Fallen victim to warranty sticker scam ?

sarahking87

Afternoon,
Hope I'm not repeating old threads but I've searched for warranty stickers and can't find anything since 2010. 
I believe I may have just come a cropper to a bit of a scam, and I'm not sure what to do for the best. Outline of situation below:

• Purchased a second hand, refurbished iphone from an eBay business on 21st July, the auction stated it came with a 12 month warranty.
• On 18th August the device failed and would not switch on. I contacted the seller through the eBay message facility to organise a return for a repair or replacement.
• The seller agreed, asked me to remove my icloud account and SIM card from the device and to send it back.
• Phone was sent back on 20th August via Royal Mail special delivery, seller confirmed receipt. I started the formal 'Return Process' in eBay to acknowledge the device had been sent back.
• Seller contacted me Monday 24th August saying their technician has had a look and if I want the phone fixed I need to pay them £200. No explanation as to what this is for, or why, only that the price covers "parts required". I responded as you would expect, asking why I need to pay anything when this should be dealt with under warranty?
• Seller contacted me the day after, saying there is no warranty sticker on the phone internally, so they will only repair the phone if I pay £200 for the parts, and they will cover "The labour". I have replied saying this isn't acceptable, it is a second hand refurbished phone which should be covered under warranty. There is no evidence to suggest there was ever a warranty sticker there in the first place (presumably for the phone to be sold as "refurbished" they would've had to remove any original Apple stickers themselves prior to selling me the phone?)
• Seller contacted me today, simply stating "Our technician says you have opened the internals of the phone and voided the warranty sticker. The phone needs a new screen, and a new charging port. Unless you pay for these, we will send you back the phone in its current condition".

Needless to say I have definitely not opened the iphone, nor do I have the skills or the tools to be able to do this! I note in US law these warranty stickers have already been challenged, but I can't find anything to suggest this is the same in the UK.
In this case, as the item was purchased from an eBay shop as "refurbished", I can only assume there was never an internal warranty sticker and this is a bit of a scam, whereby shops sell damaged/repaired items with a 12 month warranty and then refuse to honour it when it inevitably goes wrong.

The seller has refused the eBay return request, and this has been closed without comment from either the seller or eBay. I have raised a dispute in the Paypal resolution centre, as I made the purchase using Paypal Credit, which should be covered under Buyer Protection. What I am not clear about is this nonsense regarding a sticker , and how I should respond to that? If indeed I can?!
Feeling that I have been robbed of over £400 and there might be nothing I can do

pinkshoes

The sticker is irrelevant.

Stick to the process of returning goods that were faulty. You already have a tracking number so make sure that this is entered into the dispute so that it is clear that the item has been returned. 

What sort of case did you open with eBay? I'm guessing this was a change of mind return rather than a SNAD case?

sarahking87

pinkshoes said:

The sticker is irrelevant.

Stick to the process of returning goods that were faulty. You already have a tracking number so make sure that this is entered into the dispute so that it is clear that the item has been returned. 

What sort of case did you open with eBay? I'm guessing this was a change of mind return rather than a SNAD case?

Thanks for the reply. There was only one option available to me on eBay which was "start the return process". This is what I followed, and I received a short eBay response on Monday to say the seller has rejected the return and the return is closed. I've logged into the ebay site this afternoon and can't see any other routes for support, which is why I've deferred to Paypal Dispute Resolution under the "SNAD" guidance, as the device is faulty. 

pinkshoes

Stick with the PayPal dispute and DO NOT close it until you have a refund!

It might be worth phoning eBay too and explain that you returned the phone as it is faulty, the seller accepts it is faulty but have not been given a refund. 

nyermen

Unless they put a sticker inside themselves, then it doesn't sound right.  Can I ask which model of iPhone?  There are no "void if removed" stickers on any of the iPhones I've opened over the years.   To be fair, I've not opened the most recent ones, but most models up until the iPhone 7.  The closest would be the battery adhesive when the battery is removed, which is very difficult to remove cleanly (and after market batteries don't have the same adhesive as the apple original ones).  For completeness of info - there are however "water stickers" on most which are small white dots, and go pink (I think) if the phone gets wet.

sarahking87

It’s an iPhone XS Max. The seller hasn’t said anything about dots (white or pink) but is saying the warranty sticker has been removed which means I’ve tampered with it. I wouldn’t dare crack open a £500 iPhone for fear of doing more damage than I’m capable of resolving! 

[Deleted User]

Sounds like there just trying it on. Care to name the 'refurbishment' company?
If its refurbished then they have likely replaced the screen and opened up the unit themselves. It is easy to tell if the screen is non genuine.(If you had it with you)
I would phone PayPal and tell them the situation and update it to a claim straight away.
It's possible they have put a sticker inside. I would just go the PayPal route to begin with. They normally side with the buyer.
Also in my experience it is unusual for an XS Max to just stop working. I'm sure when the phones are refurbished they are no longer water resistant. Did it just die one day or where you doing something and it died etc?

sarahking87

Deleted_User said:

Sounds like there just trying it on. Care to name the 'refurbishment' company?
If its refurbished then they have likely replaced the screen and opened up the unit themselves. It is easy to tell if the screen is non genuine.(If you had it with you)
I would phone PayPal and tell them the situation and update it to a claim straight away.
It's possible they have put a sticker inside. I would just go the PayPal route to begin with. They normally side with the buyer.
Also in my experience it is unusual for an XS Max to just stop working. I'm sure when the phones are refurbished they are no longer water resistant. Did it just die one day or where you doing something and it died etc?

Thanks for reply. Nothing out of the ordinary to share re the phone - we got back from walking the dog, my husband took it out of his pocket to have a look at how many steps he'd done on his app, as usual (!) but the phone was completely dead. As if the battery had ran flat. He went to charge it, to no avail. We heard the familiar "ding" to suggest the phone was charging, but the screen was totally black. 

At this point we obviously requested the return... and the saga commences.

The refurbishment company is called "Click 4 Mobile" and they're a business seller on eBay. I checked their feedback prior to purchasing and didn't see anything to be concerned about, alas their listing says "Fully tested and restored to factory settings by our in-house technicians with 1 year warranty provided. Guaranteed no hassle, refund or exchange if any fault found"

Definitely feels like a con. I am wondering if the screen had been replaced anyway, which is how it had been refurbished... and has subsequently failed again. 

sarahking87

For info here is a photo which the seller has sent me. Presumably, they have cracked the phone open, and they are saying there is a sticker missing. I’ve no idea what they’re talking about - where the sticker is meant to be, or how I would’ve even got the phone open (I certainly haven’t tried, either!) it was expensive and I’d only had it for a month... I’m not about to start trying to hack into it myself when it’s under warranty 

KeithP

You mention Paypal Credit.

I wonder if Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act can help?

I know in the past a S75 claim has been difficult with Paypal involvement, but now they are offering credit themselves...

sarahking87

KeithP said:

You mention Paypal Credit.

I wonder if Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act can help?

I know in the past a S75 claim has been difficult with Paypal involvement, but now they are offering credit themselves...

Thanks, yes that’s a good point. I’ll see what happens with PayPal and may pursue that avenue if I don’t get any success