Vodafone, Phones4U and Faulty HTC HD2

Kaoslisa

Just looking for some advice as my partner is at the end of his tether with his phone.

He took out a 24 month contract from a Phones4U branch in Feb for a HTC HD2.

About 2 months into the contract he started having problems with the phone and initially he rung Vodafone customer service and they told him to factory reset the phone, this worked fine until a few weeks later same problem and he reset the phone again. Then in May the phone completely crashed, so we took it back to a Phones4U branch and the manager there was lovely and got the phone sent of for repair.

Had the phone back within 3 weeks (so he had to go without a phone for 3 weeks) and ever since just had constant problems with it.

He can rarely send text messages, they get "stuck" in the send box and sometimes wont get sent for days. I've googled this problem and it seems very well known but yet there seems to be no solution other than to reset the phone, which is ridiculous just to send a text message. He's rung Vodafone and all they suggest is the reset the phone, they seem to have no idea that its a reoccurring problem with the phone.

Also his main home screen (the HTC Sense part) frequently fails to load and once again the only way to solve this is to reset the phone.

My partner went to a Vodafone store to speak to someone face to face, only to be told if he wanted out of the contract he would have to pay the full amount of the contract which would be around £600 (He's on a £35 a month contract at the moment).

This week alone he's reset the phone twice, and its got to be around 20+ times now he's had to reset it. The phone is only 6 months old.

He's just recently written a letter to them complaining about the continuing problems he's been having, as well as commenting on how unhelpful the customer service has been in trying to solve the problem, but other than this we don't know what to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, he's just fed up of it breaking within days of resetting it and just getting told by customer service that resetting it should solve the problem even though he's told them every time he's rung them that he's reset it and the problem is still occurring.

Thanks

DarkConvict

SOGA, not fit for purpose is what you will have to push at them. Ask for a replacement one of either the same model or similar spec.

The phone and contract are separate, whilst the contract price does in reality subsidise the phone cost, the phone is given as a 'free' gift.

Its rare for operators to let you out of contracts due to the phone as you have no right to cancel a contract, the dispute is purely over the mobile equipment.

Kaoslisa

Thank you for the advice.

He wouldn't mind staying with Vodafone for the next 18 months as long as he had a phone that works (although he will be going straight back to Orange once this contract is over). Will probably go in store on Monday and see what happens...

Annie._2

Phones 4U will be responsible for any handset problems as the phone would have come from their stock. Go back to the Phones 4U store and stand your ground until they agree to repair the phone to your satisfaction.

Vodafone would only be supplying the airtime on behalf of Phones 4U for the length of the contract.

Your handset issue will be with Phones 4U and not Vodafone.

Kaoslisa

Ok thanks, this is where we've been having the confusion, Phone4U send us to Vodafone and then Vodafone send us back to Phones4U...will see what happens Monday

Kaoslisa

UPDATE: Went into Phones4U today and spoke to a very unhelpful guy. He basically said they'd send it off for repair again, so I queried what would happen if the phone came back and it still wasn't working (like last time) and he just said that they would send it for repair a third time. He also said that HTC would be the ones to decided whether to provide a new handset. It was like talking to a brick wall to be honest, we just weren't getting anywhere.

rachel6188

phone phones4u customer service and explain whats happened and ask for a fault code and a like for like exchange code iv had a similar problem. the phone number etc is Customer Relations Team on 0844 871 2231 - Monday to Friday 09.00am-20:00pm, Saturday and Bank Holidays 09.00am-18.00pm, Sunday 10:00am-17:30pm(closed Christmas Day). hope this helps x

Timalay

Kaoslisa wrote: »

UPDATE: Went into Phones4U today and spoke to a very unhelpful guy. He basically said they'd send it off for repair again, so I queried what would happen if the phone came back and it still wasn't working (like last time) and he just said that they would send it for repair a third time. He also said that HTC would be the ones to decided whether to provide a new handset. It was like talking to a brick wall to be honest, we just weren't getting anywhere.

I'm pretty sure they where wrong there. It's phones4u that provided you with phone (they brought the phone from HTC), soo it's their responsibility.

mr-mr_2

If you have no luck, pm me, I will give you a high level email address to complain to.

Vodafone

Hi Kaoslisa,

It's not good to read about the problems your partner is experiencing here.

Whilst we wouldn't be able to replace the phone in this instance we'd be happy to assist your partner as much as we can with getting this sorted out should this latest repair be unsuccessful.

To get in touch with us with the accounts details just send us an email via the Contact us on our website here quoting the code WRT135 in the subject line.

Once you've sent it you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number; could you update the thread with this so we can make sure it reaches us?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK