faulty Iphone 5C

Jackjack

Help, my Iphone 5c is 6 weeks old and has stopped working, it was plugged in overnight and in the morning no life, took back to 02 who sent it off and was told 2 pins were damaged in the charging port and I could buy another phone for £196 (refurbished model). Took the phone to an Apple store as the phone is still under warranty to be told the same and that it could not be repaired and that another phone would cost £209 (refurbished), as warranty does not cover this part as I must have caused the fault - only plugged it in to charge.

Have contacted Apple Distribution in Ireland, to get a standard reply letter of damage is not covered under warranty.

Took it to an independent repair specialist who told me that the fault is probably with the motherboard as no life to the phone even with a fully charged battery there is still no life, is there anything else I can do as I have a phone that does not work, tho paying a two year contract for it.

NFH

Jackjack wrote: »

Took it to an independent repair specialist who told me that the fault is probably with the motherboard as no life to the phone even with a fully charged battery there is still no life, is there anything else I can do as I have a phone that does not work, tho paying a two year contract for it.

Get a report from the independent specialist confirming that the defect was not caused by you. Where goods are supplied as a standalone product, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies. However, where goods are supplied in conjunction with a service and particularly where payments for the service wholly or partially cover the cost of the goods (as is the case here), the relevant legislation is Section 11N of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 which obliges the supplier (not the manufacturer) to repair or replace defective goods free of charge. Therefore claim against O2 under this legislation. If the matter drags on and you are left without a working phone, you could buy a new iPhone 5C from Apple at full price and claim the full price from O2.

Jackjack

Thankyou so much for that reply, I did mention in my letter to Apple that the phone was not fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, but they were not helpful, will try the 02 route..

NFH

Jackjack wrote: »

I did mention in my letter to Apple that the phone was not fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, but they were not helpful, will try the 02 route..

Apple have no statutory liability, only a contractual liability under the warranty, which is harder to enforce. You will find that Apple always fob off any potential legal action until you actually start the action, either as a County Court claim or a Section 75 claim via your credit card issuer. Then they suddenly comply in full.

JJ_Egan

What they are both saying is that you damaged the port by careless use .
It is relatively easy to damage the pins if you yank the cable out or twist it .
Even snapping the pins off a motherboard is possible due to careless use .
You need as said an experts report to prove your point of view .

Buzby

Even then you still have a duty of care the build quality is such that if there are relatively fee complaints (ie, it doesn't happen to nearly everyone) the as owner, your negligence whether knowingly or unknowingly, contributed to the fault.

An independent repairer can or provide the proof you require, as it would be speculation, but as many other phones work as advertised, the onus falls on you to treat your goods with care. If not, then you are left to pay the additional costs.

NFH

JJ_Egan wrote: »

It is relatively easy to damage the pins if you yank the cable out or twist it .

I disagree that it is easy to damage the pins on an iPhone's lightning connector. If it was that easy, then the goods would fall foul of Section 18(3)(e) of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

Jackjack

Update, having emailed 02 Head Office Chief Excecutive Officer (the highest person I could find) there has been a response, 02 have today phoned and have acknowledged that they didnt do enough to resolve the problem and that they will replace the phone.. Thankyou so much to NFH for your comments, you made me take it further with 02 and it has paid off with a result. Putting this on this forum was my last option of any help and it just shows how many wise and helpful people there are on here... so THANKYOU ::j