Busted Rezound Screen

[DroidBoardr]

So after nearly a year of taking care of my Rezound, i passed it on to my wife, and picked up the GS3. Well yesterday she dropped the thing, and broke the screen pretty bad. We placed a screen protector on it to keep it from breaking any further, and to keep the glass pieces from falling out. I have insurance on the device, but i understand that it cost $100 deductible to replace it through Verizon.
Firstly, does anyone know if they are handing out refurbished units rather than new ones? I worry about the refurbished units because every story i hear is the the refurbs more often than not have glitches or overheating issues or other. I guess that is why they were returned in the first place. Her unit has never had any problems at all.
Secondly, does anyone have a suggestion for another path to take?
Should i just make her deal with it the way it is? It still works fine, just doesn't have aesthetic appeal.
Thoughts?

 

[DroDough]

The refurbs are gone through pretty good when they get sent back. I would say you pretty much have 3 options.
Option 1: go through with the insurance policy and get a refurb, which will be covered by Verizon so if something is a factory defect you can get another at no charge. Also they will ship the new without you having to send yours in first.
Option 2: radio shack offers screen replacement for around 100 bucks, downside is that you have to send your phone out to get it replaced leaving you with nothing in the mean time.
Option 3: check amazon for a replacement screen and the tool kit. If you feel comfortable enough to swap out the screen yourself this may be the cheapest route.
These are my opinions, other people may think differently. I would personally do the insurance replacment due to the fact that if the phone fell hard enough to shatter the screen it may have knocked some internals loose, and if that is the case you really won't find out till it starts to mess up again which may cause you to have spent money for nothing over getting a refurb.

 

[TWC42]

check some local cell phone repair shops for the price of replacing a screen Saw a sign in a local Radio Shack that they do it in 72 hours "starting at $69.99". Undoubtedly a local shop can beat that price.
If she likes the Rezound, consider the HTC Incredible 4G. Much the same on a smaller screen. Wife has one and I'm jealous of the size. Feels better in the hand than the Rezound. The new Motorola Razr M is exactly the same size, a tiny bit thinner. So maybe you will start seeing more Incredible 4Gs on Craig's List or Swappa. There are currently two Incredible 4Gs on Swappa (as of yesterday) in new condition, but probably out of your price range ($300). But very possible to find a used one for a lot less. If you invest $100 to $150 in a used phone, you will then have a spare (the cracked Rezound) that you can get fixed at your leisure. And stop paying for insurance that you aren't going to use because of the deductible and refurbed phone.
This is why I always hold on to my old phone when I upgrade, so I have a fall back phone in case one gets damaged or lost. I save the cost of insurance.

 

[azbrendan]

try eBay, i got one off there for $35 bucks shipped if you dont mind doing it yourself. the frame unscrews pretty easy with a small star bit

 

[k1ngr4t]

All good suggestions.

Only thing I want to add is, I'm not sure where you've been reading your stories, but the vast majority of the time a refurbished phone will perform just as well, if not better than the original. A lot of them will be phones just like yours. Broke the screen, otherwise phone works fine. They send you a replacement, they replace your old screen, they have another refurb. It's really not as bad as people make it out to be. Also it's free overnight shipping so you'll get it the very next day with a box to send the original back.

 

[DroidBoardr]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think I am actually going to force her to keep it for a while since i found out she didn't drop it. She gave it to our 1 year old daughter who threw it on the ground. Not sure she deserves a new phone just yet. She handed it to our 5 year old son two weeks ago in a grocery store, and he got mad and threw it out of the shopping cart and it exploded into the three pieces, phone, battery, and cover. Luckily it didn't break that time, but i think she needs to suffer a bit and learn how to take care of a $700 phone. Mainly to stop handing it to our kids. Now that they have both tossed it, and it is particularly fragile, i think she will do a better job, and perhaps i will replace it for her around Christmas time.
Leaning towards insurance since i have already paid for the coverage, and your thoughts on keeping it covered in case the refurb has a problem as well. I am sure i can replace the screen myself, and have watched a few videos about it(doesn't look so hard), but the comment on there possibly being something else loose inside has me reconsidering that option. Thanks again.

 

[PatG]

I paid $130 at a local shop that fixes phones. Seemed a little high but I wasn't going to try to fix it myself and make it worse.

I only had the phone 6 months when I dropped it; I couldn't live with the cracked screen so I just took the hit.

 

[DroidBoardr]

Another question. This Rezound is on an older leak of ICS. will i get into trouble if i don't flash the latest ics before i send it back? and what is the latest. haven't been paying as much attention since i passed the phone on.

 

[Snoking]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think I am actually going to force her to keep it for a while since i found out she didn't drop it. She gave it to our 1 year old daughter who threw it on the ground. Not sure she deserves a new phone just yet. She handed it to our 5 year old son two weeks ago in a grocery store, and he got mad and threw it out of the shopping cart and it exploded into the three pieces, phone, battery, and cover. Luckily it didn't break that time, but i think she needs to suffer a bit and learn how to take care of a $700 phone. Mainly to stop handing it to our kids. Now that they have both tossed it, and it is particularly fragile, i think she will do a better job, and perhaps i will replace it for her around Christmas time.
Leaning towards insurance since i have already paid for the coverage, and your thoughts on keeping it covered in case the refurb has a problem as well. I am sure i can replace the screen myself, and have watched a few videos about it(doesn't look so hard), but the comment on there possibly being something else loose inside has me reconsidering that option. Thanks again.

Maybe your kids are like my wife! "Get off the °`{÷±` phone!"

 

[MrSmith317]

Another question. This Rezound is on an older leak of ICS. will i get into trouble if i don't flash the latest ics before i send it back? and what is the latest. haven't been paying as much attention since i passed the phone on.

Don't worry about flashing the latest and greatest. As far as I know, the first thing that happens is that the phones are re-imaged anyway. Also, with the LCD screen, it's not worth the heartache of replacing. If you look around on here, or XDA, you will find people that broke other things replacing their LCD's. So really they wound up with lost time as well as the lost money for replacement part(s) and then a replacement phone.