EE repair/replace faulty phone.

[decemberboy]

Hi, I'm after some advice regarding my rights over a faulty mobile phone.

 

At the beginning of February, I renewed my contract with T-Mobile and got a new Nokia Lumia 920 as an upgrade. A couple of weeks later I decided to try their EE 4G service so switched to that network which I'm happy with.

 

However my phone has developed a fault whereby after I use earphones and unplug them the phone still thinks they are plugged in so I get no sound from the phone from music or YouTube etc and also I don't get any sound when I make or receive a call unless I put it on speakerphone or re-connect the earphones. I can get the problem sorted by fiddling with the socket using an earphone jack but it always returns. It's more of a nuisance than anything but I do want it sorted.

 

I called into an EE store to ask what my options are and they said that as the phone is over two weeks old I couldn't swap it and it would have to go away for repair, when I enquired whether I would get a replacement phone in the meantime they said yes but it would only be a basic one. I left it there as I was away this weekend and needed my phone for email etc.

 

What are my rights regarding this? I understand EE are within their rights to send the phone off for repair but surely they have to offer me a courtesy phone of similar spec to the one I already have? I pay for a 4G service so surely I am entitled to receive one? Whilst the phone is over a month old surely it's still considered new enough to not be faulty through my own fault (incidentally upon doing a Google search this problem seems to be quite common with this phone) so I can still claim a replacement if they can't repair it without inconvenience to me. And I'm not sure if this matters but I ordered the phone through their website so do the Distance Selling Regulations affect my case one way or the other?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[jacktheband]

Distance selling regulations give you 7 workings days grace to change your mind, so can't really be bought into play as a failsafe at this point.

 

The law in regards to this situation is the Sale Of Goods act (SOGA) which means that the seller of the goods are responsible for repair or replacement if faulty. If the goods are less than 6 months old then the onus is on them to prove that it wasn't faulty at the point of purchase. However, there is no mention in the SOGA that alternative goods need to be provided whilst the faulty goods are being repaired. Therefore, any offer of a loan phone is above and beyond the seller's legal responsibility, therefore can't think of any legal standpoint to argue that you want a different type of loan phone. I know that most mobile providers don't offer any loan phone whilst yours is away for repair, so this doesn't sound too bad.

[decemberboy]

Thanks for the reply and clearing things up for me. Much appreciated.

[2Grumpy]

My android does something similar to that at times too - an alcatel one touch - next time the headphones are plugged in it thinks that they aren't. Maybe it's android rather than the headset - or it could be a coincidence

 

If there are lots of complaints on forums about this, it is worth raising that with the company - point out that maybe the phone isn't fit for purpose, what would they like to do about it? As always, if you don't get anywhere quickly, put it in writing

[johnym]

You should hope your phone is not sent to SBE (T-Mobile/EE’s repair centre) Just over a year ago I had my mint x6 repaired by them and they ruined the phone. It came back twice with the same fault, when it came back the third time it was wrecked, scratched, scuffed with bits missing. Their customer services (SBE) didn’t want to know and eventually T-Mobile replaced the handset after being sent before and after pics.