Nokia Australia begins 8850 defect investigation

Nokia Australia's managing director, Alexander Lambeek, told ZDNet Australia that the company has now begun the process of investigating the service records of the Nokia 8850 to see if the model carries an inherent display fault.

However Lambeek continues to deny that there is a possiblity that there is any problem with the model.

"From our side there is no indication that there is any specific problem with the 8850," said Lambeek.

Lambeek also refused to comment on the similarity between the faults exhibited by the 8210 and those of the 8850.

ZDNet Australia has received dozens of complaints from angry consumers eager to share their horror experiences with alleged faults in the liquid crystal displays housed in the Nokia 8850.

One Sydney sales executive alleges that after witnessing his Nokia 8850 screen fail repeatedly despite repairs, his mobile phone has become nothing more than a dummy display of what he once believed to be an example of engineering quality.

"Since [the last failure], I just leave it sitting in my wardrobe for display purposes only and use my Siemens ME45.

"Considering my time to fix the screen and back and forth to make the phone call -- forget it."

To add insult to injury, Nokia is giving short warranties for 8850 display repairs despite charging hefty fees for the work.

One disgruntled Perth-based consumer told ZDNet Australia he paid between AU$100 to $200 to repair the displays on two Nokia 8850s he's owned in the last two years. Four months ago the screen on his second phone failed for the second time.

"The phone receives very good treatment -- I can't understand why I still have this problem," he said. "Nokia has told me that they only give three-months warranty on their work so it looks like I have to pay again".

Discontent with Nokia's handsets now appears to be reaching critical new levels, with Sydney talkback radio station 2GB today airing numerous consumer complaints about Nokia's handset quality.

The complaints recived by 2GB today are understood to have focused on Nokia's 3-series handsets, further feeding speculation that the display defect is not endemic to the 8210 alone.