O2 shop requiring phone password for a repair to avoid charges

[Anonymous]

Hi All

My daughter's Samsung Galaxy developed a screen fault under warranty so I took it to my local O2 shop.

The lady who served me told me she needed the backup password otherwise the repair would generate a charge.  I queried this and she told me that it wouldn't be very secure if engineers could work on the phone without a password.  The charge could be anything up to the cost of a new phone.

I managed to get hold of the password and handed it over and was told there wouldn't be a charge.

On the way home I remembered I was told that all the data would be wiped.  OK so they will do a factory reset.  However, the password is not required for a factory reset so I'm confused as to why they would need it.

Is this a scam where they charge you for a 3 minute factory reset which they would do anyway?  More distrurbingly, they now have access to all my 14 year old daughter's private data when there was no need for it.

Am I missing something here?

Kind Regards

Steve

[MI5]

They wouldn't be able to test the phone to find out what the fault was without the password.
Chances are it may need a factory reset (most common fix and can be done yourself without the need to take phone anywhere), however, some faults may not need the phone wiping so would be better for you to not have to re-install everything.

[Anonymous]

Hi thanks for you reply.  But they told me they would wipe all the data anyway, so I think that a factory reset would be normal practice and I don't see why doing a factory reset would generate a charge?

Kind Regards

Steve

[MI5]

The shop wouldn't know what was required.
Yes, they might wipe all data, but equally they may not.
There is no charge for a factory reset.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to bang on, maybe I'm being dense here, but why would they charge a fee if the password is not given?  The fix for no password is to do a factory reset which, as you say they don't charge for.

Kind Regards

Steve

[MI5]

I dunno mate - As I said above, there is no charge for a factory reset as part of the repair process.

I can only guess that they need the password to determine the fault prior to resetting the device.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again, I guess it's a bit of a mystery.

The fault was no display on the screen although the phone did still work as my daughter managed to log on with her thumbprint and we managed to back it up by USB so that was lucky.

It should be repaired in a few days, so I'll ask them in the shop for an explanation before I pick it up.

Kind Regards

Steve

[MI5]

Let us know what they say please.....?

[Anonymous]

Will do

[gindygoo]

Strange indeed, but I'm guessing as @MI5 said that it's too gain access before doing a factory reset to determine what the problem is.

I can see why it's disturbed you a bit though, our personal info and that of our children is not something u want every Tom, Richard and Harry having access to.

I'll keep an eye out for what, if anything you learn about the process as it may help another user in your situation in future.