eCell (or elCell) problems, please help

Wulfrune

Hello, I've got myself in a predicament here, allow me to explain.

on 6th Dec 2012 I purchased an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 2 off the eBay from a UK based company with over 900k feedback. All was fine for months, so much so, that I purchased an S4 off them too, however, at the beginning of September 2013 the Note 2 started to mysteriously play up. For no reason it would shut off; then restart. It ended up one night doing the same thing in the night time and then when I woke up late and checked my phone, I found that it was stuck on the boot screen and nothing I could do would free it up. So, I contacted eCell whom have offices in Blackpool and they told me that I would have to contact Samsung to get the phone repaired. I established contact with Samsung and they asked me to send them the phone. However, a week later I get the phone sent back to me and a letter from Samsung saying "This phone is not a phone for the UK market and therefore they would not honour the guarantee and that I should seek redress from the company I purchased it from.

I contacted eCell again and asked them what was going on with the phone and I quote directly here:

"
Steve ***** says, Is it your companies policy to sell product to the UK that does not carry a proper warranty that is valid within the European Union?


10:40:19 Vanessa says, Regarding your concern, please note that we source out our items globally to get the possible lower price so we can pass it on to our customers.

Vanessa says, Furthermore, it is not also stated in our listing that the item is a UK version
.
Steve ***** says, Buyer beware huh?"

They went on to give me an RMA number and have told me that they'll repair it.

A few days later I contacted them to ask if they're received my phone and asked about the status of the repair and when I could expect to get my phone back, to which I was told:

"Will just informed you via email once we have an update, please allow at least 20 business days for the phone to be repaired"
to which I asked if they were having a joke with me, because 20 days in totally ridiculous, and they replied:

"It will give us time for the repair centre to look for parts for the faulty part of the time that are not readily available" (I have not made grammatical or spelling mistakes, this is what they typed word for word.

I am at my wits end here, they have a £500 phone of mine and I've got no clear idea as to what they're going to do. Ebay & Paypal are not interested as they said "it's over the 45 days rule".

Please help, I don't know what to do.

Many thanks.

Wulfrune

Fosterdog

You do have a clear idea of what they will do, they will diagnose and repair the fault which will take roughly 20 working days, what you do is wait the reasonable amount of time for them to repair it and return it to you.

If this doesn't happen, come back in a few weeks for advice on where to go next.

Wulfrune

Thank for the reply Fosterdog. I am aware of what they want to do and I don't agree with it. 20 business days seems an awful long time, especially when Samsung UK said they would have turned it around within a week. Further more and with respect, I never asked what they would do, but rather what course of action I should take, if any.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Fosterdog

Wulfrune wrote: »

Thank for the reply Fosterdog. I am aware of what they want to do and I don't agree with it. 20 business days seems an awful long time, especially when Samsung UK said they would have turned it around within a week. Further more and with respect, I never asked what they would do, but rather what course of action I should take, if any.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.

With respect you did ask what they would do and I answered that question.

Wulfrune wrote: »

I am at my wits end here, they have a £500 phone of mine and I've got no clear idea as to what they're going to do. Ebay & Paypal are not interested as they said "it's over the 45 days rule".

Please help, I don't know what to do.

Many thanks.

Wulfrune

There is nothing you can do, they are within their rights to carry out a repair, as long as this is done in a reasonable time they are complying with your consumer rights. 20 working days is a reasonable length of time to have to source parts and complete a repair on an electrical item.

It makes no difference whatsoever how quickly Samsung would repair and return it, they are not the ones doing the repair. They may have told you they aim for a seven day turn around but believe me I deal with them on a daily/weekly basis and it's rare for such a quick turnaround, they regularly take around three weeks.

peachyprice

Wulfrune wrote: »

Thank for the reply Fosterdog. I am aware of what they want to do and I don't agree with it. 20 business days seems an awful long time, especially when Samsung UK said they would have turned it around within a week. Further more and with respect, I never asked what they would do, but rather what course of action I should take, if any.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Samsung UK would repair a UK phone within a week. This is not a UK phone, presumably Samsung UK won't supply the parts. Can it even be repaired in the UK or will it have to go back to the country of origin?

Wulfrune

peachyprice wrote: »

Samsung UK would repair a UK phone within a week. This is not a UK phone, presumably Samsung UK won't supply the parts. Can it even be repaired in the UK or will it have to go back to the country of origin?

Thank you for the kind reply. Yes Peachy, that is the issue. When I purchased this phone off the eBay, I bought it from what I thought was a reputable UK based vendor. Had I have known it was a "grey import" I wouldn't have bought it. I'm guessing my phone must be winging its way to Hong Kong. Mostly Peachy, I'm disappointed in myself for thinking that just because it seemed a UK company, I got suckered and now will probably have lost my £500. I should have researched the company... With just a little effort I would have found that there's website dedicated to "Anti eCell" as it seems that I'm not the only one who's suffered at their hands.

I must admit, I'm utterly dismayed.

NiallB

While it's obviously a complete PITA, at least you're getting a repair. The downside of Ebay is that after 45 days you can find yourself with no consumer rights other than those you can enforce via court with the hassle and expense that entails.

Wulfrune

NiallB wrote: »

While it's obviously a complete PITA, at least you're getting a repair. The downside of Ebay is that after 45 days you can find yourself with no consumer rights other than those you can enforce via court with the hassle and expense that entails.

I assume that I'm getting a repair, I honestly don't know. According to various posters on the net, one of the things they like to do is play the "it's your fault its broke game" and then charge you a massive fee for the repair, win win for them

George_Michael

The downside of Ebay is that after 45 days you can find yourself with no consumer rights other than those you can enforce via court with the hassle and expense that entails.

Buying from a business seller via ebay or buying from a business seller elsewhere in the UK gives you exactly the same consumer rights.
If you were to buy from a seller that you found on the high street or on the internet you can still end up needing to take legal action to enforce your rights.

Wulfrune

After fussing and creating, threatening legal action, invoking the Sales of Goods act, contacting the trading standards & reporting the matter to MP Paul Maynard, they must have decided that I was too much a pain in the butt and gave me a full refund of £449. I must admit this came as a surprise to me, but I welcomed it.

I went out and bought a new Note 3 from Phones 4 U, having learned an important lesson about buying off the internet.

Yes, it's true... If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Thank you all for replying whether it was constructive or just a criticism, I thank you all for taking the time.

Topic closed.

frugal_mike

£450 back on a £500 phone after more than 1.5 years? Thats very generous of them, it equates to a 15 year lifespan for the phone.