O2 phone repair - what to do?

purplephoenix85

On Saturday, I accidentally broke my (uninsured) Blackberry phone and in a panic, I rang my partner to get onto the O2 website to see what the o2 website will advise RE repair/replacement. At this point, I was rushing to get dressed to take to the shop.

My partner was speaking to O2 Guru (online chat with advisor) who said repair would be "around approximately £20" with 3-4 working days turnaround.

I headed into town, and the O2 SA took down my details and registered the repair on the computer (whilst helping the SA next to her, and chatting away) and I'm a bit clueless, I said "Do I pay the £20 now or upon collection?" and she asked i I wanted it sending out to my home address, and I said yes. She then said that the repaired phone will be sent out to my home address and I would be contacted when it's on it's way. And specifically said there was nothing to pay and no quote would be raised and therefore, I would only be contacted when the phone was on it's way to me.

I understand that some damages aren't covered by O2, but it's the fact I specifically asked for a specific answer...and...
A
Just received a phone call from the O2 shop to inform me that it will cost me £99 to repair the screen on my phone. :eek: I was told there would be no charge. :mad: If I had any idea that it would cost me that much, I would've bought a screen from ebay and got my brother to fit it! I don't have that kind of money! If I don't make a decision soon, the girl on the phone said they would destroy my phone!

I told her that I was told there would be no charge... but she's not accepting it and said I have a week to make a decision else my phone will be destroyed.

What should be my next move?

somethingcorporate

Ask for your phone back and buy a screen from ebay and get your brother to fit it.

You damaged your phone why would a repair be free??

purplephoenix85

It's not the fact of it not being free, it's more the point that I was told by O2 Guru beforehand that it would only cost me £20 for the repair, then told in store that I wouldn't be charged at all. Thus deciding to leave my phone with them for repairs. Where did they get this £99 from? And I won't get my phone back unless they repair it and I pay the £99.

bod1467

Assuming they haven't actually already repaired it (did you sign anything authorising them to make a repair? If yes then they'll have done it) then all they can charge is the investigation cost. I wouldn't be surprised if this is what the £20 relates to. Therefore they must return the unrepaired phone to you, but they have the right to charge you for the investigation.

I don't know what is the value of your particular phone, but £99 all-in for parts and labour is not unreasonable.

somethingcorporate

It's still your phone so they should send it back. They cannot just destroy your property - sending it for repair does not give them title over it.

It is annoying over the charge arising as £99, did you get anything in writing about it being £20 / free? otherwise it is your word against theirs.

purplephoenix85

I did sign a receipt in-store and kept a customer copy - on this receipt it states "CREATE REPAIR £0.00 Nothing to pay." and now I'm assuming that they will tell me is that it's cost me nothing in-store to get my details put on the computer. To clarify, I gave full details of the damage to the SA in-store, explained that I wasn't covered by insurance and mentioned the £20 estimate from O2 Guru. The fault description is written on the receipt and not in anyway misled the SA for her to say it would be a free repair. And yet she still told me specifically told me that I had nothing to pay.

visidigi

the problem is what you just wrote int he above post '£20 estimate from o2 guru'

Its and estimate, they have opened the phone and found what needs to be replaced and levied a charge for this - the £20 would only just cover the admin for the repair. Given insurance excess is £20 on o2 I suspect they may have confused it as being insured.

£99 is reasonable for it - if you would have got your brother to do it if you had known then you should have done that in the first place.

purplephoenix85

Visidigi - I was worried at the time that opening the phone to replace the screen would void the remaining warranty on the handset. I've been on the phone to customer services just now, who has confirmed that I did the right thing as it would affect the warranty as a whole if something else went wrong with it.

The SA and Guru are from the same store (as you select your nearest store on the Guru page) and therefore the mess about may be down to improper training - as SA should never have told me 'nothing to pay' in the first place but I'm not going to make too much of a song and dance about it when I go to the store. CS also said that if I spoke to the store manager, there may be something s/he can do to remedy the situation.

If I don't get it back in time for my brother to be able to fix it, I've called a few local repair shops and can get it fixed for £50-75 in one hour... so I might take my chances and leave it in a backstreet shop, pray for the best and chalk the whole thing up to experience.

Maybe next time, I won't go straight into panic mode lol. Better still, I hope there won't be a next time :rotfl:
Now I just need to tackle the demon store manager for my phone back lol.

Thanks for your advice guys

Mupette

I've posted in Mobile phones about O2 and their lack of training.

currently have my sons phone in for repair which is in warrantee and have receipt to prove it but they claim it is out of warrantee...

purplephoenix85

Just an update for you all, I've managed to speak to someone who has finally agreed to return my phone to me and who has apologised for the confusion caused by the first SA. Such a lovely lad he was, he's declined the quote for me and arranged for my phone to be returned to me, as it is, on Monday/Tuesday.

I can't wait to have it back, broken or not. But it's certainly a lesson that I won't go rushing to O2 next time!

Mupette, some damages aren't covered by warranty. Like in my case, the broken screen isn't. I wasn't trying to avoid paying for it to be repaired, just didn't see how it went from being told/reassured it would cost me nothing to be being quoted £99 for repair. Maybe next time, it might be worth getting quotes from local repair shops before rushing straight for the safety net - cos sometimes they aren't as safe as you think!

Mupette

Its a ongoing fault which Sony admit to, even Sony have a 2 year warrantee for this phone.. so if O2 want to play silly games i will get the phone back and let Sony deal with it... already spoken to Sony a few days ago and have all the paperwork ready to send off....