Phones Not Lasting Until End Of Contract

aaron.brett

Hi All

I have a friend who signed up for an 18 month contract with Orange 13 months ago and was offered a Samsung mobile phone.

The mobile phone has developed a fault which means that it can no longer be used.

On contacting Orange, she was offered either to pay £60 plus £5 a month for insurance or a one-off £70 charge to replace the phone (as it was out of the standard 12 month warranty period)

Network providers over the past couple of years have increased their minimum phone contract lengths from the standard 12 months to a standard of 18 months and now some are even 24 months!

Under the SOGA, goods should be made fit for purpose. Does she have any comeback with the argument that the phone was not fit for the purpose it was intended - which was to be used as a tool, alongside the contract with Orange, to enable use of the services provided for under the contract?

Shouldn't network providers and manufacturers be getting together and matching up warranty periods to the new longer length of these contracts?

Thanks for any advice.

Aaron

HannahIOW

Go to Samsung's website and read through the warranty section - all samsung mobile phones purchased after a certain date have 2 years warranty on them. I had to do the exact same thing when my phone stopped working. Phoned them up, they send you a pre paid special delivery envelope in which you can send the phone along with brief description of faults and your return address. They recieved my phone on the monday and I had it back by the thursday. The phone works now but not perfectly so I may send it off again, but can't fault the service in general.

angelica135

Hey - I just posted this morning, have a similar problem =( let me know if you find out anything! I'd be grateful for some advice too..mobile phones are so frustrating!

Buzby

Your contrsct only covers the SIM, not the handset. If because of useage the phone doesn't last the duration, it still falls to the customer to arrange a replacemnt as the contract runs on regardless. Fair wear and tear, and abuse are excluded from SOGA.

phillh79

The problem with modern phones.....

I bought a Sony Erricsson K800i when they 1st came out a few years ago. Its a little battered around the edges but still working fine. I've been thinking bout replacing it for a while but not found something worth exchanging it for as the upgraded models all seem to have a lot more faults.

DarkConvict

The problem is that consumers want everything in the phone and each feature obviously costs money. Whilst i do feel many phones are "overpriced" the operators have to remake the money back as the phone is sold to you, its not on loan. So as prices go up the contracts get longer or more expensive, or both.
Adding people to a network doesn't cost money if they have bandwidth to support the communication of the data (phone,text,web data etc) but the phone is a physical object.
Obviously money is spent on upgrading networks to support more which is why you aren't just paying for a phone. Orange have some Sim only 36 month contracts now

5562

All mobile phones for the last 3 or 4 years have come with a 2 year warrenty, as required by EU law. The networks dont tell the customers this but contact the manufacturer or take the phone to a repair centre with proof of purchase and get it repaired for free.

chocolatepennyfarthing

Son on T mobile contract, his phone is broken but he is due for upgrade in Nov. Was going to put him on PAYG then, would I be able to get the phone replaced now under contract.