Broken mobile - what to do next?

muirio

Hi guys,

Hope I haven't posted this in the wrong forum - think I'm right doing it here than on the Mobile Phones specific forum, sorry if I have! Any help with my issue would be greatly appreciated.

Bought a new Nokia X6 from buymobilephones.net for £40 upfront on a £15/month contract on T-Mobile about three months back.

About 8 weeks ago or so whilst up at Uni the phone would intermittently drop signal completely, ending any call that I was on (this was in a full signal area). This would happen without fail for every call, at any random point between 30secs-30mins into a conversation (very annoying!). Anyway, the phone itself otherwise was great and worked fine. This happened the same day that I upgraded the firmware on the device (how very coincidental eh?!), which apparently is riddled with bugs anyway...

Anyway - took the phone to a "Nokia Service Point" (a.k.a. an authorised telecomms shop to deal with Nokia repairs) who tried to perform some kind of software reset in the first instance (which didn't work), and posted it off to some Nokia in the second instance.

Nokia took about 2 weeks to return the phone which they claimed was beyond economical repair - they had taken a photo of something loose on the circuitboard which they said was the problem; some kind of physical damage near the charging block that wasn't covered under warranty. This seemed odd considering the proximity of the fault arising to the firmware upgrade, but I can't really argue much about something they claim is physical damage can I? I asked the girl in the Service Point shop how a phone with zilch exterior damage that I'd taken a great care of could have developed an internal fault that was just that, my fault. She told me I'd probably dropped it (I hadn't). Anyway, they refused to repair it.

The absolute worst part about it is the state the phone came back in. The plastic camera cover on the back of the phone has a big crack across it, whether or not the camera works I don't know. One of the gold battery connectors inside the phone is so wobbly that I could probably pull it out (although I haven't tried) - which probably has something to do with the fact the phone won't even turn on now (!!!). I mean, at least when I sent it off it was 90% functioning...now it is 0%. Doesn't seem fair to me somehow!

The Service Point I took it to say there's "nothing else they can do for me", I also tried e-mailing Nokia about it, but that was nearly 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing, so am just about ready to give up with them.

What I don't really want to do is contact buymobilephones.net and tell them that the phone has already been off to Nokia for inspection (or worse have them send it back on my behalf to be rejected for exactly the same reason). Even if I could argue the phone had always had the fault, they could surely be within their rights to just refund the £40 upfront I paid for it and tell me to get lost - its not like they are going to care about refunding my £360 T-Mobile contract, even though the phone and the service are most certainly complimentary. Likewise, seeing as though I didn't buy the phone from them, T-Mobile will almost certainly not want to hear about cancelling my contract early free of charge, or sorting me out with a new phone. What I really want is for buymobilephones.net to repair it or replace it, not refund it.

A final long shot - but I got 3 months free phone insurance when I bought the phone which ran out WHILST the phone was in repair with Nokia. When I got it back it had already ran out but the fault had appeared during the contract period, just wasn't reported in time as I obviously didn't think Nokia would be so pedantic about the responsibility for the repairs. Any way I could possibly retrospectively lodge a claim, as I can kinda prove the phone was broken within the insurance period (I have receipts saying the phone was with Nokia, and thus broken)?

Am a bit stuck otherwise! I don't reasonably think I should have to pay for any repairs, which would probably be £150-200, seeing as though its not through my neglect and I'm certainly within my 24 month guarantee period with Nokia.

Any help greatly appreciated,

Cheers,

Muirio

adam.mt

I think you should take it up with the Service Point. When you handed the phone over to them for repair they should have given you some kind of receipt which ideally will detail any apparent physical damage. Since you now state there's clear physical damage, obviously something has happened to the phone in transit, with the Service Point, or at Nokia's repair centre. Thus, it was damaged in the Service Point's care and is therefore their responsibility.

That should definitely be your first port of call. If you don't get far in person then write a formal letter and advise you intend to pursue through the Small Claims Court if necessary.