Mobile phones going wrong and claiming back monthly payment

Ian1983

Hi all.

First post here however I've been receiving Martins weekly e-mails for a while.

Right, my issue.
Have a N97 through a third party due to pricing and the contract goes through T mobile (who aren't at fault in any of this).. The phone went wrong about 3 weeks ago, rang up T mobile and as the phone was through a 3rd party, I was told to ring them. They told me to ring Nokia. They told me to take it to a local repair shop that deals with Nokia products. They end up sending it off and charge me £10. I get it back 2 weeks later (and in that time I haven't had a loan phone, so I'm completely out of pocket and had no access to my minutes etc during this time). I have it for 2 days and it goes wrong again, so again it gets sent off, however now I have a loan phone for £5 a week. So now I haven't had access to the device which I am paying for for 3 weeks, by the time I get it back it will be 4 weeks most likely.

Now I have insurance with the third party, but they say it won't cover any of these costs, only if it's stolen (which I have coverage with a natwest account). Not only that but I can't claim any of the rental fee back for the phone even though I haven't really had it for 3-4 weeks.

I always thought a contract was a 2 way thing (ie you pay us this much, and you will get this in return).
Would a formal letter to the company yield any results and if so, what format/details should I present in the letter?

I apologise if this is in the wrong section of the forum. I was hoping someone else here might have had a similar experience and point me in the right direction.
I'm going to send the company that deals with the insurance a letter cancelling the useless insurance.


Many thanks
Ian

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative

Hi there,

Sounds like you should have had a replacement almost immediately - the N97 has a 2 year warranty on it and any good Nokia Service Centre should be able to replace or repair it on the premises -and certainly shouldn't be charging you to send it away, or for a loan phone (it's been a while since we were a Nokia Service Centre but I'm fairly sure this isn't allowed).

I'd consider approaching the retailer about the goods not being fit for purpose.

Quentin

Ian1983 wrote: »

They told me to take it to a local repair shop that deals with Nokia products. They end up sending it off and charge me £10.

Nokia provide a free postal return system for repairs under warranty - Nokia warranty is 24 months (handsets), 12 months (accessories) and 6months for consumables (eg battery)

The firm who charged you £10 seemingly didn't know that Nokia pay for the return postage on warranty repairs!

http://www.nokia.co.uk/NOKIA_UK_23/EUROPE_NOKIA_COM_3/Get_Support/Repair/freepost_forms/Freepost-return-form-V13.pdf

prettypaula

on another note, T-Mobile would not be liable to refund any of your costs as you only pay themline rental for your sim, not the N97, my advice is to not use 3rd parties in future

and its them which should be repairing it for you, its their responsibility to honour your warranty.

Ian1983

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative wrote: »

Hi there,

Sounds like you should have had a replacement almost immediately - the N97 has a 2 year warranty on it and any good Nokia Service Centre should be able to replace or repair it on the premises -and certainly shouldn't be charging you to send it away, or for a loan phone (it's been a while since we were a Nokia Service Centre but I'm fairly sure this isn't allowed).

I'd consider approaching the retailer about the goods not being fit for purpose.

Hi

Thanks for the response. So the Nokia repair centre (which seems to be a side thing of theirs rather then their main priority) that Nokia said to take my phone to should at least be able to do more then just flash the device and if they can't do that (as it seems they cab't), they should at least be able to supply a free phone?

The annoying thing is that the Nokia place that I have been taking it to don't even have the N97. They have a few 5800's, but nothing newer then that.

When you say to approach the retailer. Should I approach the third party supplier (which is quite a big one online with stores in certain locations), or Noka themselves?

I was wondering should I approach Nokia and say that I have been charged by the Nokia repair centre for sending it back and for a loan phone (which is a complete brick of a device)?

Many thanks for the help.

Ian1983

Quentin wrote: »

Nokia provide a free postal return system for repairs under warranty - Nokia warranty is 24 months (handsets), 12 months (accessories) and 6months for consumables (eg battery)

The firm who charged you £10 seemingly didn't know that Nokia pay for the return postage on warranty repairs!

Well that is an interesting document!

I might take that back with me.

Me thinks that they are sending it back and pocketing £10

Ian1983

prettypaula wrote: »

on another note, T-Mobile would not be liable to refund any of your costs as you only pay themline rental for your sim, not the N97, my advice is to not use 3rd parties in future

and its them which should be repairing it for you, its their responsibility to honour your warranty.

Yeah I'm starting to think that now.

So in reality, even though my 'insurance' doesn't cover me, the warranty through the online retailer should dictate that they sort out the product which is defective.

Just to clarify, I'm not allowed to name the online 3rd party retailer am I incase someone else has had a similar experience with them.

Many thanks for the help thus far.

Ian

DarkConvict

I believe you can name who you like on these forums, aside from Mercury telecoms (see sticky).

The contract and phone are separate, a common misconception. If the phone breaks the contract will continue to run. Im surprised the insurance won't cover it, it may be that if a phone has broken within warranty conditions (manufacturing fault) then the insurance usually does exclude this as it is covered by your 1/2 year gaurentee.

Ian1983

That's fine as the company I have been going through is mobile phones direct.

I have since written quite a scathing e-mail to Nokia asking why I am being charged by their repair centre for a loan phone and for it to be sent off for repairs when the fault is with the device and as such it seems to be unfit for purpose. I also stated that both issues only occured after I had updated the firmware on the device and before hand it was working perfectly well.

I'm cancelling the useless insurance which is costing £5.99 pm as I am already covered for such devices with Natwest.

edit- after reading some of the above, I think I'm going to have to take the hit with the company itself as they aren't responsible for the device (which I think it a sorry state of affairs, but what you going to do at the end of teh day).

Guys_Dad

Ian1983 wrote: »

That's fine as the company I have been going through is mobile phones direct.

I have since written quite a scathing e-mail to Nokia asking why I am being charged by their repair centre for a loan phone and for it to be sent off for repairs when the fault is with the device and as such it seems to be unfit for purpose. I also stated that both issues only occured after I had updated the firmware on the device and before hand it was working perfectly well.

I'm cancelling the useless insurance which is costing £5.99 pm as I am already covered for such devices with Natwest.

edit- after reading some of the above, I think I'm going to have to take the hit with the company itself as they aren't responsible for the device (which I think it a sorry state of affairs, but what you going to do at the end of teh day).

Ian - please get a short summary of the sale of goods act and be sure you know your rights. Take it with you next time to the vendor and they have to prove you have damaged the phone before they can charge you, not the other way round. And also the Nokia Repair centres are not owned by Nokia, I am almost 100% sure. Remember, the contract is always with who sold you the item - any item - not the manufacturer.

Get back to the mobile company and demand your £10 back.

SamLomax

I purchased a mobile phone in cash for £189 last Wednesday from the Carphone Warehouse in Birkenhead, Wirral.

Within 24 hours the screen started to wobble so we took it back to the store. They requested £65 from us to send it away to be repaired.

I explained that under the Sale of Goods act the phone should be fit for purpose and of Merchantable quality.

The store staff laughed and said it was company policy that they do not replace damaged items.

I explained that it was less than 24 hours ago that we purchased it and that I wanted a brand new phone as there was obviously a fault with this one.

The store refused to replace it and still demanded the £65. I complained to their Head Office in Southampton and the email response i received was terrible and very insulting.

If I had owned the handset for a few months I could understand them questioning where and how it was damaged but i had owned it a few hours.

I went back to the store on Saturday when it was full of Christmas shoppers. I again gave the store the opportunity to change the phone and they refused, i presented them with a copy of the Sale of Goods Act and again they laughed.

So, I stood up on a stool and announced to the whole shop how I had been treated and recommended that nobody buy a phone from them.

Well, strongarm tactics or not it worked and they replaced the phone there and then.

I dispair at this as not everyone would have the gutts to stand up and complain the way I did.