Warranty Repair Refused by EE

Firemunchkin

[FONT=&quot]I have a Sony Xperia Z3 compact phone. It’s glass and literally slides off a flat surface. The back screen got quite badly smashed last year and I had it repaired at a local phone shop (cost me £30 plus the cost of the back screen which is only about £8). I then bought a phone case (£20 transparent gel one) from a retailer on Amazon to protect the phone from knocks and give it a little more ‘grip’ so that it wouldn’t slide off things.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Since then I haven’t dropped the phone once. Nevertheless, the back screen is still cracked in the top right hand corner. Bit annoying – turns out the phone case is a bit rubbish as it doesn’t protect the phone from knocks let alone drops. There is no damage to the front or the side of the phone. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The touch function on the front screen has stopped working in certain areas – not the whole of the front screen, just a small area in the bottom left corner. It means keyboards don’t work (I can’t get an ‘r’ or ‘s’, and that area doesn’t work for gaming or clicking links on websites etc). [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The phone is still in warranty and EE said they’d send it off to the warranty repair place where an assessment would be made. When submitting the warranty repair, the guy in the shop stated that the phone was in a ‘poor state’ with damage on the rear of the phone. At the time, I pointed out that the phone wasn’t in poor repair at all, the back screen was slightly cracked in one corner, but the rest of the phone was absolutely fine. He said that this was a drop down menu option and there wasn’t any other option in these circumstances. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Fast forward to last week when EE contacted me to say they couldn’t repair the phone in warranty. I had a call from the warranty place where the guy said that they couldn’t repair the back screen because it wasn’t a warranty repair. I said I didn’t want the back screen fixed, just the front screen touch function. He said they have to return the phone in full working order – but didn’t seem to understand that the issue I need repairing is a common fault with these phones (as several EE salespeople have since told me). I asked for a technical report to confirm the causal link between the damage to the rear screen and the fault with the touch function on the front of the phone. He said they don’t provide this. To get them to repair the phone they want £109 (although they have now sent it back to me because I didn’t want to incur that cost without looking into the matter further). I can’t use my house insurance because the excess is £300). [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I have looked at the photos taken of my phone on the repair tracker – it clearly shows the damage to the rear screen in the top right hand corner. The touch function is gone from the bottom left corner of the front screen – i.e. an area which is completely unconnected to the damage on the back of the phone. There is a photo of the opened phone which circles something in the bottom rear on the inside of the phone, but it’s not clear what that is – there doesn’t appear to be anything cracked or broken there (the zoom function doesn’t help, it just goes all blurry). There’s no written report, just photos and these don’t appear to confirm anything one way or the other. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]It’s confusing and I’m not sure what my rights are with regard to the warranty of my phone – surely, if the phone develops a fault which is unconnected to any negligent use of the phone then this should be covered by the warranty? If the damage to the rear of the phone has no causal connection to the fault on the front of the phone, then why should the damage to the rear of the phone prevent any repair within warranty to the fault on the front? If I get the phone back, and have the rear screen repaired again, and then send it back to EE warranty, would they then be able to do the repair? [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I’d be grateful for helpful suggestions on this issue as I’m not sure a) what my rights are or b) (if I do) how to get them enforced, c) any other options I may have here! [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

AJXX

So in a nutshell, you broke the rear housing of the phone - had it replaced (via a 3rd party) and have now come to make a warranty repair from the manufacturer/EE who now refuse as the phone has been 3rd party modified and is showing signs of user damage?

[FONT="]It’s confusing and I’m not sure what my rights are with regard to the warranty of my phone – surely, if the phone develops a fault which is unconnected to any negligent use of the phone then this should be covered by the warranty? [/FONT]

You're bound by the terms of the warranty regardless, so if they say you can't have 3rd party's modifying the phone (which most do), then you've broken the terms of the warranty.

I asked for a technical report to confirm the causal link between the damage to the rear screen and the fault with the touch function on the front of the phone.

They don't have to provide this and it's totally irrelevant what the "casual link" between them is - their warranty likely says end user damage invalidates it and/or 3rd party repairs are not permitted - you've done both.

They don't have to prove to you that there is a link between the touch function and rear screen - you damaged the unit, it's as black and white as that.

If the damage to the rear of the phone has no causal connection to the fault on the front of the phone, then why should the damage to the rear of the phone prevent any repair within warranty to the fault on the front?

Doesn't matter, the unit is still damaged either way and most warranties are invalided by user damage (especially mobile phones)

Leo2020

A warranty is in addition to your statutory rights and therefore it will be subject to terms and conditions. Without reading the terms and conditions I cannot say what is or isn't covered.

Your rights are with the retailer. You don't say when you purchased it so I can't say whether the Sale of Goods Act or Consumer Rights Act applies. However, I think you will have a struggle on your hands either way as dropping the phone can cause damage to components anywhere inside the phone not just where you dropped it. The previous drop could have caused a component to come loose for example.

bris

It doesn't really matter where you go with it now, both EE and the retailer, if different, will not touch it.
It's been dropped, smashed and a for all they know a dodgy unauthorised repair carried out. You can't really expect them to fix some one else's mess can you?