In Warranty sent to a repair shop and charged!

ElitesTeam · 12-12-2021 2:31pm #1

Hi,

My mothers friend is in this situation and I don't know what can be done if anything. She is not too bothered but it did bother me.

She bought a phone back in March and it has stopped holding battery charge. I told her to go back to the Eir store where bought and they will fix/replace it as its within the 12 months.

Now today she told me she went to the Eir store and showed them the receipt and told him it needed to be fixed and they told her to go down to the shop down the road who would fix it. She didn't realise at any point she would be charged until I seen the slip she got for one of those phone repair stores(today). Now the phone is one of those €80 phones and she is quite elderly so and not smart with technology so I see why she went to the store. I am annoyed that an Eir employee sent her to a repair shop when its within warranty and wasn't made aware they would be charging. She assumed the shop was repairing on behalf of Eir(she I know its sounds silly but didn't at the time to her)

She gave the phone in 10 days ago so its too late to retrieve it unfortunately.

Does she take it on the chin or is there anything can be done?

12-12-2021 3:57pm

She’s pretty snookered insofar as the cost the repair shop isn’t in the wrong so they’ll have to be paid.

the eir store on the other hand while it might look like they’ve taken piss they were actually in the right I’m afraid to say. The 12 months you reference is a manufacturers warranty and it’s not up to Eir to repair/replace/refund at that point.

edit: just to add also I do disagree they sent her straight to a local repair store when they could have simply advised to contact the manufacturer, I guess they probably assumed she wanted it sorted in a hurry/couldn’t be arsed explaining and just sent her on.

The whole situation in the end is her own fault unfortunately though. It’s not an eir reps job to direct you on how to get a repair by warranty & it was very narrow sighted to think a local 3rd party business was repairing phones on behalf of an eir retail store for free. It’s a learning experience for her at least.

magicbastarder · 12-12-2021 4:11pm

The 12 months you reference is a manufacturers warranty and it’s not up to Eir to repair/replace/refund at that point.

if the phone was bought in the Eir store it is precisely up to Eir to do this. your relationship as a customer is with the vendor, not the manufacturer.

banie01 · 12-12-2021 4:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118309959#Comment_118309959

+1 on this.

The warranty lays with the store and it is up to the store to book warranty repair and to this end EIR book all their repairs through SBE and logistics are handled via the stores.

The notion of Manufacturers warranty is in addition to ones consumers rights not in place of it. Your rights and enforcement/actioning of same lay always in 1st instance with the store.

magicbastarder · 12-12-2021 4:23pm

anyway, could you offer to go into the store on her behalf and ask to speak to a manager, and tell them that you want eir to refund the cost of the repair?

this would be the logical next step i would say.

bucketybuck · 12-12-2021 4:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118309860#Comment_118309860

Thats completely wrong in every way, its the seller that is responsible, they don't get to off-load their legal obligations onto the manufacturer.

theteal · 12-12-2021 4:28pm

The warranty on a battery is only something like 3 months iirc as it's seen as a consumable. Where that stands in the sphere of consumer rights, I couldn't actually say. Regardless, it's certainly not worth pursuing to the small claims court for such a low value item.

@[Deleted User] in a normal consumer issue claim, it's very much the retailer who is responsible for providing one of the 3 Rs. The consumer has no contract with the manufacturer and this is all completely separate to any warranty they offer with the product.

12-12-2021 4:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118310053#Comment_118310053

That is not the case if it occurs after 6 months as far as I know? If the fault is found within 6 months it’s presumed it was always there since the date of purchase, after 6 months it’s up to you to prove it occurred as a manufacturing fault not your own misuse (ie overcharging) which would be practically impossible to prove. So she’s not directly entitled to help from the store & may have to file a complaint with small claims in order to remedy it without approaching a manufacturer or just getting it fixed privately. This applies to my understanding beyond the first 6 months of purchase (so say she bought in January she has til June) and beyond that you have 6 years longer under law, but again, you have to prove it happened on account of faulty manufacturing not your own failure. And consumables are as you said completely different.

magicbastarder · 12-12-2021 5:03pm

under consumer law, an item should last what would be considered a reasonable length of time, based on what sort of item is in question.

a manufacturer stating their batteries only are reliable for three months would quickly run into consumer law issues, i reckon - whatever warranty the manufacturer states, consumer law will trump it, and three months for a phone battery seems shockingly low to me. some manufacturers do seem to offer a warranty as short as six months, but none as low as three months, on this list:

https://www.nextpit.com/how-long-is-the-warranty-on-my-smartphone-battery

mondeoman72 · 12-12-2021 5:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118309860#Comment_118309860

Completely wrong. Eir should have got it fixed. The lady was shafted.

Del2005 · 13-12-2021 12:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118310019#Comment_118310019

If that doesn't work and I fecking hate it but a post to twitter may get a better response than an in person interaction. Companies have marketing teams on twitter and don't want bad publicity.

Another option would be the SCC