Bent A42 5g

[MS_]

My A42 5g bent itself. I noticed it was slightly bent and took it to Vodafone, said it wasn't covered under warranty, sent it off to Samsung who said the same, took it to Vodafone again who had a look at it and said it was unfixable and now no longer turns on. I know for a fact I did not damage it, in fact every time I got it back it was more bent! I was told it couldn't be the battery malfunctioning even though it is bending exactly where the battery connects to the phone, which was confirmed by an independent phone repair shop.

What do I have to do to prove the phone is faulty?

[BandOfBrothers]

How long have you owned the phone @MS_  may I ask ?

Samsung and Vodafone would assess the phone to see if the issue is covered under the Limited 2 year warranty.

See your rights in Consumer-rights-act-2015. 

I'm assuming they have attributed this to user caused.

You can raise a complaint with Vodafone, if they supplied the phone as then they are the supplier of the phone and your first port of contact.

Complaints/code-of-practice. 

You could look at purchasing an independent report to see if this would sway Vodafone away from their initial report but I'm not sure it will.

The Vodafone Social Media Team's are also part of the Customer Escalation Team so you could also have a word with them via Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

I'm not wanting to give you false hope in that the above will reverse Vodafone's decision but its worth a shot.

I wish you all the best with this. 

[MS_]

I've owned the phone since February, it started to bend in September, each time I got it back from Vodafone/Samsung it had bent/warped even more. Since I last got it back from Vodafone it no longer turns on or charges.

I've always kept it in a hard case, never put it in my back pocket, not even dropped it. It takes a lot of heat to warp the phone the way it is without cracking something, and it has done it exactly where battery connects to the phone.

I appreciate the replies, I'll have a look at the links 👍

[AnnS]

I suspect the phone was in quite a fragile condition when taken to the repair centre.

If you are quite sure you haven't dropped the phone, placed in a back pocket, left in sunlight, applied too much pressure on the phone and only used recommended Samsung chargers, including car chargers, a Samsung Repair Centre should be able to assess the phone to find the reason for overheating causing the phone to bend.

The good news is if the repair centre consider the phone bent naturally due to design flaws, you will get it repaired for free.

[BandOfBrothers]

Problem here @AnnS is that Samsung have already assessed the phone for @MS_ and have advised this isn't covered under the Limited 2 year manufacturing warranty.

Vodafone have also declined support as it's them that are responsible in regards to the warranty. Not Samsung.

Both Samsung and Vodafone will have noted this against the phone's serial and build number I suspect.

Best course of action I'd take is to escalate thus via the links I included earlier to see if Vodafone will do something on the line of a Goodwill Gesture. 

[AnnS]

Yes @BandOfBrothers the phone is beyond economical repair and out of warranty.

Without insurance not sure what Vodafone would be able to do as goodwill, that is the reason to take insurance for accidental damage.  If the damage was reported to the insurance company when it was first noticed September, the phone would have been replaced.

[AnnS]

You don't mention how long you have had the phone. It sounds like the phone frame has become bent @MS_ . 

The most common cause of this is keeping the phone in a back pocket, especially on a hot day again and will be made worse if you just happen to sit down.  A bent frame can be avoided by keeping the phone in a protective cover and hard case.

Unfortunately, this won't come under warranty repair, to replace the frame needs to be done by a qualified repair centre.  I would have a word with Samsung direct here:  Samsung Repair Centre 

To quote the Consumer Rights Act to apply you would need to prove that the phone was faulty from the time of delivery and you may have a hard job proving you were sent a phone with a bent frame.

[hrym]

I have an elderly PDA and, every five years or so, the battery swells and it's time for a replacement.   It just clips on.   With an internal battery, I can see how that might warp the chassis.  However, it would also go alongside severely curtailed charge life, which you don't mention.

If battery life is good, I'd have thought it's unlikely to be the cause, but the only way to tell would be to have the device opened and the battery checked.  Use an authorised repairer or that action alone will void the guarantee.   Your battery might be covered by the device guarantee (that's more likely now than used to be the case) and you'd be able to go back to Vodafone or Samsung just for that.   They might still say that battery damage was the result of forceful chassis damage, though.