Guess i'm a little too late to notice this post but I've got some bad experience with Telstra.

I bought a Nokia N82 with 2 years warranty from Telstra. Phone worked fine until just about a year later the camera shutter slider just didnt function anymore. My guess is that there was a problem with the spring mechanism of the slider which activates the camera. The camera activates if I forcefully push down the slider all the way but jumps out of the camera application once I let go of the slider. So its most probably a problem with the slider mechanism which triggers the camera application.

Went over to the Telstra service center in LYP. Didnt really get a warm welcome by the receptionist but not a big deal. The technician came out of the workspace and asked me about my phones problem. I explained to him that it was a prob with the camera slider. I demonstrated to him that if I pushed down the camera slider all the way it would work fine but I want to get this fixed. He told me to hand the phone over while he brought it back to the his workspace (quite a messy and untidy workspace ) and didnt say a thing. So I stood in front of the counter for like...... 20 minutes? Just standing there waiting for him while he was checking to see whats the problem. And once he was done, he came out of the room with my phone dismantled and told me that dust is causing the problem. Ok so yea dust does seem to collect within the phone after some time. Ok so probably the dust could be the cause of the issue. He told me that he will replace the camera sliding mechanism and that the dust has to be cleared off no matter what. Clearly I do want the camera slider fixed so I asked him wat would be the damage if I got both the dust and slider problem rectified? He says that the camera slider would be covered under warranty but the dust problem will incur a RM80 charge. So I thought that maybe I could just get the camera slider replaced and just ignore the dust prob. He said he cant do that as he said no matter what the dust MUST be cleared off. I was rather suspicious about the reason
So I asked him, the prob now is that my camera slider is not working so won't it be fine to just replace the slider mechanism? His reply: "No it won't. Your camera IC chip is damaged by the dust so we need to clear the dust and replace the IC chip". I'm an Electrical engineering student myself. Since my camera has been fine all this while, how could the IC be damaged in the 1st place? Dammit....... Ok fine. Probably there's a reason for this. I negotiated with the auntie at the counter and in the end she was willing to put all costs under the warranty.

I came back in an hours time to collect my phone. The camera now works fine as before, BUT.............. there were scratches on the cover and highly visible pry marks around the side. I told him that these marks were never here before I sent the phone to you guys. He said that these the scratches were inevitable and there was nothing that he can do
I complained to the auntie (she scolded the guy for doing such a slopy job ) and she was willing to replace the housing but I had to order the housing and it will only arrive in a weeks time.

A week later I went all the way to the service center again to get my housing changed. Handed my phone over to the same technician (probably the only one working on that day) as before and told me to come back in an hour. An hour later I came to collect my phone and it looks fine but the pry marks on the sides were still there oh well. I can't stand coming back to change the housing again so just accepted it.

HOWEVER, when I locked my phone I noticed that there was no backlight anymore! Usually when I locked my phone the screen would be on but there wont be backlight illumination. The screen was now pitch black. I thought it was the settings but it wasnt. i also noticed that the contrast was a bit off as there was a blue tinge in the colours. Walked back to the service center and complained to the guy. He said it was fine and the screen is normal for Nokia models. I whipped out my spare N95 and showed him that once locked the time can still be visible. He then admitted: "OH WHILE I WAS REPLACING UR HOUSING I ACCIDENTALLY BROKE YOUR LCD"
Omg.... I could not take this nonsense anymore. Y did he not mention this to me before? I demanded that my screen be returned to its original state. he told me that he will need to flash my phone and reconfigure the LCD settings. So I had to go home, backup all my data and went back all the way once again to get my phone flashed. So yea my phone now seems fine, but with a few dead pixels which developed after a month of use, creaky keypad and pry marks on the side of the housing.

Made 3 trips there and all left me frustrated. I apologize for such a long post but I do hope that this will help some future buyers make a more calculated decision before committing to a Telstra set. Cheers

Technically I think it was only 10 months since I purchased the phone. Yea I guess its true that you'll save quite a bit to skip the original Nokia warranty. But I just wasn't happy to have both my housing and LCD trashed just to fix the camera slider They even told me that if I didn't want to pay for this round of repairs then they would have void the rest of my 13 months+ warranty!!!!!
Better communication would've helped too. They could have done a better job but they did not.

I bought a Samsung Omnia (2nd hand ) after my Nokia N82. Sent it in for servicing under original FMG warranty and I was amazed by their service. Comfortable reception area with free beverages too And the attendants were so much more cheerful and they replaced my LCD + Digitizer (touch panel) FOC and under an hour! Even sent me a notification SMS that my phone is ready for pickup

+1 to that

I've actually purchased CSL sets before and so far so good. My Nokia 6670 under CSL from year 2004 is still alive until today
And my avaxx 3200 from year 2003 is still as good as ever
So probably its just the after sales service that we gotta worry about

Guess its also a gamble to fork out a few extra hundreds of RM to expect better after sales service. Well at least Nokia is a reputable company. The Telstra service center in LYP gave me a rather bad impression on the standard of their service. No hospitality and sloppy service. Didn't even bother to explain the problem to me in detail. Oh and there were no seats at the service center! Ok its a small problem but I looked around and the other service centers nearby had some stools, chairs and one even had a sofa! But Telstra only had a counter. Expected me to stand there for 20 minutes while he took my phone apart.

Such a contrast when I went to service my phone at Samsung. Hope that all service centers will be able to offer the same standard of services in future

AP sets do come with warranty cards like original warranty sets just that the warranty will not be original, in which the replacement parts will usually or most certainly will not be original. Try getting AP sets from err..... more 'reputable' AP distributors. They will usually have more service centers around the country. Can't say much about water sets but there is always a risk for not getting original sets.

Personally I have a grudge against AP sets and I'm gonna repeat it again coz it really p1ssed me off

I use to purchase AP sets (about 6 AP sets) only until I purchased a Nokia N82 warrantied by Telstra-AP (they have a service center in Lowyat plaza). It was my first Telstra set and service was horrible......
I paid them a visit to get my camera slider fixed. First they tried to cheat my $ by charging a 'dust' removal fee to clean up the dust accumulated in the phone over time for RM80 (i still had 13 months warranty). Then they told me that the WHOLE camera is spoilt and needs an IC replacement (wth? My camera works fine just that the slider mechanism has gone a little faulty. I've checked the schematics and its the slider which is causing the prob. Can't they just change the physical slider? )
Came back to collect my phone and noticed my phone's housing was scratched up and pry marks were visible on the edges of the phone. Technician said its normal procedure. The pry marks/scratches are inevitable
Walked off and noticed my screen contrast changed. Screen was pitch black (not even the clock is visible. It would usually be displayed) once phone is locked. Went back and inquire about this change and the technician admitted saying he BROKE MY LCD
Had to make another trip back the next day to get everything fixed again.

So in total, to fix a camera slider, it took me 2 days for 'dust 'removal', 1 housing replacement (probably not even original anymore), 1 LCD change (maybe they butchered my orignal LCD?), so called 'camera IC' replacement and full reformat to re-install the drivers for the new screen. Zzz........

Since then I've never purchased an AP set. Been using originals there after and I'd have to say that the original services which I have been offered are far more pleasant compared to Telstra.

I won't comment on other AP companies. Perhaps some of them are Angels in the business but NO to Telstra zomg

This post has been edited by wkyoong: Jan 16 2011, 08:34 PM

Midland should be the authorized distributor if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps the other sellers were the ones trying to cheat u?

Try searching around the garage sales for reputable sellers. They should have the current/best prices around.