Iphone Hardware Failure - Who's responsible?

fulhamnonny

Hi Everyone,
I need some advice as what I've found online so far isn't very clear and I'm sure this has been brought up before.
I am 22 months into a 36 month contract where I'm paying for my phone along side my contract. I do not have insurance.
All of a sudden twice within 2 weeks, my iphone (XS) crashed and the 2nd time it didn't started up at all.
I spoke to Apple initially over the phone and then in store to determine the issue. Apple confirmed it was a hardware failure and that my phone, despite the failure was in good condition. They suggested I go back to my network provider to try and get the issue resolved further as under some EU directive, they would have just replaced it if I had bought it directly from them.
When I spoke to my network provider, they said I need to bring this up with Apple as they manufactured the item. They also said I could send it to them to be repaired, but it would be at a cost to me.
I know that under the SOGA that after 6 months I as the consumer have to prove that the fault was there from the start, but how is this done?
I don't think anyone expects a hardware failure on effectively what is a luxury item after less than 2 years, even if the fault wasn't obvious on receiving the phone. I have other Apple products and they've lasted a lot longer than this (even old iphones). 
Who should I be speaking to? Apple or my Network? What are my rights as a consumer to get this rectified? 
Do I just need to suck it up (the cost of finishing paying for the broken phone and the cost of getting a new one)?
As many of you can imagine I feel frustrated and already feel that with the response from mainly my network I'd be going round in circles.
Thanks everyone for you assistance.

Sandtree

Your statutory rights are with the retailer, whoever you ordered the phone from - this may be your network provider if you bought it directly from them or could be a shop like Carphone Warehouse if thats where you signed up.

SOGA was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 however it similarly puts the onus on the customer to prove the fault after 6 months. This is normally done by getting an expert report on the device, it may be something Apple would do for you or if not you will need to find someone else. 

Apple in the UK only give a 1 year manufacturers warranty (which is separate to your consumer rights against the retailer) and so you have no direct recourse from them.

JJ_Egan

EU directive no does not apply .

Warranty from Apple  subject to their terms .

Consumer Rights the vendor .Prove via an independent report you pay for .

The Network No as that's a contract for airtime .

If Apple have given you a written report then use that under CR .

Sandtree

JJ_Egan said:

EU directive no does not apply .

Well, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (and SOGA before it) is how the UK decided to meet the EU Directive on a minimum of 2 years of consumer protection

Manxman_in_exile

I think he (or she) means UK consumer law provides a longer period of protection than required by EU directive

powerful_Rogue

fulhamnonny said:

Hi Everyone,
I need some advice as what I've found online so far isn't very clear and I'm sure this has been brought up before.
I am 22 months into a 36 month contract where I'm paying for my phone along side my contract. I do not have insurance.
All of a sudden twice within 2 weeks, my iphone (XS) crashed and the 2nd time it didn't started up at all.
I spoke to Apple initially over the phone and then in store to determine the issue. Apple confirmed it was a hardware failure and that my phone, despite the failure was in good condition. They suggested I go back to my network provider to try and get the issue resolved further as under some EU directive, they would have just replaced it if I had bought it directly from them.
When I spoke to my network provider, they said I need to bring this up with Apple as they manufactured the item. They also said I could send it to them to be repaired, but it would be at a cost to me.
I know that under the SOGA that after 6 months I as the consumer have to prove that the fault was there from the start, but how is this done?
I don't think anyone expects a hardware failure on effectively what is a luxury item after less than 2 years, even if the fault wasn't obvious on receiving the phone. I have other Apple products and they've lasted a lot longer than this (even old iphones). 
Who should I be speaking to? Apple or my Network? What are my rights as a consumer to get this rectified? 
Do I just need to suck it up (the cost of finishing paying for the broken phone and the cost of getting a new one)?
As many of you can imagine I feel frustrated and already feel that with the response from mainly my network I'd be going round in circles.
Thanks everyone for you assistance.

Apple love telling people that purchased their phones elsewhere that if they had purchased direct from Apple they would have replaced it. That's absolute nonsense as there have been many theads on here where people have purchased direct and still been made to pay.

I also very much doubt Apple would say one of their items had an inherent fault in their reports, so the only joy you will get is by getting an independent report elsewhere.

TadleyBaggie

powerful_Rogue said:

That's absolute nonsense as there have been many theads on here where people have purchased direct and still been made to pay.

True but I suspect that the Apple users that didn't have to pay anything wouldn't bother to create a thread just to say so, so the bias will always be towards the negative.

For the record I bought an iPod Touch on eBay which had a fault after a while, took it to an Apple Store and they had no problem replacing it.

JJ_Egan

Sandtree said:

JJ_Egan said:

EU directive no does not apply .

Well, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (and SOGA before it) is how the UK decided to meet the EU Directive on a minimum of 2 years of consumer protection

Yes we know well posted discussed  for many years on here .

Still some sites give out this EU law that was a directive .

powerful_Rogue

TadleyBaggie said:

powerful_Rogue said:

That's absolute nonsense as there have been many theads on here where people have purchased direct and still been made to pay.

True but I suspect that the Apple users that didn't have to pay anything wouldn't bother to create a thread just to say so, so the bias will always be towards the negative.

For the record I bought an iPod Touch on eBay which had a fault after a while, took it to an Apple Store and they had no problem replacing it.

Apple would not simply replace a 22 month old iPhone free of charge. If they did that, then no-one would purchase AppleCare.

fulhamnonny

Thanks guys for the info so far.
Once I get an independent report, are we saying it's the retailer (who I bought the phone from) or Apple I need to go to?

Sandtree

Company you bought it from... doesnt have to be "independent" though, can be Apple themselves in theory