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Iphone 4 - My rights to a refund

K

karlc12karl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 18, 2011
1
0
I bought the Iphone 4 10 months ago and have had terrible reception problems since. I have complained on 3 occasions and each time Apple offered me numerous bumpers and cases as a solution but I simply wanted a phone that worked. The customer services people virtually laughed at me when i called, saying it was not a broken part therefore i could not expect a fix... this seems wholely different to the excellent customer experience they used to promote...

So here's my question... Am i within my rights to ask for a refund after 10 months under UK law? Is the phone fit for purpose, or indeed was it ever?

Hope someone can help me...

Karl
 
karlc12karl said:
I bought the Iphone 4 10 months ago and have had terrible reception problems since. I have complained on 3 occasions and each time Apple offered me numerous bumpers and cases as a solution but I simply wanted a phone that worked. The customer services people virtually laughed at me when i called, saying it was not a broken part therefore i could not expect a fix... this seems wholely different to the excellent customer experience they used to promote...

So here's my question... Am i within my rights to ask for a refund after 10 months under UK law? Is the phone fit for purpose, or indeed was it ever?

Hope someone can help me...

Karl
Click to expand...

So after owning it for 10 months now you want a refund. If it was that bad you would have returned the phone after a short period of time.


It's like me eating a chocolate bar and then saying i didn't like it after its all gone :D
 
Frenchjay said:
So after owning it for 10 months now you want a refund. If it was that bad you would have returned the phone after a short period of time.


It's like me eating a chocolate bar and then saying i didn't like it 10 months later after its all gone :D
Click to expand...

fify
 
You "window" for a refund expired LONG time ago. If it defective they owe you a refurb and no more in the USA and I doubt much more with the UK's better warranty.
 
karlc12karl said:
I bought the Iphone 4 10 months ago and have had terrible reception problems since. I have complained on 3 occasions and each time Apple offered me numerous bumpers and cases as a solution but I simply wanted a phone that worked. The customer services people virtually laughed at me when i called, saying it was not a broken part therefore i could not expect a fix... this seems wholely different to the excellent customer experience they used to promote...

So here's my question... Am i within my rights to ask for a refund after 10 months under UK law? Is the phone fit for purpose, or indeed was it ever?

Hope someone can help me...

Karl
Click to expand...

This happened to me and apple swapped it within 10 minutes. The iPhone also looked like hell.. Try another store.
 
karlc12karl said:
I bought the Iphone 4 10 months ago and have had terrible reception problems since. I have complained on 3 occasions and each time Apple offered me numerous bumpers and cases as a solution but I simply wanted a phone that worked. The customer services people virtually laughed at me when i called, saying it was not a broken part therefore i could not expect a fix... this seems wholely different to the excellent customer experience they used to promote...

So here's my question... Am i within my rights to ask for a refund after 10 months under UK law? Is the phone fit for purpose, or indeed was it ever?
Click to expand...

So basically you want a free upgrade to a 4S now that its out?
 
I'm Afraid Not

karlc12karl said:
I bought the Iphone 4 10 months ago and have had terrible reception problems since. I have complained on 3 occasions and each time Apple offered me numerous bumpers and cases as a solution but I simply wanted a phone that worked. The customer services people virtually laughed at me when i called, saying it was not a broken part therefore i could not expect a fix... this seems wholely different to the excellent customer experience they used to promote...

So here's my question... Am i within my rights to ask for a refund after 10 months under UK law? Is the phone fit for purpose, or indeed was it ever?

Hope someone can help me...

Karl
Click to expand...


You had the genourous period of time to return the product... Bad reception was an issue, but not now...If you are really after some kind of deal, don't look for Apple support, go to ebay or similar.

You've had the device that long? and now you bleat? I think your after a free upgrade..But not wishing to start an argument...good luck with it.
 
Just so you know, you might have another issue going on. My mom's iPhone. 4 has had terrible "reception" since she got it a year ago. Terrible call quality, and there was a better chance of winning the lottery than holding onto a call for 5 minutes. All this time I thought it was just the death grip issue, but after comparing to my phone I realized something else was going on. I also tried swapping my sim into her phone, and it seemed to work okay.

I went down to an AT&T store, explained the situation. And asked if I could try a new SIM. Thy gave me one, and since then there are no call quality issues at all. I still don't undeerstand how a sim could cause that sort of issue (I'd think it either works or doesn't, no where in between). It is worth a shot though
 
The phone is fit for purpose, mine along with millions of others. Whether it's fit for your purpose is a problem you should have addressed long before now, when you had the chance to return the phone.
 
Waiter!!! I want my money back, this food was ice cold and tasted terrible. :mad:


flying-apron-empty-plate.jpg
 
Try talking to a lawyer and see if he/she sounds convinced. You never know what a good lawyer can do for situations like this. Apple may not want bad publicity and it will be cheaper for them to settle this. But, waiting 10 months - that kinda kills your case right there.
 
saaketham said:
Try talking to a lawyer and see if he/she sounds convinced. You never know what a good lawyer can do for situations like this. Apple may not want bad publicity and it will be cheaper for them to settle this. But, waiting 10 months - that kinda kills your case right there.
Click to expand...

A good lawyer would cost more than the refund.
 
saaketham said:
Try talking to a lawyer and see if he/she sounds convinced. You never know what a good lawyer can do for situations like this. Apple may not want bad publicity and it will be cheaper for them to settle this. But, waiting 10 months - that kinda kills your case right there.
Click to expand...

Seriously? Wouldn't a lawyer cost more than a brand new full retail device?
 
Well, if he wins the case .. IF ... then the court may order Apple to pay his lawyer's fee and court fee. Again, if he's that disgruntled and wants to prove a point, then he should talk to a lawyer. :) Lawyers offer free initial consultation - I should know - I paid three so far. :D
 
Here in the UK, everyone is a legal expert!

Seriously though, I used to work for a major telco here and in my experience (long, painful, experience) the Great British public are, in general, utterly idiotic and relentlessly demanding consumers the likes of which can only be compared to locusts. Combine this with a slump in the economy and apathetic telco's trying to retain customers by any means possible (everyone demands a free phone for the honour of using the said telco's service), and it has bred an subconscious culture whereby customers think they have the right to anything they please. The most common battle cry is 'not fit for purpose', which roughly translates to 'if the phone is not to my dynamically-changing liking, I am entitled to a better one'. This can and usually does include expecting metropolis HSDPA 3G speeds in dark rural villages, as well as miscellaneous 'defects' such as the screen cracking when dropped. Because glass is invulnerable to damage, of course.

My time in that job was spent dealing every day with people like this, some of whom breeze through 5 or 10 brand new handset exchanges a year by complaining in such manner, inventing more and more obscure ruffles in their feathers to squeeze out yet another boon. One might even say fair play to them, if the telco's are stupid enough to tolerate such behaviour, but it really does irritate me somehow. Needless to say, I quit that job.

To the OP: you have no right to refund. Your chances of getting a new 4S are as high or low as the effectiveness of the porky pies you bleat to your carrier, and how dumb your customer service agent is. I for one do not wish you good luck.
 
Similar Case with Toshiba

The iPhone 4 should have merited a class-action lawsuit. Offering a free bumper to fix an inherent design issue? And that too, for limited time, and only after initially denying the existence of any problem? If that were some other company with a less formidable legal team, they'd have been sued a long time back. Glad I skipped the 4 and went from 3gs to 4s.

I had a Toshiba laptop several years back. I paid $1500 for it. A month after the warranty expired, it died. I didn't bother messing with it as laptop prices had plummetted by then so I got a new one. 6 months later, I got a notice from a lawyer's office, informing me that there was a class-action lawsuit against Toshiba, for this particular laptop model - Satellite something. I sent in my information and became part of the class. As part of the settlement, Toshiba replaced the motherboards of every buyer of that particular model, who'd bought it in the last 2 years (mine was 7 months out of warranty). I sent in my laptop which was a mere door-stop by then, and got a new motherboard. The laptop worked for 6 more months and then it died again.
 
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