My Consumer Rights - O2 & my dead iPhone!

Burner123

Hello there everyone. I am in need of some advice, if anybody could spare me a few moments. I have searched through the forum, but perhaps I did not have the right search terms, as I could not find what I was looking for. Anyway, this is my dilemma. 

I took out an O2 contract for an iPhone XS 256gb, alongside an airtime contract in June 2019 - for 36 months. These two are billed separately. The device was taken out as part of their O2 refresh agreement, over the sales line via telephone. Reading through the agreement, the phone is purchased with the loan I agree to take out and pay back to O2. So, the phone belongs to me from the handover. 

I have owned the phone now for 18 months. It has been looked after very well and is in pristine condition - not even a light scratch. It is now 6 months out of Apples manufacture warranty. I developed a fault with the phone last week, where it randomly turned itself off and became stuck in a boot loop. No tech support solution could fix the problem, so a booking with Apple for diagnosis was made. 

Apple could not identify the root cause of the problem, but put it down to an internal failure of some component inside - as they could not get it back up and running either. The suggested solution to this problem was a replacement device, at £432.50 (£519 with VAT). I received a printed off work sheet with this rectification solution on, alongside a condition report of my phone (which reported the phone to have no damage at all).

I called through to O2's repair line, and they said I would have to pay for any repairs myself. Not a single representative I have spoken to from O2 has shown any sort of sympathy or taken my complaints on board. 

My question I pose is, has anybody ever been successful in getting O2 to repair/replace a device in a similar situation? Surely this phone I have been supplied by O2 is not fit for purpose, as it has just barely got to the 18 month mark of my 36 month agreement before it has died? How would I argue such a case and have any chance of winning?

18 months of use out of a £1300 phone on a 36 month contract is not great... 

I feel very stuck and burdened with a large bill to still pay, for a device which was no good. Any advice you may be able to offer me would be hugely appreciated. 

Thank you all 

jsmith9

If they agreement was a credit agreement for the phone, then you have the chance of some action against O2 under the consumer credit /rights act, which aims to offer some protection to people buying things on credit.

jsmith9

Just looked: it appears you ARE on a credit agreement.

1. O2 Refresh is a combined 24 month airtime and phone tariff which includes our standard Pay Monthly Mobile Agreement (our latest pay monthly mobile agreement) (the "Airtime Plan") and options to pay for your equipment upfront or to spread the cost on a Credit Agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (the "Phone Plan" - see example in the link below). Selected combinations of Phone Plans and Airtime Plans with selected handsets/bundles will include an up-front payment.

Thus you could look at your rights here:

Goods and services bought with credit (financial-ombudsman.org.uk)

Clearly (in my opinion), 18 months for iPhone is not a satisfactory time, and O2 should repair or replace it.

Burner123

Hello jsmith9, thank you for such a speedy and helpful response. Here is some wording in my agreement, which I believe would back up your point. 

 7. Goods purchased
7.1 The credit will be provided to finance the sale of the following goods: ( “Device” )
Apple iPhone Xs 256GB

3.2 In order to obtain the credit, you must also enter into a Pay Monthly Mobile Agreement (including the Equipment Agreement) which covers the terms and conditions relating to the provision of airtime services (including, for example, the costs of your calls / texts / data on the O2 Network) and other related services in connection with Device ( “Airtime Services” )


I will give O2 another call and gather up information relating to the link you have sent me. I am glad my arguments with them at least have some legal merit. 

Thank you greatly 

jsmith9

You could post the question on the credit card board - there are a lot of knowledgeable people there on your rights under a credit agreement etc. Just say (briefly) you bought the phone on 3 yr credit and it has failed - what are your rights?

matelodave

It really doesn't matter whether it was a credit agreement or not - you should be covered under the Consumer Rights Act. The only argument would be whether your supplier was 02 or the finance company as to who is responsible.

I'm not sure that the length of the agreement has anything to do with it but goods have to last for a reasonable amount of time (and I guess that's longer than 18 months for a smart phone) and the supplier has the responsibility to sort it out usually up to about six years if you can prove that the item is faulty by giving them an engineers report. However they do have the right to charge you for any use that you've already had from the phone since you've had it.

You need to bone up on the CRA to prepare yourself for a chat with both 02 or the finance company. Both Which? and the CAB may help - check out their websites and see if there are any pro-former letters. Ideally you should get it all down in writing either as e-mails or even snail-mail rather than keep phoning so you've got a record of what is going on

jsmith9

Where has I agree with your post in that of course you have rights irrespective of whether there was a credit agreement involved in fact if you do have a credit agreement then you have a stronger position because you can get redress against the credit provider i.e. Telefonica rather than the supplier ie O2

The credit card board will give you much better information

PHK

I think the point is that you would need to prove that the phone is inherently faulty. Not that there is something wrong with it now, but that there was some fault of manufacture that has caused it to go wrong now. 

It’s unlikely the Apple quote would be enough because they don’t actually test the phone only doing troubleshooting. You’ll need a proper inspection report where they’ve actually opened it and tested it. This is your best hope. 

The other route to go down would be to attempt to prove that the phone should have lasted longer. The problem here (and why that approach doesn’t often work) is that there’s a very easy defence of anything could have happened to it since we sold it and only x% of others was returned.