Backmarket warning: only if you can be without your phone for 10-14 days

KaleHamma

Hi folks. A quick warning for anyone considering buying a phone through BackMarket.

I am self-employed; I rely on my phone for my business. For sustainability reasons I bought a phone through BackMarket in May last year (order no52040065) It now has a fault and the only option BackMarket is offering me is to post my phone back for repair (taking up to five working days once they receive it: 10 or more days in reality.)

Here are reasons to be very wary of BackMarket:

My Google Pixel 8 has developed a known fault - a permanent bright pink line on the screen that makes use very difficult. This should be repairable under the manufacturer's warranty - in which case I could just get it fixed for free at iSmash. However, turns out the BackMarket refurbished phone contains non-UK parts so iSmash won't honour it under the Google warranty. They have said they will repair for £179 which is close to what the phone is now worth .

The repair will take less than an hour at iSmash, so it's a sensible way for me to get my phone fixed and keep my business running. The phone is still within its BackMarket warranty as well, and they have an established partnership with iSmash, so I requested that they agree to cover repair costs under their warranty through their partner.

They have repeatedly offered only a £30 goodwill gesture to cover the cost of repairs and are attempting to strongarm me into returning - issuing return labels when I have specifically rejected this option and explained why it is not possible given my reliance on the phone for my livelihood. So my options are to return my phone and be unable to run my business for up to two weeks, or be £149 out of pocket.

Advice I have sought indicates they are in breach of the Consumer Rights Act because the product is not of satisfactory quality and their proposed remedy causes both significant inconvenience and financial loss.

Has anyone else had similar challenges with BackMarket?

I'll keep this thread updated with next steps.

user1977

I am self-employed; I rely on my phone for my business

In which case we're not talking about consumer rights, because this is a business-to-business contract.

Can't you just put your SIM in a different handset while you're waiting for the repair?

Alderbank

'Hi folks. A quick warning for anyone considering buying a phone through BackMarket…'

No. But it should be a warning for any businesses considering buying phones.

'…Advice I have sought indicates they are in breach of the Consumer Rights Act because the product is not of satisfactory quality and their proposed remedy causes both significant inconvenience and financial loss…'

How much did you pay for this advice?

I ask because these advisors should have immediately have explained that the seller is not in breach of the Consumer Rights Act because the Act does not apply to any business purchases.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6654408/backmarket-warning-only-if-you-can-be-without-your-phone-for-10-14-days

As this is for your business, consumer rights do not apply.

It is also a very easily resolved matter. Buy an interim phone, send the broken phone back for repair, use the interim phone in the meantime.

I have a similar need to use my phone for work and to ensure that I always have a phone to fall back upon, I recently purchased a Moto G06 when it was on offer in Tesco for £30. That phone remains unused but I see it as a very low cost insurance policy. Should (when) I need to use the interim phone, it only requires one customer contact not to have been lost for the phone to have paid for itself.

Aylesbury_Duck

If a phone is vital to your business, you really need a contingency. What would you do if you lost your phone, or dropped it into a toilet? Stop working for however long it would take you to buy a new phone?

Buy a cheap handset you can quickly activate if needs be.

As for this situation, the consumer rights act doesn’t apply here, so I question the knowledge of whoever gave you advice. What you do have is rights set out in the contract, and if that allows them to ask you to send the phone off for repair and doesn't oblige them to pay for a repair of your choice, then that's that, and you're reliant on goodwill.

KaleHamma

Hi folks. Thank you for the responses. I was trying to keep the post as short as possible but by way of further explanation: I bought the phone so I could use two Sims: primarily for personal use, but it also functions as my work phone where necessary.

Regardless I believe this would be covered under the sale of goods act.

As I mentioned at the outset, I bought the phone from backmarket for sustainability reasons. Buying a second phone to keep in a drawer just in case, especially when in this case a repair could be completed in an hour, would very much undermine that aim!

Grumpy_chap

Why not keep your old phone as a contingency phone if you are not comfortable having a second phone in a box?

Either way, the impact to your trade by the phone being out of service is not the concern of the supplier. It is for you to manage the risk to your business.

It is also your decision if sustainability concerns trump the need to be able to work for the period that the phone is repaired.

The supplier is offering to repair on a "return to base" warranty and that will be up to 2 weeks, which seems reasonable for that type of service. OR, you can pay £180 and have the phone fixed within an hour. Again, this is your decision whether saving the cost of £180 trumps the need to be able to work for the period that the phone is repaired.

If a phone is that critical to the continued operation of the business, not having a contingency phone seems like a short-sighted approach. Being without the current smart phone is a wholly foreseeable business risk.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81875431#Comment_81875431

It would be covered by SOGA but that is less modern and not as friendly to the consumer as the CRA. The fact that your complaint about their timelines relates to business usage means it is a business purchase.

I am in favour of sustainability, but practicality has to also be applied. If the business cannot keep operating then that is not sustainable financially.

KaleHamma

Thanks all. Regardless of the specifics my warning stands. If you buy from backmarket, for personal use or otherwise

• The phone may contain non-UK parts which means the manufacturer warranty and repair scheme even for known faults can't be used
• You can get it repaired under the BackMarket warranty - if you are able to be without your phone for about ten days and are happy with the inconvenience of reinstalling back-uo data to other phones etc.
• If you do mitigate by having a back-uo phone, it's up to you to decide to what extent that undermines the sustainability credentials of the whole undertaking as well as any cost savings you may have made.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81875473#Comment_81875473

Google phones are full of non-UK parts, as is every other mobile phone…. Which has ZERO effect on warranty.

You buy online, then you have to expect several days at best for a repair. Got to get there, got to be worked on & then sent back. So best would be 3 days. You are not their only customer. So you join the queue to be repaired. That's if they have the parts.

You talk abut "sustainability". Do you want to keep working or not. Simple answer is a cheap old non smart phone.

You want it done quicker then take the hit & take it to a local phone repair shop & hope they have a screen in stock.🤷‍♀️

Aylesbury_Duck

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81875431#Comment_81875431

That's fine, but you appear to want the protection afforded to you by consumer rights and to simultaneously use the leverage that the phone is vital to your business to extract a speedier solution from the seller. That gives them an easy 'out' when it comes to consumer rights.