Carphone Warehouse unwilling to replace a faulty iPhone after 12 months

t8fisted

Dear All,


My wife bought an iPhone from a Carphone warehouse store in February 2013. It was purchased at the reduced rate of £169 as part of a new 24 month contract upgrade.


Although it worked initially it has recently developed a well known fault where the WIFI does not browse and find any networks. She is now outside the standard 12 month Apple warranty period but the Carphone Warehouse are not willing to replace it in spite of me obtaining an Apple Engineers report which clearly states that its a hardware fault and that the phone should be replaced.


She has written 2 letters to the shop Manager who has now forwarded this on to his complaints department. Today she received a written reply from their Customer Complaints Department. Their representative stated that "...the engineers report does not show any evidence that the fault was present at the point of sale or point of delivery..."


He then mentions that "...under the Sales of goods act Section 48A point 3 the fault has to be present at point of sale or point of delivery if you wish to make a claim under your sales of goods rights we would require proof of this fault being present at the point of delivery..."

I think that even after 15 months that my wife is entitled to a replacement on the grounds that the iphone should be expected to last at least till the end of the contract (24 months) and that this is reasonable (which Carphone Warehouse are not being! :sad: )

Has anyone else experienced the same hardnosed attitude from Mobile phone companies? What would anyone advise to settle this matter - is my wife in the right?


cheers


Rod

mije1983

t8fisted wrote: »

Their representative stated that "...the engineers report does not show any evidence that the fault was present at the point of sale or point of delivery..."

He then mentions that "...under the Sales of goods act Section 48A point 3 the fault has to be present at point of sale or point of delivery if you wish to make a claim under your sales of goods rights we would require proof of this fault being present at the point of delivery..."

This is correct. A report simply saying it is a hardware fault is not enough. It could be a hardware fault due to you dropping it or water ingress etc (I'm not saying that's the case, just using an example).

t8fisted wrote: »

I think that even after 15 months that my wife is entitled to a replacement

She's not. You can request a replacement, but they are entitled to repair the phone, or even offer a partial refund if that is chaper for them.


You need to get a report that states it's an inherant fault, and then go back to CPW. You usually have to pay for it, but then if it comes back in your favour, you can claim the cost of the report back from CPW.

marliepanda

That is the crux of the matter, being present at the time of sale.
If it is something that develops, as they seem to imply, thats not covered.

I do find it odd however that Apple are saying 'this is broken and should be replaced' as technically they will be the ones footing the bill for the replacement (through the retailer)

Have you approached Apple themselves for the replacement? They cannot require another company to replace (as implied in the report) whilst also denying responsibility, if that makes sense.

If, as they are saying, this is a developed, not inherent fault, then CW are right. There is no law that says items must last the contract length, and as they are saying it is a developed fault then you are out of the 6 months SOGA and would possibly have to contribute to a replacement etc. Have they offered any remedy at all?

Right now I would say CW are in the right, but that Apple report is very odd. You either need a report which says it was always present (or that that model of Iphone is inherently faulty) The current report seems to imply that by the suggested resolution, but obviously does not make it explicit enough...

wealdroam

Have you read MSE's Consumer Rights guide?

Particularly this bit:

What proof do you need?

When goods are faulty, if you return them within six months, then it's up to the shop to prove they weren't faulty when you bought them. After this, the burden of proof shifts and it's up to you to prove they were faulty when you bought them.

This is effectively saying that after six months from purchase the shop does not have to do anything until you prove to them that the fault was present at the time of sale.

If you can get a report from Apple stating this, then go back to CPW with it.

t8fisted

Thank you for all your feedback so far - I appreciate it. Just to help clarify - this is the wording from the Apple Engineers report "Device does not show any network in operation when navigating to the wifi settings. This is hardware fault that can only be resolved from replacing the device" . Do you think this should be reworded? The people in the Apple Genius Bar were very nice and told me that if I had bought the phone from them they would have replaced it without hesitation .I assume none of you have an iPhone (or have experienced this particular issue?) From the research I have done it seems I am not alone with the iPhone WIFI packing in after 15 months!

powerful_Rogue

What iPhone do you have and what version of ios? Did this problem occur after carrying out an ios update?

daytona0

t8fisted wrote: »

Thank you for all your feedback so far - I appreciate it. Just to help clarify - this is the wording from the Apple Engineers report "Device does not show any network in operation when navigating to the wifi settings. This is hardware fault that can only be resolved from replacing the device" . Do you think this should be reworded? The people in the Apple Genius Bar were very nice and told me that if I had bought the phone from them they would have replaced it without hesitation .I assume none of you have an iPhone (or have experienced this particular issue?) From the research I have done it seems I am not alone with the iPhone WIFI packing in after 15 months!

It needs to say WHY there is a hardware fault. Did you drop it in water? Is it something which is inherent? Have you downloaded a virus?

If that is the wording on the report then CPW are looking at it and thinking "Ok this doesn't in any way say that we have sold the customer a defective item". You need to show that it was CPW selling you a defective item as apposed to something which could have been caused from something you did (in the first 6 months they need to prove it, but now you need to prove that it was CPW).

Bantex_2

t8fisted wrote: »

Thank you for all your feedback so far - I appreciate it. Just to help clarify - this is the wording from the Apple Engineers report "Device does not show any network in operation when navigating to the wifi settings. This is hardware fault that can only be resolved from replacing the device" . Do you think this should be reworded? The people in the Apple Genius Bar were very nice and told me that if I had bought the phone from them they would have replaced it without hesitation .I assume none of you have an iPhone (or have experienced this particular issue?) From the research I have done it seems I am not alone with the iPhone WIFI packing in after 15 months!

All that says is that the the phone is beyond repair. Apple cannot force a retailer to do anything.

marliepanda

Yeah the report doesn't really say what you implied in the OP...

Its just saying its not working and cannot be repaired.

So CPW are completely in the right I'm afraid.

d123

marliepanda wrote: »

Have you approached Apple themselves for the replacement?

Apple have no liability under SOGA, their warranty which was in addition to statutory rights has expired and the retailer would the responsible party now.

t8fisted

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

What iPhone do you have and what version of ios? Did this problem occur after carrying out an ios update?

iPhone 4s and yes it occurred not long after the upgrade to IOS 7.1.1


Regards


Rod