Damaged iphone during O2 repair

Craiga1984

I have been an O2 customer for over 15 years, have always paid my bills on time, and stayed loyal to the company. I upgraded my phone last October, and after about 6 weeks it developed an internal issue with the battery, that caused the device to overheat and cracked the rear glass. After fighting for several weeks, O2 reluctantly agreed to send out a new handset as a replacement. This new phone worked perfectly for about 3 months, then all of a sudden the batter health dropped to a maximum capacity of 70%, and the phone would discharge down to 0% within a matter of minutes, sometimes not even turning on at all. I rang O2 and arranged a repair, they agreed to send out some prepaid packaging, and arranged a return through DHL. After about 2 weeks, I had heard nothing, so chased up the repair. I was initially told that they could not locate my handset, and would need to open an internal investigation as to why. Literally 60 mins later i received a text message to say that as I had not accepted the repair quote, then my repair has been cancelled? I once again rang up and spoke to a "manager" who would look onto this and get back to me in due course. A couple of days later i received a random package, inside was my phone, which I can only describe as "in pieces". The back of the iphone was completely missing, with shards of glass everywhere. O2 are claiming that the phone was damaged when they received it, and that is must have been damaged in transit. They arranged the repair through DHL as their chosen courier, and the phone was sent back in the packaging that they provided. They are not willing to accept any liability, and have said I need to pursue it directly with DHL. I am currently stuck with a phone I cannot use, and still paying for it via my contract. Surely O2 have to accept liability, as they arranged the courier and the packaging. What are my rights in this instance?

Ergates

Craiga1984 said:

I have been an O2 customer for over 15 years, have always paid my bills on time, and stayed loyal to the company. I upgraded my phone last October, and after about 6 weeks it developed an internal issue with the battery, that caused the device to overheat and cracked the rear glass. After fighting for several weeks, O2 reluctantly agreed to send out a new handset as a replacement. This new phone worked perfectly for about 3 months, then all of a sudden the batter health dropped to a maximum capacity of 70%, and the phone would discharge down to 0% within a matter of minutes, sometimes not even turning on at all. I rang O2 and arranged a repair, they agreed to send out some prepaid packaging, and arranged a return through DHL. After about 2 weeks, I had heard nothing, so chased up the repair. I was initially told that they could not locate my handset, and would need to open an internal investigation as to why. Literally 60 mins later i received a text message to say that as I had not accepted the repair quote, then my repair has been cancelled? I once again rang up and spoke to a "manager" who would look onto this and get back to me in due course. A couple of days later i received a random package, inside was my phone, which I can only describe as "in pieces". The back of the iphone was completely missing, with shards of glass everywhere. O2 are claiming that the phone was damaged when they received it, and that is must have been damaged in transit. They arranged the repair through DHL as their chosen courier, and the phone was sent back in the packaging that they provided. They are not willing to accept any liability, and have said I need to pursue it directly with DHL. I am currently stuck with a phone I cannot use, and still paying for it via my contract. Surely O2 have to accept liability, as they arranged the courier and the packaging. What are my rights in this instance?

Yes, you are correct.  Because O2 arranged the courier, it became their responsibility as soon as you handed it over to the courier.  The incompetence/negligence of DHL is O2's problem, not yours.  It is also 100% their responsibility to deal with DHL, in fact you *cannot* deal with them - as you never had a contract with them, they will not deal with you.

Your rights are to be provided with the goods and services you have paid for - which is a working phone.  Either they repair the one they broke or they replace it.