Hey Ozbargainers,
I am sure this has probably happened to others but it has made my blood boil as to how the telcos can get away with it. So I have a 12 month old Sony Xperia Z2 (D6503) under 24 month contract with Virgin Mobile. Since day one I have had it in a case with screen protector and treat it with utmost care, it is basically immaculate. It has no scratches, never been dropped, bent, impacted given to any one else etc etc. I work in an office and its basically either sitting on the desk or in my pocket or on charger at home. A couple of weeks back its sitting on my desk for about 30 minutes or so (and had used it perfectly prior to sitting it down on desk), when I pick it up to make a call..lo and behold the screen has what looks like black ink leaking under the glass in about 10mm2 area 1cm in from left side in top 3/4 of screen.Also the screen is then showing random green/red/white lines etc etc. Ok.. off to virgin mobile repair. Takes them 10 days (no loan phone offered - "sorry, we've got nothing") and then they get back to me saying warranty claim denied with the statement on the paperwork "physical damage fond (sic) on screen" and quoting $334 to repair. I was livid and called customer service..they basically said "yea well thats what the repair centre says so thats it, nothing we can do". So their word against mine and through no fault of my own I am up for over $300. Just stunned.
So if my 60" LCD TV suddenly developed a fault and no external damage to the unit, the manufacturer could just say "oh well, you must have carried it in your pocket and damaged it "!!! Somehow virgin are trying to say the phone they sell could NEVER have an in built manufacturing fault.
In the words of the late Steve Jobs I want to go thermonuclear at the injustice but with the Christmas holidays, being up against the bureaucracy I can see I'll be screwed over.
Any suggestions?
I had a similar experience when I tried to get my HTC M8 repaired. My suggestion is that it's much better talking to their customer service via Facebook. Store staff are close to useless.
Six months into the contract, my phone would stopped taking charge. When it was on, I couldn't do any tasks, from receiving a phone call to using the internet, etc.
I went to a Virgin mobile store, got the same answer re a loan phone but I complained so they suggested me talking to their customer service on Facebook. After exchanging a few messages, their Facebook team agreed to give me $60 credit to purchase a temporary phone, which was better than nothing.
It took them WEEKS to repair my phone. Store staff has no idea what was going on with the repair. Thankfully there was no dispute about whether the repair fell under warranty or not. The phone was still not great after repair though.
If you haven't tried, perhaps send a message on their facebook page and see if they can help.
Good luck.