Problems with LG U8120
Skip contentSubject: Problems with an LG U8120
From: GRANT
Date: January 26, 2005
I bought a LG 8120 phone in November. It worked for a month and then stopped working. Then it took 3 a whole month to pick the phone up, I only got it back today and it still does not work! At the same time they are still charging me every month for the contract, even though my phone is not working.
What can I do? Can I cancel the contract, or are they breaking the contract? Help me.
Reply:
Hi Grant,
I am sorry to hear that you have had problems with your LG U8120. First, let me say that we are not lawyers here at the Mobile Phone Directory, and any advice we offer you should not be considered as legal advice.
I know, from a recent search I did for one of our other visitors, that the LG U8120 has had a few problems, and some customers have experienced sudden death or failures of the phone that has made it impossible for them to use the phone. I do not know how common this is, or whether it is due to a software or a hardware defect. However, having said that, there are also many customers who are very happy with this phone, and many of those who experienced faults did not seem to have further problems once the phone had been replaced by a new one. So, do not necessarily write this phone off as a poor model - possibly there was a bad batch or a fault that was then cured.
Anyway, coming onto your points. I think you have a good case for cancelling your contract, on the basis that 3 has not provided you with the standard of service that you might reasonably have expected. You paid to have a usable phone and you have clearly not been able to enjoy that basic service. While 3 is entitled to offer you a replacement, they cannot draw this process out indefinitely.
I think the best step would be for you to take this up with 3 directly - do you have a local 3 store near you, who could deal with this for you? As you are not getting the service for which you have paid you could try threatening them with legal action, such as taking them to the Small Claims Court, which is quite an easy procedure, and I am sure you would stand an excellent chance of winning a case for compensation. This Small Claims procedure is there for disputes such as the one you describe, and often the threat of taking such a case may be enough to make 3 settle with you - they would not want the embarrassment and cost of defending themselves against an accusation of poor service.
I would not recommend that you simply stop paying 3's charges, because they could then claim that you are the one defaulting on the contract, and you should avoid getting yourself blacklisted for non-payment. If you go about this in the right way you should be entitled to a refund or compensation due to 3's poor service to you.
On 3's website I found this paragraph about repairs:
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Repair
3 offers customers two options by which their handset can be returned for repair. Either the customer can visit a retail store to drop the phone off or 3 will arrange collection from the customer following a call to our call centre. The phone is repaired and returned to the customer within 3 days. If a customer returns their phone via a store they will be given a loan phone subject to availability. There is no loan facility if courier collects the handset.'
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I am not sure exactly what this means in your case. Did they get the phone back to you within 3 days of collecting it from you? It would be a good idea to make a record of all the dates and what was said at each stage in the story, just in case you need to explain this to some higher body further down the line, such as the Ombudsman (mentioned below).
If you cannot resolve this dispute easily then you should make an official complaint. As with other phone service providers, 3 must offer its customers a proper complaints procedure, and I also found this on their website.
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Complaints and disputes
We take all customer complaints very seriously. If you have a concern with any aspect of our service, please call us on 0870 7330 333 or by calling 333 free from your handset and we will do our best to resolve it to your satisfaction. We aim to respond to customer complaints within five working days.
If, having contacted us, you feel your complaint has not been fully resolved, you can contact Otelo, our independent dispute resolution agency. Otelo is an independent approved dispute resolution service and aims to help resolve disputes if they arise. We are committed to this process. Otelo is approved by the communications regulator Ofcom.
Otelo's address is: PO Box 730, Warrington, WA4 6WU.
They can be contacted by phone 0845 050 1614 or email enquiries@otelo.org.uk.
Their website is: www.otelo.org.uk
If you feel that your complaint has still not been fully resolved, or if you require further information on the role of Ofcom see www.ofcom.org.uk or call them on 0845 456 3000.
How to contact related organisations:
Otelo
Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman - the independent provider of our dispute resolution process.
Otelo
PO Box 730
Warrington,
WA4 6WU
E-mail: enquiries@otelo.org.uk
Tel: 0845 050 1614
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So Grant, take this one step at a time, and make your points to 3 as clearly and simply as possible. If they are being reasonable then they should either offer you the chance to cancel your contract, or they should offer you some satisfactory deal to make you feel you have been treated fairly. If 3 are not prepared to be reasonable then make an official complaint and take the matter up with Otelo.
As customers, we all have to stand up for our rights at one time or another, and if more people complained then we would get better service in the first place.
Good luck, and do let us know how you get on, and if we can do anything more to help you.
Best wishes,
Mike S
Technical Consultant
