Opinion Articles

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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