Hi,
i bought my fairphone 3 through a reseller in Austria.
somehow the glass on my fingerprint sensor got broken and i don’t know how to get replacement parts.
When reaching out to support i had to chose if i had bought my fairphone on the fairphone website (which i didn’t) or from a reseller - which i did,- but mine wasn’t listed. So i chose another one i didn’t buy it from and wrote in the comment field my correct reseller-
anyways - my automatic reply said that i could contact my reseller directly (naming the wrong reseller i chose) and get support from him.
So long question short - how do i get support, where do i get support, how do i buy this replacement part for the fingerprint sensor and why is this so hard?
Even when registering for this forum i couldn’t select that i own a fairphone 3.
I am helpful for any help and sorry for anyone having to read my frustrated message.
P.S.: the fingerprint sensor still works, but since the glass on it has a crack it doesn’t work as reliably as in the beginning.
I’m entirely unsure as to whether you can buy a spare fingerprint sensor, I checked in the spares section and it’s not there (yet?) - https://shop.fairphone.com/en/spare-parts/
I think to get a warranty repair, you have to contact the person/company you bought it from and they have to process it.
So if it was, for example, The Phone Co-op that you purchased the phone from. You would contact The Phone Co-op to fix it.
I am really not so sure if breaking a glas is considered a warranty case.
As the glas was not broken on delivery of the phone, this fact can not be claimed as a warranty case.
One can only claim, that the glas was defective in a way making it prone to breaking. But is that really likely or isn’t it more likely, that e.g. something (like a key) that was in the pocket with the phone broke the glas? And that would clearly not be a warranty case, as it is not a defect the phone had from the beginning.
This is just guessing of course. I would have to look it up to give an answer I am more sure about.
I have also looked for spare parts and didn’t find any (why? I mean it has 10/10 points on ifixit.com)
I didn’t contact the online shop I bought it from so far, this broken sensor glass is such a small crack that at first I thought there was a hair on or behind the sensor. It’s not visible from every side, only if light falls on it from a certain direction.
The main reason I’m asking for support here is because I don’t want to send in my phone if not absolutely necessary.
My understanding is that the fingerprint scanner is part of the core part of the phone and isn’t one of the replaceable modules.
The modules aren’t currently in stock either, probably because right now the parts are being used to make whole phones and supply warranty based replacements.
Your best bet is to contact the reseller of you think that this was a manufacturing defect
This will make the repair an easy one.
And if there should be more people experiencing those kinds of cracks in the glas, maybe it is really a quality issue.
You’re right, it is a part, but it’s not one of the modules and isn’t listed as a part on the webshop. All the modules are, even though they are not currently stocked and available.
This would be suggestive that it’s something that can be repaired but not by the public.
The question is whether the phone functions with it taken out… Otherwise this is a good solution for a DIY minded person.
I would kindly ask you not to change the topic to whether a fingerprint sensor would be a good idea, how it works privacy wise and so on, if you want to discuss that please open a new thread and feel free to post a link here, but stick to the topic here.
So update from my side is that my phone seller answered
They can send in the phone for repair, which would take 6 weeks (!!!)
I would really have to think about that, since I bought this phone because my old phone was broken and six weeks withouta phone is quite long.
I would really just like to buy the part myself and repair it myself due to obvious reasons.
Unfortunately the forum probably can’t help you with that as the parts aren’t freely available.
You could try contacting Fairphone by phone to see if they have or are soon going to have these parts available so that you could repair yourself, else the only solution is to return it I think, or live with it as it is - but if you do this you’d still need to get it repaired within the warranty period if it’s going to be dealt with as a warranty claim.
Likewise, my comment was that asking, as Paula said, would be a good idea. My comment was though that if the phone doesn’t function without the part installed, then this isn’t going to be possible.
I never said the warranty claim is going to be successful; all I said is that it is up to the seller to prove this was due to user error.
It is essentially the same as using custom firmware and blowing something up with that. (Extremely unlikely, but possible.)
As for you missing your phone for 6 weeks: you could wait a few months until Fairphone 3 is more widely available. That way, it is probably (but not for sure) going to take less than 6 weeks at that time. If in doubt, ask your seller and/or Fairphone about this. Also, like @paulakreuzer says, at that time, more people might be trying to get rid of their fingerprint sensor. Heck, maybe Paula will give/sell your her’s.
And here’s another one who happily will remove the sensor, as soon as I have my FP3 in hands (assumed this doesn’t cut back other functionalities of the phone)
My FP2 doesn’t have a Fingerprint sensor.
And I already checked with @Monica.Ciovica: She is not okay with me taking out the fingerprint sensor of the demo FP3 we have in Vienna right now.
As for the hole in the case (which people would experience if they detach the fingerprint sensor for whatever reason), perhaps @Leo_TheCrafter can fix it with his 3D printer?
Maybe I could do that. I may be able to print just a black disk of plastic, that fits the hole and is close enough to the original that it is held in place. I would need a picture of a sensor that is detatched and some precise meassurements and I can do that
