By Sylvia Carr, 5 August 2005 15:35
NEWS If your new mobile phone's gone on the blink, you're not alone. One in seven handsets prove faulty within the first year, with most of those going bad in the first six months, a new report from Which? magazine shows.
The mobile operator and the manufacturer's brand both have an impact on handset quality. Mobiles on the 3 network proved the most likely to have problems, according to the research. Thirty per cent of individuals with faulty handsets surveyed by Which? said theirs came from 3. That's nearly twice as bad as the next operators on the list - BT Mobile, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone - each of which accounted for about 15 per cent of faulty handsets.
Meanwhile, mobiles from Tesco and Virgin had the least problems, most likely because they tend to offer older, proven models.
By brand, Motorola and Sony Ericsson mobiles had the most difficulties, while Nokia and Samsung had the least.
The problem is compounded by the fact many people have trouble getting help with broken handsets from retailers, said Which?.
Insurance could go some way to improving matters but only 27 per cent of survey respondents thought buying insurance was worth it - probably because of the high cost and the fact it often doesn't cover common problems such as water damage, according to the report.
Malcolm Coles, editor at Which?, called the rate of handset failure "way too high".
By comparison, the report pointed to separate research from the magazine which shows only four per cent of digital cameras prove faulty in the first six years.
The survey included interviews with 5,085 individuals, 2,339 of whom had purchased a mobile phone within the last year.
Comments
There are 12 comments. Join the discussion
1. James Robinson
Does anyone know the legal position on a faulty phone?
John Lewis won't replace my 9 month old phone. Apparently it's not there problem and I have try and find an O2 retailer to try and get it fixed.
Can this really be the fair legal position on an 'under guarantee' product?
2. Graham Shepherd
If your TV dies you don't call the BBC. If your phone dies, why should you call the service provider?
IANAL - but in the UK, the seller is usually responsible for goods being "of merchantable quality" and "fit for purpose". It seems many (junior) retail staff are not aware of this. You usually don't need any additional warranty or insurance - these are legal rights.
If you don't get anywhere with the retailer, bring in the Trading Standards people.
3. anonymous
My t610 went bad, so I took it to carphone warehouse and they took it back to Sony, a week later I had a new phone and in the mean time I was given a temp phone.
Normally you have 12 months manufacturers warranty. All good.
4. anonymous
Mobile phone retailers have to exchange handsets or have them repaired under warranty, you also have additional rights as a conusmer. The only problem is every consumer thinks that a faulty mobile phone is clearly not fit for the puprose it was intended, and should therefore be replaced at no cost to them at any time during the life of a handset. can we not accept that sometimes things become faulty and allow us to repair them or exchange them under warranty? If a handset has a fault it is the retailers repsonsibility to make amends not the the network.
5. John Rutter
Graham, you are missing the point that most mobile phones are provided and sold by the mobile network operators, so it should be their problem to fix it.
6. Graham Shepherd
John,
When you buy a product your contract is with whoever sold you the product. It is their responsibility to deal with any problem. If you buy a Nokia phone on Orange from Tesco, it's Tesco's legal responsibility if the phone is faulty. Tesco have to take it up with their supplier. If you got the phone from Orange, that's who you deal with.
7. Chris Anderson
This Must be an improvement, I seem to remember that at one stage 1 in 3 Nokias was faulty.
8. anonymous
John, Graham is right, the contract for the sale of the handset is with the retailer not the network operator. If you purchased the handset from a network owned store you will find that the network owned store is more than likely owned by a subsidiary of the newtork and is not owned by the company who provide the airtime.
9. James Robinson
Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.
I have not John Lewis to agree to sending the phone off again but only after a farcical round of pass the buck between them, the manufacturer and the network retailer.
Remind of the churn rates in the mobile telecomms sector again...
10. anonymous
No, but you would likely call the store that sold it to you which... haha... happens to also be your service provider.
11. trudy
i believe it's a scheme that the mobile phones dun last so consumers just have to keep buying new ones, making the mobile phone business more lucrative.
i went to 1 service centre repairing my mobile, i was told that everything in the phone memory will be erased and they dun do back up for customers. after doing all these and checking the phone they told me that i had to pay as much as buying a new phone to change some of the parts if i wanna proceed with repair, but they dun guarantee that the phone will work normally and in case it doesn't, there won't be any refund! when i was still wondering if i heard everything correctly, the customer service officer ask "why dun you consider buying our new model xxx..."
12. anonymous
If you purchase a phone and it proves faulty, then the retailer is in breach of contract as the phone is no longer 'fit for purpose' in other words it cannot make phone calls.
If it was dud out of the box then it's Inherently Defective and you have the option to have it repaird at the RETAILER'S expense or claim a full refund.
If you opt for a repair then you must give the RETAILER 3 chances to repair the fault before you can demand a replacement phone.
For more details lookup 'Sale of Goods Act 1974 (as ammended)'
Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 traders must sell goods that are as described and of satisfactory quality.
If consumers discover that products do not meet these requirements they can reject them and ask for their money back providing they do so quickly. Alternatively, they can request a repair or replacement or claim compensation.