back to article O2 extends iPhone 4 return-for-refund window

O2 has - temporarily - extended its returns policy for the iPhone Flaw. Usually, the operator offers a 14-day 'change your mind and get your money back' deal, but for the latest iPhone, its customers now have until close of play on 6 August to return the device. After that date, O2 will revert to the 14-day return window, it …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    What about the camera?

    Aparrently there is also an issue with the iPhone camera. If you hold it a certain way with your finger in front of the lens the camera doesn't work! The solution is to not put your finger in front of the lens. Other cameras are known to have this flaw as well.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    O2 attempts to stuff the user once again

    O2 may think that it is acceptable to impose there own rules regarding returns. If the product is faulty the EU says the item can be returned up to 2 years after the product was purchased.

    DIRECTIVE 1999/44/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

    of 25 May 1999

    Article 2 states

    Conformity with the contract

    1. The seller must deliver goods to the consumer which are in conformity with the contract of sale.

    2. Consumer goods are presumed to be in conformity with the contract if they:

    (a) comply with the description given by the seller and possess the qualities of the goods which the seller has held out to the consumer as a sample or model;

    (b) are fit for any particular purpose for which the consumer requires them and which he made known to the seller at the time of conclusion of the contract and which the seller has accepted;

    (c) are fit for the purposes for which goods of the same type are normally used;

    (d) show the quality and performance which are normal in goods of the same type and which the consumer can reasonably expect, given the nature of the goods and taking into account any public statements on the specific characteristics of the goods made about them by the seller, the producer or his representative, particularly in advertising or on labelling.

    So clearly if the phone does not work as a phone properly because its aerial is stuffed, then the consumer can return it irrespective of the time scale set by the retailer.

    Any 14 day or other arbitrary period is bogus when it comes to faulty goods.

    Once again a UK retailer attempts to stuff a consumer over faulty goods

    1. SG76

      Irrelevant

      Sale of Goods Act gives more rights than the EU Directive. Neither give a 'warranty' that you can get a full refund beyond a reasonable period to inspect the phone, which is what O2 are interpreting as 14 days. If it was faulty, you could still return it up to 6 years later (after 6 months you'd have to prove it was a fault rather than them prove it wasn't faulty when they sold it) but they'd be entitled to offer a repair or replacement, so O2's offer does not screw you on your rights at all.

  3. Fat Freddie's Cat

    I owned an iPhone for less than 24 hours

    I purchased an iPhone 4 directly off Apple for use with my existing O2 contract. After the required two weeks wait, the phone turned up. Direct from Shenzhen. It didn't take 30 days, or even 14 days, to decide the thing was going back.

    The screen? A thing of beauty.

    The OS? Snappy and intuitive.

    Generally a great phone.

    Yes. A couple of niggles. I found the thing somewhat heavy and uncomfortable when held to the ear. I saw some signal attenuation - but no worse than that I see on mobile phones in general.

    But overall a great phone.

    So what was the problem?

    It comes in two parts.

    Firstly, O2 recognised that I was using an iPhone and remotely disabled tethering.

    If we get into the nitty gritty of my contract with O2, I'm not allowed to tether my computer to my mobile phone. I understand why this is in the contract but, by and large, it's not enforceable.

    Except Apple has given some magic sauce to O2 so now it is enforceable. Talking with O2, they want another £10 per month to enable tethering. I'm expected to pay twice for my data because I have an iPhone?

    For me, tethering is something I rarely need to do (I work from home in range of a good WiFi network when I'm not wired into my desk) but when I do need tethering, it's really quite important. What's more, when I need to use tethering, generally I'm abroad. At £3.00 per MB (or more), the phone company is generating enough revenue thank you very much.

    More to the point, my new, expensive phone is being hobbled such that it offers less than the old Nokia E71 it's replacing.

    Not acceptable.

    Which brings me on to part 2.

    In any other ecosystem, I'd install some third part app and be back in business.

    Not in Apple World. The App Store Police Don't Allow Applications Like That.

    Which made me realise that while I want to be kept moderately safe, I don't want to be molly coddled.

    The iPhone's gone back.

    Now I've got a Samsung Galaxy S (an Android phone). The OS isn't as polished as that in the iPhone.

    But it's not Apple's Phone.

    It's not O2's phone.

    It's my phone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      huh?

      This makes absolutely no sense, why would anyone that stupid care about an extra £10? You've got to be insane to go overseas and pay for a data rate that isn't on a specialised contract. If you're so rich, what is £10 for you? That's just over 3MB of data, and if it's so 'essential', you'd go on a dedicated overseas data plan. Ultimate fail

    2. Giles Jones Gold badge

      T&Cs

      Read the terms and conditions for O2, you aren't allowed to use tethering even if you can "hack" your phone to enable it.

    3. Annihilator
      FAIL

      Eh??

      This is the first you've noticed? Where have you been bro?

  4. joshimitsu
    Jobs Horns

    It's my phone

    Sounds like a marketing tagline.

    Anyway, I got a phone with another OS because you can't just plug the iphone into any other PC and use it as a USB storage device, so it's a pain copying your photos off it. My old phone had a whole bunch of photos I couldn't sync to my PC because I'd rebuilt the PC at some point. And the Windows Camera Wizard method doesn't work. And I have gave up at that point

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      it shows up as a camera?

      Uh, it shows up as a regular camera doesn't it? Just copy or import like a normal camera?

  5. Lottie
    Joke

    iPhone Flaw?

    Please don't refer to it as that, there IS NO FLAW. Se, I used capitals to prove it. There's no problem, except for the problem that all phones suffer from which isn't a problem and even though the iPhone suffers from it it isn't a problem or an issue. As for the seperate issue of the antenna detuning, the software patch fixed that because it din't exist either and it didn't need fixing anyway and.... Look! the goodyear blimp *runs away*

  6. David McMahon
    Jobs Halo

    Missed memo

    Gahh im so sick of all the Apple Haters!

    It's just a privacy mode! Hold it in a certain way, you get privacy!

  7. Annihilator
    Paris Hilton

    Buy out of your contract

    I'm wondering, I seem to recall O2 also offered you the chance to buy yourself out of your existing contract to get an iPhone 4 early. As part of that, you agreed to give up your 14-day cooling off period. Wonder how this affects them, but frankly I reckon if you were foolish enough to stump up that money....

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