store and have their trackball replaced for FREE (No, you aren’t seeing things, at least this time around). The handset must be an 8100/8120 or 8320 purchased from T-Mobile. How kind of T-Mobile! This is just another example of how much T-Mobile cares about their customers!
Sound off in the comments!
talk about awesome!
you gotta pop your balls back in
wishful thinking: they would magically replace the trackball with a trackpad
call tmo and say your keys are not responding, no application loader will fix keys not responding. if you have an 8320, it will be replaced with an 8520 as long as your warranty is still valid or have the premium insurance
This is nothing new. In 2008 I went to T-Mobile store about a question I had. Their was three different people/customers who came in to get their trackball/bezel fixed/repaired on their Blackberry. The employee came out with some tools and a box full of replacements. and boom, boom, the trackball/bezel was repaired/fixed.
This is definitely the first time I’ve heard of T-Mobile replacing trackballs for free.
sweet. i want to watch them peel off all the scotch tape i have on mine.
Wow. How Nice Of Them.! =)
So 8900 users are out of luck?
Yes, because the 8900’s housing for the trackball won’t just pop off with a simple push pin. Take an alcohol pad (the kind that come sealed in the little square packets) and dab it off with a paper towel until you remove most of the excess alcohol (You don’t want ANY leaking into the device what-so-ever so make sure the pad is barely moist). Using the alcohol pad roll the trackball, then do the same thing with a clean paper towel. Repeat as necessary.
ha, I just got my 8100’s replaced a month ago…
they aren’t going to cover my tackball on my Nexus One? Sad…. (i am very happy however the PHP insurance is covering the Nexus)
project pink=”next generation of the sidekick line product”
what about the 8220 flip?
Been an employee since voicestream and they have never stocked us with parts. If we had the piece in a return we would swap it but ill believe this when the parts show up.
so what if my blackberry isnt in use anymore but it came from t mobile diretly?
i use a g1 now and the blackberry would be a great backup, however the trackball is in fact broken.
anyone?
Simple solution: Pop the SIM into the BB before you drive to the store… make a call or two for good measure. It’ll suddenly be “in use.” Even otherwise though, I think they would fix it… heck, you could even tell them the reason you”re not using it is because the trackball is broken. Why are you sitting on your old phone? eBay it and you’ll walk away with around $100…
Well, I also had taken the housing of the track ball apart and I don’t know if it’s assembled properly :\ I don’t know. I’m gonna just call T-Mobile and ask them if there’s any requirements on the whole replacement ordeal. Thanks for your reply though!
Dropped my BB 8320 on the 7th and broke the ball housing, at first it was now big deal, I had already taken the thing apart countless times to de-lint the rollers inside. But, alas, couldn’t get it back together this time. My wife still swears I threw it to get a Nexus1. when I called Tmo, I didn’t qualify for the N1 discounted upgrade (who did?) and they said I could go through the insurance and pay 260 for a replacement, or go through them and pay 170. Needless to say, I ordered a black ball from amazon for $6 w/ free shipping. It took almost a week, and Tmo really left a bad taste in my mouth because of the deal.
$260 for insurance? Impossible, the highest deductible Asurion has is $130.
@ jason, yes, that’s the answer a company gives you information since you broke your phone and they left a bad taste in your mouth…awesome. t-mobile must have broke your phone through ninja conspirators, and gave you inflated prices. Based upon the bew pricing structure they rolled out yesterday, you may even qualify for a full discount upgrade now as well… still got that taste?
@ Jason, the deductible for the 8320 is $90.00 through Asurion. $279.99 is the retail price for a new 8520. I assume that is what they are talking about
My wife has an 8320 Curve and we are on our third handset. In our case, it’s not an issue with the trackball but the “clicker” under the ball that keeps failing. When it goes, the ball will still move the cursor, but clicking gets no response. I’ve got to think that it is an engineering issue which may have had some impetus in RIM’s switch to the newer optical pad, but that’s just a guess on my part. Sounds like this program is just for replacing the ball though.
with TMO and have not heard anything about this.
If only they had come out with this a year ago.
i dont know where they got this info from but sounds great. take that att, sprint and verizon. For those using an 8900 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE never tell tech support that you used an alcohol swab to clean ur trackball because it voids your t-mobile warranty. I know that RIM themselves recommend this but please do not tell tech support this because this did in fact happen to a customer and i dont remember what ended up happening but i hate for any of you to be SOL.
we’ll see how many people come to our stores and ask for this service….
This is some crap, I had two insurance claims on my 8320 titanium and sunset.
For the trackball falling out, they told me it was my fault. SMH! Oh well.
This is great and all, but my manager have been rolling this idea up to middle/upper management forever. Only now that these models have been replaced do we have the replacement parts. It figures. I used to swap trackballs all the time for customers until we were told that doing so voids their warranty. good stuff.
So my 8820 is out of luck then huh?
I work at at the big T. At our location we change them out for the customer for free. I ordered 30 of them and Im down to 10. Its a rare occasion that people ask for them but we do it. But still very cool that TMobile is taking it upon themselves to help out with minor details like that.
how nice of t-mobile? they should have been doing this a long time ago! bull$#!T!
T-Mobile should also support trackball replacements for other devices such as the Curve 8900. Why discriminate?
I called T-Mobile today and they have not heard of this program, and they do not currently have the parts. I’ll call again on the 15th, but they questioned the authenticity of this program.
The Program starts the 15th Of February at T-Mobile retail stores. They we probably get all the parts somewhere at the begining of February.
I just got a used BlackBerry 8320 a couple of weeks ago and I use it with a T-Mobile pre-paid SIM card. I wonder if I will still qualify since I was not the original purchaser?
If you did not directly purchase the BlackBerry from T-Mobile, you cannot take advantage of this program.
come on… 8900 owners have problems too!!!
I went into my friendly (certainly has been up till now) T-Mobile store last night and asked about the trackball replacement program, and the lady said it starts at the _end of next month_ (as in March)! So I’m SOL with a trackball that won’t scroll down and no backup phone, for a month and a half. Yes it’s an 8100, yes I got it from TMo, yes I’m pissed, and yes I’m still under contract.
If you went to a store a year ago and some guy busted out a tool box and tools to fix your phone, that wasn’t a t mobile thing. That was a guy taking your money for repairs thing
This is a bunch of crap!
First they screw early adopters with their rate change (I can’t change my phone without paying 2x as much for the same plan) and now this? Excuse me for being an early adopter, excuse me for not buying a new BlackBerry every time they release one.
I’m on to my third trackball in a year on my 8800. And insurance is apparently a waste; they don’t cover trackballs so to get a “fix” I have to break my phone and pay a $100+ deductible!
Read all the fine print and call the store before you spend hours driving from one to another and find out how many of tmobile employees dont know the policy and how tmobile left out the fine print on here.. Out of all the times you hear people talk bad about the call center reps.. This time I will say that the call center rep I had was great . Thank you L…. as for the Arapaho store and the 15th street stores in Plano and Garland.. Well tmobile you might want to worry about customer service issues.. If you can take my CC payment from my Cc that isnt the name on the Account .. Why is it you can not honor your Track Ball Replacement …
Too bad ididn’t find this site ealier. I actually bought a track ball on Ebay. Then I found a Youtube video that showed me how to change it out.