I am not expecting the latest Update, presently installing will correct this fault.
I am still within the two year warranty period, yet STILL my supplier - Phonecoop, in the UK refuse to provide me an additional spare Fairphone, expecting me, under UK law to return the thing yet again and yet again be without all my ongoing STUFF on it.
I have reached a point where I almost prefer to retain the Device to use as it is and get an altogether different phone to make an receive calls.
Despite the PhoneCoop’s website, when I last looked, giving detailed instructions, about how to change a voicemail message remotely, it has transpired - according to an Email from them, it is impossible to do it over the connection they supply except by using the microphone itself to alter their settings.
Am I right to understand you need a 4th replacement of the microphone module? This should not be, so we have to search for an underlying issue. Which could be for example a defective SIM card or core module. So I have found your credentials and opened up a mail thread to handle this further.
Apart from this issue, both us and the Phone Coop do not provide a smartphone substitution or rental service at the moment. So you could ask around if someone has a spare phone lying around that they can lend you for the time being, or see if you can rent a smartphone in the case you need to send in your FP2.
No, there are serious problems with the bottom module. I already managed to break two since I received my phone in April 2016, and I’m not particularly careless with my phone. I don’t know what causes this, but I suspect its either the proximity of the USB port or sharing the module with the vibrator. The former could cause interference when charging, the latter… well, I noticed that the vibration gets stronger as the phone ages. Perhaps margins are widening leading to a more “reckless” vibration motor eventually physically damaging the fragile microphone circuitry by sheer force?
Well I am not technical and rather clumsy being dyspraxic but I use the phone for speaking infrequently & am not aware of any particular significant accidents. Also I have used Mobile phones frequently since mid 1990s and NEVER had a microphone problem before so it MUST be either a design or equipment failure issue.
I am fed up with the disruption caused and the difficulties in getting the issue resolved via my supplier PhoneCoop in the UK who have the legal duty to me to get the issue fixed under UK law.
I started the thread really as an advisory as I have almost given up expecting it to be resolved.
I have had numerous emails about it and am fed up with them telling me what I should do in a list of instructions which as a neurologically disabled person are difficult to follow.
Still, if it is a broken SIM card (which happens very often), it will cause problems even when you use it in a brand new phone. So sometimes customers really have to do some homework to see if it is indeed something we can fix or if the cause is beyond our control (we cannot provide you with a new SIM card).
As said, the procedure is that we first receive the phone that has an issue, diagnose it and when a replacement is needed (when the cause falls under warranty) then we provide a repair or a replacement of a module or the whole phone).
I have tested the SIM, it works fine in another phone and a SIM already working fine was used in the Fairphone2 and that did not work.
Either the 3rd replacement microphone has failed or there is a flaw somewhere in the device.
This has been reported to PhoneCoop who refuse to provide an extra phone, so presumably FairPhone prefer to have an unsatisfied customer than provide an already functioning additional phone with a Microphone that is functioning.
Well, if PhoneCoop “refuses” to help you, it’s them and not Fairphone,as they needn’t be aware of your troubles. Just be sure to put the blame where it belongs.
Had you been in contact with FP before the response by @Esmee in this thread?
No, Phonecoop have offered to supply a loan different phone, but after three failures, I am not prepared to go through that again.
They also suggest a UK ombudsman scheme, but I have reached the end of the road with it and only updated the forum as I received a prompt from this Forum.
I do not plan to comment here again and do already realise legal duty is with Phonecoop not Fairphone, but it is their equipment that has failed 4 times in a two year warranty period.
Well, then try FP direct. @Esmee already offered her help.
There might have been a faulty batch of microphones (it really looks like it). Should PhoneCoop have got their share of this batch, it is likely, the repair attempts result in another breaking micro.
You seem to have “hit the jackpot” with your phone.
On behalf of the seemingly high failure rate of FP, I have put my thoughts down here:
I guess @langga is true in a way, seeing us customers with problems
The lack in quality control at the manufacturers might well be due to the fact, that FP is but a small customer compared to almost every other company producing smartphones. So the sorting out of faulty devices is completed by us.
I’ve used the hardware checkup to test the primary microphone.
It’s not working, unless I put a screwdriver in the charger plugin and push it a bit. Without it does not work. I’ve removed the piece and put it back in several times. The problem stays the same.
I’ve had this exact same problem 3 months ago. I received a new piece. It worked, and then after not even 3 months, the same problem again! I’m starting to question the quality. I believe te part where you plug in the charger easily moves, and the choice to build it in the same piece as the microphone makes it to vulnerable.
I think it’s to much of a coincidence I have the same problem, as I own the FairPhone 2 less than a year ago.
I use it as a professional phone and private phone. The fact it leaves me down each two to three months is really a problem. I hope this can get resolved. I often give lectures about the conflict in Eastern Congo and I try to set a good example. But I believe I’m becoming a bad ambassador as people who call me only hear understandable noice.
PS: I’ve contacted the customer support, but two weeks later they have not gotten back to me.
Give them a call. That is said to be more effective than sending mails.
On my behalf, I at least can confirm, that there are working micorphones out there (especially here with me). And I have a FP2 of the first batch.
I have spoken on the phone to Phonecoop, they want to play “The Complaints Game” & for me to fill in forms and refer to a a UK Ombudsman - I refuse to play and am using Fairphone2 for non speech work & another phone for speech work preparatory to abandoning Fairphone & Phonecoop.
Neither are good enough - Fairphone have now supplied under warranty a replacement case, with useless fitting instructions, I managed to break the thing beyond further use before I could fit it.
I want to be a Smartphone User not a Smartphone Tester who pays to work for them!
I meant, to call FP not PhoneCoop.
Why not take the short-cut instead of bothering with PhoneCoop all the time. That road sure will still be open later on, should FP not be willing to help you (which I really don’t expect).
Maybe you even get a new cover.
On the Fairphone youtube channel you will find at least a video, that shows how to remove the case:
(First take off the back cover and then pull up the front rim. To seperate them just stick a fingernail in between the two parts - best on the side with the USB-port - and pull or just move your fingernail like a knife along between the cover-parts.)
My contract to purchase was with Phonecoop NOT Fairphone who will have their own contract between each other.
As for the cover it was broken before it was used, I have to decide whether the effort in returning it via PhoneCoop is a worthwhile exercise, meanwhile I continue to use the original damaged cover which at least stops the battery falling out and gives some protection.
I am unlikely to respond further in this thread as I am now merely replying out of politeness.
Ok, just one more point:
Warranty is something given not by your contractor, but by the manufacturer (i.e. Fairphone in this case). Therefore quite a lot of sellers take the easy way to send you straight to the manufacturer, although they should handle that for you. But still you have the right to address the manufacturer on your own for warranty cases.
If you are not willing to try this, well, it’s up to you, but remember to not put blame on FP, if you don’t give them the chance to sort things out.