COMMENT There's nothing like a mobile phone meltdown, says Martin Brampton, to discover how integral it is to daily life - and how hard it is to get repaired.
My mobile phone is broken. And it has forced me to think about how I use it. Perhaps surprisingly, it is not so much the telephone calls that are bothering me. Mostly, I rather enjoy doing without them. But I find that other features are harder to live without.
The first I knew about it was on a shopping trip with my wife. We were looking for a present for our daugAhter, and uncertain of exactly what to choose, decided to call her. Oddly, my phone was powered off. Switching it on produced only a brief display of the manufacturer's logo, which then faded away into nothing.
It then became apparent that the generally slick mobile phone business is rather weak when it comes to repairs. As we were in the centre of York, it was easy enough to call into the local store of the network operator. They thought it was a software problem. Why software should work one day and not the next was beyond me, but they suggested that it would be cheaper and quicker to take it to a repair specialist.
That turned out to be less than straightforward. Repair shops are often in awkward places, away from city centres. When I eventually got to one, they were busy downloading the latest software and could do nothing for me. They did not want to take the phone to fix later, so I had to call back another day.
It was some days before I had another chance to visit the repair shop. This time, they attempted to reinstall the software, only to tell me that it was not a software problem but something else. They also told me a complicated story about how the warranty system worked, and suggested that I needed to produce a receipt for the phone. That meant going back home.
The next time I was near a repair shop, it was in a different city. This time, I was told the fault described by the first repairer did not make sense and was offered a quite different story about the warranty. They could not tell me what the repair would cost, but insisted they would charge fifteen pounds to look at the phone anyway.
Confused by all this, I checked back with the network operator. An upgrade was quickly ruled out, as to simply get the functions I had already been using would cost me hundreds of pounds. They could do a repair, but the phone had to be sent away. I was warned, only partly tongue in cheek, that if their repair facility could not fix the phone, the manufacturer was the only option and could take up to a year. But at least they lent me a basic mobile phone.
All this has left me without the facilities that now seem at least as important as making calls. It has quickly become apparent that I rely heavily on the integrated camera. Using Bluetooth, snaps are quickly and easily loaded on to a PC. The quality is limited but is good enough for many of my needs. It is adequate for internet images, including selling stuff on eBay. Messages about all kinds of problems are made much clearer by an accompanying picture.
Then there is the electronic diary, which is also kept synchronised with my PC. A diary seems little use unless it is with you all the time. Having it stored in a mobile phone is really useful, as only the one small item has to be remembered, wherever you go. Often, the entries are actually made on the PC but the phone is a constant source of information.
Likewise, a comprehensive list of contact names and addresses is really useful, if you can have it with you all the time. Again, the laborious work of keeping it up-to-date is often done on the PC, but the phone is used heavily as a reference and also captures new information quite frequently.
Ironically, the actual communications functions have been missed less. While I can pick up emails on my usual mobile, often the only reason for doing so is curiosity. Likewise, many phone calls are not genuinely urgent and many are just an irritation. Fortunately, nothing particularly important has cropped up while I have been without a mobile.
All in all, I am forced to conclude my mobile phone is a central element in the information systems that are now commonplace. It has a powerful influence on how everything else is done. But I have to hope the repair network will become speedier and easier to use.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Ian Sargent
And think how much more inconvenient it would have been if it had contained all those additional functions that are regularly proposed for mobile phones: credit/debit card, railway season ticket, ID card
2. Stuart Jones
Mobile phone companies basically take the mick when it comes to phones/charges - and they always force you down the insurance route in the end (phone tax if you prefer).
I recently lost my SPV (no insurance). I like the additional features but at the end of the day could have done without for the sake of a few months as I had a spare Nokia at home. However, the phone company in question would not under any circumstances send out a new SIM card (paid for or otherwise). I had to buy a new phone (a few hundred quid) or do nothing.
At least that was the case until I said I was going elsewhere when I was given the option of an "upgrade" fee + had to take out insurance.
Just a quick note: if you do have time left on your contract most providers will let you change that to a the cheapest tariff remaining and then you can buy out your contract. The only downside is the possibility of having to change number but you could always leave the original one on divert until your contract ran out.
Phone tax, evil phone companies. It will be the phone companies that hold back 3G adoption, no-one else.
3. Richard
I was pleasantly surprised.
My Sony mobile became unreliable during its 12 month warranty. I had no phone insurance.
High street shops gave no help. The phone company told me to ring the manufacturer's repair agent. The agent warned that a repair could take up to two weeks.
The agent posted me a reply paid packing box, upgraded the software, tested the phone and returned it to me two days later.
Possibly, the phone had been sold to me with suspect software but the service from the repair agent was excellent.
4. Murdoch Mactaggart
Martin falls into the same trap as most people regarding warranties on phones and other technology items. Manufacturer warranties are offered in addition to, not in place of, statutory rights and it's the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) which determines what action might need to be taken by the trader (not the manufacturer) in respect of a claimed fault.
Phone companies, white goods retailers, PC shops, and all the rest typically try to use warranty terms to avoid other obligations but users with a problem don't necessarily need to put up with this. And, contrary to what is often said, if a phone stops working well after the notional 28 days following delivery it's still covered by SOGA which requires goods to be of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose for which they're supplied, in appropriate cases for up to six years.
See www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm
and other pages on the DTI site for more information.
If I buy a pair of shoes which I reasonably expect to last for a couple of years, say, and the stitching comes undone in six months of normal use then under SOGA the retailer has an obligation to me which might include repair or replacement and High Street retailers understand this. Exactly the same considerations apply to my buying a mobile phone or any other piece of technical equipment.
5. sarah
i bought a phone from 3 and since i bought it 2.5 months ago i've had problem after problem with the phone and the service!! my phone doesn't work at all!! they'll fix it and it will take up to 3 months to fix!!
they say because i'm a pre paid customer i can't have a loan phone because its not part of my service! well for $456 dollars i think it should be part of my service!! i juat want everyone to know how much of a bad service they really are!! there is extra extra extra fine print that you can't see and they certainly don't tell you about!!!