Phone Issue

kitten_k

My friends Dad upgraded his phone on Saturday 9th. We brought it home and I input the new SIM card but the phone would not work. When he brought the phone back to the shop they said we damaged it by putting the SIM in wrong but I know it was put in right as I have done it numerous of times. They sent him to a phone repair shop on Moore St who said it would cost a few hundred to repair and that we couldn’t have caused the damage that they are saying.

We went back to the shop on the Sunday to speak to the manager and he agreed to send it off to be examined for repair but that we still may be liable for a repair cost . We inquired about getting out of the contract he signed on the the Saturday as it is a 2 year contract and he does not have the phone. The manager said he cannot get out of his contract as they gave him a working product, which we dispute.

They came back yesterday and said they cannot repair the phone as it was tampered with (the shop in Moore St opened it) but he only went to that shop on their advice. And they still won't release him from his contract

I am just wondering what his rights are in relation to the phone and the contract?

njs030

Opening the phone invalidated the warranty, the repair shop should have known that, however they generally aren't experts!
You probably did break the sim tray without realising it, if it's broken visably something obviously happened to it.

In relation to his contract, no he can't cancel it because he has damaged his phone. Unfortunately that's not their problem (and I don't mean that to sound harsh) but he still has to pay it.
The best thing is to have it sent off and see how much a repair will be.

njs030

Just thinking though perhaps take it to another repair shop for a second opinion?

kitten_k

Yea we will have to try something.

njs030

kitten_k wrote: »

Yea we will have to try something.

Get the second opinion and if they also think it must have been already damaged he can make a claim to the scc for the cost of the repair.

He's not going to be able to cancel his contract though it's a separate issue.

Samuel T. Cogley

Use the small claims procedure if you're sure you didn't damage the phone. They advised you to take it to a repair shop. Regardless your consumer rights and the manufacturers warranty are separate issues. Simply opening the phone does not negate your statutory rights.

theteal

So, phone shop said it was user damaged. Then advised to go to unauthorised repair centre on Moore St.
Moore St. opened it, said it would cost so much to fix but said it couldn't be user damage.
Original phone shop then said it wasn't user damaged and sent to authorised repairer.
Authorised repair centre said warranty void as phone opened by unauthorised repair centre.

Is that correct?

If so, I'd still be looking to the retailer to remedy the situation. Small claims if necessary even though it may break down to your word against theirs. They have made the error here with the misdiagnosed cause of issue and the frankly horrendous advise to go to Moore St instead of themselves sending it to their authorised repair centre (they'll provide a quote if user damage found).

njs030

theteal wrote: »

So, phone shop said it was user damaged. Then advised to go to unauthorised repair centre on Moore St.
Moore St. opened it, said it would cost so much to fix but said it couldn't be user damage.
Original phone shop then said it wasn't user damaged and sent to authorised repairer.
Authorised repair centre said warranty void as phone opened by unauthorised repair centre.

Is that correct?

If so, I'd still be looking to the retailer to remedy the situation. Small claims if necessary even though it may break down to your word against theirs. They have made the error here with the misdiagnosed cause of issue and the frankly horrendous advise to go to Moore St instead of themselves sending it to their authorised repair centre (they'll provide a quote if user damage found).

No from what I gather the op tried to put in the sim, the phone wouldn't work.
The shop said it was user damaged and to go to x place for repair.
X place opened the phone (invalidating warranty so it sounds like somewhere that doesn't have a clue) and claimed it wasn't user damaged.
Op went back to original shop who sent it off to approved repair centre while warning op they may have to pay for repairs.
Unsurprising approved repair centre won't touch it as its been opened already.

It's very much a he said she said situation but as it seems that the sim port was visually damaged if the shop staff could see it I think the op may have caused it without meaning to.
Either way the shop on Moore Street should not have opened it and I wouldn't be taking their advice as being worth anything if they did something so stupid tbh.

Get a second opinion and then perhaps the scc might be an option.