When is a warranty not a warranty?

[PaulSalk]

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

[mcollins69]

Vicki,
Thats exactly the blanket approach answer that i have recieved. My phone hasnt been accidently damaged. Nor does / should cosmetic damage on the case void a warrenty. As explained and as you will see from tbe picture, there are marks on the vase with the rest of the phone flawless from its protected case. Despite what you say, the phone is guaranteed via yourselves and under my rights is considered mot of satisfactory condition. I am requesting a repair as advised by trading standards and am not really willing to be brushed off in this way to be honest. Really poor service and your response mirrors the stores blanket statement.

[drey_p]

Hi there

This sort of thing crops up quite regularly and the advice and information is the same.  Take the phone to the manufacturer - you will find that they are much more amenable to doing a repair under warranty if there is physical damage to the device.

Vodafone, on the other hand, are a third party repair agent.  This means that they have very strict rules to adhere to when conducting a warranty repair.  Any damage on the device prevents them from doing a warranty repair.