Ordered a brand new phone - O2 sent me a damaged one and won't replace.

[muffinthepuffin]

I ordered a brand new Moto G5 on PAYG from the O2 online shop.  It arrived damaged (dent in the back and gap in the side as it does not close properly - see photos).  I took the phone into an O2 shop who refused to deal with me and just phoned O2 and passed me the phone.  After spending /wasting 40 minutes on the phone to customer services they said I have to send the phone in for repairs and may have to pay for repairs.  Surely when ordering a brand new phone, expecting to get a new (undamaged) phone is not unreasonable.  And why should I have to pay for repairs!!   

[Anonymous]

Also they would have to prove that it wasn’t them that damaged the phone as the phone has been used & registered on the system 

[jonsie]

55Was the box sealed when you got the phone @muffinthepuffin?

Shame you didn't think of checking when you got it but I fear it's far too late to do anything about it now.

[muffinthepuffin]

Why should I have checked it when I got it - does nobody here acknowledge that when ordering a brand new phone (or any other product) - it's a totally reasonable assumption that you will be sent what you ordered?!

Maybe if they sent it within a reasonable time of ordering instead of taking nearly 3 weeks then i would have time to check it - as I said what with flat flooding, family bereavement, no central heating or hot water most of the winter, Christmas/New Year, not being in the country half the time and trying to pack up an entire house and find somewhere to live /avoid becoming homeless, sorting out a phone was hardly going to be number one on my priority list.  

As it was, as soon as I reasonably could I took the phone (unused - protective sticker still on front) into an O2 shop who were friendly and helpful when I walked in and immediately changed as soon as they realised why i was there refused toi even look at the phone and simply phoned O2 and handed me the phone to speak to them for 40 minutes.  If the shop had taken 2 minutes to look a the phone they would have seen that it was damaged and that i had obviously not even used it yet. 

Seems everyone just accepts that O2's default position is to treat all their customers as criminals (if the phone is damaged then the customer broke it)  - O2 are the ones at fault here for sending me a damaged phone!   One of the items I sold on ebay had a fault that I was not aware of - when the buyer told me I immediately apologised, refunded them in full (including postage) and told them to keep the item so as to avoid the hassle of returning it.  It's called doing the right thing - and I am just a private seller not a big company.      

[MI5]

No one is saying you are wrong ot taking O2's stance here. Remember, we are all customers like yourself and all we are saying is that, for whatever good reasons, 4 months is a long time to assess and complain about a phone.
We can't fix it for you unfortunately. All we can do is advise on what we would do if in your situation.

[Skyhawk1010]

Unfortunatly you are going to get nowhere with this. 

I worked in retail for almost 30 years and spent some time working for a Network operator albeit not O2. As a necessity, I learnt about consumer law albeit in my own time.

To effect a complaint of that sort you have what consumer law states ‘a reasonable time’ to in these circumstances to reject the goods because theyre not of merchantable quality. Although consumer law doesn’t define ‘a reasonable time’ the unspoken rule is generally within a month.

Walking into a store with a handset you’ve owned for 4 months (whether used or not) would not be seen as being returned ‘within a reasonable time’ . You could demand the handset be sent away for an independent report from a non-O2 employed engineer but if they diagnose impact damage for example then a small claims court will reject your petition leaving you with costs of your own. 

You can pay for legal advice but a solicitor will only tell you what I’ve just posted here. 

[EmilieT]

Hi @muffinthepuffin 

I'm sorry to hear about your phone troubles. As the other members mentioned above, a complaint is the way to go on this one. You can find more about this here. If you had already complained and aren't happy with the response you got, you can have a look under "Complaint Review Service" to find out more about your next step. 

I hope you get this sorted soon, but let us know how you get on with it!