Phone broken, Orange refusing to fix - do I have any rights?

Tipster28

My wife entered into a contract with Orange in April last year, she damaged her phone in February and purchased a replacement.
This replacement phone has stopped working today, the touch screen doesn't work. Over the phone they have diagnosed it as a software fault and as such won't replace or fix it.
Orange say that as it is a replacement phone the sale of goods act applies for 3 months only and we are (just) outside this window.

They've offered the opportunity to purchase an upgrade and that's it. Aside from trying to shout loud enough to get them to do something do I have any other rights?

There may be a manufacturers warranty but they told me to speak directly to HTC for that.

Reggiep_4

The sales of goods act does not specify a time limit for "fit for the purpose", however more recent regulations mean that once you go past 6 months the burden of proof falls on the consumer to prove that the phone is faulty.

Orange standard approach is to refuse repairs after 6 months, however if you are able to get an engineers report saying the phone is faulty then you should be able to Force orange to fix the phone.

It is my opinion that Orange should fix the phone and this is appalling customer service.

I would advise anybody not to buy Orange for the above reason, in this respect their customer service is terrible and they should be avoided.

John_Jizzle

orange suck. buy a new phone on o2 - get giffgaff.

shaun_from_Africa

Reggiep wrote: »

Orange standard approach is to refuse repairs after 6 months, however if you are able to get an engineers report saying the phone is faulty then you should be able to Force orange to fix the phone.

There isn't any need to get a report as it is probably still less than 6 months from when the phone was purchased. (unless it was bought on the 1st or 2nd of feb).

she damaged her phone in February and purchased a replacement.

If it is still within this 6 month period then it is assumed that the fault is due to a manufacturing defect and it is up to Orange to prove otherwise.

How did your wife pay for the phone Tipster?

arcon5

What date in Feb did you purchase it? If you are within 6 months send them a letter or email (or any other durable form) reporting the fault. Otherwise once the 6 month period passes the burden of proof is on you, within 6 months it is their responsibility to prove the fault was not inherent.

prowla

I think that if a company sells you a product for a fixed period then it should work for the duration of that period.

So, if Orange sold the phone with an 18 or 24 month contract, then it should be reasonable to expect it to work for that time.

(In the past it used to be that a replacement item came with its own new warranty, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside.)

That said, if it's software, then it may not be difficult to get fixed.

wealdroam

prowla wrote: »

I think that if a company sells you a product for a fixed period then it should work for the duration of that period.

So, if Orange sold the phone with an 18 or 24 month contract, then it should be reasonable to expect it to work for that time.

Did you read the bit in the original post where we were told that the phone was purchased separately from the contract?

bod1467

Actually the OP is a bit ambiguous about the replacement ... it sounds (to me) like a discounted replacement was purchased to replace the broken phone. This may not have the same warranty rights than if it was a "normal" purchase. As such prowla's post still has some validity.

SOGA overrules warranty though.

wealdroam

bod1467 wrote: »

Actually the OP is a bit ambiguous about the replacement ... it sounds (to me) like a discounted replacement was purchased to replace the broken phone. This may not have the same warranty rights than if it was a "normal" purchase. As such prowla's post still has some validity.

SOGA overrules warranty though.

Hmmm...

Well I can't see any ambiguity...

Tipster28 wrote: »

...she damaged her phone in February and purchased a replacement.

bod1467

But doesn't say HOW the replacement was purchased. (i.e. under what conditions).

If it was a standard purchase from an Orange shop then the 3 months statement would be utter tosh - SOGA would apply absolutely and the onus would be on Orange to disprove an inherent fault.