7 month old house phone and battery knackered

Sponge

I have a 7 month old cordless house phone, a twin set. It cost £190 and is one of these. (I didn't buy it from JL.) The main set only lasts a few hours before the battery dies completely. Even quicker if it's in use. It seems to have developed this problem over the last week or so.

I've tried 're-calibrating' the battery by performing a full 24hr, uninterrupted charge (after the last time it died) but it hasn't helped.

The phone was sold with a 2 year warranty and I've just returned to the retailers website to check the returns procedure. I found this:

Guarantee

All our products have a minimum of 1 year guarantee from date of purchase. Some items have 2 years guarantee. For some items such as fax machines, you would need to contact the manufacturer directly for any repairs/replacement as per their request. This only applies to some machines.

If a fault occurs with your product or your item is damaged during transit, please notify our customer services on <email address removed>. If the goods have been damaged during delivery, you must notify us within 2 working days by phone or email: <email address removed>

• Batteries have a 1-month guarantee only.
• Ink for fax machines is not guaranteed.

All Returns:

For a full refund to be made, all returned items must be in a 'Saleable' condition. For example an item being returned as not required should still be in its original packaging and any sealed containers should still be sealed with all wrappings still intact. Goods being returned as not required should not have been used. For faulty items the original packaging materials should be used to protect the item from any damage during return transit, as any further damage occurring during return transit caused by inadequate packaging will result in a charge being deducted from any refund due, to the value of correcting said damage.

Now the bit I've highlighted in bold worries me. Does it mean I have no grounds for repair/replacement? Surely the battery, a major part of a cordless phone (it won't work without it) should last more than a month?

As a matter of interest, I thought the conditions imposed in the last paragraph were against the DSR?

olly300

Correct.

There could be reasons why the battery doesn't charge properly which is a fault probably caused by you. Therefore you need to contact them and ask them how you can get a new battery.

neilmcl

Batteries for electronic items, such a laptops, phones etc are always classed as consumables and therefore never covered by the standard warranty of the item they come with. Replacement batteries for DECT phones don't tend to cost that much anyway.

Sponge

olly300 wrote: »

There could be reasons why the battery doesn't charge properly which is a fault probably caused by you.

Care to elaborate?

I don't know if it was your intention to offend me (there are people on this forum that I'm sure do have such intentions when responding to people), but you have. You have no idea who I am, or how I have used the phone. So to say it's a fault probably caused by me is a gross assumption. I don't like people that make assumptions.

By the way, I have contacted them. They haven't replied.

Browntoa

most modern phones use standard rechargeables

Sponge

A replacement battery is going to cost £20. :mad:

The_Pedant

Unfortunately, that one uses a lithium battery, going on the manual.
7 months is not very good going for a lithium battery, unless it was maybe undergoing very heavy usage. I would be inclined to go back to who you bought it from and put that to them. After all, how many mobile phone batteries do you know that fail after only 7 months? I would therefore consider 1 month guarantee on that to be a cop-out.

I would also check the manual, to see if there is any advice on charging etc (is it ok to leave on the base, charging, when not in use etc) and ensure you are complying with that (just so you can confirm if they should ask you this).

If the phone has not seen heavy use, and you are following any care instructions, then I would be concerned that either the battery was faulty, or the charger is causing the battery damage (you'll be surprised just how quickly cheap/badly designed chargers can damage batteries, hugely shortening their life).

olly300

Sponge wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

I don't know if it was your intention to offend me (there are people on this forum that I'm sure do have such intentions when responding to people), but you have. You have no idea who I am, or how I have used the phone. So to say it's a fault probably caused by me is a gross assumption. I don't like people that make assumptions.

By the way, I have contacted them. They haven't replied.

I was too lazy to write a full explanation I didn't mean to be rude.

Under the SOGA you have 6 months with normal items i.e. items that are not perishable to argue that the fault was there when the item was sold to you, after this time you have to prove that you didn't cause the fault i.e. it wasn't your fault.

With rechargeable batteries as there can be problems with recharging them caused by not charging them as the manufacturer states or an electric fault from your power supply causing the battery to short. If you did charge it as stated you are going to have to get a report to prove the battery was faulty and for £20 to get a new one, and no damage i.e. no electrical fire to your house/yourself I personally wouldn't bother.

There are occasions when you can argue with the retailer/manufacturer without going and getting extra proof after the 6 month period, and they will replace the item due to good will..

It's Xmas so they may have been closed down or on short staff until Monday, which is why they haven't answered you. Also I find that lots of companies tend to not like answering emails but are much better answering letters and telephone calls.

One thing on forums like these it's better to put the manufacturer's details, model etc with the item that has a problem rather than just a link, because these forums show up in google and someone else with exactly the same problem may appear, which if you are arguing with a retailer/manufacturer can help you.

Poppycat

I have a 6 year old panasonic twin dect phone and it still uses the same rechargeable, something must be wrong with phone to have batteries go dead unless they aren't rechargeables

Some phones use dedicated batteries which plugin inside the phone which you cna buy but they normal last a long time as they charge up to

Poppycat

These are the batteries by look of it

http://www.fusionbattery.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?language=en&currency=GBP&products_id=909381

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Battery Type: Li-ion


[/FONT]

Poppycat

Amazon review

10... Cannot comment on battery life yet but managed to run flat, after a six hour charge, just playing about with the phone