network obligation with faulty iPhone nearing end of contract

WLITC

My friend has an iPhone 3Gs and I think it'd two months before the contract is up however its faulty. It has a fault in where is loses the call after about 5 mins and then has no signal for another 2 mins so you can't even just redial when it loses the call. Recently she also accidently cracked the screen.

Now she doesnt care about the screen, but its driving her crazy with the dropped calls. Given its still in contract, surely O2 have some obligation to provide her with a working phone? BTW, screen crack happened a while after the call issue.

robt_2

welshladinthecity wrote: »

My friend has an iPhone 3Gs and I think it'd two months before the contract is up however its faulty. It has a fault in where is loses the call after about 5 mins and then has no signal for another 2 mins so you can't even just redial when it loses the call. Recently she also accidently cracked the screen.

Now she doesnt care about the screen, but its driving her crazy with the dropped calls. Given its still in contract, surely O2 have some obligation to provide her with a working phone? BTW, screen crack happened a while after the call issue.

You are going to have trouble proving that. Should have got a repair/replacement when the problem started. They will just look at the screen and say it has been user damaged.

Have you tried restoring it (using iTunes) to as-new condition though? That will rule out it being a software problem if the problem persists.

grumbler

welshladinthecity wrote: »

Given its still in contract, surely O2 have some obligation to provide her with a working phone?

No, normally there are two independent contracts for the airtime and the handset. Airtime can be used with any phone. The warranty period for the handset can be shorter than the airtime contract.

watcherman

Make a "Genius" appointment at your nearest Apple store, if there is any chance of an out of warranty repair or exchange, it will be there rather than at an O2 store.

Wintermute

The handset and the airtime agreement are two seperate things, she's outside the 12 month warranty period for the iPhone unless she took out Apple Care and with a cracked screen the warranty's void anyway as it's automatically user damanged. If she's got insurance she could make a claim for that and get a replacement handset or she could try politely contacting O2 and explain the situation, if it's two months until the end of her minimum term she'll be getting at least one month early upgrade anyway so if she's polite, not a serial complainer and has a good payment history there's a good chance she could get an early upgrade.

WLITC

Turns out she's never tried a restore so getting her to try that. She hadn't been too bothered as she planning to get the iPhone 5 and expected it in June, but word is that its not going be get released until Sept, hence trying to get this one working properly for another few months.

watcherman

Even if the warranty has expired, Apple will swap the handset for her for £140 for the cracked screen, simples!

WLITC

watcherman wrote: »

Even if the warranty has expired, Apple will swap the handset for her for £140 for the cracked screen, simples!

Do you know if that applies to the 3GS version too or just the latest iPhone4 model? If it does, she could do that then sell the 3GS version when the new model comes out. iPhone's hold their price well so I guess she could almost make the £140 back selling it?

watcherman

welshladinthecity wrote: »

Do you know if that applies to the 3GS version too or just the latest iPhone4 model?

AFAIK, but I'd phone to double check.

hazelwoods

welshladinthecity wrote: »

Do you know if that applies to the 3GS version too or just the latest iPhone4 model? If it does, she could do that then sell the 3GS version when the new model comes out. iPhone's hold their price well so I guess she could almost make the £140 back selling it?

Yes it does, and for the 3G as well.

Snakeeyes21

Wintermute wrote: »

The handset and the airtime agreement are two seperate things, she's outside the 12 month warranty period for the iPhone unless she took out Apple Care and with a cracked screen the warranty's void anyway as it's automatically user damanged. If she's got insurance she could make a claim for that and get a replacement handset or she could try politely contacting O2 and explain the situation, if it's two months until the end of her minimum term she'll be getting at least one month early upgrade anyway so if she's polite, not a serial complainer and has a good payment history there's a good chance she could get an early upgrade.

On a pricey phone like te iphone you only get 12 months? Another reason to go with android, HTC gives you 24 months