Where do i stand with a faulty mobile phone 7 months old??

cazzamiller

Hi, I bought my HTC incredble S in April from Mobiles.co.uk. I had to send the first one back starightaway as i had problems with it and they replaced it quickly. 4 weeks ago i started having problems with it and it kept saying cannot connect to network an i had to keep manually searching to the network. It gradually got worse to the point that the signal went altogether and wouldnt come on at all and wouldnt birng up any networks for me to connect to. I put my SIM in an old phone and it worked fine so i took the phone to carphone warehouse as instructed on Mobiles.co.uk website. AFter almost 3 weeks i got my phone back today but as soon as i put the SIM in it was exaclty the same problem!! I cant get hold of mobiles.co.uk as they are closed and do not repoen now til monday. DO i take it back to carphone warehouse as i dont think they fixed the problem at all, or do i wait until monday and speak to mobiles.co.uk and if i do this where do i stand with getting a replacement? It does say on their website that all phones have a 1 or 2 year guarantee so surely this would mean that if the phone keeps being faulty i should get a new one? I dont want to have to wait another 3 weeks for my phone to go away especially as i on a pay monthly contract and paying for a phone that i cannot use! (yes i know i am paying for the servicem rather than the phone, but ut us all still part of the contract)
THanks
Caroline x

gjchester

cazzamiller wrote: »

DO i take it back to carphone warehouse as i dont think they fixed the problem at all, or do i wait until monday and speak to mobiles.co.uk and if i do this where do i stand with getting a replacement? It does say on their website that all phones have a 1 or 2 year guarantee so surely this would mean that if the phone keeps being faulty i should get a new one? I dont want to have to wait another 3 weeks for my phone to go away especially as i on a pay monthly contract and paying for a phone that i cannot use! (yes i know i am paying for the servicem rather than the phone, but ut us all still part of the contract)
THanks
Caroline x

Your rights are to get a repair or replacment but it's the vendors choice not yours. Your phone is not new now, so if they replace it with a 6 month old refurb you are in the same situation as you are currently in.

When you take it back in for a repair you can ask for a loan handset, however as you said you put the sim in an older handset I'm not sure why you think you cannot use it, you may have a lesser service (say no email or internet) but it's not unuseable.
You may be able to get some form of refund on a part of your line rental, ie the data bit, but thats probably as much as you can get.

GreenSaints

Could you not just return it to HTC?

I bought my Desire SIM free and I had a problem (I fixed it in the end) but I emailed them and they told me to send it because it was within it's 12 month warranty

grumbler

The warranty is 24 months actually. However HTC are notorious for poor CS and repair services.

cazzamiller

gjchester wrote: »

When you take it back in for a repair you can ask for a loan handset, however as you said you put the sim in an older handset I'm not sure why you think you cannot use it, you may have a lesser service (say no email or internet) but it's not unuseable.
You may be able to get some form of refund on a part of your line rental, ie the data bit, but thats probably as much as you can get.

I cant use it as it says it cannot connect to the network, ie orange, so therefore i cant make calls or send texts. Its not the signal as i have left it for ages and it makes no difference and i dont normally have a problem and its not just at home it doesnt work, its work whcih is 6 miles from where i live

gjchester

cazzamiller wrote: »

I cant use it as it says it cannot connect to the network, ie orange, so therefore i cant make calls or send texts. Its not the signal as i have left it for ages and it makes no difference and i dont normally have a problem and its not just at home it doesnt work, its work whcih is 6 miles from where i live

Sorry can you be clear this is the HTC phone in all cases?

If the old phone you had works then the network are providing the service, there is no case otherwise.

If both phones don't work then there is an airtime issue that the network needs to look at.

Your monthly contract is to cover the availability of xx minutes, yy texts etc, regardless of if you actually use them all or not, You CAN use them in the old phone, so the network is not stopping you using them, the problem lies in a faulty phone.

The phone belongs to you from the moment you take out the contract, and does need to be replaced or repaired, but thats a seperate contract to the airtime contract you have.

cazzamiller

the SIM works in a different phone so i know its not orange and it is the phone. I lknow also that i am entitiled to have the phone at least repaired as it says this on numerous consumer websites i have looked on already, although i am not sure under what legistlation/guidleines this comes under. It also says this on their own website that they offer repairs or an exchange, so although i may own the phone they still have to offer something to sort the problem. I just need some guidance from others who have been in a similar situation.

Consumer Direwct says "A trader will usually offer you a refund for a faulty item if you:

• have proof of purchase, eg a receipt
• haven’t had a chance to use the item or have only used the item a few times

If you’ve had or used the item for a longer period of time, by law you have ‘accepted’ the goods. You won’t be entitled to a refund, but the trader should offer to repair or replace the item."

grumbler

cazzamiller wrote: »

the SIM works in a different phone so i know its not orange and it is the phone. I lknow also that i am entitiled to have the phone at least repaired as it says this on numerous consumer websites i have looked on already, although i am not sure under what legistlation/guidleines this comes under.

SOGA.
Consumer Rights

MissKeith

You may qualify for CPW's First Time Fix policy. If the fault reoccurs within 30 days of a repair, they try to replace it rather than repair but you will have to pop back to a store to check.

cazzamiller

MissKeith wrote: »

You may qualify for CPW's First Time Fix policy. If the fault reoccurs within 30 days of a repair, they try to replace it rather than repair but you will have to pop back to a store to check.

THanks guys, ill be going in tomorrow as i didnt have chance today and will see what they say. Where does it say about CPW policy on them replacing an item and will this apply if i actually got it from mobiles.co.uk, even though this is part of the same company?

MissKeith

cazzamiller wrote: »

THanks guys, ill be going in tomorrow as i didnt have chance today and will see what they say. Where does it say about CPW policy on them replacing an item and will this apply if i actually got it from mobiles.co.uk, even though this is part of the same company?

I don't see why not. The info on this should be in the repair leaflet they gave you when you first booked your phone in.