T-Mobile refusing to repair <12months old phone - what are my options?

Dave.H_2

Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker first time poster...

I have a 24 month contract on T-Mobile which came with a HTC Wildfire S phone. After 8 months of use, the phone gave up the ghost one evening and refused to turn back on.

Naturally, I took the phone back to the T-Mobile store where they duly took it in for assessment. For weeks later (after I chased them up) they come back to me and tell me that it has been exposed to "moist air or fog" due to some evidence of internal rusting. The phone has always been kept in a case and I am certain that the phone has NOT been exposed to water outside reasonable operating tolerances (i.e. submersion), and indeed the accompanying documentation states that the internal red moisture stickers have not tripped. In fact the shop assistant even said to me "it's probably not even that which caused it, they just use it an an excuse".

So I am left with 16 months on the contract, and a phone which has failed prematurely for apparent exposure to fog. In my mind the phone isn't fit for purpose if this has killed it - what can I do?

Kind Regards,
Dave

anguk

The screen cracked on my daughter's contract phone after having it for only a month. I took it to the t-mobile shop, they sent it off and it came back with a report saying it was unrepairable and I'd have to pay almost £300 for a brand new phone! :eek: I refused to pay that amount of money so I took it to an independent phone repair shop for them to look at, they fixed it in less than half an hour and it cost me £50, all it needed was a new screen.

I was fuming with T-mobile but got no joy when I complained, they said that they just went with the repairers report. :mad: I have heard so many stories about the repairers t-mobile use, they tend to write the phone off for minor problems and often they can be fixed for not much money.

Personally I would take your phone to an independent shop and ask them to take a look at it.

diamonds

Read here http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=t-mobile%20complaints&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.t-mobile.co.uk%2Fresources%2Fsites%2FTMOBILE%2Fcontent%2Flive%2FDOCUMENTS%2F0%2FDO210%2Fen_GB%2FComplaints%2520Code%2520of%2520Practice.pdf&ei=5XZUUPmKBYqq0AW7tIDQCA&usg=AFQjCNF-LK3arRx3tDnpCjP3F7kWBupmeA

Register complaint to Ofcom on 0300 123 3333

Dave.H_2

Thanks for your replies.

Anguk, yes that's pretty bad but I'm talking more along the lines of an inherant fault with the phone - I haven't done anything which could be considered "misuse" e.g. smashing the screen... But I take your point about the independant shop, although I'd rather avoid that route as it involves shelling out more cash for what should be a simple swap from T-Mobile's part.

diamonds, many thanks, I'll go down this route. What do Ofcom have to do with the situation? I was under the impression this was something I might be able to tackle with the SoGA?

Kind Regards,
Dave

chanz4

they may argue that a new phone wouldn't of been sold with rust, you can get moisture by just putting it in the kitchem

psychoticfox

Im in the same boat with t-mobile,

I put my Atrix in for repair a few weeks ago and it was returned unrepaired. They stated the main board is damaged which is absolute rubbish as it has been well cared for and there is no damage to the phone at all (even the repair refusal slip said no visable damage) , ive asked them to reconsider but not holding out for them to do so, it makes me so angry that they can treat customers this way.

Im hoping motorola will look at it as they may be aware of the isssues with the phone, overheating very badly ect.

ju

grumbler

Dave.H wrote: »

what are my options?

• Manufacturer's warranty.
• Small claims court (online). Sue T-mobile for the market value of a replacement handset or for the cost of repair. With untripped indicators they don't have a leg to stand on and will pay before the court hearing.

JPR

Keep on at them and go the Small Claims Court route.

I have a problem with Nokia and they have used the "water ingress" excuse to void the warranty. After weeks of dealing with the most amazingly awful people in their Philippines call centre I finally got a UK manager to admit that their priority is to find a reason to void the warranty rather than attempt a repair.

Just sent their MD an LBA and an waiting (or not) for a reply.

MissKeith

I don't understand why many long term users harp on about tripped water indicators. They are not the only sign of water damage, corrosion of internal parts is the biggest sign. I would ask T-Mobile for photographic evidence of the damaged areas before proceeding.

MissKeith

http://ifixsmartphone.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/waterdam2.jpg

Above is a picture of a PCB showing signs of water damage. I think the corrosion is very evident. In my time in the industry, I did see instances where the the indicators had not been tripped but the circuit board was corroded through liquid damage. To reiterate, water indicators are not the ONLY indication of liquid ingress.

grumbler

MissKeith wrote: »

I don't understand why many long term users harp on about tripped water indicators. They are not the only sign of water damage, corrosion of internal parts is the biggest sign.

It's just your opinion that they are there just to help the companies to fob the customers off:

• If the indicators are white then the companies are free to look for any signs of corrosion without any limits on how small these signs are.
• If the indicators are pink, then the customer is at fault again even if there are no any signs of corrosion.

Unlike indicators, corrosion is something so vague and undefinable that it cannot be used as a deciding factor in a financial dispute. And it's pretty obvious that any serious corrosion can't happen with untripped indicators while it's possible almost always to find some sort of corrosion using some powerful microscope. Also, with your experience 'in industry', you should know that all fluxes used for soldering are weak acids actually that inevitably cause some corrosion during the process and later if not washed out properly (except, possibly, rosin that is not used industrially, but is a weak acid too if melted).