@vodafoneuk Vodafone Refuse to Repair iPhone

[JanineM27]

I have a 24 month business contract with Vodafone, on which I pay for 8 numbers.

I have been a loyal Vodafone customer for 10+ years.

 

 

This week one of the business handsets (iPhone 5s) starting playing up and blue screening.

Having checked this online, I found it is a known problem with iPhones.

The phone will now not turn back on.

This is a business phone/ number and we use this number to give to clients as a main point of contact.

 

I am 12 months into the 24 month contract, and 16 days past the warranty period for the handset.

I did some research online and found that under the Supply of Goods and Services Act

I have statutory rights to demand that Vodafone provide handsets that are 'fit for purpose'.

I would expect that for a 24 month contract, in which I am paying monthly not only for the calls/ text etc

but for the handset itself, that the phone would last the duration of this time.

 

Digging a little deeper I found that the EU consumer directive states that 'A two-year guarantee applies for the sale of all consumer goods everywhere in the EU.

In some countries, this may be more, and some manufacturers also choose to offer a longer warranty period.'

 

Crucially a key point in the directive is that it doesn't require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product and not down to their actions.

 

Furthermore, Citizens Advice state that if you are unable to use your service while your equipment is broken,

the service provider may have broken their agreement because they are not providing you with the service you are paying for.

 

Armed with this information I called Vodafone customer support today only to be told that none of the above applied to Vodafone when an Apple product is concerned (?!)

 

 

Had I bought another phone (say a Sony or Samsung) then Vodafone would happily extend the warranty

but as I had an Apple product that was older than 12 months there is nothing that they can do!

 

I asked the agent to confirm that Vodafone don't uphold the EU directive nor the Supply of Goods and Services Act

and the agent confirmed that this was the case! I advised that I would be emailing the CEO, Jeroen Hoencamp, to ask him his take on this.

 

I also plan on contacting Trading Standards and the Alternative Dispute Resolution service provided by Ombudsman Services Communications.

 

Meanwhile, I am without one handset which is not only crucial to the daily functioning of my business

but in addition to this I am being told I must continue to pay for a service for another year that without a handset cannot be used!

 

 

I intend to pursue this to the last degree as I cannot see how Vodafone can ignore these rules!

 

 

I entered a contract with Vodafone and in my eyes, and the law it would seem, they have breached their end of the agreement.

 

I wondered if anyone else has come across this and what steps they took?

[p3t3r]

vodafone customer service does seem futile. a letter to the top / CEO may help.

 

the cost of an iphone is expensive, especially in comparison to my £40 phone! you are paying for the cost of this phone through your contract which is for 2 years. if it were me, i would expect the phone to last a lot longer than 2 years (because of its price).

 

in the meantime, while you are waiting for vodafone to sort out this problem (it could take a long time), maybe you can take the sim out of the faulty phone and use a cheap phone in its place. possibly even if you buy a cheap phone for this and maybe attribute that cost as a loss to yourself based upon vodafones refusal to repair?

 

i dont see any reason why vodafone can not repair or replace this phone. getting vodafone to realise that would probably be an uphill struggle.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

VF and customer service are poles apart. When they want your business they fall over themselves. Afterwards you are an afterthought.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?213340-Vodafone-Webteam-for-Customers-With-Problems-**UPDATED-November-2014**&p=2343766&viewfull=1#post2343766

 

If you follow the link above (if it works) then repost the automated reply number on this thread, one of the internet team should respond. They do have a better record that the CS staff who only read from a script and when any deviation occurs, they get lost.

 

Do not get fobbed off by VF who will in all likelihood tell you to contact Apple. This has nothing to do with them. Your contract is with VF, no one else.

 

Keep reminding them of their obligations under the law and if they still won't assist, either report them to the ombudsman or sue them (I much prefer the latter as it is much quicker)

[SabreSheep]

in the meantime, while you are waiting for vodafone to sort out this problem (it could take a long time), maybe you can take the sim out of the faulty phone and use a cheap phone in its place. possibly even if you buy a cheap phone for this and maybe attribute that cost as a loss to yourself based upon vodafones refusal to repair?.

 

I would not recommend this unless you fancy spending a lot of time and money arguing against the T+Cs that indemnify them in the contract.

 

VF have a rep on this forum. Lee handles a lot of cases, sometimes to the posters satisfaction.

[dx100uk]

We here at CAg have a very successful VodaFone Rep operating here

.

We advise you to follow this method to alert them to your thread:

.

If you'd like any help from Lee, email your details via the Contact us form here

https://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=ESCALATION_REQUEST&PARTITION_ID=1&CONFIGURATION=1000&COUNTRY=us&LANGUAGE=en

you MUST PUT the code 'WRT135 - CAG Forum' in the subject line.

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post back with this

Vodafone UK

.

CAG.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi JanineM27,

 

If you still need help with this, email me via the contacts details provided by silverfox and dx.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Social Media Comms

 

Vodafone UK