Orange policy change on dust under screen (Not good)

[Guest stu_lowe2003]

**Orange change in policy, much to the detriment of the customer**

Hello all

Having had my SPV for nearly a year by July this year it had built up a large amount of dust under the screen. Which I simply phoned Orange about. They told me some rubbish about phones not having warranties, etc.. But once I managed to break through the human shield that is 150 I was able talk to someone in fax and data who was helpful.

They told me that they had recieved a lot of complaints about dust and it was a known fault of the phone. They said they would happilly replace the handset. Next day my nice new (re-furbished) SPV arrives.

Now last week my girlfriend contacted Orange with the same problem, hers is about 7 months old and has quite the collection of dust under its screen.

She was told 'No'. So I got permission to talk to Orange about her account and have discovered that Orange have reclassified the dust problem on their system.

It is now 'DAMAGE CAUSED BY WEAR AND TEAR'. Hmmmm...... mine had lots after a week of owning it, is that due to wear and tear?

The upshot being that Orange will now tell you it is your fault and will direct you to a service centre for a repair (at your own expense).

This is even with their beloved Orange Care.

Does anyone agree that this is pretty disgraceful?

I just can't help thinking its another point on my long list of problems with Orange. They have no regard for existing customers (ie. phone updates, gprs problems, msn probs, free texts, access packs, etc...).

Also anyone who has had a replacement due to dust and is reading this, could they post a reply to this post. I would be fascinated to know.

A nice woman at Orange lost and stolen did tell me that it was probably due to a high volume of returns. I realise this will be a business decision, just a pretty crappy one I think.

Cheers

Stu

[Guest Crispy]

Let me say this is perfectly understandable, but not at all acceptable. The end user can not in any way be blaimed for this fault. Period!

[Guest Kallisti]

I was told it was wear and tear when I got my phone replaced in around August, so I think you got in just under the wire. (I was trying to claim a replacement on any basis as they didn't accept that an in-ability to log onto the network was reason to replace it).

[Guest Rob.P]

If I can find my phone log transcripts I will dig out the one where an O call centre person said that the dust under the screen was due to bad build on on the seals around the screen. Ergo it makes it a warrenty problem as the phone is faulty as it left the manufacturer (or refurb dept).

I have had a replacement due to dust under the screen, tehy said it's warrenty prob and that I have to send the phone off to a service centre and will be without it for upto 3 weeks, I said that is digusting service and that I don't pay for insurance that is gonna leave me a business customer without a phone for 3 weeks, I also added that due to being without a phone for 3 weeks I could lose business so I will average out how much potential business I could lose and post that invoice off to Orange. Next thing I know we are booking a time for the replacement handset to arrive the next day.

Only advice I can give you is argue until they are sick of you and stick to the golden rule of arguing with companies, be reasonable and fair at all times and don't swear. They usually buckle eventually if you are persistent. A good one I like is as soon at they answer the call and say how can I help, state that you are extremely annoyed/angery/distraught/unhappy and ramble on about it for a couple of secs or so, this usually gets their attention straight away.

Hope some of this is some help.

[Guest foxy11]

I had the dust problem but was leaving it a bit to see if I could cure it, then my phone died with the sticking in headset mode problem. I took it into the orange shop at dinner time on my way to work and the assistant told me I had had it in overly dusty places and not just used it normally, plus the headset problem was because I had changed the phone theme and background and said that I shouldn't do that and returning it to the default would cure my problem. I argued with him for a while about his general incompetance and in the end gave up arguing with him that the phone had only been in my pocket and it was a common problem.

The next day I went back and asked to talk to the manager and he let me use the stores phone to call 150, who were sending me round the whole turn your phone off/on and then telling me the computer said my handset was faulty. Then I demanded that I should at least get my phone repaired and that the manager of the shop said I would get a replacement (bending the truth) before they finally gave me some reference numbers etc to call HTC with.

I then had to call HTC who were very helpful and sent me out a bag and pre-paid postage to send it to their repair centre via special delivery. A couple of days later and I had a newly clean, dust free screen and working phone again.

Moral of the story - keep arguing till they do something or fake another problem so they send it to the repair centre for you :)

[Guest rawmike]

If you had orange warrenty, and you "dropped" your phone, wouldn't they have to replace it anyway?

[Guest lowbug2]

problem is easy to solve....

Take one hammer beat 7 colours of cr£p out of it, then ring up and say you dropped it under a cars wheels....

I bet after a whole load of SPV's die, orange chnage the policy...

:)

[Guest mcwarre]

Ermm,

Isn't that fraud? It's things like this that encourage O to bring out a excess on their insurance so people like me have to pay extra to cover fraud like this???

[Guest stu_lowe2003]

I think in this case you pay the price for being honest. Which is kinda sad.

Stu

[Guest markd66]

If I were you I'd refer *any* refusal by Orange to replace a dust-filled SPV under Care to your local trading standards office. It's an inherent fault and hence should be covered under the Sale of Goods Act.

Note that the outcome may be a repair, rather than a replacement but the TSO may well take a dim view of O selling you an additional warranty that 'suddenly' decides that a warranty fault is not a warranty fault.

Unless O want to argue that your phone was replaced for a non-warranty reason, in which case I'm sure HSBC would love to speak to them :)

Cheers, Mark.