Defective Nokia N97

greigster

Hi I wonder if anyone can offer advice,
I purchased a new Nokia N97 mobile phone direct from Nokia UK in late June of this year for £499 and soon after using it I noticed a couple of problems.
First, the GPS global positioning was inaccurate by about 70 to 210 yards so when using the inbuilt sat nav, the driving instructions were delayed by several seconds and some times it shows my position as being on another road or even on the opposite carriageway driving in the opposite direction.
The second problem was concerning the hands-free/speakerphone facility whereby when talking to someone, if we both talked at the same time, the other person could not hear me.
I was told that future software updates would solve all of the bugs that that the phone was suffering from.
In early September, not having the bugs fixed,I reported the faults to Nokia , who advised me to take it in to my nearest Nokia Repair Centre.
The phone came back after about 10 days with the GPS improved but the hands-free was still defective. The next day I returned the phone to the repair centre and again it was sent back to Nokia for a fix. 7 days later the phone came back to the repair centre unfixed so was sent back to Nokia who after a further 10 days said the phone had an unrepairable fault and they sent a replacement. I picked up the replacement from the repair centre only to find that it also did not work on hands-free. Having done quite a bit of research on the net, it seems that many people but not all, are suffering from the same fault. I then asked Nokia for a full refund which they refused. Nokia then said they would send me a brand new boxed phone but I would have to send back the defective one which I did the next day. After a week I phoned them asking when I would receive my second replacement and they told me that it was company policy to send out replacement 30 days after receiving my returned phone. This would have made it 56 days without a mobile phone. I told them that this was unacceptable but they would not budge, so I told them to cancel the replacement and I would be forced to go to the Small Claims Court for a refund.
The following day I sent a letter Special Delivery asking for a full refund within 14 days or I would go to the small claims court.The following day I had an email from Nokia informing me that a brand new phone was being dispatched. I phoned Nokia to tell them that I did not wish to receive another phone from them but sure enough a brand new one arrived the following day. I sent a further latter by registered post asking them to arrange to have the phone picked up as I no longer had ant faith with the phone or Nokia themselves. I have not opened the new phone and the 14 days to stating Small Claims were up yesterday.
I have wasted quite a lot of time and petrol traveling in total 176 miles over the 4 wasted journeys to the Nokia Repair centre along with not having a phone for over 7 weeks.
Do you think I have a good case against Nokia?


All help appreciated


Greigster

Esqui

They have remedied the fault by replacing, which fulfills their obligations under the Sale of Goods Act. So no, you don't have a particularly good legal case.

Anihilator

Not a chance you will win

4743hudsonj

3rded? it that an expression? lol

not a chance, accept the replacement

its a great phone


as for the gps

if you twist your hand whilst holding it(bearing in mind the receiver is nearish the camera) almost as if you were using a screwdriver, it configures the compass and improves positioning

you just sounded like you didnt do this, or you had bad signal


what do you expect, a tom tom?

as for the hands free ive heard about it, apparently something to do with the phone trying so do too many things at once?

o well the new firmware is good, improved speed greatly..

greigster

Esqui wrote: »

They have remedied the fault by replacing, which fulfills their obligations under the Sale of Goods Act. So no, you don't have a particularly good legal case.

But they have not remedied the fault the first phone they failed to fix 3 times and the first replacement had the same defect.I have scoured the internet and have found many people suffering from the same defect.

Regards
Greigster

greigster

Anihilator wrote: »

Not a chance you will win

Please expand.

Esqui

greigster wrote: »

But they have not remedied the fault the first phone they failed to fix 3 times and the first replacement had the same defect.I have scoured the internet and have found many people suffering from the same defect.

Regards
Greigster

And the new replacement?

greigster

Esqui wrote: »

And the new replacement?

Still sealed in the box. I told them in a letter that after 3 failed repairs and 1 replacement with the same defect, I no longer had faith in the N97 and although the Nokia care line said they would not send it, it still arrived the next day by courier next day delivery from the Netherlands.

Greigster

Esqui

Your only way of getting what you want would be via Nokia, out of their goodwill. Under the law, they have done nothing wrong. In fact, they'd technically be doing nothing wrong if each replacement was faulty and they sent a new one out. Of course, by that time it'd be far less costly to refund you.

As far as I'm aware, "losing faith" in a product does not entitle you to a refund.

greigster

Esqui wrote: »

Your only way of getting what you want would be via Nokia, out of their goodwill. Under the law, they have done nothing wrong. In fact, they'd technically be doing nothing wrong if each replacement was faulty and they sent a new one out. Of course, by that time it'd be far less costly to refund you.

As far as I'm aware, "losing faith" in a product does not entitle you to a refund.

Thanks for that, so how can it be right that I have to accept a defective phone and why aren't I covered under the sale of goods act?
When I got the first replacement after having 3 failed repairs, I phoned trading standards who advised me to pursue Nokia through the courts after requesting a refund and giving them 14 days to give me my money back.

Regards
Greigster

Esqui

The sale of goods act allows you to claim remedy for faulty goods. The remedy could be replacement, repair or refund, but it is up to the retailer as to which is most cost effective and best service.

Nokia have replaced the phone, which is in line with the Act. As far as a court would be concerned, they've acted within the law and provided a remedy. You've not accepted it, and you'd be unlikely to get a court to force them to refund. You should, as you are, continue to bug Nokia for a refund....but threatening court action will probably come to nought as they've done nothing against the SoGA.