Apple and Carphone Warehouse Warranty

drhmancini

Hi everyone, I wanted to post an issue I’ve been having to see if anyone has any advice that may help me.

In December 2016 I purchased an iPhone 6s from carphone warehouse on a 24 month Vodafone contract. In March this year (2018) I started having trouble with the battery losing charge so I took it the apple genius bar to discover the issue. The phone was sent off by apple and it came back with no repair stating that the battery had been tampered with and that it could not be fixed under apple warranty.

Apple informed me in writing that there would be 1 of 2 reasons for this. Either I had opened the battery pack or got a third party to do it ( which made no sense as it was under warranty) or the phone was bought with this inherent fault and it was carphone warehouse responsibility to fix it.

I duly took it to carphone and explained to them and showed them the genius report. They sent it away and it was returned unfixed as the tamper seals had been broken. Carphone said either I was to blame or apple were but they wouldn’t fix it under warranty.

I then battled between the two companies as I was told it would cost around £300 to fix it because it required a new phone and a battery replacement wasn’t an option. Eventually I managed to get apple to agree to a good will gesture of £25 for the repair and carphone agreed to pay this amount. The phone went to apple and they replaced it with a new handset that day in April 2018.

About a week ago the new handset somehow malfunctioned again, this time it was stuck in headphone mode, I couldn’t fix myself so I went back to apple Genius Bar on Thursday the 22nd of November and they looked at it and told me it was an inherent fault and that they could not repair it as the warranty on the new phone was 3 months from the repair date in April but that the warranty would still be in place with carphone warehouse under European consumer law.

I went back to carphone and the repairs department told me because it was a new phone and not the exact one they sold me so they would not cover the repair. I was left with 2 options: either take out an early upgrade with carphone or let the last month of my contract run with a phone that no longer worked, I was told there were good deals as it was Black Friday weekend so I felt that with little choice I should just do it.

I got my contract with 16gb data with Vodafone for £46 per month and £79 upfront. I was pretty pleased and picked my phone up on the Friday. I told my wife about the good deal and she decided to go in today (Saturday) to see if it was still available. Turns out it wasn’t but a cheaper deal of 100gb of data for £36 per month with no upfront fee was available.

Understandably I was pretty upset and decided to see what options were available to me. Turns out none! As it was an upgrade there is no cooling off period with Vodafone if bought through carphone but there is when it is if bought through Vodafone. I was basically told tough luck.

I wanted to see if anyone had any advice regarding the legality of the consumer law info above, I spoke briefly with citizens advice regarding this and they thought that maybe I did have some rights. As usual two big companies disagree and blame each other and me the customer is left in the middle £320 out of pocket. I agree that no one forced me into the contract but I know I had no intention of taking anything out that day until I was left with the choice of a new phone or paying for one that didn’t work.

Sorry this was so long but I’m hoping someone may be able to help me. Thanks!!

eDicky

You were pleased with your deal until your wife got a better one, probably best just to look on the bright side at her good fortune, which would not have occurred without your own experiences.

PHK

pmduk wrote: »

Was that intended for this post? if so, I'm confused.

Despite the long pre-amble , the OPs question was actually about an upgrade.
He picked up an upgrade on Friday and was so pleased with the deal that his wife went in on Saturday. She managed to get a better deal and he wants to know if the problems he had with Apple/CPW mean he can also get that deal.
In short I don't think he can.

isabellac

As you upgraded rather than took out a new contract I'm pretty sure you can't reverse it unfortunately. On the bright side you do say that you were initially pleased with the deal that you got (and it does sound very competitive - CPW guarantee to beat Vodafone's prices direct) - just that your wife was fortunate to get an even better one! At least you'll hopefully now be due your next upgrade around Black Friday and you'll know to keep an eye out for a deal then

drhmancini

Hi, thanks for your replies. Yes I absolutely agree, had I not told my wife about the deal she would never have gotten hers so trying to look on the bright side.

Next time round we will go at the same time around Black Friday and will both hopefully end up with good deals.

Thanks again for your replies and take care