Am I entitled to a refund?

danm14

I bought a phone, and 10 months later it developed two very well documented faults with the model in question. I returned it to the shop for a repair, but when I collected it four days later the screen was heavily scratched all over. All parties agree that the damage wasn't there when the phone was brought in for the repair. Also, only one of the two faults had been fixed.

The phone got returned for a second repair, and a replacement screen was ordered, but apparently there's a parts shortage so it could take several months for it to arrive.

They offered me a replacement due to this, but I rejected the offer. The model I bought is no longer made, so they offered me a different model from the same manufacturer. The model they're offering me costs less to buy brand new than my model now costs to buy used, and has a smaller screen, a much smaller battery, a slower processor, less memory, less storage, and a worse camera. One of the main reasons I bought the phone I did was the excellent battery life, so the smaller battery would be a massive issue.

They have refused me a refund, and suggested I should accept the inferior model as the alternative is waiting possibly until August or September for parts to become available for a repair.

I've now been without a working phone for nearly a month, as although they gave me a loan phone, it's three years old and the battery no longer holds a charge - I need to charge it 3-4 times daily with very light usage, and the battery drains at a rate of more than 1% per minute when on calls.

Vic_08

It sounds like you may have to go the small claims route or at least file the claim and see if they will offer a better solution.

As you have had 10 months use a full refund may not be the court outcome but I would not be accepting a clearly inferior phone that doesn't suit your requirements as a replacement.

What are the sums involved? How much did your phone cost and how much is the replacement they are offering?

Figure out how much would be a reasonable sum to leave you in a similar position bearing in mind that a new equivalent phone would be an improvement on having your old phone back in full working order.

danm14

Vic_08 wrote: »

It sounds like you may have to go the small claims route or at least file the claim and see if they will offer a better solution.

As you have had 10 months use a full refund may not be the court outcome but I would not be accepting a clearly inferior phone that doesn't suit your requirements as a replacement.

What are the sums involved? How much did your phone cost and how much is the replacement they are offering?

Figure out how much would be a reasonable sum to leave you in a similar position bearing in mind that a new equivalent phone would be an improvement on having your old phone back in full working order.

I bought the phone for €320, but from memory it was quite a bit more expensive everywhere else. The offered replacement is sold by the shop for €280 but can be bought brand new directly from Amazon for €190.

Any refurbished or used phone of my model in a similar physical condition than mine that I've seen sold by a business costs around €220-250.

If you buy from a private seller online, you'll get it down to €160-190, but I would be very reluctant to do this as the model has a large number of extremely common faults, and I know a private sale affords the buyer very few rights when something goes wrong.

While the replacement phone offered is indeed inferior on paper in almost all aspects, it's even worse in practice. Almost every review mentions its mediocre performance and terrible battery life, and notes that it's unexpectedly poor given the specifications.

It seems unlikely to me that any reasonable person could form the opinion that the two phones are equivalent either on paper or in practice - it's not a case of being pedantic over tiny differences.

drunkmonkey

Was this a second hand phone you bought in the first place it sounds like it.
What phone was it and what phone were you offered instead?

danm14

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Was this a second hand phone you bought in the first place it sounds like it.
What phone was it and what phone were you offered instead?

No, it wasn't. It was a brand new phone, and was purchased from a retail store of one of the big three mobile networks.

The phone I purchased was a Nokia 7 Plus and the replacement they offered me was a Nokia 7.1.

In any case, I received a call from the company this morning, offering me a full refund - I had already told them I was willing to go to the SCC and seemingly once they realised I was serious they backed down.