Refurbished mobile

MrChips

Hello!

I bought a refurbished iPhone12 for my son just before Christmas via a third party seller on Amazon.  The phone looks in top condition, but he quickly noticed the battery was playing up a bit.

At first he plugged it into the apple charger of his previous mobile and, while the charging indicator came on, the battery percentage didn't increase at all.  We then tried the charging cable the phone came with which did allow it to charge.  Subsequent to this, the battery charge percentage seems quite volatile, dropping quickly from only short bursts of use. It doesn't seem like it would last him the day once he's back at school next week, and we worry it will only get worse over the next couple of years before we look to replace it.

According to the phone itself, the battery maximum capacity is 83%. We understand the battery capacity was never likely to be 100% on a refurbished phone but we don't think the phone is really fit for purpose as it is.

In addition to this, the phone gives out an occasional alert about a non-genuine Apple part, and my son says it also freezes from time to time.

To compound matters, he dropped it from a small height onto our living room carpet this morning and the front screen is cracked/damaged.  I don't know if that's just unlucky, or a further indicator that the (possibly refurbished) screen wasn't good quality.

Anyway, we are now wondering what our best move is.  I was going to get in touch with Amazon anyway to enquire about a replacement given the various apparent bugs.  But now wondering if we should repair the screen first ourselves, or explain the entire situation including the screen damage and see what they say?

I have mobile insurance through my Nationwide account which would charge a £75 excess to repair the screen.  Alternatively, I think I could get it fixed myself for less than this (e.g. iSmash say they will do it for £69 and I've previously been very impressed with the fix they made to my Pixel phone).

Thoughts? 

Mr.Generous

Because of the broken screen I'd be concerned they will reject any return, even if fixed - If they can tell it was swapped. Might be worth seeing how much a new battery would be? It could be just throwing good money after bad, because the non genuine part alert and the freezing don't sound good. I'm not a phone expert but someone will be along with better advice soon!! Sounds like a nice gift idea and you've been unlucky!!

MrChips

Thanks for your reply.

Pending any good advice on here, having read the third party seller's own website, there is a warranty but it would be invalidated if we fixed the screen ourselves.  So, I think I'm minded to be upfront with them and explain the situation and see if they will fix the screen (for a charge) and simultaneously look into the other issues.

Not sure if having bought through Amazon will cause any complications (or potentially additional benefits) though?

born_again

In reality you have not bought through Amazon. Using Marketplace (3rd party seller) is just the same as ebay.
Only extra with Amazon is the A to Z guarantee if retailer will not help.
But even then, given what has happened, not even sure that would come into play.

TELLIT01

I suspect the warranty will be invalidated by dropping the phone and cracking the screen.  Trying to prove that the fault wasn't caused by dropping the phone will be next to impossible.

pinkshoes

Dropping it makes this very tricky. 

As above, you're likely going to struggle proving that the battery issue WASN'T caused by it being dropped. I think it's best to be honest with the seller. Explain that the phone has a battery issue and won't retain it's charge, but it has since been dropped and the screen cracked. Explain that you're more than happy to pay for the screen to be fixed (offer to pay them to do it - ask for a quote), but as the battery was faulty upon purchase then you're claiming under your consumer rights for a repair as it was faulty at the point of purchase. 

born_again

What OS was the phone running on?
As plenty reports of i-phone 12 battery issues with later versions of OS.

MrChips

Just coming back to this one.  As predicted, the phone company wouldn't accept the phone back following the screen breakage.  We got it repaired ourself and it's now operating satisfactorily.  The battery seems to be doing ok for now and we decided not to replace it for the time being and see how it works out.