Mobile Phones

[eggbert]

My HTC Incredible S has become a member of the brick family. An app froze the handset, and my only option was to take out the battery, which seems to have somehow fried the chip. No lights come on when the usb cable is inserted. My poc doesn't recognise it, and a hard reset (suggested by HTC) does nothing.

I've spoken to Optus, HTC, and Auspost (who I bought it from) and none of them want to do anything about it because the receipt I was given was on thermal paper and has completely faded due to the heat up here. I have a bank statement showing the date of purchase (03/11/2011) but that isn't enough as a proof of purchase for any of the above, so I guess I am pretty well screwed as far as a warranty replacement is concerned.

My fundage situation is a little tight at present, so an iPhone or equivalent top of the range Android are out of the question, so I thought I would ask if anyone has any suggestions for a cheap(ish) replacement that might be of similar or equal specs?

 

[Nick the Knife]

Egg,

I'd try a phone call to whatever the equivalent of the Dept of Fair Trading is up there. As if the phone is under manufacturer warranty thats complete BS that they've no way of substanciating WHEN you bought the phone other than a lil piece of paper.

I'd be 99% certain that if you explained your situation to whatever the consumer rights statutory body is that they wouldn't have a very simple solution thats in your favour.

There'd be countless ways that AustPost could check when this item was bought - if absolutely nothing else I'd try your explainations with another PO &/or staff member - but IMHO arm yourself with the correct info regarding this type of thing via a consumer help group as there's no reason why you should not be covered for this.

Best of luck,

Nick

PS. FWIW Huawei's entry level Android handsets are excellent value....you can also get very good deals on HTC Chacha's (if you're happy to have a qwerty kb phone) - I have this phone and its a very good lil performer. Otherwise watch this space.

 

[eggbert]

Egg,

I'd try a phone call to whatever the equivalent of the Dept of Fair Trading is up there. As if the phone is under manufacturer warranty thats complete BS that they've no way of substanciating WHEN you bought the phone other than a lil piece of paper.

I'd be 99% certain that if you explained your situation to whatever the consumer rights statutory body is that they wouldn't have a very simple solution thats in your favour.

There'd be countless ways that AustPost could check when this item was bought - if absolutely nothing else I'd try your explainations with another PO &/or staff member - but IMHO arm yourself with the correct info regarding this type of thing via a consumer help group as there's no reason why you should not be covered for this.

Best of luck,

Nick

PS. FWIW Huawei's entry level Android handsets are excellent value....you can also get very good deals on HTC Chacha's (if you're happy to have a qwerty kb phone) - I have this phone and its a very good lil performer. Otherwise watch this space.

Cheers Nick,
I would have thought that I might get a little more help than I did. I am sure they could look on their systems and find when I registered this phone with them, and then tie that in with my bank statement showing a purchase made in AusPost.

However, Auspost (when I called them) could find no transaction made at that post office for the same amount - which franky stunned me, and the idiot at the Optus shop had no interest in helping me as he could see no way of getting a commission out of me.

You have to give your details when you purchase a phone, which they send down to the Dept of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. I wonder if I could do a FOI request on that?

I am already keeping my beady eye on ozbargain, and have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at Kogan, but have held off pulling the trigger so far as the lack of microsd slot seems like a big mistake to me.

 

[JugV2]

Disclaimer: I work for a major Telco. The following information is my personal opinion and in no way is endorsed by my employer.

All mobile devices are identified by the IMEI (International Machine Equipment Identification) number.

This is how they are idenitfied in all systems for sales and warranty. Whomever you purchased from can tell when the item was sold very easily.

If purchasing a handset from eBay,especially overseas, do your research first. You need to make sure it will work on 3G in Australia, otherwise you will be very disappointed, regardless of which carrier's sim you put in the phone.

Everyone is dumping iPhones cheaply now, hardly surprising.

The Nexus is outstanding, the Sensation or Galaxy S2/3 are also great phones.

Happy for you to PM me if you have network specific questions also.

 

[eggbert]

Cheers Jug,
I already spoke to HTC, who confirmed that the phone was manufactured in October 2011, and I purchased it at the beginning of November. I think they were just being picky because they can.

I might try a different Optus store, and see what they have to say.

I bought my original "smart" phone, an HTC Hermes (what a piece of crap that was) on ebay, and was lucky with that purchase, but I don't think I would buy one there again. Too much risk involved, and I don't have the easy spending money that I used to.

I've not really got many questions on the networks. I know what works and doesn't work for me. I guess I would rather not buy a new phone now with LTE/4G just around the corner as in 2 years time the phone would be almost totally obsolete.

I don't know what I had in mind, but I didn't think you worked for a telco.

 

[Monsta_AU]

DX has plenty of YumCha Android phones, all EMS'd to your door within a week. As Jugs said, check the frequencies and if they are the right type of phone for your network.

As for the receipt fading, you have the receipt and a secondary form of proof of purchase. Read When can you use your rights to repair, replace refund? and understand your rights. Since it was purchased after 1/1/2011 then you are covered by the new rules.

If they still refuse, escalate it to the manager, and if still not willing, put your request in writing. They must refuse in writing, in which case you refer it to the ACCC who will enforce the law.

 

[hunnymonster]

Late to the party... Are retailers in Australia legally required to give you a receipt on purchase? I knows they aren't here in the UK (which means their insistence on one for returns/warranty always fails at Trading Standards if not before). Here the law requires adequate proof of purchase (eg. Warranty registration, bank statement entry etc - or of course could be a receipt).. Given our shared past, might be similar there. Just a thought.

 

[Drubbing]

Late to the party... Are retailers in Australia legally required to give you a receipt on purchase?

Absolutely. And a bank statement should be more than adequate POP as a backup. I had to do that to prove I'd paid for an extended warranty when my TV died. That got it sorted.

As for stat warranties, most things here get 1 year, but fair trading say that despite that, any product should be expected to have a decent life expectation based on its purpose, and that can be enforced, so log as you've not damaged it yourself. It's not unreasonable to expect any phone to last 3+ years, and that's the line they'd take with any retailer who made life difficult in honouring warranties.

As for me, I was lucky enough to get an iPhone5 from work a few weeks ago. Finally got secure work email on the road and it's made a big difference given some project work I've been doing that's needed me to email site pics.

 

[JugV2]

As for me, I was lucky enough to get an iPhone5 from work a few weeks ago. Finally got secure work email on the road and it's made a big difference given some project work I've been doing that's needed me to email site pics.

How are you finding the battery life mate?

Apple gave me a free one too when I did some training with them recently...I found the battery to be absolute shit compared to the 4S I had.

 

[Drubbing]

How are you finding the battery life mate?

Apple gave me a free one too when I did some training with them recently...I found the battery to be absolute shit compared to the 4S I had.

I get about a day, as long as I don't hammer the email and message functions too hard

 

[Monsta_AU]

Absolutely. And a bank statement should be more than adequate POP as a backup. I had to do that to prove I'd paid for an extended warranty when my TV died. That got it sorted.

The link I posted earlier states that a CC statement or similar should show when the handset was purchased is good enough for them to enforce.

As for stat warranties, most things here get 1 year, but fair trading say that despite that, any product should be expected to have a decent life expectation based on its purpose, and that can be enforced, so log as you've not damaged it yourself. It's not unreasonable to expect any phone to last 3+ years, and that's the line they'd take with any retailer who made life difficult in honouring warranties.

There is a regulation here which says carriers who offer mobile phones on plans must warrant those phones for the length of the plan. Although Apple's iPhone is a 1-year warranty, if you get it under plan then they MUST fix it if it fails within the 2 year contract, unless they can prove customer damage or water ingress.

There is no longer any such thing as a statutory warranty under the new Consumer Laws (Trade Practices Act as amended 2011, and the Australian Consumer and Competition Act as amended 2011), however most items come with a factory warranty of 1 year. Some distributors give a further warranty on a 'back to base' basis. Toshiba Hard Drives are one I am familiar with at the moment. The Toshiba factory gives them a 1-year factory warranty on a worldwide basis, while their local distributor (Mittoni) will take RMA's on them for a further 2 years on a return-to-base basis.