The regular department – You go to a local Rogers store, they package up the phone, and send it to a Nokia/Motorola/LG/Sony Ericcson/Samsung/etc repair site. They have loaner phones for you to use. It takes up to “14 business days”.

The Smartphone department deals with phones that do more than just calls. BlackBerry, iPhone, WinMo devices, and certain Nokia devices, like the E71. You call this department, and they try and troubleshoot you over the phone. If they cannot solve the issue, they will send out you a working model, and in that box that they sent you – you put your old one in and send it to the address attached in the waybill supplied.

Why two departments? Well, Smartphone users must have working devices ASAP.

Why can’t Smartphone users just walk to a store and get a brand new device? Because of a few reasons:
1) Smartphone devices cost Rogers up to $1000 per device. Does your specific telephone number usage bill cost that much?
2) Your warrenty is settled with the manufacture of the device, and not the provider of the service. You don’t go to the Gas Station to get a new car, you go to the Manufacture of the car to get a new car.
Do they ever give you a new car? No, they fix the cars problems.
Can you take your GM car to be fixed under warranty at a Ford repair place? No, you must have it fixed by the authorized warranty place.

The “working” device you receive is usually a refurbished device that has been fixed of the previous problems. What are the previous problems? Usually software issues that customers don’t have the knowledge to fix themselves. JVM 102 errors? Heh.

After the one year warranty, Rogers will want to sell you a new device. You usually can get one at a discount, with a renewal of your contract.