Anyone experienced weird and shady answers from Fairphone customer support when asking for an exchange or refund ??
My Fairphone 5 microphone systematically shuts down during video calls. I contacted customer support while my phone was under the 2-year legal warranty.
It took me 3 months and multiple emails to finally get an explanation. I have be told to wait again and again for an answer from their tech team. They even told me they were not aware of this technical issue, which is a lie - many people wrote about it on various forums.
Turns out the noice cancelling algorithm is to blame. Itās faulty and canāt be fixed.
Yet Fairphone refuses to refund my FP5 or exchange it for another phone (since all Fairphone 5 have the same issue). After threatening to file a legal complaint, the company offered me a 200ā¬ refundā¦ out of the 700ā¬ I paid !
They are willing to go up to 300ā¬ only if I buy a brand new Fairphone 6. All in all, they refuse to comply with the legal warranty and want to make me pay if I want a functioning phone.
@Fairphone_CM ā¦ The Legal Hub linked to at several places on the website along with every deep link to it is not available currently (page not found). This needs urgent fixing ā¦ https://www.fairphone.com/en/legal/
If your legal counsel shares this view, please go through with the legal stuff and report the result.
Should be interesting.
Edit: Did you buy the phone from Fairphone directly, by the way, so are Fairphone also the seller?
My FP5 microphone does not shut during the calls. While it is of course a anecdotal evidence and does not make your phone working, it may make one doubt how universal the issue is.
Could you please tell us more about the issue? Which microphone, what kind of calls - you mention video calls, what app?, in what circumstances? Have you sent your phone for repair/diagnostics? Have you run any troubleshooting yourself?
I bought my FP5 from Fairphone directly, which explains why the situation is soooo stupid. Fairphone claims their T&C never mentions a full refund. They say that āliability is limited to the actual cash value of the product at the time of the claimā. But thatās not how legal warranty works.
Had I bought my phone from a third-party seller, Iām pretty sure they would have complied with the legal obligations.
Fairphone also admits that āif a direct repair is not feasible for a specific issue (ā¦) we may offer an upgrade to a successor modelā but at a surcharge ! What king of stupidity is that ?
They admitted they canāt fix my phone and yet still refuse to give me another one without charging me.
My legal counsel is 100% affirmative that these terms do not comply with the law regarding the 2-year warranty for any electronic device.
It happens whenever there is background noise (even the slightliest) from the other callers, regardless of the app used. This turns my video-conferences to nightmares : I can hear everyone but canāt speak because my mic shuts down. My family lives abroad and I video-call them everyday. You can imagine how frustrating that is.
I told customer support how crucial that issue is for me and that I have never been able to use my phone properly since I bought it. But they consider it a minor issue.
I have run all the diagnostics there are. Nothingās wrong with my mics from a hard-ware point of view. The issue is only the built-in noice-cancelling algorithm and Fairphone canāt modify it.
Hello
thank you for your reply. I can understand the situation and your feelings better now.
Now that sounds indeed like a specific issue as you said your microphones are not faulty.
I used more video-calls on the phone during COVID, now I am mostly using the laptop for it.
I also do not recall taking any video-calls on the phone without a headset, so please tell me more about your settings.
Are you using the speaker mode? could any headset or an external mic be a solution?
does it happen with all the apps you are using? which OS are you on?
No, my mic shuts down whenever thereās noice around the other participants. People can see my lips moving but no sound comes through.
Even if there are ānot many reportsā itās a huge problem for me and Fairphone refuses to comply with the legal warranty. They want me to pay extra so I can have a working phone because they donāt know how to fit the issue !
About the number of reports on this, thereās a difference between telling me not many people experienced this difficulty and completelylie to me by saying the company had never heard of such an issue. Customer service had me waiting 3 months by answering my emails ātech teamās working on itā, donāt worryā and in the end they only told me the truth when I threatened to file a legal complaint.
They wonāt even provide me with a working phone. Now they answer my emails but copying/pasting their 2 āsolutionsā : giving me back 200ā¬ out of the 700ā¬ I paid or have me pay for a FP6. Unbelievable.
Fairphone acts as if they care and weāre all part of some virtuous and cool movement when in fact they are full of sh*t towards their customers.
99% of my video-calls are with my family. This means a headset is out of question : the people who are physically with me wouldnāt be able to hear the conversation or be heard.
Something as simple as saying hi to my parents, my brothers and sisters has become impossible.
I have re-read the warranty as it is available online.
I have doubts whether the warranty applies here as it is related to hardware not software, and I am assuming there is no manufacturing defect as you said.
You mentioned there are other people around, have you tested any device which would behave in a desired way?
Edited to say that the topic linked by @yvmuell was very informative
@Deebbiie could you possibly try turning off the speaker when you talk? I am not sure how doable that is. Plus someone mentioned Zoom settings..
To be honest, I should not have to try every imaginable solution to be able to use my phone.
It turns out I already did all the tech checkups there are and nothing so far. I tried every possible setting within the apps I use for conference-calls, nothing at all. I do not use Zoom since I donāt do professional meetings but family videos. Furthermore, how could I turn off the speaker ?? This would mean I canāt use the video aspect of the call.
Fairphone can write whatever they wish in their T&Cs, that does not exempt them from complying with the law. With the purchase of any new electronic device, the customer gets a 2-year legal warranty that protects them against malfunctions and hidden defects. If the device is not working properly, the seller is compelled to offer a viable solution, be it fixing the phone, exchanging it for a new one or refunding in full the purchase.
For what I know, Fairphone could write that a phone that does not turn on is not malfunctioning, or that unicorns are real, that does not make it true.
I am really fed up with their disregard towards the customers and the legal obligations that come with any purchase.
Understandable so go the legal route when its so clear.
I just would like to say your case seem extrem or different I cant remeber that it was reported before that ANC is activated because of noise coming out of the speaker from the other side.
However as they offered a FP6 (altough Iām sure you dont want itā¦)
May I offer my sympathy at your disappointment with both the performance of your FP5, and Fairphone Customer Support in failing to resolve your issue. Whilst I cannot offer any advice regarding the warranty or the legal position, I can offer some information that will help you understand and work around the technical limitations of the FP5.
The FP5, like every smartphone, is a personal device designed to be used by an individual. The loudspeaker and auxiliary microphone are designed to give you the convenience of hands-free operation and the noise cancelling software is designed to minimise interference from extraneous sounds other than your voice as the caller/ user. Clearly, the FP5 isnāt doing a good enough job for you when you have several callers at your end. I doubt any smartphone alone will satisfy you, and Iād be interested of you experience with any other device or phone.
I have had very good results with an external speakerphone, specifically a Jabra SPEAK 510, connected by bluetooth to my FP4. The Jabra is designed for multiple callers. Although not a cheap device, you may find investing in this or a similar device gives quicker results and costs less than taking legal action. The Jabra also works well with other devices such as a PC. Iāve used it with Zoom, WhatsApp, the phone app, and other apps.
You donāt say what app youāre using for your video calls, but you may find that using WhatsApp over WiFi gives better results than the phone app over mobile (2G/ 3G/ 4G) or even 4G Calling or WiFi calling. Have you noticed any differences between mobile and WiFi?
Try borrowing a Jabra speakerphone or similar and let us know how you get on. Letting us know which specific app youāre using may help us give you more specific advice.
Are you trying to tell me a 700ā¬ smartphone canāt provide a simple video call service unless I buy an additional 230ā¬ speakerphone ? Thatās rich !
You have it exactly: a ā¬700 smartphone is designed to provide a simple video call service; youāre looking for a more complicated call with multiple callers at your end. Thatās what devices like the Jabra are designed for.
Several people all talking at once is difficult to understand; ask anyone with even mild hearing loss.
Edit: It just occurred to me to suggest one thing that may help: place the phone on a stable surface and space the callers equally around it; this may improve the call quality, which is likely to be true of any microphone, whether the FP5 built-in or the Jabra.
You donāt say what app youāre using, or if your experience varies with mobile compared to WiFi. This information might help us advise you.
ā¦ yes, everything with a URL within