Help needed please re: repair to phone

emmamac1970

Hi All. Just wondering if someone can advise me on where I stand regarding a phone that I've paid to be fixed, but it's still broken.

I took my daughter's phone to a stall on the market and they said they would send the phone off and quoted me £35 if the phone could be fixed or the phone back, free of charge, if it couldn't. I was happy with this and handed the phone over.

Today I went to collect it and was told it was water damaged and required a new screen (as well as other repairs) and the cost was £75. He was very apologetic and admitted I should have been advised of the increase in charge, before the repairs were carried out. He even said he could send the phone to be "un repaired" if I was not happy to pay. After much humming and haaing I handed over the money and brought home the phone, which he had turned on to show me that it worked.

Fast forward to the daughter coming home from school......She inserts her SIM card and it won't make/receive calls or texts and the camera doesn't work.

I am now worried that I've paid £75 for a phone that doesn't work or fear that I'm going to be asked for more money for further repairs. Is there any chance that I'd be entitled to my money back? For £75 I could have bought a second hand phone, but my daughter had pics on the phone she was hoping to retrieve.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks x

hollydays

You've been scammed.

emmamac1970

That may be so, but is there really nothing I can legally do about it?

hollydays

What was the problem when you first took it?

emmamac1970

It just wasn't working, not doing anything at all. So yes, they could argue that they've fixed it insofar as it now switches on - but that's all it does ��

hollydays

If it was me, I wouldn't trust him to touch it again.
I'd take it back, tell him it's not fixed, ask for my £75 back.
I'd also ask which company he sent it off too.

emmamac1970

I do plan on doing that, but I have a feeling he's going to say he has to send it back to have it un-repaired before he'll refund me. I'd be happy to do that, but then he'll have both the phone and the money. Where would my proof be that he has either?

hollydays

How can you un repair something?
Particularly in this case when it's not been repaired.

emmamac1970

I know! But thats what he said to me when I was deliberating on whether or not to pay the increased fee. I asked - apparently they would take out the new motherboard and new screen that they'd put in.

Oh, how I wished I'd agreed to that! Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

hollydays

Which phone was it-did it look like it had a new screen?

emmamac1970

It was a Samsung Galaxy S2 and I would definitely say it had a new screen. If I'm honest I do believe that repairs were carried out, but perhaps all final checks weren't made to ensure that the phone was fully working.

The guy on the market stall has been there for years and always has plenty of custom. This makes me think that it may be a genuine mistake - but at who's cost? I just hope it's not mine........