Hi, I am interested to buy a Fairphone Gen 6 in Switzerland. I’m currently hesitating between getting it from digitec.ch for 529 CHF, or directly from the online shop at fairphone.com for about 480 CHF (since I can get a referral rebate from a friend). However I’m a little concerned by the FP customer service in case of a problem, especially a DOA item. I know that digitec.ch customer service is top notch and a DOA item will probably be replaced immediately. I guess that warranty claims made through digitec.ch may also be handled smoothly, unlike if I have to deal myself directly with FP customer service (which is apparently known to be undestaffed with very long response delays). Would you advise getting it from a reputable seller in Switzerland (e.g digitec.ch) even if the price is approx 10% higher or is buying directly from fairphone.com okay? Thanks for your advice.
In the light of the reported Fairphone support problems I’d opt for the Swiss seller, although I never had to contact support for my phones (2, 3, 6).
Did you also compare shipping costs to calculate the price difference?
The 480 CHF from fairphone online shop applies after getting a 50 euros referral rebate and includes swiss VAT, custom taxes and shipping to a UPS pickup location near me. The price from digitec includes free delivery but I’d rather pick it up at the store near me as well. So no real difference from the shipping perspective. The difference lies mostly on who I’d contact in case of a warranty claim (digitec or directly FP support). I can save about 50 CHF by ordering from FP online shop…but I’d need to deal with FP customer support in case of a problem.
hi, it might be slightly off topic but I use a credit card for such purchases, with 54 or so days of grace period, it gives me a bit of peace of mind.
So if you order a phone from fairphone, something goes off, and you need to return it, you have some buffer time while waiting for the support to get back to you. I would hope 54 days might be enough even if at the moment support times are longer, I believe using the chat might be the solution.
This way you and your friend can benefit from the keep club.
We have not heard a lot of cases of DOA at the forum as far as I can tell.
Interesting info, thanks! When buying from FP online shop, I’d use paypal so I guess it would provide some security as well. But is the actual shipping from FP reliable? I can’t find them again but I read some comments of people having ordered parts/accessories from the online shop and not receiving them. They then tried to contact FP support and could not have a response for a long time. Anyways I plan to install e/OS on the phone so I guess digitec would not handle anything related to that (e.g if I brick the phone by relocking the bootloader and need to have FP reflash it).
I dont think I read about such cases here? They are reliable the only obstacle is the very long waiting time in case of issues and needing help from support (at the moment).
To be honest, the warranty rights after installing e/OS are not so clear to me at the moment but the general rule is that you need to reflash the original FPOS to get help (but also you need to contact the seller).
So I have literally no clue how digitec would handle that.
My experience with shipping was always spotless, even when support was unreachable. What I remember from forum were issues more with delivery companies or wrong addresses but they never felt like very common.
The main issue is when something goes seriously wrong with your phone and you purchased it from fairphone, it is challenging to get help. People have been waiting far too long to get their tickets answered. That imho would be the sole reason to consider a different seller.
Due to so many complaints with the FP support currently, I may still be tempted to get it from digitec. What is unclear to me is that this phone comes with a 5 years warranty but I guess only the first 2 years would be handled by digitec. Would the other 3 years (extended warranty) be handled through digitec as well or would I have to contact FP support directly? If digitec woukd handle all warranty claims during 5 years, it may be worth paying 50 CHF more by buying from them I guess.
And I believe I could join the keep club even when buying it from digitec (but of course I woukd not benefit from the referral rebate).
The warranty documentation suggests contacting the trader. But if the phone is to be repaired, it seems it needs to be sent to Fairphone anyway. I vaguely remember people accounting their experience with that on the forum but will not be able to find it fast.
The link to the current version of the warranty
I would recommend digitec.CH as I had a dead on arrival. I purchased the FP6 with eOS on release day, conacting via contact form got no answer, retried with the live chat, had a waiting time of 30 minutes, then got a UPS voucher. Instead of a fast replacement my FP6 is now repaired, still waiting. So maybe I will get a repaired FP6 for a full price with a waiting time killing a bit of the excitement.
I may have been simply lucky, but my recent experience with FP support has been good. I also reside in Switzerland.
I wanted to order a FP6 with /e/OS preinstalled from them, but whrn my order confirmation arrived it was for a stock Android version. This could honestly have been my error.
I immediately contacted FP support and they reacted quickly, largely within 24h. Alas my phone was already shipped, so under their advice I cancelled my order. I then had to wait a few days, allowing for my already en route parcel to arrive in Switzerland and be sent back to Netherlands.
During all this time FP support kept me updated and informed me clearly over the next steps. Now, my reimbursement has been made.
All in all, as I said, a good experience, I’ve had much worse with some Swiss telcos. I also had read about FP support woes, it may be that they reinforced their staff since or, as I said, just luck. But based on that, I personnally would profit from that rebate and directly order from them. But you do you, of course.
Great to hear a good experience with FP support. It is all not that common but forums are often negatively biased I guess. Will try to make up my mind over the next few days about which route to take. I usually do not spend money on phones so the FP6 price point, although completely justified and fair for the package we get, is still a bit steep for me. So staying below the 500 CHF limit would be a psychological satisfaction 
Thanks fot the feedback!
You’re welcome. Check also on Digitec/Galaxus how they are furnished with exchange parts. After all, unless it’s a very serious problem, you could buy the phone from FP and exchange parts as needed from Digitec (provided they have them), and repair it yourself.
Digitec sells spare parts for fairphones. Maybe not all of them but at least the batteries etc. Moreover this shop is an “authorized Fairphone dealer” (whatever that means) according to toppreise.ch. I wonder if this may mean that they can handle warranty claims with a third party support located in Switzerland, without having to ship the device back to NL (unlike when buying directly from FP)??
Maybe? If this is an important point for your decision, it could be worth it directly asking digitec beforehand.
Just got the best of both world: I just bought a reconditionned unit from digitec for 475 CHF. This is usually a brand new unit that was returned due to someone not liking it (maybe due to the odd refresh rate bug…). The only “drawback” is that it is a green unit instead of the black that I initially wanted…but this will be easily fixable with a 3rd party case once these will become available. Looking forward to receiving the unit to see if everything works ok (it should because digitec tested it so it should rule out a DOA).
Excellent, happy for you! Have fun with your new Fairphone!
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