Faulty mobile phone - rights?

[celticpilgrim]

Mods, please move this to wherever it should be if not here...

Right, OH buys a PAYG phone from a high st. phone shop. 2 months-ish or so down the line, the phone is constantly freezing on her, and next to useless.

The shop have offered to send it back to the manufacturer to have it 'looked at' and possibly repaired, or if beyond repair. They have not mentioned a refund, and have said that their money back g'tee is only for 14 days!! Needless to say she is not keen on this.

I would have thought under sale of goods, that as the phone is not fit for purpose, she has every right to ask for her money back - and that the decision to have it repaired/replaced is for her to make, and not the shop. Anybody clarify if she can just demand her money back as the phone is faulty, or does she have to have the phone sent back.

Over to the wisdom of PH

CP

[Ikemi]

The Sale of Goods Act states that the faulty item must be returned within a 'reasonable' time, which can vary depending on the product and the fault in question. However I would suspect that 2 months is not within this 'reasonable' period. The shop does not have to give a refund and repair/replacement would be the next step ...

'Fit for Purpose', as I understand it, is that the phone made calls and texts within the previous two months, therefore it is indeed fit for purpose.

What phone is it?

[Mr Will]

A certain phone shops do a "no quibble" 14 day refund policy, in case you don't like your new phone. The does not affect your statutory rights, so if it has a manufacturing fault or is not fit for purpose then you are still entitled to repair, replacement or refund as set out in the sale of goods act.

The reasonable time period for a phone to function correctly is at least one year, but commonly two these days (to account for 24month contracts).

[gazchap]

And any defect that occurs within 6 months of purchase is deemed to be a manufacturing defect, and it is up to the retailer to prove otherwise. Used to be that consumers had to prove it was faulty, but that changed fairly recently.

[Superficial]

As above, you are entitled to a repair, not necessarily a refund.

[anonymous-user]

In my experience, mobile phone support is abysmal. If a button stops working they will say it is due to misuse. I had a run-in with a shop called Link a few years ago & they were very difficult & obstructive. I was very pleased when they went bust. I tend to buy cheap pay as you go handset now & treat as a disposable item. SIM only contracts are cheap.