Orange Warranty Issues

[Guest .blue]

First of all, moving to Orange has been the biggest mistake I've made! Vodafone are a few pounds pricier, but the service is worth that little bit extra!

I've got an SPV E650 (a branded HTC S710). After doing a 'Clear Storage' master reset, it's developed a problem where it presses keys on it's own randomly. So when I'm phoning someone, they can hear keypresses in the background. When the phone is just lying around, it'll suddenly enter a random string of numbers.

I thought this should be easy to get repaired/replaced as I'm not at fault (e.g. it's not physical damage like a broken screen - the actual handset is faulty).

Orange refuse to take it back on the basis that I'm over 6 months into the contract and haven't take out their insurance. They guided me to call HTC and get them to repair it. However, HTC claim they can't access information for Orange branded phones and insist Orange need to carry out the repair/replacement. Having spoken to a 'manager' at Orange, he just went round in circles and said that Orange weren't going to bother doing anything about it.

I personally feel it's Orange's problem not HTC as I bought the phone from Orange and if you're selling phones on an 18 month contract, you should ensure that they work properly for the 18 months! The problem was initially a bit annoying but now it's embarassing and annoying having to explain it to people on the other end of the line - it's fine when I'm talking to friends but when I'm talking to professional contacts, it's not!

Any ideas where to go? I've got the complaints address which the manager was very reluctant to give me so will write to them, but any other suggestions?

Cheers!

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

Have you called HTC or are you using email? I've had issues with the recently but previously I always preferred sending Orange phones back to them. They're quicker and more likely to fix it than orange...

This 'can't access your details' stuff is nonsense. They see if it's under warranty via the seriel number, and if it's out ( shouldn't be, the give 15 months from date of manufacture) all you need to do is find a copy of your original contract or a letter from orange to get it sorted under warranty.

m.s

[Guest .blue]

Have you called HTC or are you using email? I've had issues with the recently but previously I always preferred sending Orange phones back to them. They're quicker and more likely to fix it than orange...

This 'can't access your details' stuff is nonsense. They see if it's under warranty via the seriel number, and if it's out ( shouldn't be, the give 15 months from date of manufacture) all you need to do is find a copy of your original contract or a letter from orange to get it sorted under warranty.

m.s

Cheers for the fast reply!

I've contacted HTC over the phone (0120 number) - how did you contact them?

They asked for my IMEI number and he said he wasn't able to access the serial number from that as the phone was Orange branded.

You said HTC is faster, does that mean I'm going to be without a phone for a few weeks?

After switching from Vodafone, Orange's attitude towards customers really does feel awful! Vodafone weren't great either, but they were miles better than Orange!

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

They always used to have a database online - something like http://service.europe.htc.com/? but that looks like the newer one now so might not have your IMEI listed.

Do you have a proof of purchase eg cotract?

M.S

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

I'm in agreement with you ... these phone companies sell insurance which I never take. But they seem to ignore the manufacturers 12 month warranty ... do these still exist?

Orange really are terrible these days and don't care a jot about customers. Vodafone were OK, but I've just found T-Mobile to be amazing.

I know you risk lots of hassle with orange (and your credit rating) if you stop paying your bill ... but the quickest way to get heard is to stop paying the bill. If they don't get paid they will shout ... but then you can say "How can I use a service I am paying for, if the tools provided for the term of that service are not functioning correctly?"

Plus if Orange then put a bad mark against your credit rating, you can always dispute it!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Orange sold you the phone, it's Orange branded, so my point of view would be that it's Orange's responsibility to repair the phone.

I personally wouldn't advise not paying your bill, but if I were in your position, I would probably do the following:

- Phone them again and tell them your phone is unusable for making calls, and you would like it repaired under warranty

- If this fails, ask for your call to be escalated to a more senior person

- If this fails, ask for the details of where you can send a complaint

- If this still fails, contact me for details of an Orange executive office contact

- If this STILL fails, contact your local Citizen's Advice Bureau to ask their advice and 100% clarify your legal position. They may direct you to trading standards. Simply, Orange cannot sell you a handset that breaks in 6 months and refuse to repair it.

P

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

My general non-professional understanding of the law is:

fault first six months = retailer sorts

fault after since months = manufacturer sorts

Now these HTC branded orange devices might be different ( and they have a 1yr warranty instead of 2 that HTC give their own products) but as 'SPV' is orange's branding are they not the manufacturer in the eyes of the law?

HTC Service for repairs has gone downhill since they opened the call centre. The automated webform used to be great - it would tell you if a device (inc orange / t-mob) was under warranty eveb before filling in all your info and you needed no paperwork.

M.S

[Guest simsg1]

Hi,

I work on the orange helpdesk. If you got the phone direct from orange over the phone or the orange web site, orange cover the warranty for 1 year on spv's, htc's & blackberry's & will do a courier replacement, it just has to be overridden as a free replacement on our system.

Hope this helps you.

Edited July 7, 2008 by simsg1