Enforcing consumer rights and Carphone Warehouse

siwilks

Hi folks,

I have a dispute with Carphone Warehouse, and the facts seem to be on my side, yet they are simply ignoring that. How do I go about getting my Consumer Rights enforced?

I bought a PAYG phone from Carphone Warehouse's website last month. I made sure I looked after it well - avoided ever having anything else in the same pocket, and particularly avoided any impacts which might damage it. However, after 20 days I pulled it out of my pocket, only to discover that the LCD of the screen (ie, behind the casing) was shattered, and the display was unviewable. There are absolutely no scratches or signs of damage to the exterior of the phone.

Being vaguely aware of my statutory rights, and also Carphone Warehouse's own advertised warranty, I took it into the shop, but was told that it could only have been caused by a "very hard impact", which it hadn't been, since it hadn't received any such impact. In fact the guy told me that "it was against the laws of physics" for it to have happened without such an impact, although he couldn't tell me which particular physical law(s)had been violated. He told me that therefore they would be 'unable' (ie unwilling) to replace under the warranty.

I subsequently got in touch with Carphone Warehouse through their Online Help Manager. He arranged for someone to call me, which they did, and they told me that since the manufacturers would be unwilling to repair or replace it under their warranty, therefore they could take no action. Now a) the manufacturer really should be willing to take action. b) more crucially, my agreement was with Carphone Warehouse, not Nokia. Likewise, the phone had not lasted a reasonable length of time, and if, as they maintain, it was my use of the phone which had damaged it, then since that use was the kind of impact caused by my leg and my jeans whilst walking, then the phone was not fit for purpose. The rep told me that they had offered me a satisfactory resolution. I asked him what that was. "Why, a chargeable repair". "But your shop have already told me that it would cost me less to buy a new one"... "um - oh".

At this point I politely asked who I should escalate it to, and he asked what I meant. I said I'd like to complain about the service I'd received. "Oh, we're the complaints department". So I asked how I could go about complaining about him. "You can't" he replied. I asked "Seriously, who do I get in touch with to complain about this?" He hesitated then just put the phone down.

So as you can guess, I'm pretty miffed. What should my next action?

Bowling_4_Gold

Perhaps write a (calm) letter explaining that you are not concerned about reclaiming your money, and if that involves the commencing of civil proceedings, so be it.

On another note, are you sure it was not you who caused the damage? I mean, it is easily done; leaving the phone in the back pocket then sitting on it. The only way I can really understand this to be a manufacturing fault is if the screws holding the LCD in place and the facia together were too tightly done up...

Do keep us informed of any progress though

HTH

sweetstudent

Are you sure, that nothing has impacted the phone at all, i remember my treausred nokia 6100 and i placed a fat uni text book on it and it smashed the screen - now i was the only one to blame - what i am trying to say it that the screens are not indestructible - you may have placed stuff onto the phone.

However i would hazard a guess that it is unlikely that cpw will do anything because essentially this has happened out of negligence as a screen cannot simply smash.

look at it from cpw's pov....who is to say that you have not broken it yourself?

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

The likehood of it just cracking is miniscule.

Far more likely you have caughtt it on something, if you are convinced your right get some proof and fight it however otherwise I cant see you getting far.

olly300

If you write letter to CPW then make sure you send it recorded delivery otherwise they "will not have received your letter."* :rolleyes:

In the letter make it clear:
1. The time limit in which they have to respond to your complaint. (It has to be reasonable so you have to give them a month at first.)
2. What your next actions will be i.e. reporting them to trading standards and court action

Unfortunately CPW are a company who tend to ignore complaints until either you take them to court or go to a regulator.

So if you think your phone is expensive enough to warrant this then be prepared for a battle before you get the issue resolved.

After you have sent your letter to CPW. I also suggest you contact your local trading standards office by email and give a clear and concise account of the problems you are having with them with dates etc. Find your trading standards office here: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/

*One of my friends' was actually told this by a staff member in their shops.

Littlemiss27

Linas is right, the likely hood of the screen cracking of its own accord is very small, infact the only handsets I ever saw this happening on was the on the first few batches of the Samsung D900, and that was a known issue at the time. Also with most handsets released in the last few years its is possible to crack the lcd without the lens being damaged.

Maybe it would be worth your while taking it to one one of carphone warehouses stores that has a repairs engineer instore and asking them to investigate whether the handset is actually faulty.

Jakg

Don't you think CPW have stuff brought back with accidental damage all the time?

It's accidental damage and that's not what the warranty covers - it'll be up to you to prove it broke spontaneously.

bluesrich

Hi

I work in a carphone warehouse store, and come across this problem all the time, it doesn't actually have to be a harsh impact for the screen to be damaged and I agree that they should be better manufactured but unfortunately you won't get anywhere if you go to trading standards with this issue, as it does state in the CPW t&c's that everything except the screen is covered under the warranty. I'm really sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I hope you get the issue sorted.

pulliptears

My DS had an LG for 48 hours before the screen cracked. Like you he kept it safely in his pocket with nothing else in there. Its very easy to knock the pocket without realising etc, and whilst it was a bit of a pain in the !!! that he killed a new phone within that space of time it was an unfortunate accident.

Take it to one of the small high street mobile phone shops who will replace the screen for you fairly reasonably.

molerat

bluesrich wrote: »

Hi

I work in a carphone warehouse store, and come across this problem all the time, it doesn't actually have to be a harsh impact for the screen to be damaged and I agree that they should be better manufactured but unfortunately you won't get anywhere if you go to trading standards with this issue, as it does state in the CPW t&c's that everything except the screen is covered under the warranty. I'm really sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I hope you get the issue sorted.

T&C's cannot over rule consumer rights. The screen will be covered under warranty if it is a manufacturing fault no matter what the illegal T&C's say. I almost used CPW once but what they were saying in the shop was total bull!!!! so I walked out leaving them with a registered phone. Shower of !!!!!!. :mad:

But I still think that it is highly unlikely for a screen to break on its own and the OP will have to prove it. The best way would probably be to get in touch with Nokia.