The LCD screen of my three month old HTC Eris failed internally (a big crack developed across the screen...NOT the outer glass screen, but the internal LCD display). No, the phone was never dropped or subjected to physical abuse. The phone was always used with a slip-on rubber protective case. Verizon claims that the failure was due to my having carried the phone in my pocket (I often carried the phone in the front pocket of my cargo shorts...but NO, the phone was NOT broken when sitting down). Verizon claims that the phone overheated in my pocket, due to my body heat...and that therefore, this is not a warranty issue. This despite the fact that, the day this problem occurred, the outside temperature was in the 90's (it often is here, this time of year)...and my body temp is 98 degrees plus. So, as per their story, a temp differential of no more than 10 degrees F caused this. Interestingly, the girl at the Verizon store who "informed" me of the error of my ways...and refused any warranty claim... carried her Motorola Droid phone IN HER POCKET. When I inquired as to the obvious hypocrisy of this...and as to why customers are not specifically WARNED about this issue...all I got was a "runaround" answer.

The temperature / failure scenario, as insisted upon by this person at Verizon is, of course, absolute NONSENSE. She even laughed and remarked to me when I showed her the phone and explained the problem, that "oh yes, we get a lot of those". Apparently, this is a common problem with the HTC Eris phone...and apparently, Verizon have been told NOT to honor warranty complaints of this type. HTC and Verizon trying to weasel out of any financial responsibility, clearly.

I had insurance on the phone, but elected NOT to use it (why the hell should I pay the $89 deductible to get a new Eris, when this might well happen again...and it SHOULD have been handled as a warranty claim, anyway ?) Instead, I've dumped the POS phone...and probably will dump Verizon as well.