Phone stopped working and now Tesco Mobile are fobbing me off

davismt2000

Good Afternoon,
I have had a contract with Tesco Mobile on an iPhone 7 since November 2018, which expires in May 2021. A few weeks ago, the speaker in the phone stopped working during phonecalls. It still works for videos, music etc. and on bluetooth. I went to the Apple shop with the phone and they told me that there was an issue with the phone's speaker chip and that I should contact Tesco Mobile for a repair or replacement. I sent my phone off to Tesco and they are saying that 3 tiny cracks void their 24 month warranty on the phone and that therefore, I need to pay around £250 to replace the phone (they appear to acknowledge that the device is unfixable as they have changed their mind from this money being to replace the screen to it being to replace the device). Alternatively, I can pay £140 to exit the contract early. However, I feel that under consumer law this phone is not fit for purpose as after light use it has stopped working well before the end of the contract period. Tesco were prepared to replace the phone for free if Apple provided a report saying that the fault was there since purchase (as the phone has never been opened or subject to any water damage - I think this is fairly self explanatory). However, Apple are not prepared to do this. 

The 3 small cracks were picked up in July 2019 and the issues did not start until September 2020 so in my opinion they too are also unrelated to this issue. I would expect the phone to be capable of lasting for the full duration of the contract with normal usage and therefore feel royally cheesed off at facing this large financial burden. I should also point out that before this phone I had an iPhone 5s with Tesco which died with almost a year remaining on a 24 month contract and again they would do nothing and I had to pay my way out of the contract. Having done some digging online, this appears to have been a fairly common issue on the iPhone 7. The descriptions in a thread I have read (over 50 people from 2018/19 - when I got my phone) fit what has happened to my phone with the speaker greying out and not working for phone calls etc. 

I would appreciate some help/advice with this, particularly with regards to the position under consumer law.

Thanks in advance - Matt.

JJ_Egan

Warranty is rejected   that's normal for chips ,next step is your Consumer Rights .

However you may need to proof your claim via an independent report under Consumer law ..

Note it is damaged re 3 chips  and Apple are not agreeing that the fault was their since purchase .

Your Tesco contract is for network not the phone .

davismt2000

Thanks for your reply, I am trying consumer rights with Tesco, Apple say they cannot be 100% sure that the fault was there since purchase and therefore they are not willing to put this on their report. The phone is on a contract with Tesco as is the Network usage in this case, as I pay so much to Tesco per month for the device

ivinsp

Hope you get some good news, hopefully you've got a spare you keep you going or maybe get one second hand or refurbished perhaps? Your sim card will work in an o2pay phone and Tesco use their network or giffgaff as they don't lock their phones.