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Thursday, September 18, 2014

The HTC One pink/purple camera saga: part 2

Mark Bridge feels marooned by a high-street mobile phone retailer

Mark Bridge writes:

Well, I wasn't expecting that.

Here's what happened. Following my online rant about the customer service I'd received when I suffered a problem with my HTC One, I wrote to Carphone Warehouse.

This was, I felt, pretty straightforward.

I explained the problem, reminded the company of its legal obligation and asked them to fix the phone. Next, I checked on the company website and sent my letter by recorded delivery to the address for "any complaint that's not about insurance": PO Box 375 in Southampton.

And then I sat and waited for an answer. And I waited. And waited.

After a couple of weeks, I'd heard nothing. Very disappointing. I checked the Royal Mail website to see if my letter had been delivered. Yup. Signed for by Ray.

So I prepared my legal case against Carphone Warehouse. I wasn't naive enough to expect a brand new phone after a year... but I did expect the camera to be fixed. I needed to know how much to claim, which meant finding out how much HTC would charge me.

The simplest way, I thought, was to phone HTC's customer service number. The person who answered my call was familiar with the problem - not a common thing, he said, but he'd had a few - and told me it would be covered by the manufacturer's warranty as long as there was no sign of misuse.

I asked how long the warranty lasted, expecting the answer to be 12 months. "Two years", I was told. What? Yes, two years. And a courier could collect my phone tomorrow, if that was okay.

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Sure enough, a courier collected my phone as promised. A week later my phone returned. Fixed.

Did I discover what actually caused the HTC One purple camera problem? No, although the 'overheating' theory seems plausible. Did I ever get an answer from Carphone Warehouse. No. Over a month later, I'm still waiting. That's very disappointing. Would I recommend HTC? Based on their product and their customer service, I definitely would.

And yes, I could have contacted HTC first and not had the hassle with Carphone Warehouse. I wouldn't even have minded if the Carphone sales advisor had told me to contact HTC because they'd fix my phone for nothing. Instead, I'm feeling let down by my chosen retailer. I think they've let HTC down, too.

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Author: The Fonecast
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3 comments on article "The HTC One pink/purple camera saga: part 2"

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Marius

10/18/2014 11:34 PM

Hello,

I have a similar problem with my phone. Did they send you a new one or did they just fix the camera?


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Mark

10/20/2014 8:45 PM

They just fixed the camera. The phone was over a year old, so I didn't expect it to be replaced with a new one.


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Fiona

10/28/2014 1:19 PM

Thanks for this useful article. I have the very same problem with my HTC One that I bought in March this year. It is currently with Carphone Warehouse for repair. However, tracking the repair online I've discovered that they can't repair it and I'm just waiting for a phone call from CPW to tell me I can come and collect it. I'm trying to predict what they're going to tell me so that I can prepare my defence. I'm going to stand my ground and bring all my assertiveness skills to the fore but if all else fails it looks like I have a fall-back position with HTC. Watch this space.......

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Opinion Articles

4G doesn't come to Three

Mark Bridge writes:

Earlier today, Three.co.uk published a blog post headlined “4G comes to Three”. But it hasn’t.

I spent most of this morning here at Mobile World Congress muttering about the blog before returning to it this afternoon. And suddenly it’s changed.

The blog post remains. The headline is completely different. Now we’re told “Three to launch leading edge 3G service”.

Author: The Fonecast
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How far does it go, mate?

Geoff Varrall of RTT writes:

About 15,000 years ago some indigenous Northern Australians decided that they needed a more efficient way of talking to each other than just shouting a lot.

And blowing into a long cylindrical tube proved to be just what was needed and seriously useful fun – the dawn of the didgeridoo.

Trumpets and bagpipes were invented at about the same time. The ancient Greeks used the trumpet in battlefield communication to devastating effect.

The way you can tell that your didgeridoo is better than everyone else’s didgeridoo is to blow into it and see how far the sound goes.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 20th February 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

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Last week’s magic was supplied by imaging company Scalado, which announced a new product called ‘Remove’. The clue’s in the name: it can automatically remove unwanted people from photos taken on a mobile phone. Expect to see it on a handset near you before too long.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 13th February 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s not been a good week for Nokia staff, with 4000 of them likely to lose their jobs from factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico. The company says it’s moving device assembly to Asia, where it’ll be closer to component manufacturers. The three scaled-down factories will remain open with a new focus on smartphone customisation.

Author: The Fonecast
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Could a new legal framework for FRAND principles end the mobile patent wars in 2013?

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m not the first person to point out that mobile phone patent battles are raging all around us. They’ve been going on for years.

However, the topic of FRAND patents - those designated as ‘industry standards’ and therefore required to be licensed on Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory terms - has become an increasingly newsworthy topic.

In the last couple of weeks we’ve reported on an EC investigation into Samsung’s licensing of mobile patents and a Motorola/Apple legal battle that involves FRAND licensing.

Author: The Fonecast
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