Orange San Fransisco Cracked Screen Manufacturing Problem

MrMcTavish

Dear all,

On 27th Nov 2010, my daughter (ages 12) bought a new Orange San Fransisco PAYG Android phone for about £95.
On 18th Jan 2011 she noticed a few mm crack on the bottom right of the screen. Overnight this grew.
Within two days, the single, hairline crack had moved up the screen, exiting at the top of the screen. The phone still works fine. It just looks unsightly.

So, I searched online and found a few others who have had similar issues. It is not uncommon for a new model (as the ZTE Corporation Blade is a new model) to have such issues, caused generally by uneven expansion and contraction of bonded materials.

I visited the Orange shop where we purchased it. The assistant agreed that it looked like a manufacturing fault. But we had to ring the central Orange number in the shop.
Orange stated that a cracked screen comes under "breakages" so we have to pay for repair.
The Orange computer system cannot cope with a cracked screen as a manufacturing fault it would seem.

I returned home and phoned Orange about 3 more times. In several calls they agreed that it is a manufacturing fault and said I should call the manufacturers (they then gave me the numbers of the wrong manufacturer - HTC). Then they gave me the ZTE Corp numbers, one of which was out of date, so I evenutally had to contact ZTE by email. They replied saying nothing to do with them, contact Orange and repmob.co.uk.

So the way it stands currently is the Orange San Fran appears to comes with no manufacturer guarantee against screen defects.
My next step is to write some letters to Orange pointing out the terms of the Sale of Goods Act and other various legalities.

This is especially annoying as we have been customers of Orange since 1998, and currently have 2x PAYG and one monthly contract with them.

Has anyone else experienced cracked screens on the Orange San Fransisco ? If so, please let me know.

jenniewb

I may be wrong here but as the phone is in warrenty its down to Orange to fix it, deal with the manuf. and get it sorted, not for you to have to go round the houses- maybe go back and say you know your rights? (obviously research first) also let them know you have been having problems and "others on your blog have suggested stating your rights and were disappointed with Orange on this one" (blogs can worry customer service people! Cheap scare but it can sometimes help).

If its a fault and you feel you have evidence then keep a record and maybe try Trading Standards or similar (not sure who the correct people would be to contact are but there must be someone!) Either they are unaware of the fault or they are trying to avoid the costs.

Parva

Absolutely correct (the response above). Pretty much all electrical items come with a 12 month guarantee (indeed I don't know of any that are exempt but maybe somebody does). Regardless, the onus to deal with the problem within the first 12 months is on the shop that sold it to you. Web purchases are maybe a bit more of a 'gray' area but if this was indeed bought from a shop then it is their duty to deal with it. If the Orange shop is agreeing with you that it is an inherrent fault then it is up to that shop to sort the problem and it most certainly is not your job to go chasing manufacturers up.

Take it back, demand a receipt and tell them you'll be back for a repaired or replaced SF in 14 days! Their system failure is not your problem, under the Sale of Goods Act they are duty bound by law to deal with your request if it is within the first 12 months of purchase, they have absolutely zero rights to fob you off to the supplier.

The only caveat with the above is that within the first 6 months of purchase they have to prove neglect (if they suspect that this is the case), after 6 months you have to prove that it was a manufacturing fault which may involve engineer reports and the like, this is assuming that the damage to the item is in dispute, which in your case it would appear not regardless of which side of the 6 months you are on.

Take it back, quote "The Sale of Goods Act" and tell them you'll be straight onto trading standards if they refuse to accept the phone for repair without reasonable explanation.

Parva

Found it! Read and go armed with this! http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html and in particular this :-
• It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract.

And further down :-
• If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)
• After six months and until the end of the six years, it is for the consumer to prove the lack of conformity.

I must've had my Weetabix that day, I can't usually remember what I did 5 minutes ago. :P Sock it to 'em!

MrMcTavish

Thanks everyone for being so helpful.

I have drafted my Sale of Goods Act 1979 letter, ready for delivery to the Orange store in question tomorrow.

The consumerdirect.gov.uk people were very helpful too.
The bit about onus on the supplier to prove damage is most enlightening.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow, lets see it Orange face up to their responsibilities as a supplier. They have been pretty vociferous in avoiding them to date.

gjchester

MrMcTavish wrote: »

The consumerdirect.gov.uk people were very helpful too. The bit about onus on the supplier to prove damage is most enlightening.

The question is will it be classed as a manufacturing fault or user damage.

Unless there has been a mass recall then it would be easy to point the finger at the user saying they must have damaged the screen by scratching / dropping etc. Don't take this the wrong way but 2 months with a 12 year old could be hard on the mobile, if there is any other damage to the casing then your probably going to have an uphill battle.

Don't get me wrong, under the SOGA if it's a defect then the onus is on the retailer (and ultimatly on the maker) to prove it was not there at time of sale, but the question will be is it a defect or is it user damaged.


Good luck

Parva

That's up to the store to prove since it's less than 6 months old but the purchaser has already had some positive responses regarding a manufacturing fault so hopefully a straightforward fix in this case.

gjchester

Parva wrote: »

That's up to the store to prove since it's less than 6 months old but the purchaser has already had some positive responses regarding a manufacturing fault so hopefully a straightforward fix in this case.

With screen damage the most likely cause will be user created. True, the shop assistant said it but Orange central said it was user damage. If the computer won't permit the damage to be classed as a manufacturing fault the assistant won't be able to override it.

A basic google search shows this is the only link in the top 50 mentioning SF phoines and damaged screens (but thats a quick and dirty search) so it's not a common issue that could indicate a serious design flaw or bad batch in production.

Regardless of the SOGA, if Orange say it's user damaged then the warranty's irrelevent as no warranty covers user damage, and it would only take a few more scratches or marks on the case to show evidence of an impact or damage through keys / coins / whatever else is in the pocket. The SOGA and the Warranty do not cover samge done by the user, thats what comprehensive insurance is for.

I hope the OP gets his swap, but I suspect it will not be easy.

MrMcTavish

We returned to the shop today and spoke to the manager.
He disagreed and said it looks like a customer damage. But to contact head office as they may look favourably on it.

I wouldn't normally press this hard, but as it is a brand new model of phone and my daughter keeps it in a protective pouch in her jacket pocket, it is a fair bet that this is an issue with the model.

This thread mentions someone who got their SF replaced by Orange, but I guess they were within the 28 days.
community-dot-giffgaff.com/t5/Learn-giffgaff-Top-Tips/Returning-Orange-San-Francisco/m-p/355399/highlight/false#M5567


This thread discusses some phone models that are more prone to screen cracking due to insufficient support of the screen from the chassis.
crave-dot-cnet.co.uk/mobiles/nexus-one-cracked-screen-how-did-our-google-phone-break-49304926/

But I must agree, not a lot of chatter on the web about cracked ZTE Blade or Orange San Fransisco screens. But then this is a very new model, they only hit the UK in November 2010. Lets see if anyone else turns up on this thread over the next few months.

freejack2k

Im in the same boat, got mine from e2save, a few days ago i left it charging and found a small crack had appeared in bottom left of screen. Within 3 days the crack had worked its way to halfway up the screen and the phone was unuseable. I emailed e2save on friday night so im hoping for a response this week. Guess all i can do is try. Mines the oled screen by the way.

acctim

I wish you all the best and hope you get it sorted, i have just brought one and keep it in a case but so far so good.I had the same prob with a lg cookie at cpw the screen had cracked on my sons mobile but they didnt want to know i had to pay for it,best of luck