We don’t know how big the problem is but I know several people with 3+ years old FP3s that are still working. So it is certainly an overstatement to say that everybody has a problem. It is the nature of the forum that mostly the people with problems come here to seek help or complain. This leads to a very skewed picture of how big a problem actually is.
That said, every broken phone is obviously still one too much. But there is also no 100% perfect solution for anything. Stuff can always break, mistakes can always happen…
2 Likes
Dear mde
Your indeed right, I have also more times good experience than bat experience. I also just come here to find solutions if have problems.
I just I can’t understand if an problem seems so commen that there isn’t an solution, or communication about.
And if it is now and you contact the support that there is no reaction.
But yes I don’t have to generalize this topic. There is an perfect solution, but FP can’t delveri for months, so what is the point for an modulaire phone if you can’t use it.
Fairphone support is really disappointing sometimes, so on this point also I must say you’re right.
The only point where I don’t agree with you (even if I can understand your frustration) is the way you throw the baby out with the bathwater (I don’t know if this saying exists in other languages but it exists in italian).
As Paul McCartney sang, “there is good and bad in everyone” (“Ebony and Ivory”, 1983).
I got disappointed sometimes by the support but I must also tell that when I bought FP3+ I had a problem of the phone rebooting by itself 3-4 times a week.
Fairphone support chased me for weeks. They sent me a new phone with a test SW installed so that I could use that phone and when a reboot happened I could send them log files. They prepared a new SW release only for that phone and uploaded to my phone so that I could do other tests and sent them more log files. We went on like that for weeks.
I think they spent to support me much more money than I gave them when I bought my FP3+.
I don’t think you can find such a support in other companies.
You’re frustrated, you’re tired, you’re angry, I guess Fairphone has managed very badly the communication on this point. Luckily you don’t have Thor hammer or Fairphone would have been destroyed by now. 
I do hope Fairphone can quickly solve this issues and regain your respect.
Ciao,
Max
4 Likes
Dear Dryhte
Thank you for your anwers
Having to replace a module three times in such a short time is not encouraging and only increases the waste mountain
You hereby confirm the fears and the question of what the point is of using FP.
New problems with every model, perhaps we should stop trying to innovate with new models to attract people and first solve the problems of the devices they have
Because of the way they are getting newer and bigger, they will eventually be no different than any other telephone distributor.
and the problems of numbers 4 and 5 do not solve my problem or many others
Dear Max
The only point where I don’t agree with you is the way you throw the baby out with the bathwater (I don’t know if this saying exists in other languages but it exists in italian).
We don’t use it, but I’m goinig to do it from now on 
If I had the thor hammer, I gues my phone would be the victim form the frustation, and I have to by the FP4 or 5, problem solved 
I’m still a fairphone believer and to keep believe you have to go sometimes trought some hard time’s. I hope as you that I will get fast an anwers and solution
2 Likes
Your ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.
1 Like
Re. My USB port changes, that was my main reason for buying fp3… my two previous phones’ USB ports broke as well and I couldn’t repair then. Maybe I do something that breaks USB ports 
I was in fact happy that I could replace this one myself.
This is also my private reason to be a bit pissed with FP for being unable to provide USB ports currently, so I understand your frustrations. Still, not a scam
2 Likes
Drythe
You’r right 
I have changed the subject
1 Like
Hi @Gerdi.V and everyone else waiting for the Fairphone 3 bottom module, let me start with the good news: We just received a big delivery of modules and they are back in stock now!
We do of course realize how frustrating the wait has been and want to thank everyone affected for their patience. Ideally, we’d sell an infinite number of spare parts to our customers for as long as they need them, whilst also ensuring we do not produce a single module too much to prevent producing e-waste. But this is - unfortunately - not so easy.
That said, we are getting better at predicting the demand for spare parts with every new generation of Fairphones, because we can draw on historical data from previous phone generations. Claiming we “do not do anything about it”, do not care or are committing “fraud” or “scam” is therefore indeed a bit harsh. We have been listening to the many requests for spare parts and are very happy to be able to deliver - albeit with some delay.
We hope that you will be able to repair your phone with a new bottom module and keep it in use for many years to come. 
15 Likes
Hello Anna
thank you for your reply I may have reacted too harshly.
I have now ordered the module and I hope this solves the problem
if not I will draw my conclusion from here.
Thanks in advance to users for their clear answers and opinions, thanks to FP for doing what they do behind the scenes and trying to help where they can.
If this solves the problem (or not) I will let you know so I can help others with similar problems
5 Likes
Fairphone is a fairly young company (they’re only on their fifth device now, and the phone you’re complaining about was their third).
FP is young in terms of amount of phone models, but mature in terms of years of existence.
Hence, I follow you in accepting the phone model design may have more glitches than phones from other manufacturers, e.g. FP3’s bad fingerprint sensor.
In contrast, concerning processes, support and communication facing users, I agree with @Gerdi.V’s moderate posts (i.e. not deception in sense of fraud but fogging or the ballon metaphor): There are so many forum threads about issues like lost data (think of local contacts) or lost functionality (think of brightness or bluetooth) or spare parts being unavailable for weeks/months. We also repeatedly read “we listened” and “we learned”, plus we users do propose quite concrete solutions (e.g. software updates testing and communication of known issues), but still, history continues to repeat: Spare parts are unavailable for longer time (have they really been ordered already when stock was still well filled but reduced much quicker than anticipated? if so, why is this information so hard to find?), the software update screen does still not mention a “known issues list or link” enabling users to easily avoid loss of data/functionality that is important to them, it does not even link to already existing page OS Release Notes informing about intended changes, etc.
As this pattern repeats since years, I have the impression FP does observe users loose their data or hit personally severe issues, but tolerate or neglect it instead of wholehearted tries to avoid it – really fair or respectful towards clients is different. I doubt I will buy another mobile by FP but instead shift or rephone.
The only point where I don’t agree with you (even if I can understand your frustration) is the way you throw the baby out with the bathwater (I don’t know if this saying exists in other languages but it exists in italian).
Same idiom in German
This view is perfectly understandable reading the truely exceptional support you experienced. The other way around, I did so far fully agree to @Gerdi.V because I did not perceive any considerable action on the reboot issue that also affected me – maybe that was simply a communication thing in the sense maybe you were a user representing all affected users including me and I just did not know about. In other words, if FP had simply communicated more visible what you did write here, I would have had the impression FP does care and take action, and purely the (in)visibility of that activities leads to the quite different perceptions of you and @Gerdi.V + me.
I’m surprised to read such repeatedly here while in the Shift Community I read it the other way round.
For rephone: future will show what happens now that Gigaset is insolvent…
And for Shift: they do a lot good things, while their devices show the same struggels than Fairphones with a community that is a lot smaller and a “Flagship” device still running A10 and no updates at all since around a year…
I think that Fairphone has a communication weakness they should address.
A company that has such an ethic footprint shoul be even closer to customers than it already is (and thinking of other companies it’s already quite close).
Sometimes disappointment (such as this one on missing spare parts) could be mitigated by timely responses and information sharing.
Ciao,
Max
3 Likes
That FP users peek at shift and the other way around is probably not rational but more emotional. Issues I experience on a regular basis, maybe even bugs that do nag daily, are perceived more relevant than issues I briefly heared they happen to others in “the other ecosystem”.
From user perspective, it does not make a big difference whether no updates are released or they are released but not easily installable – the latest firmware my FP3 offers is 4.A.0019.1 while https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048139032-Fairphone-3-OS-Release-Notes listes several newer ones. Yes, I could manually install newer releases, but as far as I read it’s a considerable effort + uncertainty (installing some software on a PC, unlocking the mobile, loosing all data so backup + restore are required, maybe banking app refuses to run at all (there’s something with root or the like) or at least not accepting the fingerprint any more,…). Side note: I am still on a 1.5 years old Android 10 firmware 8901.3.A.0136 which causes a bad feeling due to omitted security fixes, but that feels less bad than the fear an update will again make me loose data/functionality that is important to me. If there just was a proper “undo update” feature…
should you be interested in “fixing” this, a new topic would be a good idea. There are many things mixed together in this statement that dont fit together. Just one comment: you will see further updates, once the one offered now is installed.
should you be interested in “fixing” this, a new topic would be a good idea.
Done: List of known side effects of updating from Android 10 to Android 11 or 13?
you will see further updates, once the one offered now is installed.
The update screen does not tell that. It does not even tell it’s an upgrade not an update, so probably the vast majority of users is not aware the installation will switch from Android 10 to 11 with all related effects – some of which are considerable, like effects of Scoped Storage (apps can become unable to access data that was available to them before the upgrade). Ensuring that users can anticipate the consequences of an action is one core requirement of UX (User eXperience) and the feeling of “too poor” UX of the complete “FP package” (hardware, spare parts, software, processes, communication, support desk,…) compared to the marketing & price is to my understanding the core of this thread. And also, how that may be changed
Hi Dryhte,
That looks familiar to me from the world of (open source) software. Little and not unimportant difference: updating open source software goes is a rapid cycle. You wish your phone to last for 4 years at least…
Cheers,
Cor
(both my wife and me have a PH3 that we bought second hand early this year. So far, so good… )
1 Like
Mine served me well for nearly 4 years (still usable, we keep it as a spare). That was with only 2y of warranty. For FP4 and FP5 5 years is offered… I fully expect this to be honoured,
That is not to say that things like the FP3 fingerprint scanner cannot happen again - some things are out of control. But I still think this has been blown up out of proportion.
1 Like
Very nicely put @mpolito1969 (and as an ex engineer and project manager, I also agree your explanation of spare shortages was spot on, thanks). The humanitarian and sustainability side of Fairphone is why, however frustrating the spares sitch gets, I would stick with them; there simply doesn’t seem to be another smartphone with anywhere near the same improved impact, and I don’t need a super phone, just a good enough phone (performance also adds negative impacts). I’m currently sending mine off for repair despite some advice in here to just buy someone’s spare as 1) I have a borrowed phone (not a FP) which will do for now 2) it is totally dead so beyond my repair ability - but hopefully not theirs- and 3) as a sustainability consultant, repair will always come higher up my action list to try first. And the repairers will let me know their diagnosis and can dispose of the phone officially and responsibly if it really is sayonara. So long as the repair is cheaper than a whole new phone, and the repaired phone will last a few years support-wise, the environmental impact is minimised as only the bad parts should get changed, so this is a fab combination of least damage and lowest cost. I like your approach as an Angel- I do much the same in my day job when bidding to clients about carbon footprints!
3 Likes