Thursday, September 27, 2012

A cheaply priced replacement battery for HTC Evo Shift

The other day, I was Googling for a replacement battery for my HTC Evo Shift. My current batter doesn't seem to be fully charging and then the phone also doesn't show the correct charge of the battery. It'll show orange but then I'll pop the battery out, put it back in and turn on the phone and it'll show green at half charged. It never shows fully charged even after having it plugged in overnight.

So, that's why I want to get a new battery versus a new phone and versus getting it from Sprint. The replacement battery at Sprint is like $45 plus tax. I don't want to spend that much on a replacement battery since I can probably upgrade to a newer phone soon (if I decide to) and I'm sure the upgrade would be anywhere from free to $100 depending on the phone.

Enter Google. I searched and it gave me a few store listings with various prices, actually a wide range of prices. I saw a few for around $3-$5. It got my interest but also piqued my curiosity on why it was $3. I was thinking of one of those cheap Oakley sunglass sites that show $200 Oakleys for $25 today but then the website is gone the next day. I had some Visa gift cards that I would use for purchasing versus my ATM or Credit Card because I didn't trust them but then they disappeared and I was glad I didn't trust them AND didn't purchase anything.

Anyway, that's why I was curious about this website. I clicked on two links for a $2.99 battery and a $3.30 battery. I decided to email the second website/company (www.everydaysource.com) because when I searched for the battery it had the following in the product title:
Standard GENERIC Battery for HTC EVO 4G / Evo Shift 4g / A9292 / Supersonic HTC Hero (Sprint)
However, when I looked under the 'Compatibility' tab it did not show the Evo Shift 4G. I was like, "Why?" and then I decided to email them. I found the 'Contact Us' page and it had two emails: one for sales and general information and the other for customer service.

I assumed that sales and general information would be the place to start since my question was about a product description versus needing customer service for a product I have already ordered or received. I sent this email on September 18, 2012 around 10:47 a.m. I never received a reply even though their 'About Us' page says,
With a specialized and dedicated customer service department, EverydaySource.com® offers a buying experience that cannot be matched.
I guess that doesn't automatically correlate to a 'specialized and dedicated' sales and general information service.

I realized yesterday that I had not received a reply and thought I'd forward my original email to the customer service email address. I sent it at 10:53 a.m. on September 26 stating that I previously emailed "sales" with no reply in eight days so hopefully would get one from customer service.

I received a reply that night at 10:42 p.m. Stating that the link I posted in the email for the product is dead. This is the link below
http://www.everydaysource.com/product/standard-generic-battery-for-htc-evo-4g-evo-shift-4g-a9292-supersonic-htc-hero-sprint-htc-imagio-xv6975-htc-ozone-xv6175-htc-snap-s511-sprint-htc-snap-s521-s522-htc-tilt-2-htc-touch-pro2-sprint-t-mobile-verizon-gsm-t-mobile-dash-3g/83765?esprcggbadtf120917=sc+gb+83765&utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_search&utm_campaign=google_base#ItemDetailTab
Did it work for you? Yes?! It still works for me. I don't know why it didn't work for the customer service representative. Maybe she doesn't know how to copy and paste a link if it's not automatically hyperlinked in the email. Who knows!

Luckily, I was still awake and I got the item # from the link that was supposed to be dead and replied to the email. I received a reply at 3:50 a.m. on September 27 (I was not awake at this time) stating,
"This battery can not work with Evo Shift 4G. If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you for your cooperation."
I have one question, "Why does the product title state 'Generic battery for HTC Evo Shift 4G' but customer service tells me it does not work with the Shift 4G?"

I knew there was something screwy with it being $3.30. That's what we call shady business people! People not as smart...er...inquisitive as me would just buy the battery. Then they'd have to try to contact their sales and/or customer service to return the battery that doesn't work with their Evo Shift 4G. I'm sure sales/customer service would give them a hard time or some people would just say, "Screw it! I'm only out like $5 total." Bullshit! I'm like the paper boy from the movie Better Off Dead:
"I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!!!
Random I know. But so now I'm still stuck with a half-charging battery for my Evo Shift unless I suck it up and pay the $45+ for the battery from Sprint.

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