UK carriers response to Apples iphone 4 refund announcement

MissKeith

Apple to me, have over-promised ridiculously to their customers. They have promised refunds without clearing it 100% with networks who sell the handsets so now there are huge delays figuring out where this refund is going to fit in with their normal t&c without negatively affecting their own business or non-iPhone customers. If Apple want to refund their customers because of their product, this refund should come from Apple, no-one else. Other manufacturers have issued handsets with inherent faults and have either told their customers to suck it up or recalled every single handset with the issue, released a new version and offered all customers experiencing issues an exchange to the newer version. Has anyone ever heard a company allowing a customer to cancel their agreement due to a defective product before? I haven't.

weby_2

Jimrod wrote: »

Official response to me from O2 online support agent -

"Welcome to O2 live chat. Someone will start chatting with you soon.

You're through to Angela.

Angela: Hi I'm Angela from O2 Online Chat. How can I help you today?

James: Hi, I'm sure you've heard the same thing many times but I have an iPhone 4 and was hoping to be able to return it due to signal issue (which I definitely have) after Apple's announcement - but O2 still not responding on their page and my 30 days is up around now...

Angela: I'm sorry about it. You can definitely return the iPhone 4 at any Apple store, if you aren't happy with it. You'll receive a full refund, if you return it within 30 days from the date of purchase.

James: I bought it through O2 over the phone - I still have the return labels? The nearest Apple store is a long way away. I am also locked into a 2 year contract which I'd rather not have as I bought it based on a "working" phone - I would gladly change for another model or shorten contract to 12 months etc...

Angela: I respect your decision.

*long pause as I was waiting for the next piece of info...*

James: So I can send it back to O2 for a refund and cancel the contract?

Angela: I'd request you to check the same at our store as I believe you can return it only at the Apple store.

James: But I didn't buy it from Apple, my contract is with you...

Angela: Yes, I appreciate that. If you want a refund you'll have to visit Apple & they'll refund the amount. If you'd like to change your contract to another phone you can visit our store.

James: Ok, thank you."


Not very useful really.

I have just spoken to a lady for 11 minutes at Apple who has told me that O2 are aware of the deal and that Apple has agreed to pay O2 back for the phones but the advice to take the phone back to an Apple store for a refund if you bought it from O2 or another contractor is wrong, and she told me not to waste my time driving all that way.

Someone needs to make a decision before ALL our 30 days are up, I have had an issue with my iphone muting calls with the screen still being live and serious loss of signal when I have 3g on along with the other issues, most of my calls go to answerphone, I wish I still had my 3gs without OS4. Still don't know what to do.

DarkConvict

bubblesmoney wrote: »

that bit highlighted in bold above is absolute b0ll0cks. at -113dbm you lose the signal because it equals the noise floor and signal becomes indistinguishible from the background radiation.

Minor Correction, - Military SF use radio equipment that operates below the noise level and over a wide band to prevent bumps in background radiation levels. So it is possible, but extremely expensive kit and also very precise. Not for a mobile, but physically is possible. :P

Alonso14

I bought an iphone 4 on tesco mobile at the beginning of the month. The calls, texts and data used make it uneconomical to return the phone under their cooling off period (which is 14 days, which has now expired anyway). Has anyone returned their phone under apple's 28 day returns window? Also, can Tesco legally enforce their charging policy from their 14 day cooling off period to this 28 day apple returns window? Of course, I have no problem in paying the £35 for this month (in fact it has already been paid in advance). However, I think its unfair that I should be subjected to such an extortionate returns procedure, when I am not returning the phone simply because Ive changed my mind, but instead because its faulty. Does anyone have any advice on who to contact for guidance? Thanks.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Alonso, if you want to return your iPhone as faulty, you can do. You would get a refund of whatever you've paid up front for the phone and provided you take another phone (it doesn't have to be an iPhone) and keep your 12 month contract going, you should not get charged.

Your issue is with the iPhone; not Tesco. Get a different phone (Nokia X6?) and in 12 months time, buy an iPhone 5!!

Andyblizz

Alonso14 wrote: »

I bought an iphone 4 on tesco mobile at the beginning of the month. The calls, texts and data used make it uneconomical to return the phone under their cooling off period (which is 14 days, which has now expired anyway). Has anyone returned their phone under apple's 28 day returns window? Also, can Tesco legally enforce their charging policy from their 14 day cooling off period to this 28 day apple returns window? Of course, I have no problem in paying the £35 for this month (in fact it has already been paid in advance). However, I think its unfair that I should be subjected to such an extortionate returns procedure, when I am not returning the phone simply because Ive changed my mind, but instead because its faulty. Does anyone have any advice on who to contact for guidance? Thanks.

Until it has been made clear what the UK networks will be Officially doing in regard to the 30 days returns.

Any advise will just be a guess. in regard to the returns policies.


I assume you either paid £229 (16GB) or £299 (32GB).

So my sugguestion is that you sell your phone privately as people are still paying over the RRP for the iPhone 4.

And then purchase a SIM free phone that you like. And use the sim from the contract in the new phone.

Exhortation

Andyblizz wrote: »

Until it has been made clear what the UK networks will be Officially doing in regard to the 30 days returns.

Any advise will just be a guess. in regard to the returns policies.

Well, the next instalment is at 7 o'clock tonight when O2 release their latest musings on the situation.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Exhortation wrote: »

Well, the next instalment is at 7 o'clock tonight when O2 release their latest musings on the situation.

Here's a question for you:

Let's suppose that O2 come back with "We've agreed to match the Apple 30 day return policy for the iPhone". The other networks would have to follow suit or risk losing customers (new ones may not go with them and existing ones could feel slighted and switch loyalty).

Now comes the question: What do you think the other phone manufacturers would do?

Would HTC suddenly decide that they should have a 30 day return policy and ask the networks to match it? How about LG and Samsung? Nokia don't want to lose market share; their latest phones suck, so they can't afford to drop further behind.

I'll be interested to see developments, as a marketwide 30 day "no quibble" return policy would be good for customers but bad for MissKeith's already shrinking commission!!

Exhortation

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Here's a question for you:

Let's suppose that O2 come back with "We've agreed to match the Apple 30 day return policy for the iPhone". The other networks would have to follow suit or risk losing customers (new ones may not go with them and existing ones could feel slighted and switch loyalty).

Now comes the question: What do you think the other phone manufacturers would do?

Would HTC suddenly decide that they should have a 30 day return policy and ask the networks to match it? How about LG and Samsung? Nokia don't want to lose market share; their latest phones suck, so they can't afford to drop further behind.

I'll be interested to see developments, as a marketwide 30 day "no quibble" return policy would be good for customers but bad for MissKeith's already shrinking commission!!

There is no doubt that this is turning into the biggest can of worms ever. The complications over what happens with the contracts etc make the whole thing a nightmare. None of this should stop Apple (particularly) and the networks from doing "the right thing". Further, if Apple do the honourable thing (as suggested by MissKeith) then it needn't set a precedent for the networks (which is far more important at the present time than how it affects the other manufacturers). I would imagine that this is the crux of the ongoing discussions betwen O2 and Apple. What I still can't get my head around is that Apple continue to knowingly distribute a device that is flawed in its design, yet they haven't announced any intention of fixing the problem (the "bumper" is a fudge and I don't think anyone can honestly say otherwise) and there has been no announcement of a redesign. Until this final point has been addressed I don't see how there can be a satisfactory end to the saga.

In short, Apple should issue a recall (it could be worded in such a way as to be to each individual iPhone 4 owner as to whether they comply with it or not) and this would render any issue of returns policies as moot.

Jimrod

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Here's a question for you:

Let's suppose that O2 come back with "We've agreed to match the Apple 30 day return policy for the iPhone". The other networks would have to follow suit or risk losing customers (new ones may not go with them and existing ones could feel slighted and switch loyalty).

Now comes the question: What do you think the other phone manufacturers would do?

Would HTC suddenly decide that they should have a 30 day return policy and ask the networks to match it? How about LG and Samsung? Nokia don't want to lose market share; their latest phones suck, so they can't afford to drop further behind.

I'll be interested to see developments, as a marketwide 30 day "no quibble" return policy would be good for customers but bad for MissKeith's already shrinking commission!!

Yeah, let's suppose O2 do agree to the 30 day return policy tonight at 7:00pm - that puts pretty much everyone who bought on launch day at oooh, let me see - 30 days? How very generous of them, helps Apple's line about "only 0.55% of people have returned their phones" because many of us would like to but are finding it increasingly difficult to do so.