Mobile phone stopped working

01Martin

I bought a mobile phone on 7th June 2017. Within a week it had slipped off a table (my fault) and one corner of the screen was cracked but the phone worked fine. The phone has not been subjected to water or water vapour damage.

By the 26th July the fingerprint scanner had stopped working. Installed Nougat update iaw manufacturer's instructions (had to contact them as updated failed several times, and they gave me link to file on their servers). Told the Senior Test Engineer I had been communicating with ( about the update), about the fp scanner not working and he asked if I could send it back to him for a free replacement. I told him about cracked screen, and offer still stood. I accepted offer.

Had to wait until 2nd August for someone to contact me with address to send phone to, when they affirmed a replacement one would be sent out. However, this agreement fell apart when they refused to send replacement until I had returned old one. I told them I couldn't return old one unitl new one received (needed a working mobile all the time).

They continued to refuse to send replacement without the old one being sent first, citing company policy was already being bent by the offer. I reminded them that they had asked for it back, and said that they should send the replacement first since they had made the offer in the first place.

By 23rd August phone had stopped working due to failure to charge. Contacted company again, told them it had stopped working and asked if the offer still stood, whereupon I was told that it had to be sent to their repair centre to be inspected and fixed. Had to arrange this through their customer support centre, who sent a form to complete, and instuction to send via recorded delivery to a generic repair centre.

After a week I received a quote for repair for the screen. I had stated clearly what the fault is (fp sensor u/s and not charging), stating explicitly that I don't want the screen fixed and I wouldn't pay for it if they did fix it.

I contacted repair centre stating again that the fault is not the cracked screen, but electronic failure.

Their first reply 'The damage that your handset has sustained is not covered under the manufacturer’s warranty as it is not classified as a manufacturing fault and is said to be physical damage instead. Physical damage is not covered by the warranty and is quotable. Due to the nature of this damage a quote was raised for an non warranty repair of the handset. We are unable to overlook the damage as the manufacturer is not covering the costs for the repair.'

I replied 'Please explain how electronic failure is considered to be 'physical damage'.'

Their reply 'The physical damage refers to the cracks on the display, not a fault on the device. We are unable to carry out any warranty repairs even if this damage is unrelated to the fault.'

I replied 'Well that's good then. As already stated, I do not want the cracked screen repaired, as I know that it is not covered under warranty. I do however want the phone repaired for the reported fault, ie fingerprint sensor not working and phone not charging, neither of which is related to the cracked screen, and neither of which have the cracked screen as a cause of failure.'

They replied 'Unfortunately as your device has suffered a physical damage the warranty of your phone is invalid and Wileyfox will not cover the cost of the repair. We understand your frustration but as a official repair centre we need to follow the polices of manufacturers. If you would like to raise your concerns further, we advise you to contact Wileyfox Customer Service directly.'

Do I have any rights at all to get a warranty repair for the electronics? Is there anything I can do at all?

Fosterdog

How do you know that there wasn’t internal damage done at the same time it was dropped and took a hard enough knock to crack the screen?

01Martin

Obviously I don't. However, drop was from a standard height table. Product testing iaw EU directives, requires safety testing ie ISO 60950. Product safety requirements include drop test. Therefore product should withstand (from a safety view) a fall from table height - therefore no damage shoudl have been done. Also, phone worked fine for a while afterwards. You may have overlooked the fact that repairers do not appear to have made anny assessment of the phone, other than the screen being cracked.

bris

You are never going to win this one and did you really expect them to send you a new phone before they got the old one back?

01Martin

Yes - because they offered a replacement.
Do you have any constructive advice?

George_Michael

01Martin wrote: »

Yes - because they offered a replacement.
Do you have any constructive advice?

It sounds as if they offered a replacement as a goodwill gesture and not because they were legally obliged to do so.
Because of this, there is no reason why they can't rescind this offer.
It's quite possible that the drop damaged or loosened something inside the phone and by continuing to use it after the damage occurred, you may well have unknowingly been the cause of the later failure.

If you needed a working mobile, couldn't you simply have purchased a £10 cheapie until you received the replacement?

LilElvis

Who is it that you have been dealing with - the company you purchased it from or the manufacturer?

Just a tip - if you want helpful advice then be polite to other forum members.

01Martin

Come one guys, what about some real advice?

The question is about warranty, fit-for-purpose and the law, not about goodwill gestures.

What are my rights?

1) The phone was less than 3 months old when it failed.
2) The screen was already cracked when the phone was returned for repair.
3) The repairers have not assessed the actual reason for return.
4) The repairers appear to want to repair the screen without knowing if the phone will work again.

LilElvis

01Martin wrote: »

Come one guys, what about some real advice?

The question is about warranty, fit-for-purpose and the law, not about goodwill gestures.

What are my rights?

1) The phone was less than 3 months old when it failed.
2) The screen was already cracked when the phone was returned for repair.
3) The repairers have not assessed the actual reason for return.
4) The repairers appear to want to repair the screen without knowing if the phone will work again.

How about answering my question?

01Martin

LilElvis - I'm sorry you seem to think that I'm being rude - it's not intended. I just want some advice regarding my rights.
To answer your question, I purchased it from Amazon, and have been dealing with WileyFox in the first instance, then SBM as the repairers.

powerful_Rogue

01Martin wrote: »

Come one guys, what about some real advice?

The question is about warranty, fit-for-purpose and the law, not about goodwill gestures.

What are my rights?

1) The phone was less than 3 months old when it failed.
2) The screen was already cracked when the phone was returned for repair.
3) The repairers have not assessed the actual reason for return.
4) The repairers appear to want to repair the screen without knowing if the phone will work again.

1) Under warranty they can refuse to repair because of user inflicted damage. You could make a claim under the Consumer Rights Act with the retailer as the phone has failed within 6 months.

However, the retailer will see the damage and say on the balance of probabilities the fault is caused by you damaging the phone, so won't assist.

You would have to pay for an independent report stating the fault is unrelated totally to the user damage - However I can't imagine any shop would do this with a phone that has a damaged screen.

So with both warranty and Consumer Rights - You're out of luck.

2) That just proves the phone is damaged. Can't see your point.

3) They wont. The screen could become completely damaged by them opening the unit and they won't take that risk.

4) They will repair the screen and fix the phone. If not, you get a phone with a new screen and then claim under your Consumer Rights.

Bottom line - Whatever way you look at it, it's going to cost you.