Failed repair advice

grayhat

I need some legal advice on where I stand and what I need to do next.

For context, an elderly family member walked past a high street shop that was offering quick phone repairs as they needed a replacement battery for an iPhone. They were told it would take a few days or a week but it took around a month for it to be returned.

Because it took so long, we had to buy them a new device to use in the meantime as it was their only way to contact people, the thought being it could be returned/sold when the old iPhone comes back fixed.

When my family member finally received it back there was lots of issues; the company had not used new adhesive to reseal the screen down and tried to recycle the old adhesive around the back of the screen which wasn’t sticky any more and was full of dust and bits, they had screwed the bottom screws in first and tried to push the screen down onto them which meant the screen wasn’t attached at any point except the ribbon cable and could be taken out. I could now see inside the iPhone and could see greasy fingerprints and dust everywhere and it just looked like they didn’t know what they were doing or really cared about doing a good job.

I sent a letter of complaint and was told I couldn’t be reimbursed for having to buy another device but I could only have a free re-repair and the cost of the original work refunded.

I made it clear that I expected the screen to be properly attached and they said they were confident to be able to re-repair the iPhone.

I posted the device to their repair HQ in the official Apple box to make sure it stayed safe as I didn’t want the loose screen to become damaged too.

Despite sending bank details, the refund for the original work has not yet been received.

I received the phone back a few days later, without the official Apple box that I sent it in and after inspecting it, it looks like they just took the screws out pushed the bottom of the screen down and screwed it back in. There is no new adhesive which means the screen is still not attached on three of the four sides.

 

I don’t want to keep going round in circles with this, I have given them a chance to fix it and they failed and have not returned the Apple packaging which I believe decreases the phones value.

What should I do?

Aylesbury_Duck

Assuming you are allowed to act on your relative's behalf (you have no consumer rights here, they do) then quantify your loss and send the company a letter before action.

What is your loss? I suggest it's the price paid for the failed repair, plus the cost of having someone competent clean and secure the phone components and casing, plus whatever you believe is the reasonable lost value on the phone as a result of them losing the box (which may be negligible). What does that amount to? In other words, is it an amount worth pursuing legally?

Alderbank

It depends on the iphone model but Apple charge about £89 to replace the battery and high street shops charge around £50.

You say the company your relative used re-attempted the repair (unsuccessfully) and refunded the original cost, following your complaint.

I would not deal with that company any further. Ask around friends and neighbours for a recommended repair guy to refit your iphone screen properly, which he should do for less than the fifty quid refund.

eskbanker

You say the company your relative used re-attempted the repair (unsuccessfully) and refunded the original cost, following your complaint.

Not quite, they said they'd refund but haven't:

Despite sending bank details, the refund for the original work has not yet been received