don't buy an iPhone from o2

[Anonymous]

I've just had a problem with an iphone 6 which apple confirmed as a hardware issue and which although over 1 year old would be covered by apple and replaced. 

However because my consumer contract is with o2 they limit their warranty to 1 year and will not exchange a £600 phone, which has not been misused and has been confirmed independently by an authorised apple store to be defective. 

So my advice to O2 customers is to buy your phone from Apple and let them look after you. They have been exemplary in terms of service, employing intelligent well trained staff. O2 on the other hand have been nauseatingly spivvy and unprofessional. To be honest I struggled to be able to understand what they were even saying. It is quite something to run a phone company and then to fail so miserably with the basics of telecommunication. 

It took me over 1 hour just to get my pac codes to leave. It took me less time to buy a new car. 

Anyway, this is just a heads up for those wanting to invest in an iphone, buy it from Apple and take out a separate airtime agreement with O2. 

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous To some extent I agree with what you say. Apple only offer a one year warranty on their phones wherever you purchase it from. However O2 offer Refresh which seems  a great idea for some.

We would always advise people to return to Apple for any faults. My son bought a sim free iPhone 6 from Amazon. It developed a screen fault within 7 months. He returned it to Apple and they fixed and replaced the screen within 2 hrs at no cost to him...They weren't bothered where it was purchased from..

[MI5]

Unless you had applecare+ there is no way they (apple) would have replaced a phone outside of warranty.
It's easy for them to say they would, but words are cheap in this case I'm afraid.

[Anonymous]

The problem is once you move out of the 12 month automatic warranty. 

After that Apple appear to take a very generous view of faults that relate to manufacture. We use a lot of Apple products, I can only tell you that after 8 years and some 60 + devices, some of which have had issues, they have always looked after us. 

First issue with one purchased via o2 and it's a world of pain. It's not until something goes wrong that you learn about a company. 

[Anonymous]

@MI5My son's ipone 5 was replaced by Apple when one of the button's stopped working after 20 months, free of charge, took around 20 minutes from start to finish. Bought direct from Apple. One of our Macbook airs had an issue after 2 years, once again changed with no drama after they'd run a diagnostic check on it. 

[MI5]

You've been lucky then previously, but the 5 had an official recall for the power/lock button https://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone5-sleepwakebutton/

[Cleoriff]

I think this is very dependent on the Apple Store and the guru who handled these individual cases. Apple have an excellent reputation ....but we have had stories on here when they haven't been as good.... @viridis had a poor experience if I remember correctly?

[viridis]

Just because you bought it from o2, does not mean you cannot take it to apple.
If they say they will replace it, take it to them and act on that offer. A manufacturers warranty is exactly that.

[Anonymous]

I left the phone with an O2 store, got the pac codes etc and have issued a Court claim against O2 this evening, very simple on line.

I don't think they understand that when you go to a court, explain you spent £600 on a phone that there is a reasonable expectation for it to last 20 months. Apple know this, o2 need to learn it.

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of Apple stuff both at my company and at home. They recognise that my contract is with O2, not Apple. It doesn't matter what Apple determine their warranty to be, a week, day month or year. None of that affects my rights as a consumer.