Refurbished Mobile Phone

wheldcj

Just bought a refurbished iPhone from Amazon marketplace.   Should have known that despite the good reviews and the delivery which included proudly "a 60 point check" the phone is a dud.  It doesn't turn on, the battery that must have replaced in it doesn't work at all.  

Amazon have referred back to the seller but I get really irritated at potential refund costs, but more so the sheer inconvenience of returning something in the post.  My view being that they have wasted my time already with inferior goods and then they are taking away more of my time faffing around returning.   

My position is going to be, allow me to obtain a local repair and they pay for it or that I will make the phone available for collection at their convenience and then they need to refund me once they have done that.  If they refuse can I double down with some consumer law?  

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Ultimately you can't force a repair or replacement but are entitled to seek a price reduction instead of a refund, which could be the cost of repair, if the trader doesn't repair/replace.

However Amazon will cover you for a refund and expect the seller to provide a return label.

The pragmatic approach would be to use the Amazon cover and get a refund  

RefluentBeans

They shouldn’t be charging for a refund and shouldn’t be charging a return fee. If you pay for postage back to them, they should refund you that too. 

With regards to the repair - you can suggest it. They may go for it, but it can be Pandora’s box. If the phone is totalled and requires several new components then it’s unlikely they’ll give you carte blanch to replace everything. Rather they may ask you to get a quote (or several) for them to approve. But you can’t compel them to do this method. 

The thing is - you’re saying going to the post office is too inconvenient, but chasing them for payments, getting quotes etc is more work. Personally I’d just send it back to them. You can ‘make it available at their own time’ but if this is weekends or outside of working hours M-F then I think you’ll be dragging it out personally. 

You can dedicate a less than an hour to send it back and so sure they refund you postage, or you can ask them to pay for a local repair or get them to collect it ‘in their own time’ but that may take longer with missed collections/rearranging collections/finding repair shops and getting quotes. The former will likely be quicker, the latter two will likely be slower. 

Assuming the retailer has actually said they will refund - personally I’d just go for that and close the matter, and be sure to get any delivery fees back. 

born_again

Royal mail collect from home service. No trailing to post office.