Vodafone lumped me with a crappy phone

wattc

I recently upgraded my phone, 18month contract. I got a new HTC Tattoo phone as part of the upgrade.

To cut a long story short, I hate this phone. It doesn't work. I woke up 15 minutes late today and missed my train, as the phone decided to put the alarm to silent! I mean, a silent alarm! It worked yesterday morning. But this morning it decided to only vibrate and not play any sound! I didn't do anything to it other than change the time to an hour earlier.

I rang up vodafone, asking if I could get a different phone, as this one is not for me. They said I could only change my mind about the phone if I returned it within 7 days of receiving it (I got it about a month ago now). So I got the polite "It's your fault you're an idiot, nothing we can do. Now go away".

To me, 7 days might have been fair when phones were bricks - when you could only make calls, send texts and take photos. But phones with this Android software are like computers. In 7 days, you aren't likely to use even 5% of the features on a phone like this. How is that long enough to decide if you like the phone or not?

Last week, for no reason whatsoever, this phone told me I did not have a correct sim card. I had to switch it off and on before it started to work again. Then I found a bunch of voicemails had been left for me. I have no idea how many hours it was like this. Grr. What good is a phone that won't even stay connected to the network?!

None of these errors are predicable and none of them happened during the first 7 days I had the phone.

To me, this phone is not fit for purpose. And yet there is nothing I can do when I'm told I have no right to change my mind about the phone after 7 days.

If vodafone can foist a phone on you for 7 days, you are stuck with it for 540 more. Paying through the nose. It's not fair.

It's despicable.

jd87

I don't really see that you have any option. If the rule is 7 days then that's the rule. Maybe sell it on ebay and get something else?

Is the firmware up to date?

gjchester

wattc wrote: »

I recently upgraded my phone, 18month contract. I got a new HTC Tattoo phone as part of the upgrade.

To cut a long story short, I hate this phone. It doesn't work. I woke up 15 minutes late today and missed my train, as the phone decided to put the alarm to silent! I mean, a silent alarm! It worked yesterday morning. But this morning it decided to only vibrate and not play any sound! I didn't do anything to it other than change the time to an hour earlier.

I rang up vodafone, asking if I could get a different phone, as this one is not for me. They said I could only change my mind about the phone if I returned it within 7 days of receiving it (I got it about a month ago now). So I got the polite "It's your fault you're an idiot, nothing we can do. Now go away".

To me, 7 days might have been fair when phones were bricks - when you could only make calls, send texts and take photos. But phones with this Android software are like computers. In 7 days, you aren't likely to use even 5% of the features on a phone like this. How is that long enough to decide if you like the phone or not?

Last week, for no reason whatsoever, this phone told me I did not have a correct sim card. I had to switch it off and on before it started to work again. Then I found a bunch of voicemails had been left for me. I have no idea how many hours it was like this. Grr. What good is a phone that won't even stay connected to the network?!

None of these errors are predicable and none of them happened during the first 7 days I had the phone.

To me, this phone is not fit for purpose. And yet there is nothing I can do when I'm told I have no right to change my mind about the phone after 7 days.

If vodafone can foist a phone on you for 7 days, you are stuck with it for 540 more. Paying through the nose. It's not fair.

It's despicable.

Before you have a go at vodafone let them try and resolve the problem.

The 7 day rules are NOT for you to test every function it's for you to examine the phone to see if what you see on the web is the same in real life, is the colour right, weight right etc. It's to give you the same chance as if you were in a shop and could touch the thing. You would not be able to test everything in a shop, and the distance selling rules are to give you a similar experience to a shop not to give you an extended try before you buy session. Incidentally if you had bought it in a shop then you don't even get the 7 days to test it, it's yours the moment you sign the contract, and there is no colling off period.

It sounds like the phone is faulty, so take it back and get it looked at. Again the same as if you were in a shop. If you bought an alarm clock and it didn't ring you'd take it back to be repaired or replaced. Take it back and get it looked at, if there are repeated faults after that thats another matter, but you have to give a seller the chance to resolve a problem before you can really start moaning about how bad they are.

With regards to playing though the nose, you'd be happy if the phone was working, let them try to fix the fault.

Rusty!

Don't run a task killer do you? Unless you're careful these can play havoc with alarms.

Guys_Dad

It seems that there are 2 possibilities here.

1. The phone is faulty - in which case Vodafone need to replace it. Easiest thing is to check either with HTC themselves about the "faults" or go into a Vodafone shop.

2. The phone is actually working to spec and you don't like the spec. Now if that is the case and Vodafone supplied you with the phone you asked for but did not check out fully before ordering it or within the 7 days they give you with DSR, then you have the same rights as I would have after buying a new car and taking it back because there was no alarm that told me when I left the car with my lights on and I found myself with a flat battery.

There is a 3rd choice and that is that networks often tweak the vanilla software to "enhance" it. Orange are number one suspects for this. Check the web for any other reports of Vodafone ruining the unbranded version.
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wattc

gjchester wrote: »

Before you have a go at vodafone let them try and resolve the problem.

As I said, I already spoke to them and got the "There's nothing we can do" speech.

gjchester wrote: »

It sounds like the phone is faulty, so take it back and get it looked at. Again the same as if you were in a shop. If you bought an alarm clock and it didn't ring you'd take it back to be repaired or replaced. Take it back and get it looked at, if there are repeated faults after that thats another matter, but you have to give a seller the chance to resolve a problem before you can really start moaning about how bad they are.

You are not really understanding the problem here. These are intermittent, unpredictable faults. I can set my alarm 10 minutes from now and it will go off as expected.

If I send this phone off for repair, they are going to test it and send it back saying it works. Because it does. You can't reproduce intermittent bugs like this.

This is why the phone is so bad. If it had a broken speaker, that is obviously something they can fix. But if it decides to disconnect itself from the network one afternoon, then works fine again once it's been restarted, how can a technician reproduce this bug and write on a report that the phone has this bug? It's happened twice in about 30 days, that's total roulette chance.

It makes no sense to send it off for a week and have someone send it back saying it works fine.

This is why I say it's a crappy phone. It doesn't RELIABLY do what it says it will. That's why I want it replaced with one that does RELIABLY do what it says it will.

My last phone reliably stayed connected to the network at all time and the alarm never failed to work, so there is no reason not to expect the same standard from any new phone Vodafone supply me.

mongoose2009

could be a firmware issue?
I would check to see which firmware you have and check on the net to see if there are any updates

smitchy73

I'd say don't blame Vodafone for the phone you had a choice to say no to it, or return within the 7 days, i've just redone two contracts with them, and know that if I'm not happy I have seven days to return them and choose something else.
Also I went to a vodafone shop to check out the handsets to see what they feel like and had it whittled down to a few to choose from and ended up choosing the one with the best deal and that I think I'll be happy with.
HOWEVER, with the problems you're having it does sound like a firmware problem, check on the handset manufacturers website(not Vodafone) for updates for you're handset, aren't they being upgrade to android 2.1 or something like that which is C
Check out some of the previous Vodafone threads for emailed their Web Relations Team, they can be alot more helpful than normal customer services.

gjchester

wattc wrote: »

As I said, I already spoke to them and got the "There's nothing we can do" speech.

You said you phoned up asking for a new phone, thats different from seeking a repair. You didn't say it had been looked at before.

wattc wrote: »

You are not really understanding the problem here. These are intermittent, unpredictable faults. I can set my alarm 10 minutes from now and it will go off as expected.

If I send this phone off for repair, they are going to test it and send it back saying it works. Because it does. You can't reproduce intermittent bugs like this.

This is why the phone is so bad. If it had a broken speaker, that is obviously something they can fix. But if it decides to disconnect itself from the network one afternoon, then works fine again once it's been restarted, how can a technician reproduce this bug and write on a report that the phone has this bug? It's happened twice in about 30 days, that's total roulette chance.

It makes no sense to send it off for a week and have someone send it back saying it works fine.

This is why I say it's a crappy phone. It doesn't RELIABLY do what it says it will. That's why I want it replaced with one that does RELIABLY do what it says it will.

My last phone reliably stayed connected to the network at all time and the alarm never failed to work, so there is no reason not to expect the same standard from any new phone Vodafone supply me.

My apologies if I'm mistaken but your assuming it's the phone, it may be, it certainly sounds like a fault, but if the phone as a model was that bad there would be posts all over the net, there isn't so it's either your individual phone, your network coverage, or some other issue.

You have no legal right to replacing the phone with another one, either of the same or a differnet model. You legally can ask for a repair, and Vodafone have the option to repair or replace it, but it's Vodafones choice not yours.

You also have to give the supplier the chance to repair it, you can't demand another phone because this is intermittantly fault but you can ask they take a look at yours to resolve the problem. It may be as simple as a problem in manufacture and it's shorting internally. It may be you send it off and they find a fault in testing and fix it but you need to let them try first.

You also need to log when it falls of the network, and ensure Vodafone know, so they can check the mast side logs. It may be they can tell somethign from that, they may not not you need to give them the details.

Just saying I want a new phone won't work, You need to tell them why and let them try to put it right. If they can't you can try to get it replaced but not until they have looked.

wattc

smitchy73 wrote: »

I'd say don't blame Vodafone for the phone you had a choice to say no to it, or return within the 7 days, i've just redone two contracts with them, and know that if I'm not happy I have seven days to return them and choose something else.
Also I went to a vodafone shop to check out the handsets to see what they feel like and had it whittled down to a few to choose from and ended up choosing the one with the best deal and that I think I'll be happy with.

Do you work for Vodafone? Sounds like you are towing the company line.

Just because Vodafone made up some crappy rule that you can only return a phone within 7 days, back when phones were just a keypad and few other simple functions does not mean it's law. Nor that it's necessary still "fair" now, considering how complicated the phones they are selling are nowadays. I bet it's just the bare minimum they can get away with by law, which I now think is unfair based on how complicated the phones are.

To recap - if you read my first message properly, you will see I got a Android phone, which as I said is as complex as a computer.

Maybe if I was on the dole, I could download the 100 page user guide and go through all the features within the first 7 days of having it. But as someone with a full-time job, I don't have hours to kill playing with a new phone.

I took for granted, given the fact they advertised the phone had all these various features, that all the various features the phone claimed to have ACTUALLY WORKED.

And I think it's reasonable to expect it to work as well as the previous phone they sold me. After all, it's called an upgrade, not a downgrade (although, frankly, that's what it is).

And as both the problems I mentioned happened well and truly AFTER the initial 7 days, there was no for me to know within 7 days.

But I am glad you had the time to go to the Vodafone shop and try out the phone you wanted (not just a plastic model on a string, which is usually what they have in store). And I'm glad you had the time to download the 100 page manual (it didn't even come with the phone) and work your way through all the features. It paid off for you, as you seem like a happy Vodafone employe, ahem, sales, ahem, customer.

gjchester

wattc wrote: »

Just because Vodafone made up some crappy rule that you can only return a phone within 7 days, back when phones were just a keypad and few other simple functions does not mean it's law. Nor that it's necessary still "fair" now, considering how complicated the phones they are selling are nowadays. I bet it's just the bare minimum they can get away with by law, which I now think is unfair based on how complicated the phones are..

Actually it's the UK Goverment who give you the 7 days. Vodafone have no legal obligation to give you any return time after sale apart from the distance selling rules. As I mentioned before if you bought it in a shop you would not get any cooling off time.

wattc wrote: »

Maybe if I was on the dole, I could download the 100 page user guide and go through all the features within the first 7 days of having it. But as someone with a full-time job, I don't have hours to kill playing with a new phone.

The Distance Selling Rules are not to give you a 7 day trial of the phone, it's to ensure it's to give you the same shopping experiance as in store. For example if you bought say clothes on line and the blue colour was actually brown once they arrived you can return them. If you bought in store you'd have seen the colour first hand so don't need the ability to return them.

Coming back on topic if you get a phone from Three they give you 14 days to see if the phone is what you expected, *BUT* if you turn it on or use it then that rendered the return period invalid.

The 7 days is not a test period it's so anything you buy from a web page looks like you expect in the flesh.

wattc wrote: »

It paid off for you, as you seem like a happy Vodafone employe, ahem, sales, ahem, customer.

You may not like the comments but that's no reason to be rude. It's quite normal for people to check phones out, be it online, in store or anywhere else before purchasing.