Touchscreen not working properly - tip

[Guest Ralph Martin]

My Blade has been rather flakey for a while - sometimes the touchscreen would work OK, sometimes it wouldn't and I'd have to turn the phone on / off, squeeze it, etc to get the touchscreen back to normal.

As squeezing sometimes worked, I wondered if something was not making proper contact. I took the back off, and gently tightened all the small cross-head screws holding the phone together (do not overtighten them, or you risk damaging your phone). The result is that the touchscreen now seems to be behaving itself a lot better - so far.

So, if you have a similar problem, I guess this is worth a try before sending your phone back.

Edited February 22, 2011 by Ralph Martin

[Guest Frankish]

Yet another sign of poor build quality. :D

I was very lucky with mine. It works a dream and is built like a tank. I've dropped it on pavement, laminate flooring hard wood floors loads and only got a few dings. :D

[Guest Ralph Martin]

Oh well, worked for a while. Now its playing up again.

Orange have given me the real runaround this morning in trying to get it sent in for repair. 2 calls to India, 2 to the UK, one trip to the Orange shop, and still no satisfactory outcome. Seems like their computer system can't handle anything unless it is linked to an Orange phone number - and I ported my number to another provider. So I am told I have to put a new orange SIM in before they can do anything, and the local Orange shop won't give me a SIM unless I buy £5 of credit which I don't need or want. Even reminding the people in the shop about the Sale of Goods Act got nowhere - their response was "you bought it online so we cannot take it back". This is from a company who proclaim every time you call them "We are committed to providing excellent customer service".

I'm pondering a Small Claim against them including 1/2 day of my time.

[Guest wbaw]

It's bad soldering on the connector for the digitiser, should be fixed on newer models. Orange are liable under the sale of goods act if you've purchased it in the last 6 months, unless they can prove that you broke it.

You can get Orange sim cards in Poundland & other shops sell them for around a pound too, or you can order one online for free - http://freesim.orange.co.uk/ You shouldn't really have to do it, but it's much easier & cheaper than small claims.

The online orange shop is run separately to the other orange shops, that might be another reason you're having trouble, you should phone the online shop & they should send a courier to swap it.

Edited February 22, 2011 by wbaw

[Guest Ralph Martin]

Ever the optimist, my latest ploy is to make sure the battery is firmly seated - the label inside was making it a bit proud. The Blade's working again whlle I wait for my 1p SIM to come from fleaBay.

As for Sale of Goods Act, yes, that's what I would rely on, not their ridiculous 6 month warranty (why do they sell phones on 2 year contracts if they only expect them to last 6 months? No, it's quite clear that the expected life of a phone is 2 years or more, so they would not have a leg to stand on IMHO if you tried a repair claim through bad workmanship / materials etc after a year or even 18 months). The pity is, the guys on the phone were genuinely trying to help as far as I could tell, it's just that whoever set up Orange's customer support system did not think of the possibility ((have Orange phone) and not (have Orange phone number)).

Edited February 22, 2011 by Ralph Martin

[Guest Ralph Martin]

It's bad soldering on the connector for the digitiser

OK, found the thread with pictures of how to solder it up. I'll see if I can find a small enough bit...

Edited February 23, 2011 by Ralph Martin

[Guest wbaw]

I wouldn't touch it if I were you, they def wont take it back then.

The 6 months thing is in the sale of goods act, if you've bought it in the last 6 months & it develops a fault, it's up to the retailer to show that it wasn't likely to be caused by a manufacturing defect, otherwise they must refund, repair or replace it (your choice). If it's more than 6 months old, then the burden of proof is on you to show that the fault was likely to have been caused by a manufacturing defect rather than some damage that you'd caused.

As far as I know the Orange warranty is just 28 days, but that doesn't matter if they sold you a faulty product then the sale of goods act applies.

If you've clearly soldered something inside the phone, then you don't have a leg to stand on, they can just say that you caused the damage.

Edited February 23, 2011 by wbaw

[Guest Ralph Martin]

I wouldn't touch it if I were you, they def wont take it back then.

The 6 months thing is in the sale of goods act, if you've bought it in the last 6 months & it develops a fault, it's up to the retailer to show that it wasn't likely to be caused by a manufacturing defect, otherwise they must refund, repair or replace it (your choice). If it's more than 6 months old, then the burden of proof is on you to show that the fault was likely to have been caused by a manufacturing defect rather than some damage that you'd caused.

Thanks for clarifying that. But if I haven't opened it up, then I cannot have caused soldering to go bad.

If you've clearly soldered something inside the phone, then you don't have a leg to stand on, they can just say that you caused the damage.

Of course. It's just a question of what is most likely to get a successful outcome for the least hassle. I think I'm prepared to risk losing my chance of returning the phone for if the probability of a successful repair is high enough. And if you'ld had the run-around they gave me, and your soldering skills were good enough, you might decide on Plan B.