HTC phone broken and orange being unreasonable

lauram25

my brothers HTC phone recently broke, he doesnt know what happened to it, he got it out of his bag and put it on charge and it then wouldnt turn on, the light comes on but no screen or anything.

the rang orange and they said all they could do was send out a new phone and he'd have to send the old one back, and that they'd run tests on it - but that if the problem was due to something he had done then he'd be liable to pay the price of the new phone which would be over £400 !

because he cant guarantee he didnt knock it in his bag or something, this isnt something he can commit to. i dont see why they cant have the old phone back and run tests on it, without sending out the new phone til they know for sure what happened to the old one - this way if they wont replace it he can just go and buy a cheapie phone from the shop.

is this the normal proceedure, or something they are simply being funny about and that we should argue about?

hes only had the contract a few months.

DarkConvict

If it is under a year old, they must allow you to send it in for tests, if the phone failed under warranty it must be replaced. If it failed for other reasons like impact/water damage then he will have to pay for the repair or replacement of a new device. Otherwise he can buy another cheap phone (unlocked or orange locked) an use that instead.
All orange must do is replace a sim card.

If it is found to be out of warranty
Did your brother take out a mobile insurance policy, or is it covered under contents insurance or a policy with the bank such as barclays paid current account.

lauram25

he does have an insurance with his halifax reward account - but hes only just got it and cos he didnt yet name a phone they said theres no phone assoiciated with his account and therefore cant get it done through them.

as for orange, yeah hes only had it a few months, maybe 4 months? they are point blank refusing to have it in for tests without sending out a new phone and therefore comiting him to the liability of possibly having to fork out for the cost ot it. the sim still works fine, its just the phone.

reehsetin

tell him to take it to a carphone warehouse repair centre they will repair it for free under warranty or they will tell you if it's not covered and what it would cost to fix, even if your local isn't a repair centre they should send it to one for you.

lauram25

really? even though its not been brought through them? he went to orange directly for the contract.

he was told the HTC's arent repairable, that only new ones can be sent out

DCFC79

reehsetin wrote: »

tell him to take it to a carphone warehouse repair centre

you sure about that, if the brother didnt buy it from cpw then theres no contract between the OP's brother and cpw

DarkConvict

lauram25 wrote: »

he was told the HTC's arent repairable, that only new ones can be sent out

Nonesense! Take it into a shop personally and ask them to have a look, then lodge a nice complaint with orange with the threat of reporting to trading standards.

torro_rosso

lauram25 wrote: »

he was told the HTC's arent repairable, that only new ones can be sent out

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

sorry, thats just laughable, you mean they were being SERIOUS?

a htc is no different to any other phone, they may require a specialist repair (like an iphone does) but thats not the same as not being repairable

drbesty

Rather than making you send the phone in for repair and then be without a phone for a few weeks, Orange just take your old phone, give you a replacement one straight away, repair the old one and then send it back out to someone else.

OP if the handset doesnt look like its been damaged I wouldnt worry too much about them trying to charge you for it, which model HTC is it? You could try a hard reset to see if that gets it going again

Rusty!

You could always try contacting the HTC service centre directly, they will have a courier pick up the phone, assess and repair it, then ship it back.

ajb69

If you are in South London (Wimbledon), these guys repaired my HTC while-I -waited when I smashed the screen (100% my fault):

http://www.xdarepairs.co.uk/home.asp

they may be able to let you know what the fault is and either recommend you send it off or fix it under warranty.

I would have thought there'd be a repair shop near you who would be happy to investigate for £10 and let you know if you are better off repairing or going to Orange.

Drew