Stuck in a Tesco contract with faulty phone

harryenfield123

Can anyone offer me some advice? A little over three months ago I got a tesco mobile contract for my daughter. She wanted the blackberry curve 9300 and after looking around for a while tesco looked the cheapest but it is was on a 24 months contract. Thinking that they were a big a name, I thought I could trust them and that this would be a worry free contract. We went ahead with it.


Well, within the first couple of weeks of my 13 year old daughter using it, it froze – it went to a white screen and she had to restart it. She never told me about it until a couple of months later where it was happening quite often (about once a week). She only mentioned it in passing but over the last few weeks it has become more problematic, it has been happening on a daily basis, sometimes more than once. Additionally it started to develop an intermittent fault with the scroller button, sometimes it would work, other times it wouldn’t.



I called tesco and appraised them of the situation, they sent me an envelope etc to send it off for repair. It arrived back today with my daughter all excited, only to be with a letter telling me that,



“..it has liquid corrosion/moisture damage which may have corroded the internal circuit board in the handset. This damage may not be evident immediately but will affect your phone over time. …this damage isn’t always due to immersion in water but using it in heavy rain or using it in locations that causes condensation to develop inside the device…… this has invalidated your manufacturer’s warranty”


I am a little annoyed about this as we are only three months into the contract and the fault was evident within the first couple of weeks of getting the phone. As far as I am concerned the corrosion issue must have started before my daughter got it. She is exceptionally careful with it, it is always if a protective sleeve of some sort and she would never take it out in the rain!!



I am now trapped in a contract because as far as I am concerned I entered into this contract because of the handset but it does not appear to fit for purpose – it developed the fault within weeks which is only getting worse, a fact noted by their own repair people. How do I get Tesco to replace this handset for one in working order which might last the same time as the contract or get them to release me from the contract?


I phoned to complain about their decision but they said there is nothing they can do!


Please help

Forwandert

Get it independently inspected to see if it is indeed water corrosion. If it isn't contact Tesco again and request they pay for the inspection and fix the phone. If it is water corrosion and it's a new phone there's not any reasonable way the phone will have arrived water damaged.

grumbler

harryenfield123 wrote: »

... This damage may not be evident immediately but will affect your phone over time. …

Not evident? They are having a laugh.
During the first 6 months they have to prove this.

Consumer Rights

Most smartphones have liquid damage indicators inside - small white stickers that turn pink/red. Have you checked yours?

harryenfield123

Forwandert - by the same token there is no way water damage was caused within the first couple of weeks of receiving it - by their own admission, they say it will get worse over time. Condensation is one of the potential causes they quote, is it not possible it happened before it got here? For them to say this with certainty, would it not have to me kept in a regulated area for temperate and moisture at every stage before it got to me? It is simply not possible for them to either control an environment in that way or make an assertion that they have. But thanks for your thoughts

harryenfield123

Thanks Grumbler, I like your answer better!!! - i will look into the sticker thing.

JPR

Basically it seems that normal phones are not suited to normal life - it means never going into a Starbucks as they use steam, never taking it outside if it's humid, etc. etc. Mobile phone companies appear to take great delight in using this particular reason for voiding warranties. I suspect they have no real engineers left and simply employ people to look for water damage.

I am in the middle of a flight with Nokia about the same thing. They would rather lose a loyal customer than show any goodwill and/or common sense.

Good luck with your Tesco problem. I am about to go down the Small Claims Court route with Nokia so maybe worth a shot with Tesco (I once took their Opticians there and they crumbled pretty quickly)

harryenfield123

Thanks JPR, small claims is something i would consider if they wont move - even though they cannot prove that i caused the damage.

Best of luck with Nokia

grumbler

If the stickers are white or there are no stickers, then Tesco shoot in their foot by admitting it writing that there was no evidence ("not evident") of liquid damage. I think they stand no chance of winning in the court and will pay before it.

Rusty!

The moisture indicators aren't the be all and end all. The OP states they found corrosion inside the phone, which is pretty hard to ignore, and it can be the cause of a hell of a lot of faults.

split_second

google 'crackberry 9300 liquid damage'

you arent the first and wont be the last with this i am afraid

Buzby

They have asserted there is LD, as I read, it they are saying it won't be evident to the end user, so no foot-shooting here.

If you require a protected phone, you need to buy one. Water vapour remains a killer, followed by water itself. The ball is in your court. As noted earlier, you need independent proof their assertion is wrong, as without this the matter has ended.