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When is a warranty not a warranty?

PaulSalk
4: Newbie

Way back in April, my daughter's iPhone 4, supposedly new less than a year previously, had problems. Since that time I have had and continue to have really major problems with getting vodafone's attention.

 

On Friday, I wasted another hour on the phone with someone from Customer Support. I have repeatedly been misinformed, and it appears that my initial attempts to lodge a complaint were blocked (I was told that this was only possible in a letter). So here is the letter I sent;

 

Customer Relations

Vodafone House

The Connection

Newbury,

Berkshire RG14 2FN

 

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to complain about (1) a faulty phone which should have been repaired under warranty and (2) the appalling customer service I have received.

My daughter’s phone (which is on my account)*specified in original* .This is an iphone4 bought, as we understood it, new. I had several problems, particularly that the internal earpiece did not work. It appeared loose, and I took it into Vodafone Bath, pointing out where we could see that the piece had come loose. They said, after a very long wait, that as it was still under warranty from Apple and I should take it to the Apple store. After a further very long wait, they said that the warranty was not valid as it had clearly been opened and “several components were missing”. They said that they thought it was a reconditioned unit, which would explain the changed. In any case, they would not honour the warranty, so I returned to Vodafone Bath. After a very long wait again, I explained this, and it was duly sent to your central engineering facility. After a greater than expected delay and a message being sent to the phone in your possession (despite my asking for messages to be sent to me). I was told that the engineers report (enclosed) indicated mechanical damage and therefore it was not covered by the warranty. The engineer apparently suggested that it may have been “sat on”. They included a photo (enclosed) which showed what we had originally drawn attention to. I pointed out that the unit was immaculate, that it was kept in my daughter’s handbag, there was no sign of external damage or distortion consistent with impact etc etc. To no avail. Eventually, the shop agreed to take the issue up with the repairing engineer, and an email was sent and I was copied into the email. You will see from the enclosed that this was a further series of nothing happening, and as I understand it from the most recent email, not likely to! In that it was suggested I take it up with Customer services, which I had done so previously. Fiona in customer services on 27th June said that she could do nothing because she had no records of my contact with the shop in Bath. After I pressed her, she looked into it and as far as a I could determine spoke with someone in enginerring, coming back with the previous line that as there allegedly was mechanical damage this voided the warranty. However, I could have it repaired for £300! After a protracted discussion which essentially went round and round the same script, I decided to make it a formal complaint and indicated this to her. She said that this could only be done in writing. I asked about email etc, but she was adamant that it had to be in writing which I found both odd and basically obstructive.

I have looked carefully at your complaints policy; your website says something rather different:

“If you're not happy with our service and would like to make a complaint, there are a number of ways to get in touch outlined below. (note: this as go into a shop or call 191) We aim to resolve all issues on first contact, but if we cannot we will escalate your call to a team manager. If the team manager cannot resolve the issue we will refer it to our dedicated customer relations team. In any event we will endeavour to resolve any complaint within one week. If we are unable to do so, we will notify you and provide weekly updates on progress”

Now I’m afraid that that was not what has happened here, so I suggest that as a matter of priority you change your website or retrain your staff.

I pay a great deal of money to your company and really don’t expect this kind of repeated fobbing off. I have also wasted an amazing amount of my time on this issue. Perhaps I should bill you for this?

I would be most grateful if you would deal with this as a formal complaint about (1) the handset which has now been unavailable to us for many months and (2) the really bad customer services provided both in shop and on the phone.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Professor PS***

Then I waited. No reply. just over two weeks from the letter being sent, I called 191....eventually a very nice man from Egypt sent me an email with the text of the letter (the letter itself arrived a week later!

 

Her's what the letter said:

 

 

Dear Mr.S*,

 

 

 

Thank you for writing to Vodafone.

 

 

 

This is in response to the letter you have sent us regarding handset issues.

 

 

 

I understand how frustrating this could have been for you and apologise if there has been any miscommunication from our end.

 

 

 

I assure you that we take customer complaint very seriously and we ensure proper feedback is given as and when required.

 

 

 

In order to resolve any customer issues we follow an internal escalation procedure. Whenever customers contact us with any issue related to their Vodafone account, we try to resolve the issue first. We only escalate an issue in case it is not resolved. I have already discussed the issue with my manager.

 

 

 

I am sorry about the trouble you faced with the handset. Vodafone does offer a variety of handsets however holds no responsibility for the phones performance. We are only able to help customers get the device repaired.

 

 

 

Vodafone will only repair agreement handsets that are under warranty and were purchased directly via a Vodafone channel. Out of warranty handsets may be repaired but will incur a charge.

 

 

 

If the phone has suffered physical or liquid damage, the warranty will not cover this. A charge might get applied for an out of warranty repair/replacement. I am afraid we are not able to override the decision taken by the repairs team.

 

 

 

They have agreed to offer you a replacement handset in exchange at a one off cost of £325.00. As a gesture of goodwill, we can credit your Vodafone account with £100.00. Please revert with a confirmation if you agree to this offer and we will apply the credit and place an order for a replacement handset at the earliest.

 

 

 

As our valued customer, we request you to co-operate and give us another chance to raise our bar to serve you.

 

 

 

I trust this helps.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Nathan (Surname removed for security)

 

Vodafone Customer Services

 

 

This was clearly boilerplate. Interesting to see that the cost had gone up by £25. Thats inflation for you . So i replied to the email address asking for contact details for Mr D, saying:

 

Dear Ahmed,

 

Many thanks for forwarding this to me. The printed letter has yet to arrive.

 

I also notice that Mr D has not included any contact details.

 

 

 

I would be most grateful if you would therefore forward this email to Mr D.

 

 

 

Dear Mr D

 

 

 

Thank you for your brief letter in response to my detailed complaint. I note that your response falls outside the target you set for dealing with complaints, which of course adds to my concerns about the way this has been dealt with by Vodafone.

 

 

 

I was a little shocked by the content. It is clear that you have used a template and provided standard answers, and have either not read my letter or are choosing to ignore it.

 

 

 

To simply re-iterate what I had been told in the shop and on 191 is simply not good enough. Please deal with the issues I raise; in particular I maintain that the phone was under warranty, that physical damage was not, according to the apple store, involved. Even the most cursory inspection of the phone itself indicates that it is in perfect condition and unmarked. Under tha sale of goods act Vodafone is responsible for correcting the faults which occurred within the warranty period.

 

 

 

Your offer of a replacement handset risks being derisory; Three minutes search indicates that I can purchase a new, sim free unlocked iphone 4s from a reputable shop for £199.

 

 

 

You also failed to address the customer service issues I raised.

 

 

 

I am surprised that, in the copy of the letter (which has yet to arrive physically) you do not indicate the options open to me should I not be satisfied with your response. Would I be right in thinking that this should now go to OFCOM?

 

 

 

I await your speedy response with mounting impatience. May I remind you that my daughter’s phone has now not been usable since April?

 

Cordially (signature)

 

I also sent it to the website for complaints, which indicated a reply within 48 hours. 52 hours later, a phone call from someone who had skimmed the letter. It was a long and frustrating call, I'm sure for him as well as me. Substance was he believed what the services folks said without question, so that was it. He also said that what the apple store folks told me must be untrue. However, vodafone aprarently cant communicate with apple.

 

 

Also nothing he could do about the second part of my complaint (regarding the terrible service) other than "provide internal feedback. Ha!

 

So phone out of action for coming up to 6 months, failures all round in communications from vodafone. And I'm again waiting. I said i wanted to take it to the next stage, at which i was told he would get back to me. Nothing so far.

 

Fact of the matter is that this has been a horrendous waste of my time with probably the most unresponsive customer service/complaints system I have experienced. A couple of false starts where it seems that someone in the organisation is going to take ownership, but then.....pfft.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Paul

41 REPLIES 41

Hi,

 

Just seen this thread and thought I would share my experience.

In November last year I purchased outright an LG G4 from Vodaphone. At the time, I researched and found there was a common fault with a chip in the device which meant on occasion the phone died after a few weeks / months.

I asked the store about this and they said they had a new batch, the fault should now be fine but if not it had a 2 year guarantee.

Three weeks ago the phone died.

I took it back into the store who sent it away to be repaired under warranty.

It was returned 2 weeks later and I got a text to collect.

I went to the store and was told it was a chargeable repair because of damage on the case.

I looked at this and explained to the staff member the phone had been in a case and had been protected. The ‘damage’ was cosmetic chips on the base where the case wrapped around and a key or coins had rubbed against it. Very minor. The screen, back and sides were flawless and as new. No trauma has occured to the device at all. The staff member agreed and stated ‘it was what the excuse they used to get out of the warranty’.

They also agreed that cosmetic damage was unavoidable over the life of a guarantee.

I was alarmed by Vodaphones stance and wrote a complaint email.

 

I also called the complaints line and spoke to someone in cape town. They asked me to go back to the store and said that although he couldn’t contact the store, he had left a message and added details to the system. He assured me this had he had done this as I explained it was an hour’s journey to the store.

I went back and the assistant manager stated they had no messages and no notes on the system. He refused to discuss my phone and said it was not a warranty repair and there was nothing he could do.

 

I attempted to call the same person who advised me – only for my spare phone to run out of charge. The store would not charge my phone, would not phone the person to confirm details (their own complaints number) and would not contact customer services to attempt to resolve.

After receiving no reply to my first email, I re-sent it and had a call. They confirmed that they would not fix the phone under warranty. I asked again and had them confirm that they were saying that the cosmetic damage on the outside of the phone meant they refused to honour the guarantee. The person even stated that they hadn’t attempted to open the phone to fault find the actual issue.

After hearing this, I was astounded and explained to the person I wanted to record this for confirmation so I had a record. I switched on my call recorder app and indeed he repeated this for me.

 

I have since contacted trading standards and on their advice have resent the email with the additional requests for a copy of the full warranty, terms and conditions and formalising that the phone is not of satisfactory quality and a free repair is required.

I have yet to hear back.

I have also attempted to use the dispute resolution link online – the link does not work

Copies of correspondence have been forwarded to the ombudsmen today.

 

This is the 4th phone I have purchased and the 1st I have had an issue with. A complete nightmare in terms of the service and support. I will not be purchasing from Vodaphone again and in fact due to the refusal to honour the guarantee I have now been forced to purchase another device (obviously from another provider).

Customer service is how many businesses are judged and I’m afraid the way this has been dealt with and the ‘cowboy’ attempt to wriggle out of a guarantee based on a blanket approach is unacceptable and in my mind a disgrace.

 

PS - I have (hopefully) attached a picture of the reason the warranty has attempted to be voided. 

 

Hi @mcollins69

 

Your warranty covers any faults or problems you may have with the hardware or software in your device. But it doesn’t cover accidental or liquid damage.

 

If there's any cosmetic damage on your device it may void the warranty because this could show the device to have been damaged and may have caused the fault on your device.

 

If you have any doubts I would recommend to contact LG who is your phones manufacturer to query this with them, as the warranty you have is with them.

 

Thanks,

 

Viki

Retired-Kay
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

Hi @PaulSalk,

 

I'm disappointed and concerned that there's no resolution after so long.

 

Please email us here and one of the team will contact you shortly. 

 

Thanks, 

 

Kay

 

After Which chased Vodafone, someone got back to me and indicated that an exchange would be arranged. However, they would not specify the details of the exchange, and indicated when pressed that it could be a reconditioned phone. Guaranteed Genuine apple, which in the circumstances (i.e. i had clearly been provided with a fake reconditioned one in the first place) rings a bit hollow. I pointed this out. In discussion they implied that I may have substituted a different phone to the one I had originally been provided with. I suggested that they check the IMEI number against the apple report and their own repair team, which they did and confirmed that this was the same as the one originally provided. Now implied that i might have had the phone repaired myself, which could have explained things.

To be honest I felt utterly disgusted. Nine months on and still getting nowhere. I would have expected Vodafone to be highly concerned at the merest hint that fake iphones were making it into the supply chain.

I said that they were obliged to supply a new phone. Refused. So finally, deadlock agreed. I await the deadlock letter and will then take it to the Ombudsman. I will move the first of my family's four phones away from vodafone immediately and the others once the contracts expire.

I'm really sad that a major company like this can be so indifferent to the customer experience when they are so clearly in the wrong both in terms of the hardware and the customer service

Paul

 

 

@PaulSalk ask apple if IMEI had been registered before your date of purchase (They should have all original registration/previous owner information & this will assist with deadlock process).

 

Also if you can prove device was not new & your paperwork does not refer to a refurbished handset you have a misrepresented sale claim bang to rights. 

~~Clear eyes - Full Hart - Can't lose~~
“As wars come and go, my soldier stays eternal”

My comments represent my opinion which is not affiliated or sponsored in any way. 

Many thanks, those are really useful suggestions.

wbw

Paul

Hi  @PaulSalk

 

Please get in touch using the link Kay gave, so we can help.

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

Ok, just did it

Hi @PaulSalk,

 

I can see that we've now responded to your email.

 

Thanks,

Matt B

Yes thanks, to the effect that customer services were involved and deadlock reached. Which was, of course, what I had said in the post above. I got my deadlock letter today, which contained some "amusing" attempts to spin what has happened. Aparrently, when the repair team said that the warranty was void because of "mechanical damage" what they really meant was that the phone contained thrid party non apple components. As Vodafone use only genuine apple supplied parts according to the deadlock letter, that of course means that way back in April they "realised" that either apple were at fault or I was. Faugh!

Pity it then took nine months and a million phone calls, letters, emails etc to say that. Anyway, I can take consolation that the internal vodafone review process of my case will result in improvements in their customer responses.

 

So, nine months on I'm on my way to the Ombudsman Service, and the rest of you might benefit from the experience by being offered better customer service. Good luck with that, then.