Fairphone B.V. ~ repair FP2 ~ ? 'within warranty'?

Discuss The Industry
38

Dear …,

Thank you for supporting Fairphone, your patience, and for reaching out.
My name is “…” from the support team. I’ll be your case manager, nice to meet you.
I’m sorry you encountered an issue, let’s look into it.

Fairphone OS

At this moment we only officially support Fairphone OS via our customer support and Fairphone Open (only available for Fairphone 2) via our dedicated bug tracker).

Unfortunately, we do not yet have procedures to troubleshoot issues occurring with different OS.

The community already offers alternative operating systems like Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Touch, /e/ OS and LineageOS.
When you use these systems, any software troubleshooting goes via these forums: a good place to start will be here: https://forum.fairphone.com.

We can help you with this help request if you install Fairphone OS.
If you prefer to use Fairphone Open, you can use the dedicated bug tracker.

In case you need them, following you will find the guides on how to install either one or the other (here is an article to help you choose).

Please let us know when you have installed Fairphone OS, so we can continue with the troubleshooting and pre-assessment before we start the repair procedure.
First of all, we then need a screenshot of the build number (Settings > About phone > Build number).

Proof of purchase/ownership

If you want to continue directly with the repair, I have to inform you about two things.
First of all, if you send it to our repair center, we really do need a proof of ownership, because we have to comply with anti-fraud regulations.
In your situation, you can ask the previous owner to mail us directly to confirm he sold or gave the device to you. However, as he is not the original owner, we will also need either a confirmation of the original owner that he sold/gave the device to the second owner.
If the previous owners can hand provide you with the original order number, that is sufficient too.

Out of manufacturing warranty

Secondly, during my research into the history of the device and your help request, I also found that the original Fairphone 2 purchase of this device with IMEI xxxxxxxxx was delivered to the original owner on October 8, 2019.
You did contact us on October 6 of this year (so 2 days before the 2-year manufacturing warranty expired), but you first mentioned that there was an issue with the device on October 26, so 18 days after the manufacturing warranty expired. This means that the warranty no longer covers repairs or replacements.

The costs involved might be covered by a personal insurance, so I recommend you check that with your insurer.

However, in this situation, you have three options.

Option one - Send your phone to our repair center at your own costs.

In case you need a new core module, the minimum repair cost would be € 249.90.
For more information consult our repair price list and FAQ.

The repair center will diagnose and provide a quotation. You can accept that by paying, of you can reject it. In case of the latter, you have two options:

  • send the device back (we will charge between €15 - €19 for Assessment, shipping & handling costs);
  • or recycle it for free.

Option two - Earn a Fairphone 3 cashback with our Recycling Program.

We have a Recycling program for our loyal Fairphone owners.

You can send your old Fairphone and receive a 40 euro cashback on a Fairphone 3 purchase in our online shop.

You can find more information about our Recycling program here. (Please note that the Recycling Program is not available for all countries)

Option three - Try to repair the phone locally.

To find a repair shop near you consult the forum.
This might be the quickest and cheapest way to proceed, as I recommend to get a diagnosis of the current state of the hardware first. Based on that outcome, you can make an informed decision on the next steps to take. If the repair centre of your choice is not familiar with the Fairphone, you can refer them to the iFixit guides.

Let us know what you’d like to do or if you have any other questions.

Best regards,
…
Business & Reseller Support Officer

What should I say ? FP needs 3 weeks to answer, if the phone is covered by warranty and now they won’t repair it.
My conclusion: Fairphone never again !

39

Clearly you and Fairfone don’t agree on dates, and no-one else could therefore have a valid opinion on whether the phone is under warranty. Further, as FP seem to consider you to be the third owner you need evidence of legal ownership. Bot looking a simple matter.

If could find a Fairphone Angel with parts that could be swapped maybe you could then see if the replacement is worth buying and doing the repair yourself.

You also say there are three phones in the family, so can you isolate the the faulty module by swapping?

if you can isolate the issue to hardware then you may find a spare part.

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40

Hi @FPbonn,

Apologies for the delay in response and for the frustration caused. I have followed up on your ticket and a member of our customer support team will reach out to you today.

Rae

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41

You may wish to censor your IMEI (edit: sorted :slight_smile: ). Also, is this supposed to read “October 8, 2018”? If not, then (although 2020 definitely feels like it) two years haven’t passed yet… I presume this is just a typo though, as you did mention in an earlier post that the date of initial sale was in 2018.

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42

With /e/:

Screenshot_20201217-141958_DAVx
Screenshot_20201217-141958_DAVx1080×1920 119 KB
Screenshot_20201217-142047_DAVx
Screenshot_20201217-142047_DAVx1080×1920 37.4 KB

The issue is definitely independent from the OS used.

43

Hello,
There is another thread about these issues and I found an advice which is quite helpful in my case:

Not perfect in the end, but I think my FP is getting old and there is sadly nothing to do about that (mine is 4,5 years old) as it seems.

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44

Nobody contacted me until now …

45

One week later: No response at all :frowning:

46

Are you sure the emails from support aren’t going in your spam folder, or that you don’t have a problem with the incoming mails?
Otherwise I guess there’s a real big problem. This is strange…

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50

The spam folder does not contain emails. I received just an automated reply about the case two days ago, but nothing from a support agent.

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51

Maybe, even hopefully, you have really hit the lottery pulling the “Biggest Looser” ticket and Murphy’s law is in full force; i.e. everything goes wrong/fails in your case.
Or the support is really broken badly.

I really feel for you.
One can understand and put up with hardships, that have reason and are explained.
But being kept waiting without explanation, fixed dates going by without any notice; that’s not the way to achieve customer loyalty (to say the least and put it kind of positive). :frowning:

Let’s hope, you will receive some good news soon (best, still this year).

53

E… (Fairphone)

Dec 28, 2020, 16:38 GMT+1

Dear M…,

Thank you for your reply. Apologies it took a while before I could answer you, we are facing a small backlog again due to the holiday season.

We always recommend customers to provide the original order number to a new owner, because this is the essential data to identify the manufacturing warranty.
In order for us to comply with local jurisdiction, we have to have a proof of purchase when we send it in for a repair for example.

As you can read in our Fairphone 3 Manufacturing warranty under Claiming your warranty:
“To the extent permitted by law, this warranty is only valid if the proof of purchase for the Product (as issued by a Fairphone authorized reseller and specifying the date of purchase) is presented with the Fairphone product to be repaired or replaced. Fairphone reserves the right to refuse in-warranty service if the proof of purchase is not presented or if it is incomplete/illegible.”

So what we can do is to continue troubleshooting your device when it is set to Fairphone OS, and you provide me with the requested information so we can deduct what is going on with your device.
Maybe we can fix this issue without having to send it in for a repair.

Let me know when you have set the regular Fairphone OS back on the device.

Kind regards,

E…
Business & Reseller Support Officer

English, Nederlands (reading: Français, Deutsch)

Any questions ?

My conclusion:
Fairphone won’t repair the phone. They are quoting regulations for the FP3 which not apply on the FP2.

Finally they lost at least one customer, because I definitely buy a FP never again.

54

@FPbonn
Hi

I’ve been following your saga and note you didn’t get the support you expected, I won’t go over the details as to why, but, I do recognize also that, Fairphone are not satisfied with your status as a bonafide warranty user.

Most often I understand that not buying directly from a shop many Fairphone users with problems are going to very unhappy with the time it takes to get a solution, if they get one, and on that basis alone I would not recommend anyone to buy a Fairphone.

Saying that, this is an experiment in alternatives and as such is prone to many upsets and wrong turns, so I am happy to be part of the journey, I don’t expect a happy ending.

If you are, as indicated, a second or third hand user etc. I can see this is maybe not what you signed up for. However for first hand buyers I hope they will consider their investment in ethics as a gamble, investments can go up and down. Those who stick it out will find their way, be it Fairphone or not so fair, ~ to the buyer,~ but it wasn’t directed at the end user but at those that work in the mines and factories, and on their behalf I thank you for your particiption.

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57

Of course you are right, that we can’t judge, since we know parts of the exchange between user and support; at best the relevant ones .
Still, judging by what I know, and if the following info is correct, FP should stick to it.

Questioning that now, seems neither fair, nor legitimate. Only IF this info is correct, of course and if there is no other reason that would exclude warranty.

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58

Maybe you can get in contact with the former owner of your FP2 and ask him/her for the proof of purchase?

59

Contacting the previous owners would not help:

60

Hi,

I understand that the challenge of Fairphone is huge, when the company’s aspiration is to embrace so many aspects of “impact fields” from origin-very-beginning to after-end-of-life of the product.

Personally I support the “pioneer” aspiration of Fairphone in this inclusive aspiration.

I recognise there is a potential lack of success when trying something (specially when it is huge challenge).

I see that often in “Fairphone experience” the one suffering the lack of success of the aspiration-in-action is the user.

As user-human-being it is hard to feel “unfairly treated” when having chosen an alternative for “fair creation”.

I’m sorry for your experience @FPbonn (Michael),…really sorry. I empath with your experience and I feel it really frustrating.

As I see it Fairphone truly pursues “inclusive fairness”, although is a “work-in-progress” and absolutely-lacks-perfection on it.

Your FP2 is under warranty and you should be answered in such a way, in my opinion with the information I’ve read.

Don’t lose faith in life, please. World challenge is huge for all. All of us are “working-in-progress”.

Big hug,

Iratxe

61

What really irritates me is, that the first message to @fpbonn was:

(Blockquote by me.)

And if that in fact was the original message, they - in my opinion - simply have to stick to it.
Falling back behind this is - in my opinion again - neither acceptable, nor fair and I have serious doubts concerning legitimacy. Declining a warranty case after initially accepting it and both based on the exactly same information? Smh.

I understand all explanations concerning work overload etc. but that’s something different here.
The first reaction is the way I my personal contacts with Fairphone support went always. Understanding, supportive and generous. The latter message - declining warranty - is new to me (and a real disappointment, tbh).

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62

This is - please believe me - an original quote form the e-mail.

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63

It appears the first statement to accept warranty on the Oct 6th was valid on that day but subsequently the claim on Oct 26th was not.

Then consider the internal communications and what you see here on the forum is only part of what must have been discussed at ‘head office’

There is discrepancies between the parties on the date the claim was made.

FBonn states "I claimed a warrany case on Oct. 6th 2020,

Fairphone state “Oct 26th”

None of us on the forum know the truth so opinions are not about what is correct ethically

It just means that the first text is misleading but the warranty had certainly expired.

So I wonder what this post is about.

  1. We do not know the facts as we are not the recipients of any of the communications
  2. Are we here to support Fairphone ~ well yes in terms of infilling support for users
  3. Are we here to support users ~ well yes in terms of user issues of the phone
  4. This is not a user issue and it seems misguided to use this platform to argue that Fairphone are not doing thier job well as well as consumers want, who does?

Social media tends just to be a bullying ring when people voice their satisfaction to pressure others to conform, not that FBonn is doing that, but I do wonder what the purpose of this thread is?

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