My rights as a consumer , I am going in circles with telecom.

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › My rights as a consumer , I am going in circles with telecom.

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JaseNZ

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#1010613 21-Mar-2014 14:33

So today after more calls dropping I headed back to my Telecom store. This is now the 4th time I have been back and I am really starting to get pissed off. I installed a call recording app the other day after they decided trying to swap the sim card out, I played them the calls which just about all were of 27 - 30 sec duration before the call dropped out mid sentence.
Sorry for the animation of my post but I am both frustrated and fuming , Does a Telecom store manager neither have the balls or authority to replace a phone ??. The store manager told me that he has to talk to the regional manager before they decide what to do.
They are saying that the two times it has been sent away the tech's were not able to find anything wrong with it, this may be the case but it does not mean there is not a fault there. I have proven this with the recordings of the dropped calls. The manager also looked up my number (which telecom did as well when i rung them) and he was able to see 3 dropped calls today WTF does this not show there is a problem. What else do I need to do to convince them there is a problem. The manager said they would ring me back sometime next week after they have had their talk with the regional manager and in the mean time I have to put up with more random dropped calls.

I am at my wits end with this and don't really know what to do next.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

Sideface

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#1010637 21-Mar-2014 14:51

Presso: ... The manager said they would ring me back sometime next week after they have had their talk with the regional manager and in the mean time I have to put up with more random dropped calls ...

If the phone drops calls how is the manager going to phone you?

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loceff13

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#1010650 21-Mar-2014 15:16

Seems you are as high as you can go for your local Telecom store, being up-to the area manager.

Either see what they say or skip them entirely and Contact Samsung, mention the time-frame you have experienced the issue for and the times you have taken it in for service etc with no resolution and you want it resolved as the issues started while it was still under warranty. Their customer service is pretty damn good and you will generally get further than any store will be willing to go on your behalf.

JaseNZ

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#1010652 21-Mar-2014 15:17

Sideface:
Presso: ... The manager said they would ring me back sometime next week after they have had their talk with the regional manager and in the mean time I have to put up with more random dropped calls ...

If the phone drops calls how is the manager going to phone you?

I said as I was walking away in a sarcastic/pissed off manner that when he trys to call me I hope the call drops out then he may feel 1% of the frustration i am feeling at the moment.

Oh the other thing he said was that it could be my number ?? , I have had this number for as long as I can remember I don't see how this could make any difference.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

Jonski

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#1010653 21-Mar-2014 15:22

IANAL.
Consumer.org.nz will have plenty of advice for you.

Essentially, the Consumer Guarantees Act says that the product you buy has to be of acceptable quality. You should expect a mobile to last perhaps three years, so it failing now (warranty status is irrelevant), shows it not to be of acceptable quality.

Your contract is with the retailer. They have to repair, replace or refund at their discretion and you have to give them a reasonable chance to do so. I'd suggest that their four bites at the pie is a reasonable chance. If the problem can't be fixed, you can demand it to be replaced or refunded, or have it repaired elsewhere at the retailer's expense.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

JaseNZ

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#1010655 21-Mar-2014 15:23

loceff13: Seems you are as high as you can go for your local Telecom store, being up-to the area manager.

Either see what they say or skip them entirely and Contact Samsung, mention the time-frame you have experienced the issue for and the times you have taken it in for service etc with no resolution and you want it resolved as the issues started while it was still under warranty. Their customer service is pretty damn good and you will generally get further than any store will be willing to go on your behalf.

If I get no joy from the regional manager then I have to do just that. The thing is I should not have to, Telecom sold me the phone its their responsibility to fix the situation.

Nobody else in my building is having this problem , well they are when I curse like hell when a call drops as they have to listen to me. The loner phone I was given while it was away for repair never dropped a single call both times I had it , don't you think this should be showing them something is wrong??

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

JaseNZ

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#1010659 21-Mar-2014 15:27

Jonski: IANAL.
Consumer.org.nz will have plenty of advice for you.

Essentially, the Consumer Guarantees Act says that the product you buy has to be of acceptable quality. You should expect a mobile to last perhaps three years, so it failing now (warranty status is irrelevant), shows it not to be of acceptable quality.

Your contract is with the retailer. They have to repair, replace or refund at their discretion and you have to give them a reasonable chance to do so. I'd suggest that their four bites at the pie is a reasonable chance. If the problem can't be fixed, you can demand it to be replaced or refunded, or have it repaired elsewhere at the retailer's expense.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Jon

I think the problem is that it has been sent away by them twice but the techs could find nothing wrong with it so in their eyes there is nothing wrong with the phone that's why I installed the call recorder app so I have at least some measure to prove that some thing is not right. As i said they also told me today they could see dropped calls on my number.
I could also get them to call any number of people who while trying to talk to me the call drops out.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

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mattwnz

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#1010719 21-Mar-2014 16:39

If you don't have a second phone, why don't you buy a second really cheap one, eg $20, and test running both at the same time, by phoning a free number, and see if the cheap one also drops out. If it doesn't it would indicate a problems with the phone. Also videoing both side by side would help show the problem. Consumers probably shouldn't have to go to that effort, but these intermittent faults can be very hard for both parties to solve.

jaidevp

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#1010978 22-Mar-2014 11:17

Hi If you PM me your details and number. I will take a look at the dropped call stats on Monday.

JaseNZ

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#1010984 22-Mar-2014 11:40

jaidevp: Hi If you PM me your details and number. I will take a look at the dropped call stats on Monday.

Just got a call from the telecom store and they have given me two options, a loner S4 to test with to see if I have any problems with it or option 2 to replace my phone.
I am actually going to go with option 1 and get a loner S4 off of them to see if I have the same problem and if I don't then I can go with option 2 and have the phone replaced. If I do have a problem with the loner then I know its something else. Nobody else in my business is having these problems but for my own piece of mind I want to try option one instead.

Edit : Have changed my mind and I am going in today to replace the phone , There are other people in our building with the S4 and they don't have any problems so getting a loner phone is not really going to do anything , that and the fact the S3 I was given as a loner phone twice never dropped a single call.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

jaidevp

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#1011041 22-Mar-2014 13:46

Hi yes I was going to suggest the same thing, at this point option 2 was the best choice.

jeffnz

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#1011046 22-Mar-2014 14:17

Presso:
jaidevp: Hi If you PM me your details and number. I will take a look at the dropped call stats on Monday.

Just got a call from the telecom store and they have given me two options, a loner S4 to test with to see if I have any problems with it or option 2 to replace my phone.
I am actually going to go with option 1 and get a loner S4 off of them to see if I have the same problem and if I don't then I can go with option 2 and have the phone replaced. If I do have a problem with the loner then I know its something else. Nobody else in my business is having these problems but for my own piece of mind I want to try option one instead.

Edit : Have changed my mind and I am going in today to replace the phone , There are other people in our building with the S4 and they don't have any problems so getting a loner phone is not really going to do anything , that and the fact the S3 I was given as a loner phone twice never dropped a single call.

I think that is the right decision, there ius some evidence there is an issue on some S4's in other forums if you google it and whilst most think its firmware it doesn't matter the firmware should function as it is supposed to. Although this has taken a while I think its a good result for you.

Off topic, I can understand the Telecom staff when a phone or item is said to be faulty and it shows up with nothing as I'm in an industry that people blame the item before anything and expect immediate replacement, sometimes the easy way out ofjust replacing something is good for business but until you find the fault you haven't fixed the problem. Not saying it is the same in this circumstance as it isn't.

Galaxy S10

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blakamin

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#1011048 22-Mar-2014 14:19

Good result, finally.

JaseNZ

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#1011055 22-Mar-2014 14:57

Just got back from picking it up and its just in the process of upgrading to 4.3 , I forgot how long it takes to download the package lol.

Yes a good result in the end and I can understand their point of view however I was very patient for over 3 months before I started getting testy about the problem.
I have read where other people have had the same problem although I have not seen anything mentioned here about it in nz. I did make sure I checked the battery s/n on the new phone before I walked out the store did not want to have to go down the battery problem path.

I am happy with the result of the phone being replaced.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

jeffnz

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#1011073 22-Mar-2014 16:53

Presso: Just got back from picking it up and its just in the process of upgrading to 4.3 , I forgot how long it takes to download the package lol.

Yes a good result in the end and I can understand their point of view however I was very patient for over 3 months before I started getting testy about the problem.
I have read where other people have had the same problem although I have not seen anything mentioned here about it in nz. I did make sure I checked the battery s/n on the new phone before I walked out the store did not want to have to go down the battery problem path.

I am happy with the result of the phone being replaced.

should have waited another couple of months and then got S5

just kidding Telecom people

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