Apple Repair/warranty Advice please. Apple blanking me.

breanach78

Hey Any advice,

Background.

iPhone 6 128g purchased on O2,(Nov '14) removed from 24mth contract after a month due to lack of coverage, now unlocked to Vodafone. 5 days ago the phone started to intermittently, getting more frequently, do constant searching. Contacted Apple, done hard and software check over network and came back clear. Authorised Apple agent done a device check, clear. Done a network check over wifi with the fault, clear. Changed sim. Done all Apple asked resets and open from new. Same. Spoke to a Apple supervisor and stated it only 137 days out of warranty and it's now not fit for purpose IMO. Blanked by him. Tough. 327 Euro for a repair by Apple. I argued my case to no avail. Asked if I'd like to open a complaint so I say yes but he wanted to type my compliant word for word. I stated I did not want to rehash to story I was just after telling him. I asked for a call back by him( senior supervisor) for one hour later so I could script a complaint. That was two days ago and I have not received that call back.

Imo the phone has developed a fault tho no fault of my own and is no longer fit for purpose. O2 or now 3 won't entertain me as I was removed from contact. Apple have no leeway.

Any advice or help greatly appreciated?

Zapp Brannigan

breanach78 wrote: »

Hey Any advice,

Background.

iPhone 6 128g purchased on O2,(Nov '14) removed from 24mth contract after a month due to lack of coverage, now unlocked to Vodafone. 5 days ago the phone started to intermittently, getting more frequently, do constant searching. Contacted Apple, done hard and software check over network and came back clear. Authorised Apple agent done a device check, clear. Done a network check over wifi with the fault, clear. Changed sim. Done all Apple asked resets and open from new. Same. Spoke to a Apple supervisor and stated it only 137 days out of warranty and it's now now for purpose IMO. Blanked by him. Tough. 327 Euro for a repair by Apple. I argued my case to no avail. Asked if I'd like to open a complaint so I say yes but he wanted to type my compliant word for word. I stated I did not want to rehash to story I was just after telling him. I asked for a call back by him( senior supervisor) for one hour later so I could script a complaint. That was two days ago and I have not received that call back.

Imo the phone has developed a fault tho no fault of my own and is no longer fit for purpose. O2 or now 3 won't entertain me as I was remover from contact. Apple have no leeway.

Any advice or help greatly appreciated?

You have no legal recourse with Apple, your contract of sale is with the retailer. It is with them that you need to pursue a repair or replacement.

breanach78

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

You have no legal recourse with Apple, your contract of sale is with the retailer. It is with them that you need to pursue a repair or replacement.

3 blanked me too. Said my contract ended with them when them removed me from contract, 1 mth, stated to them is I bought a product off the, ie a phone, it's a hard one as I am now gone from them. My real issue is with Apple. Imo basically a 1k phone now not fit for purpose 6 mts out of warranty .

Heisenberg1

breanach78 wrote: »

3 blanked me too. Said my contract ended with them when them removed me from contract, 1 mth, stated to them is I bought a product off the, ie a phone, it's a hard one as I am now gone from them. My real issue is with Apple. Imo basically a 1k phone now not fit for purpose 6 mts out of warranty .

You were allowed out of 24 month contract after only 1 month as O2 could not provide you with a service and they allowed you keep the hanset? As Zapp said you contract under the sale of goods act is with O2/3 not with Apple take a small claims against 3 for the price of the repair too the phone.

breanach78

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

You were allowed out of 24 month contract after only 1 month as O2 could not provide you with a service and they allowed you keep the hanset? As Zapp said you contract under the sale of goods act is with O2/3 not with Apple take a small claims against 3 for the price of the repair too the phone.

Yes, no coverage in my area and sold as 3G. 3 say as contract over there is nothing they can do. Even if I was still with them they say it's over a year so all they would do is offer a repair at my cost. I would have tho Apple would/could have helped me more. 321e standard repai is very expensive. What happens is the costs, say 20e, I still pay 321e. What happens is as I said it's a fault n the phone tho no fault of me.i still pay it. I know they'll prob send me a new phone but I don't want a new phone, I want mine, working. If it was the 16g I wouldn't mind that much but I bought the 128g as long term phone.

mansize

Did the phone cost you 1K? Would you not try getting quotes from external repairers as its out of Warrenty?

breanach78

mansize wrote: »

Did the phone cost you 1K? Would you not try getting quotes from external repairers as its out of Warrenty?

No it's a 1k phone but cost me 400 on contract. If I get the phone opened/repaired outside of Apple I'll lose any recourse I may have with them

theteal

The phone was purchased from O2. That's where you go with it. If they won't help you in the shop where purchased, send a registered letter to their HO. Be ready an willing to open SCC proceedings and state as much in your letter. This has nothing to do with Apple unless you want to pay them for a repair. This thread would be better suited to the consumer issues forum.

whiterebel

You have no recourse with Apple, forget that. You bought it from O2/Three, your contract is with them. If you open a claim with the SCC it will be with Three/O2. The judge may have them offer you a new phone, but they may also take into account that you paid €400 for it, and award you that as a maximum. The SCC can only award you what you paid for it at most. They can also take into account how long you have it, and adjust accordingly. Even if they are forced to repair it, you would get a refurb, not your own unit repaired.

breanach78

Sound hassle for little back looks like I'll have to pay out the 321. Seems really unfair if it was a small repair.

mansize

If you walked away from your contract with o2 not sure if they have any duty to you now either.

jimboroony

You have 2 options.
1/ get a spurious repair shop (better than apple in my experience) to quote you for a fix. It will be cheaper. You'll probably have the phone back in a few hours. Avoid the Chinese, stick with Eastern Europeans or Irish. This is my experience, I'm not racist.
2/ pay full whack with Apple and lose your phone for a week or more. You say you'll 'have no recourse in the future'. It doesn't matter anymore what you do.. You will have to pay Apple top dollar for all repairs whether the iPhone was opened by a non Apple repair Center or not previously. Recourse doesn't come into it.

breanach78

Thanks for the replies guys. I have contacted the 3 reps on here as I believe I should have some come back with them. Failing that I'll try non Apple repair.

Snake Plisken

breanach78 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. I have contacted the 3 reps on here as I believe I should have some come back with them. Failing that I'll try non Apple repair.

I doubt very much you will get it repaired by non-Apple agents as it sounds like an issue with the main logic board, maybe your best bet will be get it repaired by Apple imho!

breanach78

Snake Plisken wrote: »

I doubt very much you will get it repaired by non-Apple agents as it sounds like an issue with the main logic board, maybe your best bet will be get it repaired by Apple imho!

Thanks for throwing a spanner in the works! Would that incadaite a non user related fault? Usually it searching first thing in the morning and I have to go thro the ritual of on/off, soft reset many times before it fires up again. It's unreliable now, 3 times today so far.

guil

breanach78 wrote: »

Thanks for throwing a spanner in the works! Would that incadaite a non user related fault? Usually it searching first thing in the morning and I have to go thro the ritual of on/off, soft reset many times before it fires up again. It's unreliable now, 3 times today so far.

Regardless of what the fault is, the manufacturers warranty is gone and you done pretty well to keep the phone after getting the contact cancelled after the first month.

faceman

OP, did you pay for the full cost of the phone or did you essentially get it for free when you took out the contract?

Assuming its not a freebie and the damage is not caused by the user, then you are most likely covered under the Sale of Goods act and also the EU warranty on goods as your statutory rights cover you for 2 years. The problem with this legislation is that most retailers don't train their staff on it, so not everyone is familiar with it.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm

You need to take this up though with the retailer you bought the phone from though, not Apple. Ring the folks on the Consumer Helpline, they are super helpful.

http://www.consumerhelp.ie

To give a sense of context to this so Im not just posting random google links; I went through something recently with a smartphone that was 18 months old that had developed a fault and the retailer told me I would have to pay for a repair. Consumer Affairs helped me out and the retailer then had my smartphone repaired free of charge. Thankfully I didn't need to go to the Small Claims court but the retailer's legal people had to review my case.

Took a bit of pushing on my part because the customer facing people I was dealing with on the Retailer's side thought I was talking out of my backside when quoting the legislation.

Best of luck OP

breanach78

faceman wrote: »

OP, did you pay for the full cost of the phone or did you essentially get it for free when you took out the contract?

Assuming its not a freebie and the damage is not caused by the user, then you are most likely covered under the Sale of Goods act and also the EU warranty on goods as your statutory rights cover you for 2 years. The problem with this legislation is that most retailers don't train their staff on it, so not everyone is familiar with it.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm

You need to take this up though with the retailer you bought the phone from though, not Apple. Ring the folks on the Consumer Helpline, they are super helpful.

http://www.consumerhelp.ie

To give a sense of context to this so Im not just posting random google links; I went through something recently with a smartphone that was 18 months old that had developed a fault and the retailer told me I would have to pay for a repair. Consumer Affairs helped me out and the retailer then had my smartphone repaired free of charge. Thankfully I didn't need to go to the Small Claims court but the retailer's legal people had to review my case.

Took a bit of pushing on my part because the customer facing people I was dealing with on the Retailer's side thought I was talking out of my backside when quoting the legislation.

Best of luck OP

I payed out 3/4 hundred euro for the phonepurchased 24mth. I have contacted a 3 supervisor, quoted more or less what you stated and they wiped their hands of it claiming warranty ended when the contract did.

faceman

breanach78 wrote: »

I payed out 3/4 hundred euro for the phonepurchased 24mth. I have contacted a 3 supervisor, quoted more or less what you stated and they wiped their hands of it claiming warranty ended when the contract did.

Call consumer affairs on that second website I linked ok Friday. Like I said they're very helpful

guil

You got a €1000 euro phone for €3/400 and paid a contract for a month. How did you not have to give back the phone to cancel the contract?

breanach78

guil wrote: »

You got a €1000 euro phone for €3/400 and paid a contract for a month. How did you not have to give back the phone to cancel the contract?

I asked and they say keep it. I would have been better off if I handed it back and got my money back

Xpro

Apple repair policies have changed even for phones within the warranty period. My 3 months 6s 64GB is giving me an awful hassle with camera not working and they are fobbing me off to go to emobile for repairs, or send it in and be without the phone for 10 days. Totally unacceptable. Not what you expect from Apple. Even in your case there should be some goodwill if the phone is knackerd

breanach78

Xpro wrote: »

Apple repair policies have changed even for phones within the warranty period. My 3 months 6s 64GB is giving me an awful hassle with camera not working and they are fobbing me off to go to emobile for repairs, or send it in and be without the phone for 10 days. Totally unacceptable. Not what you expect from Apple. Even in your case there should be some goodwill if the phone is knackerd

That's all I am after really my phone to be repair by APPLE or an authorised Apple agent at a reasonable price, even if it's a 20e repair I still get charged "standard" Apple repair fee of 321odd euro

theteal

OP, the phone was bought from O2, that's who your contract of sale is with and that's the only avenue of recourse you have as regards your consumer rights. Apple only have to honour their warranty, if they say it's expired it's expired, they're not legally obliged to do anything for you as you didn't buy it directly from them. If I've read your OP correctly 3 have no obligation here either as you moved to them after purchase of the phone.

So if you want to push this, you have to go to O2 and most likely will have to go SCC route as the shop is already playing dumb. The fact you got so much use out of a discounted phone will be taken into account by the SCC so I really don't know if it's worth your while.

breanach78

theteal wrote: »

OP, the phone was bought from O2, that's who your contract of sale is with and that's the only avenue of recourse you have as regards your consumer rights. Apple only have to honour their warranty, if they say it's expired it's expired, they're not legally obliged to do anything for you as you didn't buy it directly from them. If I've read your OP correctly 3 have no obligation here either as you moved to them after purchase of the phone.

So if you want to push this, you have to go to O2 and most likely will have to go SCC route as the shop is already playing dumb. The fact you got so much use out of a discounted phone will be taken into account by the SCC so I really don't know if it's worth your while.

Thanks and that's more or less my take on it too. O2/3 "should" Be responsible by my understanding of consumer law but given the complexity of it and leaving the contact, not my fault either or else I would not have been released, they are wiping their hands of it and the threat of SCC is not doing any good. I feel it won't be worth the hassle of pursuing it in the SCC.

naasrd

guil wrote: »

You got a €1000 euro phone for €3/400 and paid a contract for a month. How did you not have to give back the phone to cancel the contract?

That is none of your business. If you have nothing constructive to add butt out of the thread with your pointless self serving questions. This isn't about you and your quest to find holes. Back in your box.

beauf

naasrd wrote: »

That is none of your business. If you have nothing constructive to add butt out of the thread with your pointless self serving questions. This isn't about you and your quest to find holes. Back in your box.

Its everyone's business if you ask the internet a question. People can't advise if they don't know the background of the contract..

OP has no contact with anyone other than whom he paid for the phone. He has stated it was O2/Three so he has to back to them, or the SCC and claim there.

It doesn't make as lot of sense though. To be left off contract and not to want to claim though the SCC for something worth 500+. The fee for the SCC is very little.

mickoneill31

If I was you I'd document everything.
When you're in O2 ask for the guy whos saying that O2 have nothing to do to put that in writing. If he won't then just ask for his name and the name of his manager.
Send a letter to O2 with a copy of your documentation asking if they'll fix it.

If they respond saying no then send your documentation and €25 to the small claims court.

Apple have nothing to do with the claim. They do have a nice table on their site though telling you your rights.
http://www.apple.com/ie/legal/statutory-warranty/

You sound like you don't want to go to the SCC. If that's the case then just wander down to a repair shop and get it fixed.

culabula

naasrd wrote: »

That is none of your business. If you have nothing constructive to add butt out of the thread with your pointless self serving questions. This isn't about you and your quest to find holes. Back in your box.

There is no need to respond to a reasonable question in such an unreasonable manner. Be civil.

Eugene Norman

naasrd wrote: »

That is none of your business. If you have nothing constructive to add butt out of the thread with your pointless self serving questions. This isn't about you and your quest to find holes. Back in your box.

It's a relevant question. The op moved from 02 after a month so he broke the contract. That's probably a loss to them in terms of recouping the cost of the phone. Do they owe service now? Probably not out of contract.

breanach78

Eugene Norman wrote: »

It's a relevant question. The op moved from 02 after a month so he broke the contract. That's probably a loss to them in terms of recouping the cost of the phone. Do they owe service now? Probably not out of contract.

It was not me that broke the contact, I was not given the service that was sold to me and I was released from the contact. Not my fault. It's messy. Looking back I should have insisted on handing the phone back.