Faulty "Out of Warranty" iPhone 4S

abc123456

I have been battling EE with the last few weeks. Basically what happened was that, following the IOS7 update, which knocked many iPhones for six worldwide, my wifi stopped working 2 days after the 1 year warranty expired. I am on 24 month contract.


Having followed many forums, particularly ones related to Apple, I see this is a very common problem, with owners reporting having their phone replaced or repaired free of charge, even out of warranty.


In my case EE have other ideas and are refusing to entertain the notion that as a retailer, they have some responsibility in this matter.

Today I received a letter from EE following my recent letter to them quoting the Sale of Goods Act, the EU directive re consumer goods.


They state that due to the following 2 reasons, they will not repair or provide a replacement for free.


* If a customer has had the phone for over 12 months, it is the customer`s responsibility to prove to EE that the fault is inherent from point of manufacture


* A letter from a manufacturer- such as Apple Genius Bar is NOT sufficient to prove to EE that the fault is inherent.


In my case, the fault appears to have occurred following the IOS 7 update which obviously followed later and not at the time of manufacture, also, if EE will not accept evidence of such from the manufacturer, how can the consumer prove the fault exists?


Any help appreciated with this as I am totally stumped. (Or am I just wasting my time)?

SuperHan

Have you got a letter from the Genius Bar!?! I'd be surprised if they're openly admitting this is a manufacturing fault.

You are only entitled to a remedy under SoGA if the fault is inherent, and if you have an independent engineers report to back that fact up. Maybe ask EE who is best to get a report from if they don't accept Apple reports. Maybe an authorised Apple repairer? Do you have a KRCS near you? They could possibly do it for a cost.

EE are right, you are best to seek guidance from them as to who can provide an adequate report for the purpose of your claim.

PS The EU Directive is IRRELEVANT in the UK, it's not an EU law, it's an EU instruction that our law already adhered to. Stick with the SoGA, otherwise it just looks like you don't know what you're talking about.

InsideInsurance

SoGA is between you and the retailer so its understandable (and technically correct to go to EE if thats where you bought it).

Whilst you have no rights with Apple they are well known for giving very good customer service and so its worth while going to one of their stores. Even on out of warranty things they normally do diagnostics and the basic type fixes like a hard reset etc for free.

With the Mrs phone that broke out of warranty (about 18 months old) they replaced it without question with a brand new one.

abc123456

SuperHan wrote: »

Have you got a letter from the Genius Bar!?! I'd be surprised if they're openly admitting this is a manufacturing fault.

You are only entitled to a remedy under SoGA if the fault is inherent, and if you have an independent engineers report to back that fact up. Maybe ask EE who is best to get a report from if they don't accept Apple reports. Maybe an authorised Apple repairer? Do you have a KRCS near you? They could possibly do it for a cost.

EE are right, you are best to seek guidance from them as to who can provide an adequate report for the purpose of your claim.

PS The EU Directive is IRRELEVANT in the UK, it's not an EU law, it's an EU instruction that our law already adhered to. Stick with the SoGA, otherwise it just looks like you don't know what you're talking about.

I spoke with Apple Support today, who after a few checks, have said that it is a hardware fault. They have offered a replacement for £159, however the advisor mentioned that I should complain to Trading Standards about the content of the letter from EE as asterixed in my first post.


It all depends how far I wish to bother myself with this. At the end of the day, no wifi is a pain in the a*** but I can live with it, and with 8 months to go on my contract, probably not really worth paying for a replacement.


I may however, go into an Apple Store and see what they have to say.


Thanks everyone.

vuvuzela

Have you tried rolling back the update and going to whatever the best working version of iOS 6 was ?

halibut2209

[QUOTE=abc123456;64838526
* A letter from a manufacturer- such as Apple Genius Bar is NOT sufficient to prove to EE that the fault is inherent.[/QUOTE]

Good luck to EE in finding a judge who would agree with that rubbish!

shaun_from_Africa

A letter from a manufacturer- such as Apple Genius Bar is NOT sufficient to prove to EE that the fault is inherent.

It is possible that a judge would agree with this as the SOGA requires an independent report and it could be argued that the manufacturer is neither independent nor unbiased as they have a vested interest in the retailer being held responsible for sorting out a remedy.

If it is deemed that the software update was the cause of the problem, Apple might end up having to spend a fortune sorting out non working phones.

bod1467

Interesting viewpoint, Shaun. Especially considering most retailers usually suggest going to the manufacturer for confirmation of faults. (And I don't just mean in terms of warranty).

halibut2209

But a retailer with a report would just return the item back to the manufacturer. Retailer compensates the Consumer. Manufacturer compensates the retailer.

bris

Problem here is that EE is correct, EE supplied a working phone that was only made faulty by a software update, EE are not liable for faults due to software, they have done nothing wrong, Apple broke the phone.

visidigi

bris wrote: »

Problem here is that EE is correct, EE supplied a working phone that was only made faulty by a software update, EE are not liable for faults due to software, they have done nothing wrong, Apple broke the phone.

Interesting viewpoint. Which would be true if if broke all iPhone 4s's.

But it didn't, both ours are fine - which would mean its only become obvious since the update, but it existed from manufacture as its a batch that's clearly affected, not all phones of the same model.