Hi,
I'm getting really fed up so hoping one of you lovely people can help me out! On March 25th I ordered online from Phones 4 U the new HTC One M8 as it was released. I have it on Vodafone contract. It arrived on March 26th and was fab until March 29th when it randomly stopped, displayed a black screen and was totally unresponsive. It stayed that way, getting hotter and hotter until the battery drained.
I called Phones 4 U, spoke to their Tech Team and they agreed to send a bag out for me to post it back to them. Once they had received it, they would then send me a replacement. Annoying, but a fair offer. The bag arrived on the 1st April but without a postal label so I had no idea where to send it back to or any pre-paid postage. Spoke to their Customer Service on 2nd April and they agreed to refund me the cost of postage so the phone was posted back to them on 3rd April.
Second handset was dispatched and received by me on 5th April which was pretty quick and I was impressed. Sadly a few days later, it started to randomly restart and would shut itself off 6-10 times a day, sometimes switching back on instantly and other times taking up to half an hour to restart.
Called Phones 4 U again, "We'll send a bag, send it back, we'll check it and send you a replacement." At this point I thought, I'll ask HTC themselves if there's anything I can do. Followed their advice of deleting all apps, using in safe mode and still restarting. Back to Phones 4 U where I spoke to their Tech Team who agreed I had already done more than they would have suggested so told me to take the handset into my local store the next time it crashed, supply the store with the reference number and they would swap it for me there and then. That was the Easter weekend so I waited until 15th April before going in to the Oxford store.
They were very helpful, called Tech Team and verified the code for a replacement, got a handset out and it was sat right in front of me, ready for me to take away when it all went wrong! The IMEI number on my phone had been duplicated and was registered to a phone sitting in Halfords in Telford. After some suspicious looks and questioning as to how I possessed a phone with an IMEI somewhere else, it was established that I couldn't proceed with a replacement there as their computer systems would not accept my returned handset. Another phone call to Customer Services, another rebate on my monthly bill and home to wait for another bag to be sent out.
Apparently they then ran out of bags! I finally received one and sent the handset back again on 29th April. On 1st May I received an email confirming my order. 2nd May I used online chat to chase them up and was told the handset hadn't been received in their warehouse. I phoned them later that day and was told it had been received but due to the IMEI number being duplicated it was stuck in a loop of not being verified which meant the replacement could not be sent out. The
phone assistant promised to check on it on the following day and call me with an update. No phone call! At that point, I'd had the phone working and physically with me for 9 out of 38 days...
Out of the blue I then received an email stating that my phone was out for delivery on 7th May. I charged it when I got home that evening, logged into Gmail, didn't restore any of my apps so just ran it on factory settings. There was a software update so I installed that, hoping that would fix the issues. Woke up next morning, switched it on and ten minutes later it crashed.
Back to Phones 4 U, did a factory reset and told them I would give it a few days use to see if anything improved. A few more crashes but nowhere near as many as previously encountered.
Then on 10th May, I made a phone call that I couldn't hang up from. Every time I pressed End Call it would go to the home screen but with the call still in progress. A few minutes later, it crashed which at least helped to end the call!
11th May, I needed to call a colleague due to a possible break in at work. Every time I pressed call, it would call, then the screen would go black before attempting to call again automatically. It did that 14 times in less than a minute and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
12th May, called Phones 4 U who agreed that I could have a different handset on the same tariff, £42 pcm. They then proceeded to offer me six options, all of which have been available for around a year and are available on considerably lower tariffs. Phones such as the HTC One Mini, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Experia SP. I asked if I could exchange for the Samsung S5 which is comparable to the M8 in terms of screen size, processor, camera etc and was told I'd have to pay £120 despite it being free to new customers! Or the Experia Z2 which should be £89 but they would knock it down to £49.
At this point, I asked for some time to think about it. I have three options, kept the M8 and hope the next Android update fixes the issues. Change to an older phone and continue to pay considerably more for the next two years, or pay more for an equivalent handset.
Unless of course, you have a better idea..... Given that I'm well outside of my seven days change of mind date, can I ask for more under the SOGA? Or is there some other way I should be approaching this? I did email them last night asking for a better option given all the problems I've had but haven't yet had a response.
I'm getting really fed up so hoping one of you lovely people can help me out! On March 25th I ordered online from Phones 4 U the new HTC One M8 as it was released. I have it on Vodafone contract. It arrived on March 26th and was fab until March 29th when it randomly stopped, displayed a black screen and was totally unresponsive. It stayed that way, getting hotter and hotter until the battery drained.
I called Phones 4 U, spoke to their Tech Team and they agreed to send a bag out for me to post it back to them. Once they had received it, they would then send me a replacement. Annoying, but a fair offer. The bag arrived on the 1st April but without a postal label so I had no idea where to send it back to or any pre-paid postage. Spoke to their Customer Service on 2nd April and they agreed to refund me the cost of postage so the phone was posted back to them on 3rd April.
Second handset was dispatched and received by me on 5th April which was pretty quick and I was impressed. Sadly a few days later, it started to randomly restart and would shut itself off 6-10 times a day, sometimes switching back on instantly and other times taking up to half an hour to restart.
Called Phones 4 U again, "We'll send a bag, send it back, we'll check it and send you a replacement." At this point I thought, I'll ask HTC themselves if there's anything I can do. Followed their advice of deleting all apps, using in safe mode and still restarting. Back to Phones 4 U where I spoke to their Tech Team who agreed I had already done more than they would have suggested so told me to take the handset into my local store the next time it crashed, supply the store with the reference number and they would swap it for me there and then. That was the Easter weekend so I waited until 15th April before going in to the Oxford store.
They were very helpful, called Tech Team and verified the code for a replacement, got a handset out and it was sat right in front of me, ready for me to take away when it all went wrong! The IMEI number on my phone had been duplicated and was registered to a phone sitting in Halfords in Telford. After some suspicious looks and questioning as to how I possessed a phone with an IMEI somewhere else, it was established that I couldn't proceed with a replacement there as their computer systems would not accept my returned handset. Another phone call to Customer Services, another rebate on my monthly bill and home to wait for another bag to be sent out.
Apparently they then ran out of bags! I finally received one and sent the handset back again on 29th April. On 1st May I received an email confirming my order. 2nd May I used online chat to chase them up and was told the handset hadn't been received in their warehouse. I phoned them later that day and was told it had been received but due to the IMEI number being duplicated it was stuck in a loop of not being verified which meant the replacement could not be sent out. The
phone assistant promised to check on it on the following day and call me with an update. No phone call! At that point, I'd had the phone working and physically with me for 9 out of 38 days...
Out of the blue I then received an email stating that my phone was out for delivery on 7th May. I charged it when I got home that evening, logged into Gmail, didn't restore any of my apps so just ran it on factory settings. There was a software update so I installed that, hoping that would fix the issues. Woke up next morning, switched it on and ten minutes later it crashed.
Back to Phones 4 U, did a factory reset and told them I would give it a few days use to see if anything improved. A few more crashes but nowhere near as many as previously encountered.
Then on 10th May, I made a phone call that I couldn't hang up from. Every time I pressed End Call it would go to the home screen but with the call still in progress. A few minutes later, it crashed which at least helped to end the call!
11th May, I needed to call a colleague due to a possible break in at work. Every time I pressed call, it would call, then the screen would go black before attempting to call again automatically. It did that 14 times in less than a minute and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
12th May, called Phones 4 U who agreed that I could have a different handset on the same tariff, £42 pcm. They then proceeded to offer me six options, all of which have been available for around a year and are available on considerably lower tariffs. Phones such as the HTC One Mini, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Experia SP. I asked if I could exchange for the Samsung S5 which is comparable to the M8 in terms of screen size, processor, camera etc and was told I'd have to pay £120 despite it being free to new customers! Or the Experia Z2 which should be £89 but they would knock it down to £49.
At this point, I asked for some time to think about it. I have three options, kept the M8 and hope the next Android update fixes the issues. Change to an older phone and continue to pay considerably more for the next two years, or pay more for an equivalent handset.
Unless of course, you have a better idea..... Given that I'm well outside of my seven days change of mind date, can I ask for more under the SOGA? Or is there some other way I should be approaching this? I did email them last night asking for a better option given all the problems I've had but haven't yet had a response.