iPhone warranty repair issue

G1032

OK!
Long story short about a colleagues phone
iPhone 19 months old. Looks in perfect condition. No signs of any damage whatsoever. All of a sudden when he’d go to look at it all he’d get was a black screen, as if the OS had shut down. He’d then have to hit the power button to reinitialise the phone. Never asked to enter pin upon re- initialisation which means the phone probably never actually fully shut itself off. OS just went to sleep or froze.

He’s on a 24 month contract and rang retailer to report issue within about 4 weeks of first noticing it. He was told to send phone back. Gets an invoice for €150 which was to be paid before they would ‘look’ at the phone. Didn’t pay as he believes the phone is under warranty and has no signs of physical damage. Rang retailer to complain and was told that they only offer 1 year warranty and instructed him to contact the manufacturer (Apple). He did that and Apple said that he does have a 2 year warranty but that he must go through the retailer to claim through warranty.

So once again after getting no joy from the retailer he decided to go down the small claims court route.
He received a letter last Friday from the retailer stating that Apple have given him incorrect information, that the retailer is not obliged to repair his phone and that the onus is on him to prove that the fault existed when he bought the phone

He sent the phone back for repair in July and it has not yet been returned.

Is the retailer correct in saying he’s not entitled to a repair or does he have any grounds to continue with the small claims court procedure??

Cork24

EU legislation published in 1999, since 2002 it has become a legal requirement that all consumer goods sold in the EU must have a minimum of a 2 year warranty.


Article 5

Time limits

1. The seller shall be held liable under Article 3 where the lack of conformity becomes apparent within two years as from delivery of the goods. If, under national legislation, the rights laid down in Article 3(2) are subject to a limitation period, that period shall not expire within a period of two years from the time of delivery.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31999L0044&model=guichett


For here on in..

national consumer agency tell them what is going on.

Get onto ComReg aswell and make a Complaint.

Print off Article 5 of the EU law. bring it into the shop get the Write Down !!! every thing the person says to you and make sure you get his name, Make a phone call to your local Small Claims Court and tell them you want to take who ever to court. for a Damaged phone that you are no longer willing to pay the Contract.


What Mobile Network is he on


http://www.apple.com/ie/legal/statutory-warranty/

G1032

Cheers
We had begun to write a reply to the letter he received on Friday but were getting nowhere really so decided to post here instead!! Thanks for the advice.

G1032

Cork24 wrote: »

What Mobile Network is he on

He is with 3 mobile.
I'm having a bit of hassle with them myself too over an S3, but thats another story altogether!!

keithclancy

G1032 wrote: »

OK!
Long story short about a colleagues phone
iPhone 19 months old. Looks in perfect condition. No signs of any damage whatsoever. All of a sudden when he’d go to look at it all he’d get was a black screen, as if the OS had shut down. He’d then have to hit the power button to reinitialise the phone. Never asked to enter pin upon re- initialisation which means the phone probably never actually fully shut itself off. OS just went to sleep or froze.

He’s on a 24 month contract and rang retailer to report issue within about 4 weeks of first noticing it. He was told to send phone back. Gets an invoice for €150 which was to be paid before they would ‘look’ at the phone. Didn’t pay as he believes the phone is under warranty and has no signs of physical damage. Rang retailer to complain and was told that they only offer 1 year warranty and instructed him to contact the manufacturer (Apple). He did that and Apple said that he does have a 2 year warranty but that he must go through the retailer to claim through warranty.

So once again after getting no joy from the retailer he decided to go down the small claims court route.
He received a letter last Friday from the retailer stating that Apple have given him incorrect information, that the retailer is not obliged to repair his phone and that the onus is on him to prove that the fault existed when he bought the phone

He sent the phone back for repair in July and it has not yet been returned.

Is the retailer correct in saying he’s not entitled to a repair or does he have any grounds to continue with the small claims court procedure??

Sounds a bit strange.

Normally apple would offer you Telephone Support to attempt to repair the issue as a lot of the time its a software problem.

This really just equates to a software restore:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414

Try that first and see how you get on.

Warranty wise Apple offer a 1 year limited warranty:

http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/iphone-english-uk.html

Your statutory rights give you two years via the place of purchase.

But you still need troubleshoot the software issue first.

Cork24

Apple for the first 90 days give you tech support since he phone is over 19 months old. they are no longer willing to give tech support over the phone,


First Year is with the company it self, after that if anything happens he has to take it up with the place he brought the phone,

he legal minimum across the EU is two years but in Ireland under our Statute of Limitations you can make a claim for a faulty product up to six years after purchase. In relation to that time frame though bear in mind the expected life span of the product and general wear and tear issues.

Now here comes the fun part OP did you get the phone for free or did you pay for it..

WildCardDoW

You/he (I'm just going to say you, it's easier!) don't need to be protected under the EU legislation as you would be protected under Sales of Goods here, I believe, this covers you for a longer period of time arguably, although it isn't strictly defined.

However I think you can easily argue that if they sell a phone with a 24 month contract the phone would be expected to last that long.

Bepolite

Cork24 wrote: »

EU legislation published in 1999, since 2002 it has become a legal requirement that all consumer goods sold in the EU must have a minimum of a 2 year warranty.


Article 5

Time limits

1. The seller shall be held liable under Article 3 where the lack of conformity becomes apparent within two years as from delivery of the goods. If, under national legislation, the rights laid down in Article 3(2) are subject to a limitation period, that period shall not expire within a period of two years from the time of delivery.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=31999L0044&model=guichett


For here on in..

national consumer agency tell them what is going on.

Get onto ComReg aswell and make a Complaint.

Print off Article 5 of the EU law. bring it into the shop get the Write Down !!! every thing the person says to you and make sure you get his name, Make a phone call to your local Small Claims Court and tell them you want to take who ever to court. for a Damaged phone that you are no longer willing to pay the Contract.


What Mobile Network is he on


http://www.apple.com/ie/legal/statutory-warranty/

This isn't law in Ireland, look at SI 11/2003 for the Irish law.

dudara

Cork24 - the EU legislation you quoted was never enacted in Ireland, as our laws are deemed to provide greater coverage.

In a way, the retailer is correct. In order to proceed with a claim under Irish law and given the age of the phone, you would be reasonably expected to establish that the fault was there at the time of manufacture, or is not down to wear & tear or usage of the phone.

Cork24

Either way the op will have to contact comreg about this,

If he paid zero for the phone he won't be able to take them to the small claims court,

G1032

Thanks for the replies.
He paid nothing for the phone, just the 24 month contract.
Contact comreg so and proceed form there I guess.

Cork24

G1032 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
He paid nothing for the phone, just the 24 month contract.
Contact comreg so and proceed form there I guess.

I was in the same boat as your self when it comes to free 24 month contract phones.

the Signal on the phone kept dropping, which it was doing for half of Iphone 4s users,

Meteor was the provider, i Contact the NCA and Comreg. Meteor stood its ground even tho it was a fault with the product. I then went onto the small claims court and was told since i didn't pay for the phone that its on a contract base agreement, i couldn't take them to the courts, i ended up ringing the bank and cancelling my DD with Meteor, within a couple of months of letters i got a letter from hugh j ward solicitors

Who were pigs on the phone to me, I told them i was not dealing with them since their are only acting as solicitors to Meteor i will not be paying money to you but only to meteor and if i receive one more letter from you, i will be going to my own solicitor on ground of harassment. I ended up paying Meteor 1 euro a week which was 4 euro a month, once i was paying the bill they had no leg to take me to court and demand payment.