Sony Ericsson F500i

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Suckerpunch

124 posts

Master Geek

#11031 27-Dec-2006 16:32

Hey.

In May 05, I purchased 2 Sony Ericsson F500i's, one for myself and one for my brother.
In July 05 I had to return my phone for repairing as the centre toggle button slowly broke and was no longer useable.
The repair was done for free under warrenty.

It is now over a year since I bought the phones and my phone has now developed the same problem again, and so has my brothers.
this is obviously a fault in the phone design itself and not one caused by the user.
I was wondering if it's worth trying to get vodafone to fix both the phones for free?
Do you think they would do that?

Thanks for your guys advice and thoughts.

Phil.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
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#56423 27-Dec-2006 16:39

Hi Phil

Not sure why Vodafone should be fixing them!! Thats like ringing TVNZ and asking them to fix your TV

You should be talking to sonyercssion or the service agent MFR

John

grant_k

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#56424 27-Dec-2006 16:40

Suckerpunch: Thanks for your guys advice and thoughts.

I had a Sony Ericsson T68i which had the same problem. Overall, it was a flimsy phone, the keyboard creaked, not well made at all.

I very much doubt that you will get your phones fixed free of charge as they are now more than 18 months old and the warranty is just 12 months.

Personally, I agree with you, it is a design fault and my opinion is that SE deliberately design their phones to only last for just over a year so you always have to keep upgrading. I would never buy another SE phone for this reason, however many other brands are getting crappier every year, so your choice for a well-made phone that will last more than 2 years is becoming very limited. Oh for my old Ericsson that was built like a brick and so reliable my Dad is still using it 8 years later!

SE will no doubt say that you have had your money's worth, failure after this length of time is "fair wear and tear". Nothing to lose by trying it on though, maybe they will give you a discount on a new phone...

alasta

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#56426 27-Dec-2006 17:14

johnr: Not sure why Vodafone should be fixing them!! Thats like ringing TVNZ and asking them to fix your TV
You should be talking to sonyercssion or the service agent MFR

It depends on where he bought it. The retailer is ultimately responsible for honouring the warranty so a Vodafone owned store would have to administer warranty claims on anything that they sell. Regardless of that, though, I imagine that going direct to the repair agent would acheive a quicker turnaround.

As I understand it, a manufacturer's warranty is valid from the time of purchase. In other words, the fact that the phone was repaired within the last 12 months is of no help if the phone was originally purchased more than 12 months ago. It may be possible to get a resolution by invoking the Consumer Guarantees Act which states that goods must last a reasonable period of time, but going down this path would probably not be worthwhile considering that it would cost very little to purchase a new phone with similar specifications.

Gigs

95 posts

Master Geek

#56886 4-Jan-2007 16:32

@Suckerpunch:
SE are really the people you need to be talking to if trying to get anything done under warranty when the phone is outside of the warranty period, since in the end the repair agent is a customer of theirs. Given the phone is 19 months old, I wouldn't set yourself up for the false hope of them saying "yeah sure np" but they may. If you contact the repair agent they may put your case forward to the manufacturer, but more often than not you can fast track it by contacting the manufacturer first. Good thing they're one of the few manufacturers that actually do have a local presence. :)

@Grant:
I absolutely envy the fact SE engineers can buy components that last exactly 12 months and 1 day, this to me is an amazing feat in modern day manufacturing.

richms

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#57074 6-Jan-2007 03:06

I have had so many phones with the center clickey toggle stick thing break, and the nokias have a brain dead thing where if you bump it in certain directions when its ringing it will reject or answer or whatever the call, so its inevitable that you do that getting it out of your pocket. My t68 and then the t68i phone insure replacement did it to the point where pushing down on it would often get interpreted as pressing it inwards, so bad that you had to sort of pull it out while pulling it down.

I just wont buy a phone with one anymore, doesn't help you, but you should have a case under consumer guarantees act, just be prepared for a long long wait and that you take it to disputes tribunal if needed. 18 months is not an acceptable lifespan for a phone.

Richard rich.ms