Phone damaged whilst in EE/Orange's custody - what are my rights?

daggy

Morning all,

I apologise, but this is going to be a long post.

My Galaxy S3 LTE stopped working on 15-06-2013.
It developed a known fault whereby it would boot to the samsung logo and then reboot... it then stopped turning on at all.

I called orange on 150 and they advised that I could either have them send a jiffy or I could go into store and they would give me a loan phone.

I went into store and they had no free loan phones, but they did have one that I could pay for, but it had no bluetooth (for use in the car) so I opted to use my GF's old phone and the girl said she'd give me a sim adapter...so I then signed all of the paper work and handed my phone over.

Alas, it didn't go that smoothly as when the girl at store was talking to me her manager interrupted her and she forgot to give me the sim adapter... I didn't notice until I got home. However, I'm a reasonable person, so I called orange and asked them to activate my old sim which first the girlfriends old phone... they messed this up, so I was withough service for 48 hours and I had the pleasure of calling them multiple times during this period.

Anyway, the sim was finally activated and I started using the phone in the mean time,

#############introduction and generally poor service above#####################

###############Main problem below#################

To cut the long story above short.

I handed my galaxy s3 lte in to an orange store for repair because it was only booting as far as the samsung screen and then looping back to startup... it then eventually turned off and wouldn't boot at all (this is a known problem).

It was handed in on the 15-06-2013.

I received a voicemail on 25-06-2013.

The technician informed me that there would be a charge for the repair as the main display had a large crack on it - they posted a lovely picture showing it.

And so the saga starts.

I tried to call their repair centre and got put in a queue then the line was dropped.

I then rang orange and they told me I had to go to store, which I did not want to do because I have to pay to park, so I called the store and they told me that I didn't need to come to store.

The store confirmed that my phone did not have a cracjed screen when I gave it to them, when I left the store they had put my phone in a bag, so I don't think it was them.

Anyway, this debacle has now been ongoing for 2 weeks.

I did manage to get through to the repair centre and the person informed me that the supervisor had informed her that the damage was not consistent with damage in transit - I asked her how they could be sure as they don't know how it was treated in transit.

Additionally she said the store could have missed the crack as they had to look at it at an obscure angle to see the crack, which is interesting because their photos were taken directly above the screen (which is how people look at the screen) and the crack is very clear.

Basically I've rang orange (store and call centre) multiple times over the last few weeks and got nowhere... PASS THE BUCK!!!

What are my rights?

The way I see it is my phone was damaged somewhere in EE's chain of custody and I want it repaired or replaced free of charge.

I've raised a complaint on the phone and the store manager told me I'd go round in circles with this, so I should raise one via e-mail... why should I have to do all of this? It's ridiculous.

Any help would be appreciated.

daggy

Forgot to say that quick search on the web shows that ee's repair service is pretty substandard.

grumbler

daggy wrote: »

I've raised a complaint on the phone and the store manager told me I'd go round in circles with this, so I should raise one via e-mail... why should I have to do all of this? It's ridiculous.

They were right. Take it or leave it.

Any help would be appreciated.

If you can get something in written from the store that there was no crack, just send Orange the letter before action, then sue the !!!!!!!s via the small claims court (online).

daggy

I have a form that I signed which clearly staes that my phone was not cracked when they took custody.

I also have notes on my account that state this.

Will that suffice?

How long should I give orange to respond?

JJ_Egan

daggy wrote: »

I have a form that I signed which clearly staes that my phone was not cracked when they took custody.

I also have notes on my account that state this.

Will that suffice?

How long should I give orange to respond?

14 days is ample .

jje

diamonds

EE are liable, it left them and was damaged by them, in transit or their 3rd party repairer.

Call Ofcom, report a complaint against EE and get a reference number.

Email chief exec office ALL the details & the staff member you spoke to who confirmed no crack instore when left for repair & a picture of the cracked screen. Liabilty rest with EE and you request THEY pay for factory state/sealed REPLACEMENT.

[EMAIL="olaf.swantee@everythingeverywhere.com"]olaf.swantee@everythingeverywhere.com[/EMAIL]

daggy

I have made a little bit of progress so far as the store are exploring their complaints process with ukmail and the call centre offered to credit the amount of the repair to my account if I paid upfront.

That's a nice offer, but I don't think I should have to pay up front - petulant, but pertinent.

CAB advised that orange could be in breach of goods and serviices act of 1982

Not of a satisfactory quality
Breach of contract -

can anybody elaborate?

diamonds

Don't worry about all that legal buff now there is plenty time, do Ofcom, complaint ref and a polite and informed email to EE chief exec that damage caused was after yourself had handed it to EE and you request a new factory sealed REPLACEMENT as a like for like given the only handset issues was a software not hardware problem and your mobile left you into the hands of EE as a factory sealed unit with no previous hardware repairs.


If you need the legal bumf, we will sort that and threaten such if EE don't want to play nice given a EE staff member KNOWS liability does not rest with you for the damage but EE or their third party courier or repairer, EE are as responsible for their third party contractors and actions and accountable to YOU the customer/consumer

d123

daggy wrote: »

Not of a satisfactory quality
Breach of contract -

can anybody elaborate?

It's got nothing to do with satisfactory quality, they had a duty of care, and by damaging the phone the failed in that duty.

diamonds

d123 wrote: »

It's got nothing to do with satisfactory quality, they had a duty of care, and by damaging the phone the failed in that duty.

And thus accepted liability for a like for like - a factory sealed unrepaired handset.

Oh and some compensation for you as goodwill for stress, hassle and not sticking to the allocated XX day repair and return service

Rusty!

Like for like would not be a brand new sealed phone. It would be a refurbished phone.