Company/Product Name: Nokia

I am Kunal Agarwal, I had a Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone with IMEI number 354182028760401, and unfortunately it was stolen at Kormanagala, Bangalore on 16-06-2010. An FIR(#0314) for the same is lodged with the Kormangala Police Station. The Cops are trying hard to track it through their system of tracking phones through IMEI number but the phone is not used yet, the reason is that I trusted Nokia and its Great technology.

I have enabled an option in my phone that locks the phone whenever the SIM card is changed, to be specific that option is “Lock if SIM card changed ” and according to Nokia 5800 manuals it “Set the device to ask for the lock code when an unknown SIM card is inserted into your device. The device maintains a list of SIM cards that are recognized as the owner’s cards.” To this I understood that the Phone will ask for a lock code whenever the SIM card is changed but it MALFUNCTIONS and asks for a password whenever the phone is turned on and this is not LIMITED to my phone, I have tested this option with two other Nokia 5800 which has the same issue, this problem is Universal.

In my case the phone was switched off after it was stolen (the most obvious thing), I contacted Police Station an FIR was lodged and investigation for the same was started, however it did not get tracked because the phone was not turned on (locked), I did not get my SIM lock from the Service Provider until two weeks after the phone was stolen, hoping that phone would turn on, but due to the software it was locked, Now even after two months the phone is not getting tracked ( I cross checked this with police station). While checking with the available options of my brothers 5800 I realized that ” Lock if SIM card changed ” locks the phone making it unusable even with the same SIM card.

I reported this problem to Nokia, the Nokia representatives made idiotic excuses instead of trying to understand the Software problem, they told me that Police will not make investigations until it involves Big Shots in spite of me informing them Police is very co-operative with me and investigating the case, they questioned the authority of Police department but did not try to understand the problem, also one representative told me the Nokia Software is Robust, another representative told me that the phone can be VERY easily tampered (reset) by a unauthorized dealer, however they were unaware of what changes that would make but they made one thing clear Nokia trust the unauthorized dealers more than themselves.

I have reported the problem of the ” Lock if SIM card changed ” problem at one of Nokia Care in Hyderabad, they said as this is a software issue, a software update will fix it and they updated my phone, however they did not provide me with any job sheet stating that as this can be done in 30 minutes I can take away the phone and no job sheet is needed, also the issue with ” Lock if SIM card changed ” was not fixed. However later Nokia representative told me that they don’t have any record of my phone being reported for the problem, he even told me that the Kormanagala Police Station is very near to their office and they will check with the Police about the investigations, but later they denied contacting Police and said me that they does not have the authority to do, but they continued with questioning the authority of Police in this case by asking me to put PRESSURE on the Police for investigation. Finally a Nokia representative told me that they will send my feedback to their R&D department, however they cannot help me in this case.

Well if they cannot help me then why they questioned the Authority of Police investigation and after promising to make investigation why they denied it, why they always make contrasting statements. I am attaching a photo of reply I received from one of the Nokia representative in which he states some SIM LOCK OPTION and stating it cannot help in case the phone is stolen, well I never mentioned such an option because its not a option but it proves their level of Care for issues with the phone.

Despite being the number one mobile company according to sales Nokia does not have any in built phone tracking software, however it has some other built in software which locks the phone but in any case it does not help in tracking the phone in case it is stolen which should be the biggest purpose of a security software, moreover a Customer without being aware locks his phone unintentionally and at the COST OF CUSTOMER NOKIA WILL DO R&D.

Thanks for All Nokia.

Kunal Agarwal.
+91 9160100818.