4 Month old ipad from John Lewis problem - Help?

Nats2know

I bought an ipad mini at the end of January 2014 from John Lewis with a 3 year warranty. From the beginning it wasn't as 'responsive' as the other ipads we have, but I put this down to the fact it's a mini ipad (although I have been told this shouldn't be the case).


After a while, the on/off button became unresponsive and it was a struggle to turn it on and off and it then became completely stuck.


A couple of weeks ago my Son went to use it and the screen had a crack across it (not the glass, inside the screen - if that makes sense?).


I returned it to John Lewis and it was sent off, but it has been returned as unrepairable due to physical damage. They said there's nothing they can do and suggested as its under a year old I can take it to Apple for a second opinion and to see if they can fix it.


From my perspective, between the ipad screen working and not working it had been left on the sofa and was not physically damaged, but I cannot prove this, nor can I prove the other two issues I had with it.


Can anyone tell me where I stand and if John Lewis are correct and I do just have to accept it and see if Apple can fix it at my expense, or I can take it further and receive a more acceptable outcome?


Thank you in advance for your help x

marliepanda

You could get a report to prove it was not physical damage and an inherent fault, if you are confident this is the case. That would shift the responsibility back to JL. These reports do usually cost money but if deemed inherently faulty you could claim this back from JL.

Otherwise your only recourse is through Apple.

Nats2know

Thanks for your response marliepanda. Could a report really find an inherent problems that's always been there if they can't even see the screen?


I expected more from John Lewis and thought I'd have had more consumer rights or could have written a complaint letter stating certain rights and got further??

marliepanda

I don't know about the report and what it could find sorry. To be honest it does sound like some pressure has been applied to the screen, enough to damage but spread out enough not to cause a crack but I again, am no expert on them.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I imagine JL would have been much better if you had reported the two earlier problems rather than waiting for one which does definitely point more to damage rather than a fault.

You have no more legal consumer rights (without the above mentioned report) Whether they will go above that with a complaint letter I have no idea. Personally if they have deemed it damage it wouldn't be prudent for them to back track, but who knows.

If you are confident it's a fault then go for the report, but if I hadn't personally watched it and known it hadn't been sat on or something in the interim I wouldn't. Or price up the Apple repair first?

Nats2know

I agree, hindsight is a wonderful thing and to an extent I blame myself as I know I should have found the time/made the effort to report the initial problems but life runs away.


I will speak to Apple first.


Thanks for your help!


Nats

susancs

I know this is not what you want to read, but once the screen is cracked prior to receipt, they will usually just put it down to user accidental damage.

Although we don't have an ipad mini, we have an ipad and use a Griffin military style case on it (from Amazon), after several friends of ours had screens that cracked and had to be replaced at a cost. Granted these are not used by adults all the time but children and teenagers. If you do get it fixed I would look at a similar case for the ipad mini especially if children are using it.

There is a thread here that may be of interest as the OP claimed off his household insurance for accidental damage as it was similar impact screen damage to yours.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4495283

Handsome90

Is there anyway the pattern of the crack will give some clues whether it was physical damage or manufacturing defect. Sony had manufacturing defects with the screens of a small batch of their flagship phones. So it's plausible to have inherent defects in the glass of the screen of the phone.

I can't say whether apple will be more open-minded but once I had to go to a different Apple store for them to replace one of their faulty items. So it's worth going to a different store and see whether they are more helpful.

Handsome90

Sorry but could you please clarify one thing. A screen has many layers of glass/plastic. Is the crack on the outermost layer? If not then it's very likely to be manufacturing error as during misuse the outermost layer is suppose to show signs of misuse.

Nats2know

Thanks for your response susancs. The ipad has a film over the screen and is in a case, not a military one, but is still in a case. Even if my featherweight Son sat on it or dropped it off the sofa on the carpet, you wouldn't expect the screen to crack (and my Son was in the family room with me!).


My Mother suggested claiming on household insurance, but after nearly 20 years of home insurance and never a claim, I had a flood last year and the claim was a good few thousand. I'm sure I'll get stung hard enough when my renewal comes through, without making a claim for an ipad screen.


Unfortunately, from both your information, it sounds like its something I've got to swallow and pay to be fixed (if fixable?). If it can be fixed, I will certainly invest in a similar case.


Nats

bris

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xipad+mini+screen&_nkw=ipad+mini+screen&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Cheap to fix if you have a little patience and a bit of DIY skill, youtube will show you how.

Fixed a few for family and friends.

susancs

bris wrote: »

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xipad+mini+screen&_nkw=ipad+mini+screen&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Cheap to fix if you have a little patience and a bit of DIY skill, youtube will show you how.

Fixed a few for family and friends.

There also seem there are shops who do ipad mini screen repair services on ebay that seem to get good feedback and if you paid by paypal you would have also have more buyer protection.