HTC One X + Custom Rom - Warranty = CGA?

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himynameisandy

15 posts

Geek

#108518 30-Aug-2012 21:34

Here's the brief details.

5 July 2012 I purchased a Telecom branded HTC One X from Noel Leeming.
2 weeks later I unlocked bootloader, installed custom Rom, ticking the box that said "May affect some or all of your warranty" No worries.
2 weeks later noticed I suddenly could not get Wifi reception in my bedroom, and had remembered seeing threads on xda about HTC One X Wifi Problems, so googled them up
Decided my HOX has the wifi hardware problem that HTC has released the following statement about.

After investigating isolated reports of WiFi connectivity issues in the HTC One X, we have identified a fix that strengthens the area of the phone around the WiFi antennae connection points. While many customers have not experienced any problems with signal strength, we have taken immediate steps to implement a solution in our production process to prevent this issue from happening in the future. HTC is committed to making sure every customer has a great experience and we apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused while we conducted a thorough investigation.

Squeezing my phone in the correct spot completely removes the problem, from no wifi reception to 80% instantly for example. So clearly a Hardware fault.

13th Aug Take HOX into Noel Leeming with cover letter describing problem. They send it away to somewhere(?) to be assessed. (I contemplated re-locking and installing Telecom Rom, but decided against it as even when relocking it it says "Re-Locked" instead of the standard "Locked", so still voided warranty)

30th Aug Recieve phone call from Noel Leeming Gore saying that it's Not covered under warranty due to the "bad Software" quote $140 to install new software. Also mention that even if I want it back not fixed, they will charge the ~$85 inspection fee.

I've researched the CGA for hours, and pretty well know my rights, but want to know what you think I should do? Go in to Noel Leeming and start quoting "Fit for Purpose" etc? Am I right in thinking the phone is not Fit for Purpose, even with the custom firmware and no warranty? I can squeeze it in front of them and instantly show the fault :/

Would love your advice!

nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#679514 30-Aug-2012 23:39

You should be able to get this one covered under Section 7(4) of the act. The wording is very legalese, but it pretty much says that a manufacturer must honour their guarantees (e.g. hardware warranty) if your unsupported use of the product was not the cause of a problem.

There's no way Telecom can win this one. You have a phone that HTC have acknowledged is susceptible to a hardware fault. You have the same symptoms, and can "fix" the problem by applying pressure at the WiFi antennae connection points. All signs point to the problem being hardware, so the software you choose to have on your phone is irrelevant.

If they still try and tell you the warranty is void, state it like it is. "The law is clearly on my side here. If you don't drop the repair fee, I'll take you to the Disputes Tribunal and I will win. You'll still have to do the repair for free, and you'll have to pay for court costs, and you'll waste both of our time in the process. Do you really want to put yourself through all that?"

If the Telecom person has any brains, they'll see that it's a lot better to just eat the cost then and there.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#679528 31-Aug-2012 00:43

Sounds like they are trying to wriggle their way out. It is like buying a computer that came preloaded with windows, and you decide to wipe the harddrive and install linux on it. Then it develops a hardware fault. Are they going to say you must run windows not linux for it to be covered for hardware faults.

himynameisandy

15 posts

Geek

#679547 31-Aug-2012 07:02

nzgeek thank you so much for explaining Section 7(4) I have printed it out and will be going in store this morning to politely state the facts to the manager. I am assuming that they will send it back to be repaired. I am also assuming it will take another couple of weeks to get it back :(

Since it has already been away for 3 weeks being 'assessed', just wondering if ~5 weeks to get it repaired is anything to complain about, or should I just grin and bear it and be thankful that I don't have to pay :)

Not the greatest start for my new HOX, it's been away being fixed for longer than the time I've had it! Ha!

Dingbatt

6754 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#679591 31-Aug-2012 09:39

So lets be clear (because some posts have maligned Telecom), your dispute at the moment is with Noel Leeming as the retailer. There is every chance they sent your phone to the nearest HTC approved repairer. And they have probably been instructed in the first instance to look at the software on the phone before doing anything else. While you are quite within your rights to demand they fix a known and acknowledged manufacturing fault, they will not be able test the phone properly after repair because it has non-stock software on it. I note in your initial post that they state the charge (while excessive) is for reinstallation of the correct firmware. So to use the analogy above they are saying they need to blitz your linux partition and reload windows so they can know their repair has worked.

So if that is the case, I believe you have two avenues available to you;

1. Tell them to fix the hardware fault under warranty and return your phone with its existing firmware, by which you accept that it won't have been tested fully, or

2. Pay up and receive you phone back with the knowledge it should be good as new.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

himynameisandy

15 posts

Geek

#679643 31-Aug-2012 11:27

Well that went interestingly. I went in to Noel Leeming at 9am this morning, with my highlighted CGA in hand. And talking directly to the manager, she straight away lied to me saying my phone had been sent away again yesterday. I disagreed that it had (as I had talked to another person last night who was going to 'sort it' today), and she eventually retrieved it from out the back.

After realizing I meant business I continued on about how even though my warranty is void, my phone is covered (particularly) under CGA 7(4) and she jittered her way though trying to convince me I was wrong.

Eventually she warmed up to the idea that I was right and that the phone repair place should fix it. She told me to leave it with her, so I left with her saying she would ring and 'sort it all out'

20mins later I read Dingbatt's reply and thought I should emphasize that I just want the antenna fixed and really didn't care about the software, especially as it had nothing to do with the problem. I walked back down to NL and the manager sheepishly came out saying that "we're going to find a charger and delete the software from your phone". I emphasised that it wasn't just as easy as clicking delete to change the Rom.

I talked to the mobile phone people from Noel Leemings phone and eventually came to the conclusion that
1) Send it back with Telecom Rom and they will fix it under warranty
2) Send it back without Telecom Rom and they will charge the $140 to replace Rom and fix antenna

I possibly stupidly argued that I shouldn't have to find and install the Telecom Rom etc etc. I'm busy enough planning my wedding in 2 weeks! And told them it was their responsibility to fix it. She outright refused to even think about Noel Leeming paying the $140 and she decided that her work mate who mentioned he had rooted and backed up his Telecom Rom would be able to restore it in-store and then send it to be fixed as a warranty job.

So currently that's how it's been left. I am going to leave it to them to get fixed, and get back to wedding plans! Will let you know how it all turns out! (and hope that the guy with his backup rom knows what he's doing! ;)

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#679698 31-Aug-2012 12:46

Personally i think they aren't obliged to reset the software. I think its fair on your behalf to reset the software back to its original condition considering it was modified, sort of a meeting them halfway thing. I helped send back a One X to playtech for a mate and did the software restore on it, relocked the bootloader etc. They gave him a new one, 2 days of downtime. Saying that the phone was less than a month old.

But i agree a hardware fault should definitely be covered.

uglyb0b

335 posts

Ultimate Geek

#679714 31-Aug-2012 13:11

The store is in no way obligated to restore the phone to stock firmware. You flashed an alternative rom, so it is your responsibility to make a backup of stock for situations like this.

You acknowledged right from the start that you are aware that this will "affect some or all of your warranty". This is not a Telecom or Noel Leeming issue. It is a policy HTC have in place, it is not the retailer or service provider's rule.

Being that HTC have acknowledged that the issue you are having is a known fault, they should (ethically speaking) repair it free of charge. However, you have already agreed to the fact that flashing custom firmware will affect "some or all of your warranty" so they can just use that against you.

I would consider myself lucky they are offering to repair it free of charge if it is returned to stock. To be honest I'm not sure why anyone would expect anything but trouble from trying to get an manufacturer to honour a warranty on a device with alternative firmware on it.

Ethically they should still honour it as it is a hardware fault, but it is a very well known fact that, regardless of whether they should or not, manufacturers will take one look at a rooted/custom rom phone and decline the warranty outright.

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nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#679715 31-Aug-2012 13:13

@Dingbatt: You're quite right, Telecom aren't really the guilty party here. There's another thread where someone did buy their phone directly from a Telecom store and are having similar issues getting a warranty repair on a clear hardware issue (the power button). Noel Leemings are definitely the ones at fault here.

@himynameisandy: If you didn't have a wedding to worry about, arguing to option 3 (they just fix the damn problem without doing anything to the software) would have been a better choice. However, given the circumstances, I think you've done the right thing. The only bit to worry about now is whether the NL guy actually knows enough to flash the firmware correctly.

If the NL guys does screw things up and brick the phone somehow, at least it becomes the store's problem at that point and they have to sort it out. Hopefully it doesn't come to that!

Good luck, both for the phone and the wedding.

himynameisandy

15 posts

Geek

#679724 31-Aug-2012 13:23

Cheers nzgeek. I agree if I had the time, I would happily restore the Rom back to Telecom for them, but full time work + wedding planning = lack of sleep at the moment! I just want it fixed! I was thinking back to when I did it and wondering if I *Did* make a backup but can't remember!

And uglybob, I completely agree that Noel Leeming shouldn't have to restore the software, the Only reason they are attempting it themselves is to stop themselves having to pay the $140 Antenna repair, and get it done under warranty. I did not want them to do anything with the software but they weren't prepared to even contemplate taking the cost of repair, as the CGA would require them to do even with the completely voided warranty.

himynameisandy

15 posts

Geek

#679747 31-Aug-2012 14:32

Unsurprisingly Noel Leeming have returned the phone to me to restore to stock. But I'm happy enough with that, I'll just make the time for it! Anyone got a way to download the Telecom RUU without signing up to the Premium account at FileFactory? It's over 500MB so says I need premium. And a thorough google search points all links to FileFactory :/

http://www.filefactory.com/f/7cc7b2fbdd03c031/

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#679864 31-Aug-2012 19:05

himynameisandy: Unsurprisingly Noel Leeming have returned the phone to me to restore to stock. But I'm happy enough with that, I'll just make the time for it! Anyone got a way to download the Telecom RUU without signing up to the Premium account at FileFactory? It's over 500MB so says I need premium. And a thorough google search points all links to FileFactory :/

http://www.filefactory.com/f/7cc7b2fbdd03c031/

I don't think you should have to do that for a hardware fault. But I guess if it was a brand name computer they would probably ask you to do a full restore back from the restore disk, before they will do anything. The difference though is that they supply the restore image with the computer.

gzt

17105 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#679951 31-Aug-2012 23:41

Agree. In this case the warranty repair agency is not saying the warranty is void. That is not the problem. PC warranty repair typically accepts no responsibility for data and often starts with phone support restoring system to default state using original media/installation. I don't see a reason phone repair should charge for this part unless it is at fault. It is not hard.

All the same like you I would not bother with this argument and just restore the phone : ).

Now if these things had an external on board boot function for troubleshooting with a different o/s image...

michaelmurfy

meow
13240 posts

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Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#679970 1-Sep-2012 01:26

Here we go [Linky - Hotfile] (Telecom NZ Firmware) - Hope it helps.

Remember to re-lock your bootloader when done, I know how you feel.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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