Call Kurtis: Phone Frustration

The saying is "you get what you pay for" but a Sacramento man says his $500 phone isn't living up to its price tag. He's now on his fifth phone.

The up-and-coming music producer thought he was getting one of the best phones on the market. But after experiencing problem after problem, he's ready to call it quits.

The frozen screen on Derek Hamilton's phone says "stick together." It seems his carrier, T-Mobile wants him to stick together with a phone model he no longer wants.

"It's the worst phone I've ever had in my life," says Hamilton.

He bought the HTC HD2 in May for $491.61 and he says problems popped up right away.

"Near the end of the week I started getting the glitches, text messages sent to the wrong people," Hamilton tells us, "The phone was freezing, black screen."

T-Mobile gave him a new HD2. Then he got another, and another, and another. Hamilton is now on his fifth phone and he says each has had the same problems. He thinks the glitches even cost him a job.

"In the middle of my phone interview, the phone completely shut off," he says.

In the hour and a half we were with him, the phone was constantly frozen on the welcome screen forcing Hamilton to repeatedly take out the battery and put it back in.

Frustrated, Hamilton tells us, "There's been times I've been close to just kicking a field goal with this phone."

When the phone finally powered up, applications weren't working. And in the car, the GPS displayed the wrong location.

Hamilton is not the only one having problems with this model. Go online and you'll find a series of similar complaints about the HD2. Hamilton says even when he offered to pay for an upgrade, T-Mobile said "no." Now he's ready to hang up on T-Mobile altogether.

We called T-Mobile and asked what's the deal with the freezing issues? We also asked if T-Mobile was working on a fix. The company didn't have an answer for us, instead issuing this statement:

"T-Mobile and HTC are committed to providing the best experience for our customers, including providing occasional software updates for improved functionality or to address any technical issues that we may discover over time. In the event an issue cannot be fixed, a replacement device may be sent to customers. Should customers experience performance that does not meet expectations on their HTC HD2, they are encouraged to call T-Mobile customer care at 1-877-453-1304."

That didn't seem to work for Hamilton but after we got involved T-Mobile agreed to give him a new My Touch 4G. They're also crediting him one month of free service.

So far, Hamilton says he's experienced no glitches, "Exactly like how I wanted the last phone to work, that's what this one's given me."

What would he like to do with his old phone? "I'd probably drive over it."

Actually he has to send it back to T-Mobile.

The HTC HD2 is no longer for sale on T-Mobile's website.