Need help to get a refund

kisama

i bought an xperia x10 mini last month in the official Vodafone shop in St Patrick street in Cork.
the phone never turned off while charging, hence i could never get a 100% battery charge.
as it was the first time that i heard of a phone that doesn't turn off at all (no usb option menu was even coming up on the screen when i connected it to the pc), i brought it back to the shop and everybody seemed to be as surprised as me to hear that it would turn on all the time when it was charging.
i was advised that the phone could have been faulty and needed to be sent to be checked by SE.
after one week, they told me that the phone WAS faulty, and they offered a replacement (they never offered a refund although it was in my rights, but i liked the phone and was happy to just have a working one).
however new phone, same issue - 4/5 hours to get 85% battery charge at the luckiest.
as i was pretty tired of having this problem, i brought it back again and mentioned that i wanted a refund this time around.
the guy told me that he found it a shame himself that i had the same issue twice and that he would talk to the manager to get me refunded without waiting for the mobile to get back. surely it made sense - same phone same issue, issue acknowledged - why keep a customer wait?
but this is where the magic happens: as the manager hears the word 'refund' she sais no, we gotta verify with SE again.
the phone comes back after one week, and of course, this time the SAME PROBLEM is not a problem any more.
the phone is meant not to turn off and never reach a 100% battery charge.
i seriously thought this was a joke.
as soon as the word 'refund' appears, then everything is fine. they sent the phone back again and again they say it's fine.
they wanted me to take it back which i refused.
i find this the most SHAMEFUL customer service ever. simply SHAMEFUL.
i just wanted a mobile that works and didnt ask for refund the first time cos i trusted Vodafone and its assistance.
now my phone it's still in the shop and i've been waiting for more than one month now.
i'm sick of it and i want my money back!!!

chappy

Just so you know your not actually entitled to a refund...as a manager in a retail outlet I have had customers leave stock behind when they haven't been happy with the decision and the item has gone in the bin if they don't come back within a couple of days...
I would suggest you atleast go and collect your phone before you try to go any further in relation to complaint, etc.

Jev/N

kisama wrote: »

i bought an xperia x10 mini last month in the official Vodafone shop in St Patrick street in Cork.
the phone never turned off while charging, hence i could never get a 100% battery charge.
as it was the first time that i heard of a phone that doesn't turn off at all (no usb option menu was even coming up on the screen when i connected it to the pc), i brought it back to the shop and everybody seemed to be as surprised as me to hear that it would turn on all the time when it was charging.
i was advised that the phone could have been faulty and needed to be sent to be checked by SE.
after one week, they told me that the phone WAS faulty, and they offered a replacement (they never offered a refund although it was in my rights, but i liked the phone and was happy to just have a working one).
however new phone, same issue - 4/5 hours to get 85% battery charge at the luckiest.
as i was pretty tired of having this problem, i brought it back again and mentioned that i wanted a refund this time around.
the guy told me that he found it a shame himself that i had the same issue twice and that he would talk to the manager to get me refunded without waiting for the mobile to get back. surely it made sense - same phone same issue, issue acknowledged - why keep a customer wait?
but this is where the magic happens: as the manager hears the word 'refund' she sais no, we gotta verify with SE again.
the phone comes back after one week, and of course, this time the SAME PROBLEM is not a problem any more.
the phone is meant not to turn off and never reach a 100% battery charge.
i seriously thought this was a joke.
as soon as the word 'refund' appears, then everything is fine. they sent the phone back again and again they say it's fine.
they wanted me to take it back which i refused.
i find this the most SHAMEFUL customer service ever. simply SHAMEFUL.
i just wanted a mobile that works and didnt ask for refund the first time cos i trusted Vodafone and its assistance.
now my phone it's still in the shop and i've been waiting for more than one month now.
i'm sick of it and i want my money back!!!

This bit isn't correct... they have the right to offer you either repair, refund or replacement at their discretion but as long as it is reasonable.

Before I add my thoughts on the situation, aside from the issue of not hitting 100%, how long does the phone last on 'full' charge and what do you mean the phone won't turn off?

jor el

You are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund, and as long as at least one is offered, then they have fulfilled their obligations. Since they've given you a replacement, which then failed, and you allowed them to try and repair, which has not worked, you should now be in a position to insist on a refund (even though you could have actually done this from the start, or when the replacement also failed).

If they continue to refuse, then use the Small Claims Court to get your money back. It costs just €15, and the ruling is binding.

kisama

first of all, thank you all for your replies!

@chappy - it's not that i'm not happy with the decision, but this is totally incosistent (they first found the fault, then no?) i'm not the kind of customer who's never happy and looking for compensations, but i feel like this is a little too much...

@jev - the phone lasts one day-ish or less (but it really depends on the use and the charge i can get). when i say the phone won't turn off i mean that if you switch it off, then plug it to the wall charger, it goes back on. you turn it off again, and it goes back on - you could play this forever.

@jor el - how do i use the small claims court? my apologies, but i'm not very familiar with this...

thank you very much guys

dudara

kisama wrote: »

@jev - the phone lasts one day-ish or less (but it really depends on the use and the charge i can get). when i say the phone won't turn off i mean that if you switch it off, then plug it to the wall charger, it goes back on. you turn it off again, and it goes back on - you could play this forever.

I don't see how this is a problem? The phone doesn't need to be turned off in order to charge. For instance, the iPhone will come to life when plugged into a power source.

91011

Batteries never reach 100% charge.

Cars will never get the stated mpg.



Some things in life are simply unattainable.

smelltheglove

I dont know your phone btu I have an iphone that doesnt turn off on charge. It may be designed to stay on whilst charging so might not be a fault at all, the sales assistants may not have been aware of that in the first case so you could in fact have gotten a replacement in error.

funkyjebus

jor el wrote: »

You are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund, and as long as at least one is offered, then they have fulfilled their obligations. Since they've given you a replacement, which then failed, and you allowed them to try and repair, which has not worked, you should now be in a position to insist on a refund (even though you could have actually done this from the start, or when the replacement also failed).

If they continue to refuse, then use the Small Claims Court to get your money back. It costs just €15, and the ruling is binding.

+1 to the above, except i would go to the national consumer agency first as any judge will be annoyed at it been overlooked. normally you give the shop 3 attemps and then id demand a refund, ask for your refusal in writing and the go to the nca.

Oryx

I dont know about that particular phone, but most smart phones need daily charging, dont they? I know the instructions for my X6 say to charge it daily. Also, a lot of them will light up while charging, and the screen will stay lit. It seems to be a common thing.

So I can see why there is confusion over your complaint.

foggy_lad

chappy wrote: »

Just so you know your not actually entitled to a refund...as a manager in a retail outlet I have had customers leave stock behind when they haven't been happy with the decision and the item has gone in the bin if they don't come back within a couple of days...
I would suggest you atleast go and collect your phone before you try to go any further in relation to complaint, etc.

absolute rubbish! where did you learn about consumer law???

after a replacement and failed repair the op is surely entitled to a refund but with the manager refusing this they will have to go to the small claims court which takes a few weeks but there will be a reasonable outcome!

op when you are charging the phone does it switch on fully or does a charging screen turn on? sony ericsson phone screens light up with a charging screen when turned off and plugged in to charge but they should not turn on fully.

Jev/N

dudara wrote: »

I don't see how this is a problem? The phone doesn't need to be turned off in order to charge. For instance, the iPhone will come to life when plugged into a power source.

Yeah that is my sentiment exactly, and similarly what others said about needing a daily charge. I've a smartphone and if it doesn't have a daily charge it'll hardly last to the next evening before dying.

The reality is the mobile 'works', albeit in a different way to what you expected. The turn-on problem is, in my opinion, a non-issue as it hardly goes to the heart of not being of merchantable quality. In the same vein, unless the battery is really missing charge that is noticable, I would say there is little issue. It could, in fact, be hitting 100% but the software is showing otherwise - the iPhone 4 proved that you can't always believe the details on the screen (in that case it was the actual reception vs the displayed reception).

First, I would take the 'repaired' one back from them.

Next, I would only seek a refund if it's a real problem at stake, rather that something of a mere annoyance. I don't mean to be blunt about it but it seems more like a design feature than a fatal flaw with the phone.

The shop assistants might not have had someone bother coming back before for something that was common to most current phones and thus never known it was an issue. I would assume that most people never bother attempting to turn their phones off so it doesn't affect them. The assistant you spoke to shouldn't have agreed that the problem was a genuine fault as it seems evident that it's just the reality of this phone (every phone has its issues)

If it's really a problem, by all means, seek a refund. However, for the hassle I don't think it is, but that's just my opinion!

kisama

the phone turns on completely, 100% working - this is why i cant get more than 88%, even if it's charging in flight mode.
regardless of everything, i can't see why the first time the technical support (not the shop) said it was faulty, then they say no.
i understand if me, you guys or the shop assistants can be confused if it's a real issue or not, but not the product maker. i'm only talking about consistency, and customer service.
you can't say first yes then no to a client for the exact same thing.
this is extremely insulting.
whatever the issue is, the customer should never be affected by a company's discrepancies. if they have a problem with sony ericsson, THEY should follow up on that, not me.
i'm a customer, they should be 'protecting' me.
They just handled this in the worst possible way, i've never dealt with such INCOMPETENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE.

jor el

Small claims court information, if you need it.

If this is a design thing, rather than a fault, then you could still be due a refund, since the phone is still not what you bought. If it was explained to you at the time of purchase that it could never be fully charged, and could not be turned off while charging, then you wouldn't have a claim. If this was not explained, or obvious, at the time of purchase, then the phone is simply not as described. This would be due a refund.

jimoc

The fact that it can never be charged to 100% to me would be enough of a reason to get a refund.

However, every phone I have ever bough turns itself on as soon as you plug it in to charge and stays on the entire time.
The screen will go black, but the phone itself never switches off.
I had assumed that all phones behave this way.

Jev/N

jor el wrote: »

If this is a design thing, rather than a fault, then you could still be due a refund, since the phone is still not what you bought. If it was explained to you at the time of purchase that it could never be fully charged, and could not be turned off while charging, then you wouldn't have a claim. If this was not explained, or obvious, at the time of purchase, then the phone is simply not as described. This would be due a refund.

I would disagree regarding the design feature. If it's common with smartphones, you're never going to expect a shop to explain every nuance about a phone before purchase. The charge amount is important I'll admit, but as I still think that the ability to turn the phone off while charging is a non-issue for me but again that's just my opinion

But if you do feel strongly about it, definitely seek a refund and if not, visit the SCC. The response from SE is quite strange alright and you have seem to got messed around quite a bit. They should have just said from the start there was no issue or something to that effect and possibly offered an alternate phone if it was something which put you off using it.

Edit; Just found this:

There’s no denying that the Xperia X10 does drain its battery quickly, even compared to some other Android handsets, however there are some simple tips to get the most out of your battery. Each of these should go some way to significantly enhance your X10 battery life. Check them out after the break.
Xperia X10 Battery Tips

1) Charge/discharge battery a few times initially
When you first get the X10, you will need to cycle the battery from full charge to near empty at least 4-5 x. Many complain when they first use the X10 that it discharges too quickly. It is only once you’ve properly charged it a few times will you start to see an improvement in battery life.