Refurbished Mobiles guide - official forum discussion

Kevin_T_-_123

Hoorah!

After more e-mails - they have now conceded their error and an IPhone 6 silver GB has arrived, its in great condition - Thank you

warrena1

Looks like the 20% discount has been ended - the discount is no longer being accepted on their site. Has anyone else tried?

Aby.Manzoor

Nic has more confidence then I do. They have stopped responding e-mails. It has been over a month now since they issued tracking number. After the first week when they did respond they say it should be delivered by the end of the week but I am afraid. I have used resolution centre to dispute the purchase. Let’s hope I will receive a refund

snddim01

Re the company Hot Bargain Phones, I wonder if someone could give me some advice.


I ordered a (refurbed) iPhone from them on 14th May based on the recommendation from MSE. It arrived on 20th May. It worked fine, except that it crashed twice in the space of a fortnight. On both occasions I was able to get it working again.


On 10th June, exactly three weeks to the day after receiving it, the phone crashed a third time. It would not reboot and was (is) totally dead. I started to do some research on the company at that point and found all sorts of horror stories. I therefore emailed them the following day to notify them of the fault and stating that due to the negative reviews I had read of their service I would take it to Apple for examination rather than send it back for a warranty repair.


I was on holiday for a few days afterwards and so didn't get to the Apple Store until 16th June. Apple connected it to a PC and told me it had a hardware fault. As it hadn't been dropped or damaged by me, the Apple rep said it was almost certainly defective when I received it, although he didn't want to put that in writing until they'd stripped it down and examined the components - which I would have to pay for.


I therefore decided to send it back to Hot Bargain Phones, along with an email stating that I was rejecting it under the Sale Of Goods Act due to it being not fit for purpose and not of satisfactory quality. I requested a refund.


The refund was refused as these are "not possible after 14 days".


I paid via Paypal but having looked at their T&Cs I'm not sure if they cover me as it did work for a short time. I've emailed Paypal asking for guidance. The phone is now back in the hands of HBP with their technical department for checking. (or so their email says)


I don't want it checked / repaired / returned, even if they actually do it FOC under their warranty. Based on my experiences so far I would expect the phone again to break at some point afterwards.


I want my money back so that I can do what I should have done originally - buy a proper one from Apple.


Will I get that from Paypal? It seems to me that they only cover items that either don't arrive or are not as described.

d123

snddim01 wrote: »

I was on holiday for a few days afterwards and so didn't get to the Apple Store until 16th June. Apple connected it to a PC and told me it had a hardware fault. As it hadn't been dropped or damaged by me, the Apple rep said it was almost certainly defective when I received it, although he didn't want to put that in writing until they'd stripped it down and examined the components - which I would have to pay for.

That can't be the whole story, why didn't Apple just supply an exchange unit as they do for any other customer who goes into a Genius Bar with a faulty iPhone under warranty?

snddim01

d123 wrote: »

That can't be the whole story, why didn't Apple just supply an exchange unit as they do for any other customer who goes into a Genius Bar with a faulty iPhone under warranty?

The phone isn't under an Apple warranty. It's a refurbished unit which is under a "warranty" issued by Hot Bargain phones. A warranty which allegedly isn't worth the paper it's written on, according to some of the reports I've read elsewhere. Hence the reason I went to Apple for guidance.


When they plugged the defective iPhone into their laptop during the Genius Appointment, do you know what it said? The phone was purchased in 1978!!


I presume that info must be held somewhere on a chip in the phone which can be read even when the unit is dead.

Silk

snddim01 wrote: »

When they plugged the defective iPhone into their laptop during the Genius Appointment, do you know what it said? The phone was purchased in 1978!!

Thats almost thirty years before the iPhone came out :rotfl:

d123

snddim01 wrote: »

The phone isn't under an Apple warranty. It's a refurbished unit which is under a "warranty" issued by Hot Bargain phones. A warranty which allegedly isn't worth the paper it's written on, according to some of the reports I've read elsewhere. Hence the reason I went to Apple for guidance.


When they plugged the defective iPhone into their laptop during the Genius Appointment, do you know what it said? The phone was purchased in 1978!!


I presume that info must be held somewhere on a chip in the phone which can be read even when the unit is dead.

They didn't make iPhones in 1978!

I thought this thread was about the iPhone 6 offer in the MSE email, all iPhone 6's will still be under Apple warranty (as they weren't actually sold before September 2014).

What handset did you buy?

Silk

d123 wrote: »

They didn't make iPhones in 1978!

I thought this thread was about the iPhone 6 offer in the MSE email, all iPhone 6's will still be under Apple warranty (as they weren't actually sold before September 2014).

What handset did you buy?

Just thinking about it if they are "refurbished" by someone other than Apple, seals broken etc, then Apple would probably reject a warranty claim.

d123

Silk wrote: »

Just thinking about it if they are "refurbished" by someone other than Apple, seals broken etc, then Apple would probably reject a warranty claim.

A good point, that makes them worth less than a genuine second hand one then. At least the second hand one would still have warranty.