Advice on Consumer Rights Regarding Faulty Phones

mrpotatohead

Hi guys,

Bear with me - I'll try to make this post as concise and to the point as possible!

Been with O2 for coming up to 7 years now, on a series of 12 month contracts. Renewed with them in January 2009 on to an 18 month contract (after they stopped doing 12 month ones). Agreed to a good deal with a Sony Ericsson C905 phone.

I had previously had the SE K850i during my previous 12 month contract. During that time last year I had to return handsets issued to me SEVEN times due to faults that continued to develop with the handset, and each of the refurbished replacements they sent me.

I submitted a complaint, and received a response from Customer Services offering me the option to change the model of phone, I did so, and changed to a Nokia N95. Surprise surprise, this too was faulty. So told O2 to just send me a new K850i. They did, and that worked (to some extent).

So January, got the C905. Almost 3 months later, I am on my 4th replacement of this phone handset due to a recurring issue with the handset's speaker that seems to go after a few weeks of use (this has been identified on other forums as a known issue).

So now I'm facing a dilemma... I don't want 18 months of sending refurbished handsets that O2 send me to and fro - not to mention days of not having a phone when I have to send handsets back to O2 in the post. I also have to pay Recorded Delivery each time I send a phone back to O2 - which costs me £2.20 every time.

In my view, I am paying for a contract that I can't use to full capacity because the SE phones are so faulty. Does anyone know if there is anything within consumer law or the O2 contract terms that allows me to request a change of handset/model because I am not able to use the O2 phone contract that I am paying for to its full capacity because of the faulty products I am being sent?

I've decided now I never want to use SE again, I know it's not O2's fault - it's more SE's... but I'm worried that I'll be stuck in a cycle of refurbished phones for the next 18 months (or however long the phone warranty is for!)


Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks guys,


- Joe

spirit

Hi Joe,

I do sympathise with you IMHO (and experience) SE phones are rubbish - with the odd exception.

Your service provider would have to replace any 'out of box failure' - which is a faulty phone under 14 days old, with a brand new one. After that time they are only obliged to provide you with a replacement. These are normally refurbished stock.

However, where I work, if someone has a replacement (recovery) phone 3 times with the same model phone, we provide them with a brand new one after that. I think that this is more to do with my employer's policy rather than the consumers rights.

Failing that, you could always write to SE to complain and see what they come up with.