O2 and replacement of faulty phones

rev9of8

I purchased a brand new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as an upgrade which was delivered and activated on 1st March of this year. Yesterday afternoon/early evening I went to use my phone only to discover it had bricked itself - it is refusing to even boot to the Samsung splash screen although the device has power.

I contacted O2 via the web-chat interface on the MyO2 site and spoke to one of their advisors. We ran through the troubleshooting steps and they agreed the device was faulty.

They were prepared to arrange a repair of the device however I insisted on a replacement. The device is barely over a month old and has a fault rendering the device unusable such that it is reasonable to assume the fault is intrinsic to the device as it is less than six months old and as such is not fit for purpose or a satisfactory quality. Consequently I insisted on a replacement as is my right under the Consumer Rights Act.

The individual I communicated with advised that they could not arrange a replacement as the device was over thirty days old and that if I wanted to arrange a replacement then I would have to go into an O2 store or contact their voice team on the customer services number (something I'm not able to do as I don't access to a working phone).

I went into the O2 store on Princes Street, Edinburgh this morning and spoke to an individual in that store and insisted on a like-for-like replacement of the faulty device as I understand I am entitled to under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

They refused to replace the device claiming that the Consumer Rights Act only entitles you to a replacement of faulty goods in the first thirty days after purchase and that after that you are legally only entitled to a repair.

I am not prepared to accept a repair. The S7 Edge is high-end, premium product and as such should be expected to last for a substantial period of time without fault. For it to develop a fault rendering the device inoperable just over a month after purchase then the assumption has to be that the device was faulty when supplied.

I've re-read the CRA 2015 and the only reference to a thirty day period in relation to goods that I can find relates to the right to reject faulty goods for a complete refund. I can find no mention of a thirty day limit in the act for a replacement of faulty goods.

I have raised a complaint via the Resolver service with O2 and have emailed the address for my local Trading Standards. What else can I do? I've been trying to find a valid email address for O2 CEO but haven't had much luck.

Frozen_up_north

Under the legislation the time limit for rejecting goods is 30 days. After that time you are entitled to a repair or replacement. The act doesn't mention replace with new.

During the warranty period, you will either have your phone repaired, or swapped for a service exchange one, which may not be "new" but will be in "as new" condition. Unless the O2 terms say you will get a new phone.

That's been the case for years...

keith1950

As above......plus, also you say that you consider the phone can be considered intrinsically faulty. However from past experience I have found that a large %age of phones that appear "bricked" or won't boot or are stuck in a boot loop have actually had faulty software or faulty app installed and will be 100% ok after a factory reset.
As has been stated , if you do get a "replacement" phone the chances are it will be a "refurbished" model and could actually have someone elses intermittent fault.
You really have no choice....Accept a repair or accept a "refurbished" model.