iphone4

lottyxx

i purchased a iphone 4 a year and 11 days ago, i have a 2 yr contract and the top button is now faulty through no fault of mine, i went in to apple today and they will only swap it and charge me £119, i am only 11 days over the year...do i have any rights, surely it should last longer than a year?

alistair.long

The item should last you a reasonable amount of time, I would say at least 2-3 years.

I believe if you have a contract phone then the phone operator is responsible for the phone as it is with your contract.

*Scarlett

You would reasonably expect this item to last for more than a year.

Sale of Goods Act requires certain items to last for up to 6 years(?) I think.

You could try to read through these and see if there is anything that could help you - a bit heavy reading though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sale_of_Goods_Act_1979

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? It normally covers contract disputes such as this (providing that the claim is over a certain amount - maybe £100 - and with a reasonable chance of success). They would be able to give you advice or help you pursue a claim. Perhaps a solicitor's letter would help Apple view things differently.

If you don't have legal cover, check your home policy book for any free advice helplines - many have free legal advice but clearly this does not cover the cost of pursuing a claim.

neilmcl

Yes, it would be reasonable to expect an Iphone to last longer than a year and you do have rights under the SOGA against the retailer, in this case your phone provider. However, as the phone is over 6 months old the onus is now on you to prove that fault is inherent to manufacture, rather than user damage or excessive wear & tear.

markybaby

I had an issue with an iphone 4 that was out of warranty by 4 months. I was offered the same replacement deal. The fault was the antenna had gone and it had no reception on the 2G network. I was nice and polite and asked to speak to the manager and I explained that I had bought the best phone on the market (schmooze) and was not happy about the failure but agreed I had the option at purchase to buy a £60 extension to 2 years warranty that I had not taken. He told me they had discretion for 90 days but after that he could not replace for free. He did reduce the replacement cost to £69 though and took me back to the genius bar where he did the price override. Fair enough. It broke 4 weeks later but the next (free) replacement is still going strong. Good luck with the schmoozing.

MagicCats

As others have stated SOGA should cover you as its based on the proportion of cost, quality to item For example a £9.99 PAYG phone breaking after a year probably wouldn't be covered, but a £500 iPhone you can argue is covered due to cost, quality and expectation.

Apple are generally very good, although outwith warranty period it's luck of the draw with who you get. My young cousin for example dropped his iPhone 4 on the pavement resulting in a cracked screen. He took it to Apple in Glasgow for a repair estimate.

The chap on the Genius Bar went off with it and came back with a new phone FOC! His reasoning was that my cousin hadn't had any issues with it, whilst some customers were on their third phone. He just put it down as an antenna issue.

prowla

I think that if the shop sold you the phone on a 2 year contract then they sold you a reasonable expectation that the phone would last 2 years.