New sim free phone has smashed under screen, store refuses refund/replace

fantasticgriffin

Got a new sim free phone from high street store, when I got it home I quickly put battery in and back cover and took sticky label off the screen and turned it on, when nothing happened I noticed the screen had a rainbow like colour under it so I took it back next day to the store and was first told contact manufacturer then grumpily accused of either doing the damage myself or changing phones since there was quite a few little dents around the metal casing and on the top of the screen there was some tiny cracks.

Now I do not know what happened but noticed the imei number of the phone on the box was missing and labelled over with a argos label, well not missing but covered with the item number and impossible to see under and could of easily been opened before and taken out.

How can I fight this? I plan to go back to same or another local store (2 within 10 minutes walk of each other for some reason) but I want to double check rights i.e if it came broken what to argue or if they claim I broke it can I quote something to say its within 28 days or something? Not that I would but if its easier than to say it came broken for example.

frugal_mike

Assuming that you didn't cause the damage then you can reject the item under the Sale of Goods Act for a full refund. Just be very clear with them that it arrived broken and you are rejecting it. They can't tell you to go to the manufacturer, it's nothing to do with them.

Hintza

Sounds like Argos, personally I would check their stuff out before leaving the store. Their returns can be a bit haphazard and a previous buyer could have swapped the phone before replacing it and returning.

You really are going to need to be strong on this as I reckon they will try and fob you off for a while.

earthstorm

Strange as the policy with Argos when selling mobile phones is before it is handed to you they will take the phone out of the box and write the IMEI number on the receipt, so if it needs to be returned they can verify its the same phone

peachyprice

earthstorm wrote: »

Strange as the policy with Argos when selling mobile phones is before it is handed to you they will take the phone out of the box and write the IMEI number on the receipt, so if it needs to be returned they can verify its the same phone

They've never done this to me in Argos when I've bought a phone. Is this a new thing?

fantasticgriffin

Yes was Argos, tried different store today who was quite stand offish and said they always check the phone and made out it could not of been damaged, so after some pestering they contacted the purchase store and they confirmed it was not checked, though now they expect me to wait up to a month for them to check CCTV to confirm if it was sealed! I did snap and be loud at first but only for a few seconds saying my rights and that I was contacting head office then explained how its not her personally I blame but the company was wrong.

They told me as its not a manufacturing fault and its obvious it was broken thats why they need to check cctv

frugal_mike

Well they're entitled to try and prove it's not their liability, but they can't inconvenience you significantly. A month just to check CCTV is quite a long time. You might want to get something sent to them in writing just to get it on record that you want to reject the item in case they try and quietly forget about it.

ValHaller

frugal_mike wrote: »

Well they're entitled to try and prove it's not their liability, but they can't inconvenience you significantly. A month just to check CCTV is quite a long time. You might want to get something sent to them in writing just to get it on record that you want to reject the item in case they try and quietly forget about it.

I agree. Don't delay.