Blackberry Constantly Going Wrong, What To Do?

p0ssumman

Hi all, a quick question regarding rights with a contract phone. My girlfriend has had a Blackberry Bold 9700 on Vodafone since October 2009 on a two year contract and has had nothing but problems with it. The original phone had to be sent back for repair three times for at least two weeks at a time, and on the third return a refurb was sent out in place of the original. Since then the refurb has already been in for repair once at a vodafone shop and since getting it back has now decided to turn off at random times and not turn back on again until it is connected to the power (I know it sounds like the battery just died, but it is always on 2 or 3 battery 'bars' when it dies and as soon as it is plugged in it shows the same 2 or 3 bar battery level).

There is still technically another 9 months left on the contract but we've had enough of the phone now and it constantly going wrong, so I would just like to know what rights we have and whether the phone could, in an ideal situation, be exchanged for a different make of phone completely to see out the rest of the contract, or even if this current contract could be cancelled and a new one started with a different phone, on the grounds that the current blackberry is not working as intended?

Any info would be great!
Cheers!

gjchester

p0ssumman wrote: »

so I would just like to know what rights we have and whether the phone could, in an ideal situation, be exchanged for a different make of phone completely to see out the rest of the contract, or even if this current contract could be cancelled and a new one started with a different phone, on the grounds that the current blackberry is not working as intended?

Any info would be great!
Cheers!

Unfortunatly you have the right to a repair or a replacment under the warranty, however thats the vendors choice not yours. Your handset is also not connected to the airtime agreement so you can;t use a handset fault (no matter what it is) as a reason to cancel the contract.

Annoying as it seems your vendor has been willing to swap or repair the phone then he's stayed within the law and you have no legal come back.

You can try for a goodwill exchance but thats as much as you will get. Blackberrys are only warrantied for a year and your already beyond that so Vodafone could even turn round and not offer a repair and still be within the law.

Sorry not what you want to hear.

ruggedtoast

Not what he wants to hear, and not accurate either.

Firstly, the one year warranty is in addition to, not instead of, your statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act. This simply states that before 6 months of ownership, in order to withhold warranty repair or replacement, the vendor has to prove a fault was caused by the customers misuse and not by a fault in the product.

After 6 months of use the onus is on the customer to prove that the fault is not caused by their misuse. I woukld imagine that as the phone has failed so often, both with the original and the replacement, you would have a good case for stating it is a manufacturing fault.

There is no statutory time limit, and the SOGA states that goods should last for a "reasonable" amount of time, depending on what they are and how much they cost.

The vendor certainly does not get a "choice" as to whether or not UK consumer law applies to them.

Some people have managed to get shops to relent and offer warranty repair over 2 years after purchase for expensive items (usually flat panel tvs), but two years seems to have become about the marker.

The shop (Vodafone in this case) also has a duty of care, and long waits depriving you of the item while they try and fix it arent on, they should either provide a working replacement or a refund (in this case cancellation of the contract).

The contract is not separate from your purchase of the phone, the airtime contract is a separate agreement but your overall contract of sale includes the phone, and both should work.

Dont expect Vodafone's staff to accept or know about any of this however, you may have to be quite persistent, or just keep calling 191 until you speak to someone reasonable.

loulou123

Im not sure if the warrenties on a blackberry are for a year, as i asked this question in the 3 shop a couple of days ago (as had heard the iphone warrenties are only a year long) and was told that its just the iphone that has a 1 year limit and that the blackberry one is 2 years (though maybe this is just through 3)

Last year i managed to get out of my contract 4 months early (with no penalty and the months werent added to new contract) as i had a SE phone which was sent for repairs 11 times! I basically contacted the companies head office and said i thought it was a waste of their time and money to keep repairing a phone i was intending to upgrade in a few weeks and they agreed, let me cancel the contract and start a new one with a new phone.

Vodafone

Hi P0ssumman,

Certainly not an ideal situation you're describing there!

I cannot provide a definite answer here and now because I cannot see your account, but if you fill in the email form here, quote "WRT135" in the subject line and include a link to this post, we'll be able to take a look and advise you from there.

Just to confirm, the Vodafone warranty on a BlackBerry lasts for the lifetime of the contract, not for a fixed one year term, so you wouldn't need to worry about that having expired.

DaveN
Web relations Team
Vodafone UK