Consumer rights - faulty phone or software

whitejohn

In a nutshell, bought a brand new iphone that has intermittent fault. Retailer says no fault with hardware and won't take it back. Citizens advice say I can return it for full refund within 30 days but store refused outright. It's a grey area, press reset and it works OK for 2-3 days then stops working again. My really old iphone works fine so looks like a problem with the new operating system.
No one can prove either way what the problem is so looks like I'm going to be stuck with the phone.
Have asked credit card company for a charge back on CAB advice but not sure how that will help?

LilElvis

When did you buy the phone? Was it a straight phone purchase or upgrade/purchase as part of a contract? Do you have an Apple store nearby?

Ectophile

If it's a credit card, you shouldn't even need to ask* them (assuming you paid more than £100). Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes them jointly liable for any refund you're due.

But as to what good it will do - if it goes through, you get the money refunded to your account. You can then go and buy a decent phone.

*by which I mean that if the phone's faulty, you have a right to a refund, you shouldn't have to ask nicely if you can have it back. But being polite always helps.

whitejohn

LilElvis wrote: »

When did you buy the phone? Was it a straight phone purchase or upgrade/purchase as part of a contract? Do you have an Apple store nearby?

I was a straight purchase from an Apple authorised retailer, Stormfront, as they offered a 3 years warranty. No Apple store nearby. Fault from day 1, spoke to Apple who confirmed faulty phone and offered to repair it. Declined and said I wanted a new one, which I got after a great deal of hassle from Stormfront. Got home and realised after a few days that I had the same fault. Spoke to Apple again, no fault found on remote diagnostics, pressed reset and all ok for a few days again. Apple said they would get to the bottom of it but as time was running out I went back to the store and asked for a refund as suggested by CAB. They refused, saying 14 days max. and must be returned in original package. It was returned in pristine condition in the box but obviously the cellophane had been removed, not good enough they said.

whitejohn

Ectophile wrote: »

If it's a credit card, you shouldn't even need to ask* them (assuming you paid more than £100). Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes them jointly liable for any refund you're due.

But as to what good it will do - if it goes through, you get the money refunded to your account. You can then go and buy a decent phone.

*by which I mean that if the phone's faulty, you have a right to a refund, you shouldn't have to ask nicely if you can have it back. But being polite always helps.

Thanks, think my problem is proving it's a faulty phone with it being intermittent. If the credit card company do give me a refund, presume I then send them the phone? I wouldn't want to go back to the store again as they were extremely rude to me, the manager was sarcastic and kept calling me buddy. I'm 69 and felt very intimidated.

bris

Use I tunes to update the software. S75 won't help if they cant find a fault.

whitejohn

bris wrote: »

Use I tunes to update the software. S75 won't help if they cant find a fault.

Everything is completely up to date. I'm a retired computer engineer and have tried updating and systematically removing and reinstalling apps etc. to find a logical reason for the fault. Have been using my very old iphone4 for many years without any problems as a backup to navigation. I think it's a bug in the new IOS 11 operating system.

Carrot007

[QUOTE=whitejohn;73408040I'm_a_retired_computer_engineer[/QUOTE]

And you bought an apple product?

Anyway.

Why did you not go for the repair (you would have got a different phone anyway)?

whitejohn

Carrot007 wrote: »

And you bought an apple product?

Anyway.

Why did you not go for the repair (you would have got a different phone anyway)?

I didnt want to lose the phone for up to 14 days when I had only just bought it. And the replacement phone has the same problem so would have made no difference as it's a software bug.

LABMAN

So do all new iphones have the same fault? What is the fault?

whitejohn

Most people would never notice it.
The compass slowly stops working and can be 180 degrees out. May seem trivial but I mainly use the phone for navigation applications as a backup in poor visibility. It's as though the phone cannot tell which way it is pointing, though the GPS fix is accurate.