O2 Extortion

I need some advice if anyone can help as to how to proceed with my problem. I've had my Iphone for about 6 months and it has developed a couple of problems,
1. The headphones work on the ipod side of the phone but the mic and the switch won't work when taking/making calls.
2. The phone reception has been getting worse over the last 2 months to the point that of the last 5 days I had it, the phone refused to connect to the O2 service for 3 of them.

I took it into my local O2 store and they said they would send it off for a warranty repair. The phone was in pristine condition when I handed it over to them 2 weeks ago. I rang up today for an update on the repair and was told that the repair was chargeable due to the back cover being damaged.

I disputed that the phone was damaged while in my possession and was told that unless I paid £49.50 for the repair, the iphone would be returned unfixed.

I feel I am being blackmailed into paying this money as I need a working iphone and after all, I paid a not inconsiderable amount of money to buy this product in the 1st place. I wonder if Apple knows or cares about the shoddy treatment O2 is giving its iphone customers?

Message was edited by: gknight543

Message was edited by: gknight543

various, Mac OS X (10.5.5), iPhone, Macbook and Mac Mini

Posted on Apr 6, 2009 6:32 AM

18 replies

wullyjum

Level 1

85 points

Apr 14, 2009 9:24 AM in response to gknight543

I think someone else has posted this, but when you send your phone away for repair with o2 there is a section that states the condition the handset is in. Marks, chips cracks etc. If the person who booked your iPhone in for repair has said there was no marks then you have a case, if they have said big crack on the back then pay up!!

My iPhone went off for repair with o2 and in two days I had a replacement handset and all small marks were noted on my repair receipt.

In response to those who suggested an apple store I do agree however there are only 19 in the UK with most based around London.

r.cloud

Level 3

815 points

Apr 14, 2009 5:02 PM in response to wullyjum

It might not be the case in the UK like it is here in AUS but here you do have to be carefull where you take your phone back to there are multiplt types of stores:
Display stores (mainly to showcase products and company owned)
Dealers (there to sell and company owned)
Licensed dealers (There to turn as much of a profit as possible usually franchised)
these last one's (licensed dealers) you need to be carefull with as they are there mainly to inflate their profit margins and that's about all they don't tend to take the same care and pay any where near as much attention to the customer or procedures that are meant to be in place

Apr 21, 2009 8:20 AM in response to r.cloud

Hi

My name’s JP and I work for O2 – I’d like to clarify the situation with our repairs policy for Apple iPhones in the UK.

When someone has a problem with an iPhone, we do an initial check of the phone then send it away to our dedicated repair team to look at the handset and see what needs to be done to fix it. If the problem can be fixed under warranty, then we’ll do this and return the phone as soon as possible.

When the phone can’t be repaired under warranty, we give an estimated cost for repair and will repair the damage if the cost is agreed.

While I can’t comment on this specific case without knowing all the details, I want to make it clear that it’s not our policy to invent a fault to make someone pay for a repair or to purposefully swap any part of your product with a faulty one. As garthwd suggested, check your receipt to see what condition the handset was listed as. If there is no damage mentioned, contact the store and let them know. Alternatively please drop me an email at o2ukofficial at o2 dot com with all the details and I’ll ask one of our Customer Service team to take a look.

<Edited by Host>

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O2 Extortion