[sdunnin]

Just encountered this problem after about 3 1/2 weeks of ownership. Noticed a some dust over speaker cutout and some over FFC. Lightly brushed away brush from speaker and blew compressed air into speaker opening and 3.5 phone jack. FFC looks clearer and proximity sensor is working again (display does not turn off immediately during calls). I am concerned that this is only a temporary solution as I carry the phone in my pocket alot and it would seem to be prone for dust collection which might eventually lead up to a point were there is no where else for the dust to go resulting in a permanent blockage.

Nokia should treat this like a recall and notify owners that they can send in the phone for a "re"sealing fix.

[ThaiDamen]

is any nokia staff looking at this topic? they need to do something about it

[beatst]

I too have the proximity problem, most likely from dust (i can see a lot in the front camera). Couple of things I've noted. Repeated pushing of the standby button flicks the screen on v v briefly, enough to get to loudspeaker if I'm quick. Secondly when in a call using my Bluetooth car kit, the phone screen will sit their cycling on and off continuously.

I really could do with Nokia acknowledging this problem, then i might consider sending it in to be fixed! But maybe that's just why they aren't!

[calories]

Got exactly the same problem on my Lumia 920 purchased about 8 weeks ago.

I am in US and the service provider is AT&T. They can give me a replacement through the warranty program, but the replacement will be a "reconditioned device". According to the customer service, "a reconditioned device may have had an issue and has been sent back to the manufacturer to have the issue resolved, it can also be a phone that is purchased and returned within 14 days". This basically means that my phone will be replaced with a "refurbished" phone, although the warranty terms would remain the same.

I am hesitating to do that, and I am happy to find this thread with people posting their experiences and temporary solutions. Is there any hope that we find official help from Nokia?

[rjm299]

just wanted to add my voice to this thread to put further pressure on Nokia, I have had all the same issues and although pressing the screen occassionally works it isn't a solution to the problem.

At present i wouldn't recommend this phone to anyone, as it is almost impossible to use it as a phone.

A monumental problem to my mind.

[93tid]

This is a user to user forum, so not sure how exactly you think you are putting pressure on Nokia by posting a message like that. You should take up the matter with your local Nokia Care unit, the Support link at the bottom of the page can help you find the one nearest to you. That will be a communication to Nokia. Not your above post.

[novim]

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93tid wrote:

This is a user to user forum, so not sure how exactly you think you are putting pressure on Nokia by posting a message like that. You should take up the matter with your local Nokia Care unit, the Support link at the bottom of the page can help you find the one nearest to you. That will be a communication to Nokia. Not your above post.

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As far as I am concerned, consulting local Nokia Care unit and sending e-mails did not work. Local care unit refuses to exchange the phone and my e-mails remain unanswered. As Nokia staff are already answering threads in this forum, I believe that we are entitled to expect a sort of announcement from Nokia.

[tyscribe]

After promoting this phone among friends, co-workers and even passersby (it's looks do get attention), I regret that I'm having to steer people away now because of this problem. I simply can't hang up calls, which eats into my minutes. I've contacted Nokia but am not confident with the response I got: never heard of the problem, mail it in and we'll send you a refurbished unit (that probably has the same problem since it's clearly a manufacturing issue and they claim not to know about it, meaning flawed product keeps rollling off the assembly line). I got better luck -- and honesty -- with AT&T. I contacted one of their "local" service centers (it's a 45-minute drive at best) where I can got to exchange for a refurb. But the rep I spoke with said they knew about the problem and also knew that Nokia had no solution as of yet. The rep agreed with my skepticism that a refurb would probably have the same problem, and also agreed that I should wait until Nokia acknowledged it and announced a solution. I've got 10 months on the warranty, so I'll check back here occasionally for updates and call the service center eventually. Meantime, I'll count the days until my contract allows an upgrade, and hope Apple comes out with an interesting new operating system. See ya Nokia.

[rjm299]

obviously i have also emailed Nokia about this and why i was waiting for a reply i thought i would add on to this discussion, as i possibly foolishly assumed that Nokia would monitor their own discussion boards. 

Having just talked to someone called Rose on the online chat section of this website to discuss this problem, she told me they had no knowledge of this problem. 

Somehow i doubt that, but that is what they said. 

[93tid]

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rjm299 wrote:

Having just talked to someone called Rose on the online chat section of this website to discuss this problem, she told me they had no knowledge of this problem.

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Of course, because instead of chasing Nokia through their existing channels people with this issue keep posting here, with slim to none chances of getting any acknowledgement. If you don't hear back from Nokia Care or are not happy with their response you should escalate the issue with Nokia Support. Posting about it here will achieve nothing except temporary satisfaction of venting your frustration.

[93tid]

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tyscribe wrote:

The rep agreed with my skepticism that a refurb would probably have the same problem, and also agreed that I should wait until Nokia acknowledged it and announced a solution.

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That rep would have agreed to anything you say just to get you out of the door without blaming him for your problem. How do you expect to get your phone fixed without sending it in for repair - especially if it's a hardware fault ? I'm afraid no one has yet managed to develop that sort of support.

[93tid]

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novim wrote:

As far as I am concerned, consulting local Nokia Care unit and sending e-mails did not work. Local care unit refuses to exchange the phone and my e-mails remain unanswered. As Nokia staff are already answering threads in this forum, I believe that we are entitled to expect a sort of announcement from Nokia.

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Did local Nokia Care refuse to repair your handset ?

[sdunnin]

Is it that absurd to believe that a Nokia employee would be monitoring a Nokia forum, even if it is consumer -> consumer?

Even if there are no offical Nokia responses here, which rarely happens in public forums, it does not necessarily mean that the forums don't get noticed.

[kehoz]

Well, after about 1 month, my Lumia just started doing this as well.  It is very annoying.

Blowing into the phone helps some, but the proximity sensor seems way more sensitive now.  (Even shadowing the sensor seems to activate it).    They need to fix this.

[KentF]

I have been having this problem for a few weeks and it kept getting worse.  I went to our local Rogers Plus store but they were not able to help and thought it was normal until I told them to make a call.  I asked them about getting it fixed and they said it would take a week or two because they have to ship it to their repair depot.  I decided against that.

I reset my phone and tried many things and then decided to search and see if other people had the problem.  Looks like there is  alot of us out there.

Anyhow I took some compressed air and blew into the seals of the phone and that fixed the screen going black issue when making a phone call.  WOW was that every annoying not being able to hang up the phone since the screen was black and not being able to use the speaker option.

I still like the phone but having to clean it with compressed air once in a while will be a minor pain that all my other phones have never had.

[jorgje]

Mine has had the problem since two weeks after I bought it. I always managed to fix the proximitysensor-dust issue by blowin the dust out, however it came back got harder and harder to fix over time. As of today, I can't get it fixed anymore.

Called Nokia and they say that their R&D department has this under investigation. They offered me to send it back to get it repaired, but I'm pretty sure that it does not help anything since no real fix is available as far as I'm aware of.

Even more, I bought the phone in Europe and recently moved to Taiwan. Now they tell me I can't send the phone to the Taiwan repair center, because the phone has "no international warranty".

It's completely messed up and I think Nokia has lost me as customer forever. My phone has a problem due to THEIR design issues, and now I'm supposed to send it over to the other side of the world against ridiculous costs to get the sensor cleaned and most probably not fixed.

I paid Nokia's FULL 600 euro advice sales price just two months ago. Shame on them!

[93tid]

Nokia have acknowledged the problem to you and offered to repair it under warranty. I don't see how it is their fault that you have moved to a territory not covered by their regional warranty. Nokia do not offer a global warranty, neither do most other major handset producers. In fact, having an EU warranty gives you the advantage of 24 months warranty instead of 12 months which is standard for the rest of the world. Clearly the problem is a manufacturing rather than design issue since several tens of thousands of users, myself included, do not have this issue. I would not be as brave as you to state that there is no real fix available without even giving Nokia the chance to fix it.

[novim]

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93tid wrote:

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novim wrote:

As far as I am concerned, consulting local Nokia Care unit and sending e-mails did not work. Local care unit refuses to exchange the phone and my e-mails remain unanswered. As Nokia staff are already answering threads in this forum, I believe that we are entitled to expect a sort of announcement from Nokia.

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Did local Nokia Care refuse to repair your handset ?

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No, they said that they can take the phone in for repair but as a consumer who has been a sold a faulty product, I legally have the right to ask for a replacement, without having to wait for 2 weeks for a repair, that would most probably not fix the issue.

[93tid]

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novim wrote:

No, they said that they can take the phone in for repair but as a consumer who has been a sold a faulty product, I legally have the right to ask for a replacement, without having to wait for 2 weeks for a repair, that would most probably not fix the issue.

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I understand that you tried to exercise the right to ask for a replacement but the store you bought the phone from refused, since it was past their 30-day return/exchange period. Are you pursuing this any further with them, if you indeed have the legal rights you claim to have ?

I find it a bit arrogant to assume whether a repair will or will not fix your issue without even submitting the handset to the service facility. Nokia is under no obligation to provide you automatically with a replacement. However if they fail to fix the issue, I strongly believe that you will get one. And that is based on personal experience.

Nowadays electronic items are rarely, if ever, serviced on the spot at the repair facility. It seems to be universal practice that the item needs to be sent somewhere for repair. I've had to wait longer than two weeks for a netbook repair, 5 days for an electric shaver repair, one week for Nokia repair. They probably quote you two weeks to be on the safe side, however if you deign to give your local care the chance to fix your phone it could well be quicker than that.

[jorgje]

93tid, looking at your last few replies (including that to my message), what are you effectively trying to contribute?

People here are sharing their experience with the proximity sensor issues and how it's being handled and/or solved, which is relevant for this topic. Let's keep it that way, instead of judging people to be "brave" and "arrogant".

My two cents.