Phone company refusing to repair my phone
Discussion
I bought a phone outright in December 2015 from a well known phone shop with a red logo who might rhyme with Bodamone, an LG G4.
Two weeks ago, it suffered the LG G4 bootloop problem, something that LG have acknowledged as an issue and will fix. It's a hardware fault due to poor internal soldering.
I returned my phone to the store where I bought it with the receipt, explaining that it wasn't a contract that they supplied as I'd unlocked the phone and it was a known problem with the phone model. The customer adviser carefully looked over the phone while I was there, before send he sent it off.
A week passes and I get an email to contact the repairer. They say that the phone has suffered drop damage and cannot do a warranty repair - they say they have a photo of a small dent in one of the corners.
I went back into the store, who were unhelpful, saying that if the phone is in anyway damaged then this invalidates your warranty - I disputed this, and they also said that as I'd unlocked the phone via a 3rd party and not through them then it also invalidates the warranty - again I disputed this as it's the manufacturers warranty that I'm looking to return on. The phone lock is something that the phone company add on after it has been manufactured. I've searched some consumer rights groups who all say that unlocking a phone will not affect your warranty.
The shop fobbed me off to customer services who I've yet to phone.
Any advice on things to quote assuming that customer services are just as unhelpful. As far as the 'damage' is concerned it had no more damage than normal wear/tear, no cracks on the screen or the back panel.
Would threatening complaint / ombudsman help? Anyone had anything similar?
Two weeks ago, it suffered the LG G4 bootloop problem, something that LG have acknowledged as an issue and will fix. It's a hardware fault due to poor internal soldering.
I returned my phone to the store where I bought it with the receipt, explaining that it wasn't a contract that they supplied as I'd unlocked the phone and it was a known problem with the phone model. The customer adviser carefully looked over the phone while I was there, before send he sent it off.
A week passes and I get an email to contact the repairer. They say that the phone has suffered drop damage and cannot do a warranty repair - they say they have a photo of a small dent in one of the corners.
I went back into the store, who were unhelpful, saying that if the phone is in anyway damaged then this invalidates your warranty - I disputed this, and they also said that as I'd unlocked the phone via a 3rd party and not through them then it also invalidates the warranty - again I disputed this as it's the manufacturers warranty that I'm looking to return on. The phone lock is something that the phone company add on after it has been manufactured. I've searched some consumer rights groups who all say that unlocking a phone will not affect your warranty.
The shop fobbed me off to customer services who I've yet to phone.
Any advice on things to quote assuming that customer services are just as unhelpful. As far as the 'damage' is concerned it had no more damage than normal wear/tear, no cracks on the screen or the back panel.
Would threatening complaint / ombudsman help? Anyone had anything similar?
Personally i wouldn't have taken it into the shop, when i had the same problem i just phoned LG, spoke to a woman who tried to fix it, after 5 mins she figured it was unfixable on the phone, next day DPD collected it and i had it back within a week. Taking it back to the shop when you have unlocked it yourself opens yourself to problems, they will use that as an excuse not to repair under warranty as they have done. Obvious drop damage may invalidate a claim but the damage would have to be significant, mine has a few dents and scratches but it was never questioned.
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