Vodafone have sent me a second hand phone

asparagusnextleft

About three weeks ago my HTC Desire broke so I sent it back to Vodafone to be repaired. At the time they told me that if it couldn't be repaired, it would be replaced.

After waiting over two weeks to get it back, what I thought was my phone finally arrived today, but when I read the letter they said it 'couldn't be repaired within a reasonable timescale' so they have sent me a 'similar phone that has been carefully serviced and refurbished by our repair centre'. So, that's a second hand phone. They didn't mention that the replacement (if needed) would be second hand when I spoke to them.

I am really not happy with this - if I wanted a second hand phone I'd have taken out a cheap contract that came with a second hand (or 'refurbished' as they like to call them) phone.

I am going to go into one of their stores with it on Friday when I am in town and tell them I am not happy and ask for a new replacement.

Does anyone have any experience of this and did you get a new phone or am I being deluded in thinking that they might replace it with a new one?

Esqui

How old was your phone when you sent it in? Bear in mind, if that had been repaired and returned, you would still have a 'second hand' (i.e. not new) phone, so you are probably no worse off.

fivetide

Normal practise to be honest. O2 repaired the screen on my C905 but broke the keyboard. Ended up sending my original phone back again after its not very careful refurb and getting another one which still wasn't right.

5t.

asparagusnextleft

It wasn't even six months old.

If it had been my phone that came back, it would have been my phone that I'd had from it being new so not second hand at all, just the phone that I'd sent them. The phone they have sent me previously belonged to someone else and that's what I'm not happy about. You can get cheap contracts with some companies with phones such as the one they have sent me but I don't have one of those cheap contracts, I have a contract that came with a new phone so I either want my own phone back (that was new when I got it) or a new one. Or failing that they should charge me less per month given that they have sent me someone else's used phone.

asparagusnextleft

fivetide wrote: »

Normal practise to be honest. O2 repaired the screen on my C905 but broke the keyboard. Ended up sending my original phone back again after its not very careful refurb and getting another one which still wasn't right.

5t.

I've never had a phone break down on me before so I have no idea what normally happens. I certainly wasn't expecting to get a used one back. First smartphone and first time anything has gone wrong :mad:

Rusty!

This is normal procedure, you didn't send them a brand new, unused phone, so they don't send you one back.

Esqui

asparagusnextleft wrote: »

It wasn't even six months old.

If it had been my phone that came back, it would have been my phone that I'd had from it being new so not second hand at all, just the phone that I'd sent them. The phone they have sent me previously belonged to someone else and that's what I'm not happy about. You can get cheap contracts with some companies with phones such as the one they have sent me but I don't have one of those cheap contracts, I have a contract that came with a new phone so I either want my own phone back (that was new when I got it) or a new one. Or failing that they should charge me less per month given that they have sent me someone else's used phone.

But you'd still have a used phone - and one that was six months old, as opposed to one which (probably) has been used for a few days and returned - then been returned to 'as new'.

asparagusnextleft

Esqui wrote: »

But you'd still have a used phone - and one that was six months old, as opposed to one which (probably) has been used for a few days and returned - then been returned to 'as new'.

Possibly yes, but I have no idea if that is the case. As far as I'm concerned, they've sent me a second hand phone. My phone that I sent them, yes it was used by me but it wasn't a second hand one.

Maybe I am being unreasonable by finding this annoying but I have no experience of broken phones and what happens in this scenario.

fivetide

asparagusnextleft wrote: »

I've never had a phone break down on me before so I have no idea what normally happens. I certainly wasn't expecting to get a used one back. First smartphone and first time anything has gone wrong :mad:

Neither had I so I was a bit surprised too. It is, however, how I know it is usual practise!

5t.

CloggyMacK

A similar experience happened to me with my BlackBerry Storm and Vodaphone. After 12 months the "end" key fell off the front of the phone, and I claimed on the insurance. I was promised that my phone would be assessed within 5 working days, and after three weeks of hassling, it still hadn't been looked at. So they send me a "refurbished" phone. I wasn't happy with that, and it wasn't even the same colour as the one I had, so the back of the phone, which I had been told to retain when I returned it to the Vodaphone shop, was steel grey and the new one was black and didn't match. It didn't fit that snugly either.

On the original BlackBerry all the functioned worked perfectly, but the refurbished one would not play YouTube or Video content of websites, but even worse than that I basically prevented me from making or receiving phone calls because as soon as a call came in, the signal would become intermittent and it was like speaking to Norman Collier.

Despite complaining to Vodaphone they basically weren't interested, as they had fufilled (in their opinion) the terms of my insurance document.

I let the 24 month contract run down, then have moved to O2 as there was no way I was staying with Vodaphone after that. However, if you look up my other posts on the mobile phone forum, you will see that moving has been a complete nightmare because I made a bad error of judgement when Vodaphone tried to pursuade me to stay with a lucrative bundle which they reneged on.

So good luck and I hope that you get more joy than I did.

Welshdebtor

Going by what the letter said about them not being able to repair in a reasonable time. I would think they should of given you the choice, "Wait longer for it to be fixed, get a refurbished phone or even an alternative model". Instead of making the choice for you.

That aside without looking into it further, I do not know if a replacement has to be new.