Faulty Phone

[pmj91]

I took out a new contract with Orange at my local phones4u.

The phone supplied was a new HTC Desire HD.

 

-The phone is ridiculously slow (frequently you press a button on the menu, nothing happens for a few seconds, letters take ages to appear when texting, it can take an insane amount of time to simply scroll through even tiny sized pictures, etc). It simply freezes for a few seconds when doing anything and everything.

-It turns itself on sometimes once it's been turned off. Very annoying.

-Battery life is disgusting (even worse than family member's phones - exact same model).

 

These problems have all existed since day 1 so I know it's not because 'the phone has lots on it' or 'I've downloaded a bad app' ,etc. It's just crap to put it quite plainly.

 

If I'd bought it PAYG from a store, I'd march in and demand a full refund because its faulty. Problem is when phones4u sold it to me, they made it quite clear they would not refund anything under any circumstance. Whats my position here? The phones faulty so I have a legal right to a refund (correct??). But can I get a refund as it's a contract I've bought, not a phone itself.

 

Thanks!

[MARTIN3030]

Hi

Take a look at this thread

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?249976-Phones-4-U-Cancelling-a-contract-due-to-faulty-phone

[pmj91]

Oh thats great considering I took out the contract purely because I wanted this new phone. I already have a damn contract with Voda. Complete waste now!

[pmj91]

Ok - update to this situation.(I'm aware I can't take back the contract by the way).

 

Went in there 13 days after purchasing the contract. Said I was fed up with the phone and gave them a written list of the problems. The tech guy went through them and fiddled around with the phone and managed to solve the main issues - massive lag, freezing and crashing. But this fix only helped for a while and has been getting worse and worse since. This is a list of all the problems I now get on a daily basis (there are more but I've forgotten!):

 

-Battery life shockingly poor (worse than 3 other people's EXACT same model)

-Lags regularly when doing anything. That means even turning the screen on or scrolling through the menu. Once it starts doing it, you have to reset the phone.

-Button presses register on the screen but nothing appears in the text box. This happens on texting and internet text boxes, etc. You have to close it, open it again multiple times until it decides it will start registering the text into the box.

-Signal literally flickers up and down like a wave (not daily)

-Internet turns itself on but is still even off in connection settings - can't get rid of it. It then disappears again when it feels like it.

-When actually trying to turn the internet on, it 'refuses' around 75% of the time and states that it will only 'Use phone for data connection when Wi-Fi is unavailable'. It does this when the wifi is unavailable and fiddling with the wifi makes no difference. Solution? Keep turning it on and off until it works. Resetting the phone does not help.

-Applications crash regularly including the whole OS system - thus everything disappears off the screen for a number of seconds while it 'starts up' again (not daily)

 

There are other problems - I just don't have them on the top of my head. Please note, I do use and have correctly set up Advanced Task Killer. It helps to a certain point but is then rendered completely useless and has no effect.

 

So, I take it back to Phones4u. Now 3 months down the line. They say that all they can do is send it off for repair. If it comes back faulty, do it again. If it's still faulty, do it again. If still faulty, then they will replace it. I could understand that - but the phone has been faulty since day 1. They say that they can't replace it outright after 2 weeks. I informed them that I complained in store and had it fiddled with in under 2 weeks of purchase. They said their guy should have done a service query, now too late. I'm sorry - but because they're guy didn't do the job properly, I now have to be messed around and go in and out because they sold me something that was broken WHEN I BOUGHT IT? Surely not......?

[dawg]

I know the whole return it 3 times and then they replace it usually applies after youve had the phone a while but as you spotted the issue and reported it in the first 2 weeks its my understanding they usually replace it. Phones4u are a slippery bunch though and you will likely have a fight on your hands anyway particularly if the fault wasnt logged. I know ive had this same fight several times . I know its not much in the way of legal advice but have you tried a full factory reset? You could also download the RUU rom from the HTC website and reflash it. Ive had htc phones in the past and sometimes if the software has had a bad install these problems arise and a reflash usually sort it out, if not then its a hardware issue

[pmj91]

No I haven't but I'm going to try that before I take it back again.

Also, phones4u are refusing to provide a courtesy phone to me whilst they repair my phone. I thought that they are required to provide me with a like for like replacement? Especially as they sold me a product that was already broken

[dawg]

No I dont think they are obliged to supply you with a replacement phone and even companies that do they usually give you a basic model and charge you a deposit which is actually more than the phone is worth. You would be better off buying a basic handset for about £10 and then keeping it as a future emergency spare. Another thing worth checking is that if it is returned 3 times, they sometimes have to offer you the option of a different phone altogether. Im not sure if this is a legal obligation or if its just something some of the phone companies offer.

 

If you do need android whilst its away though, there are £30 android handsets being sold by t-mobile which make good spares.

 

I would definitely try reflashing the software, you will likely find it will solve your problems. So sorry I cant help you much with the legal side but a good place for phone support would be the XDA forums.