EE refusing to repair

maria41

I have submitted a formal complaint, but as is often the case i kept being passed from pillar to post, one department saying it was nothing to do with them etc, after three hours on the phone i finally managed to have it looked at.


Perhaps i am being unrealistic about a company having a blanket get out clause on a faulty product.

powerful_Rogue

Do you know if EE sent it to their own repair center or onto Apple to be repaired?

bod1467

As has already been said ... IF you have something in writing from the EE shop that the phone was in good condition with no signs of damage then you have a cast iron case; it doesn't matter what they subsequently say about bent phones or anything else ... it wasn't like that when you handed it in! Ergo any damage was caused by them.

maria41

Hi,


it has been sent to one of their own centres and I agree the damage, not only the "bend" but also damage to the screen (possibly screen protector) was done by them, the actual receipt says; phone in good condition, no markings or dents, no to water damage, no to physical damage and yes to device power on.
when i phoned them yesterday customer services were surprised it hadn't gone straight to apple.

powerful_Rogue

maria41 wrote: »

Hi,
the actual receipt says; phone in good condition, no markings or dents, no to water damage, no to physical damage and yes to device power on.

In that case, looks like its going to be a Letter Before Action.

I doubt they would be stupid enough to want to goto the Small Claims Court when you have a document from EE stating the above! (Although this is EE we're talking about!)

powerful_Rogue

Further to my last, before the LBA id drop the CEO Marc Allera an email. Will go through to his team, but they are much better placed at dealing with these issues.

marc.allera@ee.co.uk

Keep it simple along the lines of

"On X date I took my [phone] into X branch of EE due to the following fault.

Despite the fault, the phone was in perfect condition as confirmed by the receipt I was issued in store saying "

phone in good condition, no markings or dents, no to water damage, no to physical damage and yes to device power on.". A copy of this receipt has been attached.On X date I was contacted to say the phone will not be repaired under warranty due to X issues. These issues were not present when I provided EE with my phone. as you can see from the above receipt details.

Can you confirm a suitable resolution for this issue, rather then having to goto the Letter Before Action and Small Claims Court stage?

Regards "

maria41

thank you very much for the above, i can see a battle ahead, but should have an answer tomorrow.

powerful_Rogue

There's also the ombudsman service you can raise a complaint with, however you will need a "Letter of Deadlock" from EE or wait 8 weeks after they have said "This is our final response on the matter."

From previous experience, EE don't like issuing letters of deadlock as it costs them money if people goto the ombudsman and they probably believe most people will give up if they have to wait 8 weeks.

maria41

thanks powerful rogue, i may be back seeking what to do next if they don't replace the phone.

wealdroam

You seem to have had good advice but I'll just pick up on this point if I may.

maria41 wrote: »

I am just trying to understand their warranty conditions as it seems unfair on the consumer to me. if a product is still usable and damage to the product has not caused the fault why should they not be liable for the fault in the product.

You need to remember that a warranty is in addition to your statutory rights. The warranty provider can include any reasonable terms in that warranty. In fact, a seller/manufacturer does not even need to provide a warranty.

maria41 wrote: »

i appreciate that pre damage could be made worse, however they would be able, im sure to place a clause in an agreement regarding this.

Hmmm... how would that work then?

For example, say you take a faulty phone in for repair, and apart from the reported problem, there is also a cracked screen.
So the repairer agrees to fix the reported fault and returns the phone with a piece of the front glass missing and claims "it just fell out".

I would suggest in law the phone has suffered further damage while in their possession. I really don't think any disclaimer clause along the lines you suggest would work, and I would fully expect you to be claiming that their disclaimer was "unfair on the consumer" too.