Advice re: Sony Xperia Phone Repair/Warranty

girlinabox

Good morning all,

I am hoping someone can help me with a bit of advice.

I have a Sony Xperia Z5 Premium phone on contract with Vodafone. The phone is under 12 months old and I am paying around £35 P/m for my contract. The phone has 2 years manufacturer warranty with it.

Recently the phone "died" - I had plenty of battery, was in the middle of replying to a message and it just powered down. It wouldn't come back on until I played around holding different buttons down and then it finally rebooted after holding the power and volume up buttons down simultaneously. I didn't think too much of it and as my phone was working again, carried on using it. A few weeks later my battery ran down through normal usage however it would not power back up this time, even after leaving on charge overnight, trying every combination of buttons etc. The only way my phone would power up again was if it was charged via my computer. I tried everything - removing sim and sd cards, reinstalled the software, even did a factory reset and it changed nothing. After lots of Google searches I discovered that this issue is a well known problem with the Sony Xperia phones known as "Sudden Death" and even Sony themselves acknowledged this and said it would be resolved? Anyway, I took my phone into Vodafone as is procedure but they said that as the phone is less than a year old I would need to contact Sony myself. I arranged with Sony for them to collect the phone, which they did. A couple of weeks later they sent me a message advising that as my phone has a minor cosmetic defect (a small scratch/crack on the back of the phone), they would charge me £130. I sent Sony a reply advising that I am not concerned about the cosmetic issue as this has no bearing whatsoever on the phone itself, I wanted them to fix the faulty phone they have provided under the manufacturers warranty. I also cited that the phone was not fit for purpose etc etc. Sony called me and said that as there is a cosmetic damage on the phone this voids any warranty and they require me to pay them to sort that out before they will look at the fault on the phone. I highly suspect Sony will only provide me with a new phone anyway. And this is a ploy of theirs to obtain money from me. I asked them instead of charging me for something I do not require (the cosmetic "damage") to instead provide me with a breakdown of the costs for resolving the fault on the phone and I will pay that instead if they are refusing to do under warranty - they also refused this, again, this is because I suspect they will only replace the phone anyway.

I just wonder if there is any point pursuing this further. Perhaps with the ombudsman etc? I really believe what Sony are doing here is totally unfair. They supplied a phone which is faulty, I pay Vodafone a lot of money for this contract and I have a phone which does not work, irrespective of a minor cosmetic flaw.

I apologise I have rambled on a bit but I wanted to get all of the information down to save any confusion.

I really appreciate any/all advice that can be provided in this regard.

Kindest regards.

SouthUKMan

Sadly what you have experienced appears to be becoming common practice. I have personally heard of two similar examples (in both cases relating to Samsung and not Sony) where people have returned a phone for repair only to be told that there is another 'defect' with the phone that has to be repaired first. For example, if a phone screen has a minor scratch or tiny chip, a manufacturer will say they have to replace the screen before carrying out the real repair otherwise the screen could crack during the repair process or somehow affect the repair. In some cases I am sure there is some truth in this logic, but it is of course ridiculous to claim that a minor cosmetic scratch on the rear case can affect the usage and repair of a phone. In the cases I've come across, the phone owners haven't had any success with the manufacturer.and have either paid the money or gone to an independent repairer.

I know that's not particularly useful in terms of a solid answer, but you're not alone.

unholyangel

The manufacturer is only liable to provide the warranty on the terms they specified.

Your consumer rights would be with vodafone - assuming the phone formed part of the offer by vodafone and wasn't a case of sim only deal + buying a handset.

Sony didn't supply you a faulty handset, vodafone did.

girlinabox

Thank you both for your replies. Do either of you feel it would be worth pursuing either Vodafone or Sony publicly via social media? Or the ombudsman? They still have my phone

unholyangel

girlinabox wrote: »

Thank you both for your replies. Do either of you feel it would be worth pursuing either Vodafone or Sony publicly via social media? Or the ombudsman? They still have my phone

Have you actually spoken to vodafone yet? If not, that would be your first step.

However if its more than 6 months from purchase, they can require that you prove the fault was inherent. This is usually done via independent report (the cost of which - if found in your favour - would be reclaimable from vodafone). But speak to them first and see what they say. If its a known inherent fault (rather than just a known fault), they may not require a report.


What ombudsman? Ask sony to return your phone to you.

gycraig_2

Same with all manufacturers sadly.
In all honesty if product is damaged I'd just pay the fee having seen many people try to get it sorted free fail in the past.
Maybe a 3rd partner could software wipe it but for some reason manufacturers simply won't touch a damaged phone for love nor money

They will return the phone within a reasonable time scale generally.

girlinabox

Vodafone were the ones who said I needed to go to Sony directly as the phone is more than 6 months old. Who would I be asking about the report, Sony?

I honestly don't know what to do. They want to charge me over 30 quid just for looking at it and send it back to me

wealdroam

girlinabox wrote: »

Vodafone were the ones who said I needed to go to Sony directly...

It really is time for you to read MSE's Consumer Rights guide.

Here is just one short extract:

Know who's responsible

When returning items, beware shops trying the oldest trick in the book: saying they're not responsible for the shoddy goods and you must call the manufacturer. This is total nonsense!

If a company fobs you off by saying "go to the maker instead", it's wrong. It's the retailer's job to sort it.

It doesn't matter if it's an iPod from a high street shop or a designer frock from a department store. If something's broken, torn, ripped or faulty, the seller has a legal duty to put it right as your contract is with it.

powerful_Rogue

girlinabox wrote: »

I also cited that the phone was not fit for purpose etc etc.

Make sure your quoting the correct things. The phone is fit for purpose, however it's not of satisfactory quality.

Vodafone

Hi girlinabox,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

So it can be looked into further, email your details via the form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT165.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I'll check that it's been received.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media