Handset warranty cover

[paulsandie]

My wife bought a Vodafone smart something or other phone. After some time, whilst still under warranty, it stopped working - the person on the other end of the line could no longer hear the audio when calling, so pretty much useless for a phone. Took it to Vodafone shop (Fort Kinnaird Edinburgh), did a factory reset, still didn't work so they sent it off for repair under warrantly.

Got e-mail back saying it was ready for collection, went in and told it wasn't fixed. Assistant in shop this time told us warranty only covered software. Fairly sure that was utter nonsense and possibly first thing that came into her head. Asked to take it further and phone Vodafone support. Equally unhelpful, claimed phone faulty due to "audio damage" - again complete twaddle. Asked wife to give phone back to assistant and told assistant to tell us to upgrade the phone. This wasn't the assistant that told us the nonsense about the sofwate only warranty - this guy was actually apologetic, and no wonder.

How can this be right, this phone was paid for in good faith and doesn't work, there's no suggestion we caused this fault ourselves. Surely this breaches our consumer rights. How does a company the size of Vodafone get away with this sort of outrageous malpractise ?

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @paulsandie

I have to agree that the advice given that the Manufacturing Warranty only covered software was incorrect. 

The Manufacturing Warranty of 24 months is applied to the phone.

It does not cover issues resulting from a drop or water damage. 

It does cover hardware and software faults with the handset. 

What-does-my-warranty-cover.

Consumer-rights-act 2015

I'd suggest to return and ask for the Shop managers assistance. 

[paulsandie]

Indeed, and phone was neither dropped nor water damaged, and there's nothing to suggest it was. The "audio damage" term is also just a piece of nonsense.

[paulsandie]

My wife bought a Vodafone smart something or other phone. After some time, whilst still under warranty, it stopped working - the person on the other end of the line could no longer hear the audio when calling, so pretty much useless for a phone. Took it to Vodafone shop (Fort Kinnaird Edinburgh), did a factory reset, still didn't work so they sent it off for repair under warrantly.

Got e-mail back saying it was ready for collection, went in and told it wasn't fixed. Assistant in shop this time told us warranty only covered software. Fairly sure that was utter nonsense and possibly first thing that came into her head. Asked to take it further and phone Vodafone support. Equally unhelpful, claimed phone faulty due to "audio damage" - again complete twaddle. Asked wife to give phone back to assistant and told assistant to tell us to upgrade the phone. This wasn't the assistant that told us the nonsense about the sofwate only warranty - this guy was actually apologetic, and no wonder.

How can this be right, this phone was paid for in good faith and doesn't work, there's no suggestion we caused this fault ourselves. Surely this breaches our consumer rights. How does a company the size of Vodafone get away with this sort of outrageous malpractise ?

[Jenny]

@paulsandie – I’m sorry to hear what’s happened.

If it’s a manufacturing fault, this is covered by your warranty.

Has your phone now been sent back to our engineers for further assessment?