Motorola refusing to repair a faulty Razr 40 Ultra screen under warranty

touche_2

Back in May my OH's Motorola Razr 40 Ultra developed a black line across the screen at the point where the screen folded.

I ran my finger down the screen and it became obvious that the factory fitted screen protector had split at that point. I removed the screen protector (thinking it would be simple to replace) but the black line was still present.

At this point we decided that a black line was not the worst thing so continued to use the phone over the next few days. Unfortunately then the screen gradually failed until around 75% was black (no working pixels) and the top half of the screen refused to respond to touch (the bottom half still responded but had no working pixels).

As the phone was only 10 months old I went through the process of requesting a repair under warranty and was sent labels to return to their central repair facility.

A few days later I received a quote for just over £550 to repair the screen as they were refusing to repair under warranty due to a mark in one corner of the phone (near the hinge). This was an area that was not protected/covered by the Motorola provided cover, so it was not necessarily a surprise that there would be a mark there.

On the very last email they sent the issue of the mark in the corner was dropped and they are now refusing to repair the screen as the screen protector has been removed (true but in good faith as I assumed this was causing the screen to fail)

After many to and fro emails we are now at deadlock with how to proceed. I have asked Motorola multiple times for details of an ombudsman that they would use but they have constantly ignored this request.

The phone does have insurance cover but I'm not comfortable claiming on that since the damage was not caused by dropping or misuse.

The phone is currently still at the repair centre and they will only return it once I have paid a £30 fee, which I'm reluctant to do to avoid throwing good money after bad.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to go next?

DullGreyGuy

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

touche_2

DullGreyGuy said:

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the 'ombudsman', I was assuming that there would be a suitable third party to take the dispute to (outside of small claims court). Ultimately if I have no case to have a phone repaired more than six months after it was purchased then I will have to accept that and move on.

The phone was originally puchased from Amazon (in July 2024). I have not currently raised the issue with them as I assumed it would be a straight forward warranty repair (which, in my previous experience, Amazon tend to pass you onto the manufacturer for)

DullGreyGuy

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the 'ombudsman', I was assuming that there would be a suitable third party to take the dispute to (outside of small claims court). Ultimately if I have no case to have a phone repaired more than six months after it was purchased then I will have to accept that and move on.

The phone was originally puchased from Amazon (in July 2024). I have not currently raised the issue with them as I assumed it would be a straight forward warranty repair (which, in my previous experience, Amazon tend to pass you onto the manufacturer for)

There used to be a company called the Retail Ombudsman but they got told to stop calling themselves that after failing to meet the Trading Standards requirements on anyone calling themselves an Ombudsman. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution appears to be a growing industry, an ombudsman is an example of this but not everyone in the ADR space is an ombudsman. Most of them are discretionary so it's a free choice if a company wants to be part of the scheme or not and they only have contract law to fall back on if members dont follow the rules. As the Motor Ombudsman points out the highest option it has it to end a companies membership and not allow them to use their logo. 

It's only the likes of the Financial Ombudsman, that are created and given powers via law, that have real teeth. 


For Samsung you would need to read the terms of the warranty, as mentioned they are in addition to your statutory rights so can say anything. Any sensible company will say repairs etc under the warranty are at their sole discretion so there is no legal basis to challenge their decisions. 

The case is to be made against the retailer as thats where your rights exist and where the law sets out matters. Many retailers will fob you off to the manufacturer, particularly if they sell a vast array of products, but hold firm and stick with exercising your consumer rights with them

touche_2

DullGreyGuy said:

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the 'ombudsman', I was assuming that there would be a suitable third party to take the dispute to (outside of small claims court). Ultimately if I have no case to have a phone repaired more than six months after it was purchased then I will have to accept that and move on.

The phone was originally puchased from Amazon (in July 2024). I have not currently raised the issue with them as I assumed it would be a straight forward warranty repair (which, in my previous experience, Amazon tend to pass you onto the manufacturer for)

There used to be a company called the Retail Ombudsman but they got told to stop calling themselves that after failing to meet the Trading Standards requirements on anyone calling themselves an Ombudsman. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution appears to be a growing industry, an ombudsman is an example of this but not everyone in the ADR space is an ombudsman. Most of them are discretionary so it's a free choice if a company wants to be part of the scheme or not and they only have contract law to fall back on if members dont follow the rules. As the Motor Ombudsman points out the highest option it has it to end a companies membership and not allow them to use their logo. 

It's only the likes of the Financial Ombudsman, that are created and given powers via law, that have real teeth. 


For Samsung you would need to read the terms of the warranty, as mentioned they are in addition to your statutory rights so can say anything. Any sensible company will say repairs etc under the warranty are at their sole discretion so there is no legal basis to challenge their decisions. 

The case is to be made against the retailer as thats where your rights exist and where the law sets out matters. Many retailers will fob you off to the manufacturer, particularly if they sell a vast array of products, but hold firm and stick with exercising your consumer rights with them

Thank you for taking the time to post a detailed reply.

Looks like I'll need to take it up with Amazon (complicated by the fact that, due to the time spent in communication with Motorola, it's now just over a year since I purchased the phone)

WelshPaul

I don’t understand why people buy these phones when it’s well known that the screens always crack along the fold. Anyway, it’s not a screen protector, it’s part of the screen. You should never remove it from a folding phone, as doing so voids your warranty.

touche_2

WelshPaul said:

I don’t understand why people buy these phones when it’s well known that the screens always crack along the fold.

Ignorance in my case - I wasn't expecting a relatively expensive phone from a reputable manufacturer to fail within 10 months through normal use no matter what the construction

touche_2

WelshPaul said:

Anyway, it’s not a screen protector, it’s part of the screen. You should never remove it from a folding phone, as doing so voids your warranty.

Again, ignorance on my part. It looked and felt like a screen protector so I assumed. My mistake

Alderbank

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the 'ombudsman', I was assuming that there would be a suitable third party to take the dispute to (outside of small claims court). Ultimately if I have no case to have a phone repaired more than six months after it was purchased then I will have to accept that and move on.

The phone was originally puchased from Amazon (in July 2024). I have not currently raised the issue with them as I assumed it would be a straight forward warranty repair (which, in my previous experience, Amazon tend to pass you onto the manufacturer for)

There used to be a company called the Retail Ombudsman but they got told to stop calling themselves that after failing to meet the Trading Standards requirements on anyone calling themselves an Ombudsman. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution appears to be a growing industry, an ombudsman is an example of this but not everyone in the ADR space is an ombudsman. Most of them are discretionary so it's a free choice if a company wants to be part of the scheme or not and they only have contract law to fall back on if members dont follow the rules. As the Motor Ombudsman points out the highest option it has it to end a companies membership and not allow them to use their logo. 

It's only the likes of the Financial Ombudsman, that are created and given powers via law, that have real teeth. 


For Samsung you would need to read the terms of the warranty, as mentioned they are in addition to your statutory rights so can say anything. Any sensible company will say repairs etc under the warranty are at their sole discretion so there is no legal basis to challenge their decisions. 

The case is to be made against the retailer as thats where your rights exist and where the law sets out matters. Many retailers will fob you off to the manufacturer, particularly if they sell a vast array of products, but hold firm and stick with exercising your consumer rights with them

Looks like I'll need to take it up with Amazon...

As @DullGreyGuy said you need to take it up with the retailer.

Amazon sell a lot of phones directly as retailer but also provide services for other third party phone sellers through their Marketplace.

To confirm who the retailer is, check on the RHS of your Amazon invoice where it says 'Sold by...'
That's who your claim is against.

touche_2

Alderbank said:

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

touche_2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Which ombudsman do you want the details of? There is no "phone hardware" or "electronics" ombudsman. 

Your statutory rights are with the company you bought it from not the manufacturer, warranties are on top of your statutory rights and can say whatever they want as there no legal obligations for them to exist at all. 

Under the CRA once the item is over 6 months old its up to you as the claimant to prove your case, ie it had an inherent fault and that it isnt damage caused by you (no matter how well intended it was). The fact Samsung has deemed it was your fault is not going to help your case against the retailer.

So who did you buy the phone from?

Thank you for your reply.

Regarding the 'ombudsman', I was assuming that there would be a suitable third party to take the dispute to (outside of small claims court). Ultimately if I have no case to have a phone repaired more than six months after it was purchased then I will have to accept that and move on.

The phone was originally puchased from Amazon (in July 2024). I have not currently raised the issue with them as I assumed it would be a straight forward warranty repair (which, in my previous experience, Amazon tend to pass you onto the manufacturer for)

There used to be a company called the Retail Ombudsman but they got told to stop calling themselves that after failing to meet the Trading Standards requirements on anyone calling themselves an Ombudsman. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution appears to be a growing industry, an ombudsman is an example of this but not everyone in the ADR space is an ombudsman. Most of them are discretionary so it's a free choice if a company wants to be part of the scheme or not and they only have contract law to fall back on if members dont follow the rules. As the Motor Ombudsman points out the highest option it has it to end a companies membership and not allow them to use their logo. 

It's only the likes of the Financial Ombudsman, that are created and given powers via law, that have real teeth. 


For Samsung you would need to read the terms of the warranty, as mentioned they are in addition to your statutory rights so can say anything. Any sensible company will say repairs etc under the warranty are at their sole discretion so there is no legal basis to challenge their decisions. 

The case is to be made against the retailer as thats where your rights exist and where the law sets out matters. Many retailers will fob you off to the manufacturer, particularly if they sell a vast array of products, but hold firm and stick with exercising your consumer rights with them

Looks like I'll need to take it up with Amazon...

As @DullGreyGuy said you need to take it up with the retailer.

Amazon sell a lot of phones directly as retailer but also provide services for other third party phone sellers through their Marketplace.

To confirm who the retailer is, check on the RHS of your Amazon invoice where it says 'Sold by...'
That's who your claim is against.

It was a vanilla Amazon sale by the looks, "Sold by Amazon EU S.à r.l., UK Branch"

DeathByFluffy

touche_2 said:

WelshPaul said:

Anyway, it’s not a screen protector, it’s part of the screen. You should never remove it from a folding phone, as doing so voids your warranty.

Again, ignorance on my part. It looked and felt like a screen protector so I assumed. My mistake

The problem is you've effectively tampered with the device yourself - it's not a protector, it's an integral part of the LCD display. 
I hate to say it, but doing so has probably just cost you the price of a new screen as Amazon will likely now say the same as Motorola - the top layer shouldn't be removed, and doing so will have voided your warranty.