Phone went in for warranty repair and the repair center damaged the phone voiding the warranty

kallum97

Spoke to google and they pointed me to EE as the warranty handler as bluetooth was not working but still within warranty.

Google Pixel 6 pro handed into EE Store

Device checked over by EE employee and was i was handed a repair receipt confirmation. On there it clearly states that the device is "General condition: Good: no markings or dents".

Store then sent off to repair center. Repair center then got hold of the store with images of damage to the phone (what appears to be a corner ding) and stated as there is damage to the phone, the warranty is void. And therefore they will not fix the bluetooth issue ( replacement of motherboard).

However, firstly the phone has lived its entire life in a case and was pristine when handed in, and secondly the staff checked the phone and clearly recorded that there was no damage. i have the repair confirmation receipt which states the condition of the phone at handover.

Repair center quoted me £800 to replace the motherboard to fix the issue as its apparently now not covered by the warranty due to outer damage.

The store then raised this as a potential damage in transit, and the repair center refused it. From the picture the repair center has taken, it looks like the phone has been dropped by one of there engineers.

The store are currently waiting for me to go pick up my nice new damaged phone. I have already spoken to the store and they said all i can do is file a complaint online. I have done this but i have a feeling they are going to do what the repair center and store have done, which is try to get me to pay £800 for something which was not caused by me or even effects the original problem. What on earth are my options here?

eskbanker

If you handed over a pristine phone that's still under warranty, then it's not an unreasonable expectation that you receive back either the same phone that's been fixed, or a working replacement in similar condition, depending on the terms of the warranty.  As ever, enforcement may not be quite as straightforward as that, but see what EE come back with in response to your complaint and be prepared to go to small claims if they're uncooperative.

Okell

kallum97 said:

Spoke to google and they pointed me to EE as the warranty handler as bluetooth was not working but still within warranty.

Google Pixel 6 pro handed into EE Store

Device checked over by EE employee and was i was handed a repair receipt confirmation. On there it clearly states that the device is "General condition: Good: no markings or dents".

Store then sent off to repair center. Repair center then got hold of the store with images of damage to the phone (what appears to be a corner ding) and stated as there is damage to the phone, the warranty is void. And therefore they will not fix the bluetooth issue ( replacement of motherboard).

However, firstly the phone has lived its entire life in a case and was pristine when handed in, and secondly the staff checked the phone and clearly recorded that there was no damage. i have the repair confirmation receipt which states the condition of the phone at handover.

Repair center quoted me £800 to replace the motherboard to fix the issue as its apparently now not covered by the warranty due to outer damage.

The store then raised this as a potential damage in transit, and the repair center refused it. From the picture the repair center has taken, it looks like the phone has been dropped by one of there engineers.

The store are currently waiting for me to go pick up my nice new damaged phone. I have already spoken to the store and they said all i can do is file a complaint online. I have done this but i have a feeling they are going to do what the repair center and store have done, which is try to get me to pay £800 for something which was not caused by me or even effects the original problem. What on earth are my options here?

Have you raised this with Google? 

ie that the warranty handler they directed you to has caused £800 worth of damage to the 'phone and say the warranty is void?  You have the receipt from EE saying the 'phone was in good condition with no damage or dents when you handed it over, and you have the photos from the repair centre showing subsequent damage.  The inescapable conclusion is that either EE or the repair centre caused the damage.  Or that it was damaged in transit to the repair centre.  Whichever, it shouldn't be your problem.

kallum97

Okell said:

Have you raised this with Google? 

ie that the warranty handler they directed you to has caused £800 worth of damage to the 'phone and say the warranty is void?  You have the receipt from EE saying the 'phone was in good condition with no damage or dents when you handed it over, and you have the photos from the repair centre showing subsequent damage.  The inescapable conclusion is that either EE or the repair centre caused the damage.  Or that it was damaged in transit to the repair centre.  Whichever, it shouldn't be your problem.

So they haven't caused £800 of damage per say, the problem with the phone that it went in for warranty repair in the first place was a bluetooth issue, and to fix that it needs a motherboard replacement costing £800. They are saying im unable to have this covered by the warranty as the phone now has damage on the outside of the phone. (which they caused but are denying it).

I'm fully aware of your point, it being not my problem as i have receipt evidence. but they seem to not care. One of the stores excuses is "we are not engineers so we can't actually define damage". Which is a ludicrous statement anyways.

I just cant believe that its something that i have to take to court about.

In the meantime i will listen to your advice and see what google say about the whole thing.

Okell

I presume your warranty is with Google - yes?

Go back to them and explain that when you tried to claim on their warranty that the people they directed you to have damaged the 'phone whilst in their possession, and are using the damage they caused as an excuse not to honour the warranty.  Point out that you have a receipt from EE saying that it was in good condition with no sgn of damage when you entrusted it to them.

I presume the warranty entitles you to a free repair or a replacement?  Tell Google you want them to honour the warranty.  How they do that you'll leave to them

See what they say

kallum97

So, i spoke to google regarding the situation and they sent me an email after having a long coversation with them:

Thank you for contacting Google Support!
This email serves as a confirmation that you contacted Google Support  with the case ID: redacted regarding the repair charge. As per investigation it was clearly stated in your  Repair Receipt Confirmation from EE "General condition: Good: no markings or dents". With that you are entitled to claim the warranty of your device. In this case, we suggest you contact EE directly and they are responsible to handle this for you. 
Should you have any concern, feel free to contact us anytime. 

 So, i went back to the EE store, showed them this. And there reply was simply: "i dont care" "we have the phone not google" "we don't deal with them directly". Due to this, i have let google know and im waiting on a reply, but they dont seem to want to communicate with there warranty repairers about this issue.

A slightly weird and laughable comment from the employee in store was that he spoke to to the repair center manager, and the damage can not been seen with the naked eye, it has to be taken with a macro camera and zoomed it to see the ding on the side of the phone. I fail to see how this can even be regarded as damage imo and that's excusing the fact that i didn't cause it.

Kim_13

Even if they did repair the phone as Google say that they should, the OP would still be left in a worse position than they were before they handed the phone to EE. If they fix it, it’ll probably be put through as goodwill. There might be a future issue arising which requires a warranty repair, and it will be easier for them to wriggle out of that (claiming that the damage is now worse than it was before, warranty is invalid and that isn’t the fault of EE.)

There is a mark on the phone that wasn’t there before, and so far we only have their word that it isn’t visible to the naked eye - and it might be noticeable to the touch, to prompt them to start getting the equipment out in the first place.

If the mark is as minor as they suggest, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to claim it may have been caused while the phone was in the case, or in the process of applying or removing it. Dirt gets in, etc. But there is no way that those sorts of marks should invalidate a warranty (as annoying as they are as someone who also keeps devices in cases, and found a mark when changing SIM.) They look to be trying to go down that route as the report from the time that they took the phone into their care would not disprove ‘damage’ that was not visible to the naked eye.

kallum97

I kind of don't know what to do know. The store have been ringing me insisting i pick the phone up as they have received it. And they have escalated it as high as they can.

Google are insistent that it fine and they should still cover the warranty repair however EE refuse to and google wont speak to them directly.

The EE Employee who phoned me said that he has looked at the phone and he cant see the damage with his eye. You have to take a zoomed in picture and zoom in to see the damage.

So now i have to go pick my phone up which will 100% void any claim as they will just say i have caused the damage from that point onwards.

"your phone is damaged"

"Where?"

"Look through this microscope"

Okell

I think you have to go back to Google.  Tell them the warranty is with them and it's unacceptable that they won't talk directly to EE to sort this out

RefluentBeans

kallum97 said:

I kind of don't know what to do know. The store have been ringing me insisting i pick the phone up as they have received it. And they have escalated it as high as they can.

Google are insistent that it fine and they should still cover the warranty repair however EE refuse to and google wont speak to them directly.

The EE Employee who phoned me said that he has looked at the phone and he cant see the damage with his eye. You have to take a zoomed in picture and zoom in to see the damage.

So now i have to go pick my phone up which will 100% void any claim as they will just say i have caused the damage from that point onwards.

"your phone is damaged"

"Where?"

"Look through this microscope"

Or the counter point - you can go and see the physical phone and query it. If the phone is visibly damaged (and it wasn’t physically damaged before) you can refuse to accept it, and demand a solution. Stores will generally more willing to offer solutions in person in the store as they don’t the hassle (a lot easier to fob you off on an email; a lot easier to mute you on a phone call). 

Ultimately - you need to see what the damage is - and if the damage isn’t noticeable, you may well have to accept that it was there before (cases don’t stop all damage). However this doesn’t negate the consumer rights aspect of faultiness. Even if the damage is negligible, it can void any warranty but it can’t void your consumer rights. But that is with whom you bought it from. 

I also think there’s two issues to look at here - one being the fault you contacted Google about and one being the damage from the repair. These should be considered separately. Looking at the alleged damage from the repair - you should be put into the position you were in before the breach occurred - that being owning a phone with a Bluetooth issue but a cosmetically good device. In practice, this is likely to mean a cosmetically identical phone likely in working order (it’s unlikely that they will have phones with known faults in various cosmetic conditions). The entity that does this is the question here. Arguably you made a contract between EE and yourself for the repair, on the advice of Google. So it should be EE that rectifies the issue. 

Unfortunately, you may have to go in and get the device and roll the dice with Google again. That may be the easier method. But you should still try and speak to the shop manager as they will normally have more lateral movement, and will be more willing to do things in person they may not be willing to offer over the phone/email, even if it’s just to get you to leave the store. Saying this, there’s a difference between going in and not backing down knowing your rights and hurling abuse at workers on a minimum wage who are following the protocols they have been told to otherwise they’ll lose their jobs. Fundamentally what I’m saying is be a pain for them, but not abusive. Even if things get heated.