O2 repairs diary (aka: not practicing what you preach)

[viridis]

Now, many of you are aware that 28 data after having my Sony Xperia Z5 Premium I had a serious issue that needed a replacement sending out. For transparency here it is.

 

Now I know what you're thinking, it's scratched to hell. ... but it's not, see..

 

What it is, is the uv lens film coming away from the surface of the lens..in other words... not good as I can't take shots like this anymore..

Now look at those pics, edge to edge clarity and great detail definition...

O2 replaced the device under the New 30 day rule. I breathed a sigh of huge relief..... if only prematurely. 

Roll on the following working day and my shiny new Z5 premium arrives. I set it up using my backup from the previous day and proceed to check things over.. I get to the camera...

I immediately feel a gut wrenching reality come over me, this phone has the (very well known) left blur issue (or to name it correctly, mis-aligned lens).

I immediately get on the phone to o2, within an hour of the New phone being delivered I was on hold to returns and repairs... got cut off. Tried again....no answer.

as an emergency means, I got on live chat...

After a soul crushing chat in which the operator asked for my imei for unlocking purposes, the end advice was "you want a replacement, use your insurance" to which I was understandably furious beyond comprehension. (@Toby will verify) yada yada next day I get a call thanks to @Toby from customer care who explain although the law States "30 days from date of supply" o2's stance and translation means "30 days from date of original sale" now I'm not gonna go into the ins and ours of legal definition, but tbh this made me not a happy customer. My only realistic option was o2 repairs or Sony repairs.

Now, I'll be honest, the temptation to drop it and pay the £60 excess was very tempting but why should I? I'd already been hit with a very unfair charge of £30 for the screen protectors that needed replacing with the replacement phone, they sent a new set of panzer glass, then charged me full whack for them.

(Now btw I have to get ANOTHER set of glass at full price too btw, £60 on protectors due to faulty goods...)

As said, my only options were o2 repair, or Sony. Unfortunately Sony now use SBE Ltd, who seem to by one of very few repairers with as equal a reputation as o2 repair centre Anovo.

The lesser of 2 evils was o2 (still insured and less hassle with o2 services) 

Now, what is a mis-aligned lens (left side blur)..

It's when the centre and right of you pictures look like this

but the left looks like this..

Centre

Left

Centre

Left

Centre

Left

Now, I'm no Pulitzer prize winning photographer, but even I can see that's a screwed lens.

To be continued... (on my lunch break)

[viridis]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

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@viridis wrote:

latest is : on its way back to store

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So we soon will have the verdict then? Wasn't that a bit quick to fix a defective camera module?....

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I gotta remain optimistic and open to all scenarios... but it was listed as repaired under warranty within 30 minutes of being checked in.

[Cleoriff]

Indeed...remain optimistic is the way forward. I know nothing about repairs of camera modules anyway...

[jonsie]

Best of luck with this mate.....

[viridis]

Part 2

Now, with my hand forced to use o2 repairs, I took the concious choice of getting Christmas and new year out the way first. I needed a camera and tbh wasn't taking the risk of missing important moments due to some delay. 

I wasn't going to even send it in, I was so worried about stories of damages handsets and silly excuses not to even repair phones  I felt like cutting my losses and living with it.

it soon became apparent it was annoying me more and more.

I had to take the plunge.

is like to point out I could only send it in to be repaired thanks to @Cleoriff as you may know, when last in Spain she bought a Galaxy Grand prime as a backup device. She kindly allowed me time to use it for writing a review and further extended the time to allow me to send mine in for repair whilst using her prime. Thank you kindly @Cleoriff.

so... the night before taking my phone to the o2 shop to be sent in, I covered a few bases by taking quite a few images of the perfect condition of the phone prior to repair.

I covered:

All sides and angles of body

Condition of rear glass 

condition of screen

All ports

Display

And finally, loaded firmware version.

no damage, no root, obviously no water ingression.

here is a few scales down images.

As you can see even at a reduced resolution, as new, perfect, flawless.

TBC. ....

[viridis]

Part 3 (bringing you up to date)

On Friday 15th January I took the phone, fully boxed as new into my local o2 store to be sent off for repair.
the time in store was quick and taking a few shots, I showed the staff member the issue to which she responded "oh yeah, that needs fixing, we can sort that"
I was given a receipt with tracking info and told it should be 3-5 working days.

Upon getting home and over the weekend the tracking didn't immediately work. When it did, the first issue arose that showed the device to be black in colour when in fact it is gold.
@Toby informed me to call cs and get them to resened the info and get it changed.
I did and after a few hours (next day) it was shown as gold.
but still status was "not yet arrived"
Yesterday (Tuesday) I was checking roughly every half an hour and noticed that the tracking changed from "not yet arrived" to "repaired under warranty" within a half hour period.
obviously that's concerning as I'm pretty sure a repair would take longer. But I'm optimistic and you never know.
today the status is "on it way back to store"

TBC. ..

[Anonymous]

Hope you get it sorted @viridis even I could tell from the photos that something wasn't right

[jonsie]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hope you get it sorted @viridis even I could tell from the photos that something wasn't right

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If anyone can @viridis can.....

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hope you get it sorted @viridis even I could tell from the photos that something wasn't right

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If anyone can @viridis can.....

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That's a positive 'hope'......

If they refuse to replace a faulty part/module due to the cost (or their lack of knowledge/interest) I doubt even @viridis could sort that one....

[viridis]

The module cost isn't that high, especially as a Sony warranty part,,, they make them.
The hard part will be getting someone to actually fix it.
I'm pretty sure in the half hour period it was either a firmware flash or swapped handset, a teardown to the module takes a good hour at best and I'm assuming the port pressure test will take a while too (if one was done to keep the ip68 rating)
Problem there being that it will possibly be a refurb replacing a phone where the fault was first reported before it was one hour old.
If that's the case, we most certainly will be discussing my device plan value along with the £60 spent so far on glass protectors I've had to scrap as the devices were handed in to o2 staff.

[Cleoriff]

When do you expect it to be back instore @viridis?