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The worst fear of a Google - LG Nexus 5X smartphone owner is seeing their phone hitting the now well-known issue of "Bootloop" affecting a few LG manufactured smartphones including Nexus 5X. Unfortunately my happy life with my Nexus 5X was also recently cut short by the same "Bootloop" issue.
What is this "Bootloop" issue all about?
For the uninitiated, let us first understand what it actually is, in layman's term. If the phone is affected by this issue, the phone simply shuts down and all attempts to start it (boot) fails. It intermittently displays the "Google" logo on the screen for a few seconds and then nothing happens and the screen blacks out. Even it does not allow the user to enter the recovery mode through Fastboot (by simultaneously pressing the Power + Volume Down buttons for a few seconds).
It is now an established fact that it happens because of a manufacturing defect. If a phone is affected by this issue the only way to come out of this mess is to replace the motherboard.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about Bootloop. From the information available in public domain it appears that there is class action law suit filed against LG in US for this issue.
How Google and LG responded to this issue
Well, though it is a bad thing to happen with your phone, but what follows it leaves you in despair. When a lot of Nexus 5X phone owners affected by this issue started to contact Google (if they bought it from Google store) and LG, Google either replaced the faulty piece with a newer one or refunded the phone cost if it was in the 1 year warranty period. For the customers who approached LG directly, LG either replaced the motherboard, given a replacement or refunded the cost in the 1 year warranty period. Later, due to many customer approaching LG after the 1 year period, LG extended the warranty period for another 6 months and repaired the motherboard free of cost. Though people had to face a lot of inconvenience due to this because if they had not taken the backup of their phone's data like, photos, documents, videos etc. it was lost forever. Atleast they were able to get their phone back to life.
But, not all were that fortunate, many Nexus 5X phones were working just fine during the warranty period (1 year + 6 months of extended warranty) and encountered this issue after the warranty period got expired. Now, if the affected phone owner visits the LG service centre, LG demands the motherboard replacement cost from the owner (in India it is 12500/- Rs, that is close to 192 USD).
The same happened with me too in November 2017, my Nexus 5X hit the bootloop issue after the warranty period was over and LG service centre demanded the motherboard replacement cost from me. I am not convinced to pay the repair cost for a manufacturing defect in LG phone, I strongly feel LG should do it for free of cost. I have not yet got it repaired and currently in touch with LG through their service centre, through emails and posts on LG India's Facebook page.
My opinion about this whole issue:
- LG is well aware that Nexus 5X is affected by Bootloop issue.
- LG extended the warranty period by 6 months, which itself is an acknowledgement of it.
- It is wrong to assume that the phone will get affected by this issue in the warranty period only. It is very much possible that people with an affected device will approach LG after the warranty period is over.
- Is it a fault of the poor guy who's phone did not die in warranty period? Could this be the reason for demanding repair cost from the customer?
- Isn't it an industry practice globally for companies to recall their faulty products from market and repair / replace it without asking for the customers to pay up for it. Do these companies care about warranty in such case?
- Being a global and reputed company, is it too much to expect from LG to follow the same?
- After all isn't it an open secret that, manufacturing a world class product is great but providing a world class service is what actually matters and customers care about.
Do share your opinion and experience if you have also faced such an issue with Nexus 5X or any other product. Were you satisfied with the service you got? What do you expect from a company to do in such a situation?
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