Faulty Goods Advice

kroc90

Right long story but please read and help me.
Got a new HTC Desire in December 2010 on T-mobile (was an early upgrade due to broken phone). In March my Desire had been heating up during charging and the screen went pop and cracked during charging. Instead of going ot T-mobile (as account is in mums name and she has to be there to send it for repair) went straight to HTC for repair. They repaired it under warrenty.
This was after their agent got my name wrong and address (Sweden instead of Scotland. With me having to spell everything letter by letter. Then forgot to e-mail me the tick sheet and postage label).
So October 2011 and phone starts overheating when charging, battery temp up to 50 degrees. I picked made a call then hung up, pulled down my notification bar on my phone and the screen cracked. It left a small fragment of glass on my thumb and the heat coming from the crack was very hot.
So phoned HTC and booked it for repair (my name still wrong on account and asked for it to be changed again). Got the following e-mail:

PRODUCT SUPPORT
REPAIR TRACKING

Repair Description


Level 2 - LCD replacement (Athena Micro Drive replacement only)£21.04
Level 6 - Part Plastic Refurbishment (without LCD changes)£21.04
Labor£22.00
Shipping£9.60
Tax£14.74
Please bill me for the full repair£88.42

or return unrepaired.
Labor£10.15
Shipping£9.60
Tax£3.95
Please return without repair,
and bill me only for the
diagnostic and shipping.£23.70

ok so argued that they fault was on behalf of HTC and was not a consumer fault so has to be repaired underwarrenty. I also argued how they can say its not the overheating when I have the battery at home so can't test it.
Also I was not told about paying if I want it back unrepaired. They said its in their T&C's on the e-mail I got but aren't and no link to them. But still won't send it back wothout payment.
They won't even send it back so I can get a second opinion as only the screen needs repaired not the LCD.
Turns out also the repair in March wasn;t put through as warrenty as they were moving factory and were told to push through all repairs so I should have been charged.

So what are the laws regarding faults? Do they have to fix it FOC since no evidence it is my fault?
Can they charge me for sending it back unrepaired?
They did mention their is labour charges possibly, if so I'd be willing to pay that but not postage as postage was not mentioned at all?
What company governs eletronics?
Even if phone is repaired im worried about using it for calls, glass shattering on my face isn;t my idea of fun; how can I get them to replace phone due to health concerns?

Thanks for reading, have left out loads of gaffs on their end (no call backs, raising the problem/case to higher level but doing so on old repair not current repair)

Valli

contact Trading Standards?

kroc90

Thanks will gove that ago. But HTC still holding my phone.
Could I pay the £20 odd quid and get a refund if another company say its a warrenty job?

unholyangel

What do the terms and conditions of the warranty say?

You're basically limited to what their warranty T&C's say. Technically if your mum paid for it, they dont even have to do that as most companies do have a "warranty cannot be transferred" term.

The warranty info will be in the box you got the phone in.

visidigi

Man HTC still suck at customer services - they really need to sort themselves out.

There could be a case that the initial repair which 'they should have charged you for' was not sufficiently repaired and was a contributary factor to the same fault occuring a second time.

I would say its likely your battery thats causing this fault (I had two Desires go faulty, it was only after I sent int he battery the second time and they sent back a different battery was it realised the fault was actually with the battery and not with the phone itself).

Your issue is the fault is a common self inflicted damage, and I am pretty sure, from past experience that HTC will not take any notice of anyone elses opinion (which is funny because all repairs are outsourced, its not an HTC employee saying you damaged it btw).

I would actually go back to your network and explain the problem - they use thier own repair facilities so they may actually have a different outcome which wouldn't require you to justify anything to HTC.