Orange Refusing to Repair 7 month old Phone

I am currently having issues with Orange.

I took out an 18 month contract with them last December, i received a Sony Ericsson C905 as part of my contract (I paid £160 for the phone) , a month later the phone developed a fault (the slider was misaligned and scratched the key pad, this was a common fault), Orange sent me a new phone and took away my faulty one. 7 months later the new phone has developed a new fault, the earpiece speaker has failed, meaning when phoning someone, they can hear me, but i can't hear them. I can hear them when i put them on speaker phone though.

I rang Orange trying to get my phone replaced but they have refused, saying that because the phone is more than 6 months old, that i need to send the phone to Sony Ericsson to be repaired. After doing some research i feel that this is untrue. I emailed Orange to say that i was not happy with them telling me to send the phone to SE as i feel they should repair the phone as they were the ones who sold me the phone, and i quoted the Sales of Goods Act, to which they keep trying to fob me off with, saying:

'The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumer Regulations 2002 relate to - if a fault develops within the first 6 months then it is deemed that the fault was apparent at the point of sale and the consumer needs to return to the place of purchase. After 6 months of usage the onus is then reversed and it is up to the consumer to prove the fault. As the equipment is now over 6 months old the customer would need to contact the manufacturer of the goods in order to obtain a repair/replacement of goods.'

I have replied back to them to show me where it says in the sales of goods act that i need to send the phone back to the manufacturer because it is more than 6 months old. And i linked them to the this Citizens Advice Bureau show that they are either misinterpreting the act, or trying to fob me off:

Could someone please confirm that i am actually in the right on this issue, and Orange are in fact just trying to get out of their legal duties? Or am i actually misinterpreting the act?

If i am in the right and Orange still deny that they need to repair or replace my phone, where do i stand? What can i do to convince them that they need to?

Thanks
Simon

In the last email i sent Orange i told them i would be more than happy to take the phone to an Orange shop to prove that the phone is faulty, it is also a very common fault with this phone and Orange have even said that to me. How would i go about proving that the phone hasn't been misused? Is the fact that it is a very common fault justification enough? Orange also gave me a fault code when i initially rang up.

Currently i am having an email discussion with a team leader at orange, he is the one who is giving me all of the speel about having to return it to SE.

He originally emailed me my proof of purchase so i could return it to SE, until i decided that Orange should be the ones to foot the bill to return the phone.

SE have a freepost address to send the phone to but im not willing to risk sending the phone via royal mail, especially when it would only be insured up to £36 unless i pay for special delivery, which would only be around £5, but still, why cant orange pay that?

So where do i stand if Orange still refuse to repair the phone or foot the bill to send the phone back to SE?

I managed to get my problem sorted in the end. Orange agreed to pay for special delivery next day postage for me to send my phone back to SE and refunded me a months line rental due to the postal strikes, i then checked my account and they have credited me £39 (£17 more than they should have) so im definatly not complaining. Orange told me that the phone has a 6 month warranty, so each phone you have recieved from them will have a new 6 month warranty, so they are trying to fob you off saying its only 3 months. I have the email address of a team leader down at orange if that could be of any help to you?