Jack thought he might get his Droid with a wonky GPS system replaced with one that worked, but instead he got a nasty refurb with a host of new issues. Now he seems to almost wish he’d kept his original messed-up phone.

He writes:

I have had my (two) Motorola Droid phones since 11/6, the day they came available.

I have had issues with the GPS since the first of February. It would take longer and longer to achieve a lock. For the most part these days it simply never will detect my location. I’ve had Wifi issues, too, but those seem to be pretty widespread and wouldn’t expect a replacement to resolve that and therefore haven’t even approached it.

I contacted Motorola yesterday and they in turn ended up contacting Verizon to arrange a replacement with a new phone. That phone arrived today.

Upon initial inspection of the “new” phone I was able to immediately tell that the hinge (if that’s what you call it, the part that allows the screen to slide out over the keyboard) was loose. That was the only problem I could see upon physical inspection of the phone. Well, other than the fact that it had a “tacky” residue all over the screen. I didn’t notice this residue on either my wife’s or my first Droid.

Once I powered the phone on and went through the activation routines I began to re-download my applications and started to notice that the bottom of the screen had a reddish tint to it. Clearly this device is defective and should never have been sent to a customer in this condition.

Apparently, with Verizon, if you purchase a brand new phone from them, and have problems with it (due to a manufacturer’s defect) and receive a replacement, they will send you a used phone. One that has been owned by a customer before.

I’ve got another “used” phone on the way tomorrow.

Looks like Verizon is going the route Microsoft has by sending you sometimes junky recycled numbers to replace the gleaming, flawed machines you purchased new.

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