British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by Silhouette on Thursday July 01, 2021 @12:26PM (#27700869)

If you're in the UK and an expensive phone really did break just from falling 4 inches after one week, I'd be tempted to try returning it to the seller. There must be a credible argument that it's unfit for purpose if it can be broken that easily due to a design flaw. It's not as if you carelessly dropped it from a pocket at waist height onto a concrete floor or something.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by alias_neo on Thursday July 01, 2021 @12:42PM (#27701095)

I tried, it was from Amazon and neither they nor Oneplus cared how or why it happened, I tried arguing that it was ridiculous that it happened but again, deaf ears, so I just let it be.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by Silhouette on Thursday July 01, 2021 @02:19PM (#27702482)

For that kind of money, you might want to get a bit of advice on the right words to use before giving up. The thing about "Your statutory rights are not affected" is that your statutory rights are not affected, whether they care or not.

Even if you decide not to fight this one, please consider informing one of the major consumer rights organisations so if there is a design flaw and others are experiencing the same problem the manufacturer can't bury their head in the sand and try to avoid responsibility. Other big tech firms have allegedly done this in the past and bad publicity is often what brings them round in the end.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by alias_neo on Thursday July 01, 2021 @02:38PM (#27702750)

Although I understand, and I have done so in the past and won, after speaking with both OnePlus and Amazon I came away feeling that it was my fault.

I had a case on the phone which I removed just an hour earlier because it was dirty underneath, and wit lockdown and working from home I wasn't leaving the house, I saw no need to put it back on, felt like Karma.

Yes I believe the design contributed significantly to it breaking, it just wasn't the time for me to add more stress trying to fight it.

I'm a strange way, it was a good thing, I'm a perfectionist, and having a broken screen put me off wanting to use my phone, that's a good thing in a weird way.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by Silhouette on Thursday July 01, 2021 @05:10PM (#27704913)

That's totally fair enough. You have to pick the fights you think are worth taking, and if it's just going to cause you stress then maybe this one simply isn't. I hope you manage to sort your phone out one way or another.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by alias_neo on Friday July 02, 2021 @03:50AM (#27708881)

Thank you.

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Re:British right to repair law excludes smartphones and comp... by tremon on Thursday July 01, 2021 @01:22PM (#27701675)

Next time, perhaps try a reputable seller?

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