OnePlus nightmare, please help

kieraowl

7 months ago, I bought a OnePlusTwo phone for about £280. Paid via Paypal (this is the only way you can pay). One year warranty.

Worked fine for 5 months, but then the wifi and bluetooth stopped working. Everything else on the phone was fine,

I contacted customer service and spend 7 HOURS (!!) on a chat service in 3 successive 'sessions'. They walked me through a backup and factory reset on the phone. Multiple problems occurred with scheduling these appointments - including them giving me times in the wrong timezone which resulted in missed appointments and a need to reschedule.

They then admitted they needed to look at the phone, so it was sent to Germany. I recently received a request for £167 for the repair because the phone had allegedly been "water damaged".

The phone has NOT been anywhere near water. It hasn't been out in rain, it hasn't been dropped in any water. The dampest place it's been is my very average domestic kitchen, while I made very average family dinners. Looking online, there are many people alleging the same thing: that their OnePlus phone has broken and water damage is alleged, even though the owners know it hasn't been wet.

I rang their customer service centre to try to escalate this - my call was dropped 4 times before I actually managed to complete (on hold 10 minutes each time). I don't know if this is an issue with their phone system, or something deliberate. Staff are really rude. They referred the case back to the repairers, who have repeated what was originally said - that I have to pay them for the repair.

What do I do? I am at the end of my tether with all this. I realise I've been had by a cowboy company! But I don't know what recourse I have, or how I can prove that something DIDN'T happen (I swear, if I'd got the phone wet, I would admit that and just buy a new one).

Help!

fleshandbone

Could someone else in your house hold have dropped it down the toilet by mistake?

cono1717

^ What the...

Anyways. If they are a UK company they need to prove beyond doubt that it's a consumer damage and not a manufacturing defect within the first 6 months - this is usually done via a independent report they can't just say its damaged and you have to accept it (save for a large boot print on the screen for example)

Ask paypal to get involved failing that look at sending a letter before action.

fleshandbone

His partner might have dropped it in the washing up or something and not said anything....these things happen.

theonlywayisup

I don't know about this sort of phone, but for example, iphones have an indicator that changes colour when in contact with water. If they say it has water damage it's likely they have something to back this up.

Explain you are disputing the water damage ask them how they have come to this conclusion.

To cono1717, Paypal will not get involved as Paypal do not offer guarantees.

kieraowl

Yes - that is it, there is an indicator on the phone that says there is water damage. BUT I can say for certain that the phone has NOT been exposed to any environment that is damper than an average domestic kitchen. (And yes, I would know if my husband had dropped it in water, how on earth would that happen?)

Therefore, I believe that these sensors are inaccurate. There are other people online with similar experiences, who also swear that they have NOT exposed their phone to moisture. I think they are scamming a lot of people.

Paypal won't help as it is longer than 6 months since I bought the phone (I have contacted them already).

theonlywayisup

kieraowl wrote: »

Yes - that is it, there is an indicator on the phone that says there is water damage. BUT I can say for certain that the phone has NOT been exposed to any environment that is damper than an average domestic kitchen. (And yes, I would know if my husband had dropped it in water, how on earth would that happen?)

Therefore, I believe that these sensors are inaccurate. There are other people online with similar experiences, who also swear that they have NOT exposed their phone to moisture. I think they are scamming a lot of people.

Paypal won't help as it is longer than 6 months since I bought the phone (I have contacted them already).

Paypal won't help because they DO NOT offer guarantees on items. It is moot as to how long ago you bought it.

As for the water damage. If they are saying there is damage then you either have to accept what they say or challenge it. If you can get an independent report showing there isn't water damage but the phone has an inherent fault, you will be in a stronger position.

Is the company a UK one?

kieraowl

To be clear: I think OnePlus have installed a sensor that triggers when exposed to normal atmospheric levels of water, such as you would find in an ordinary domestic house. Because I swear, my phone has not been exposed to ANY higher level of moisture than you would find in your own domestic environment.

And I think they are using this to back out of claims because these phones break when exposed to normal levels of moisture.

How would I prove this, though? I know for absolute certain (I'd stake my life on it) that my phone hasn't gotten wet,

kieraowl

I know my husband would admit it if he'd dropped it in water. He can access my phone any time - we both have full transparency to email, phones and all other electronic devices. So there would be no need for him to take it into the bathroom to surreptitiously check - he'd do it in front of me if he had any kind of suspicion.

theonlywayisup

kieraowl wrote: »

To be clear: I think OnePlus have installed a sensor that triggers when exposed to normal atmospheric levels of water, such as you would find in an ordinary domestic house. Because I swear, my phone has not been exposed to ANY higher level of moisture than you would find in your own domestic environment.

And I think they are using this to back out of claims because these phones break when exposed to normal levels of moisture.

How would I prove this, though? I know for absolute certain (I'd stake my life on it) that my phone hasn't gotten wet,

As I said in my post. You would need to obtain for an independent report. That report needs to show there is an inherent fault. But again, this may be moot if the company is in another country.

kieraowl

I am not sure whether it's a UK company - it has a UK website. But the goods came from China. How would I find out??