I bought an FP3+ just shy of two years ago. This weekend, it seems to have stopped charging. I’ve searched this forum which has a enough similar questions. The suggestions generally are to try drying/cleaning the bottom module, new parts, contact support, and read other posts here.
I’ve tried some of those things, and nothing helped. So, I took it to a high street phone repair shop that gets good reviews for fixing phones. And they report they can’t fix it… I’m going to try another high street store, before buying a new battery. But I can’t replace the bottom module because that is out of stock. A post here reports that it should hopefully be August/September when they’re back in stock. I’ve sent my email to the reportedly slow support according to posts here. I’m not hopeful that that will yield any results soon.
And I find this all frustrating because I’ve bought the phone for it’s repairability. Yet when it breaks down I can’t get it fixed seemingly as easily as a mainstream phone might be…
What do I do for the forseeable future? Do I spend £26 + P&P on a new battery in a trial and error fashion?
All the while, I’m without my main phone. I’ve managed to put my SIM in an old iPhone. But it’s not my phone. Which has everything on it. Do I then get a ‘new’ phone?
Arghhh. I guess that’s all I can say. Just need to vent my frustrations I suppose. Because I don’t know what to do to get my phone working again.
You mentioned ‘contact support’. Did you do that already? As your FP3 is ‘shy of two years’ old it should be covered by the warranty. So make at least sure, you bring the claim to Fairphone in time.
That the ‘high street phone repair shop’ isn’t able to help you, you can’t blame Fairphone for, if the concentrate on repair only the big brands, it’s their fault.
Did you check whether there is a Fairphone angel nearby, who can assist you in the trouble shooting?
I haven’t blamed Fairphone for anything specifically. But unfortunately because of a few things (e.g., slow after sales support, lack of after market support, lack of available hardware), I’m the one left with all the problems. In that I can’t access my phone, which in this day and age is an important thing. It has my banking, 2FA, all my comms, etc. Yes, they can be transferred to another phone as it’s mostly cloud based, but that isn’t a trivial process. And there are things on the phone that aren’t backed up. And now I can’t even turn the phone on…
I have contacted support and will wait for their response. But that will take time…
I have contacted the Angel, although halfway across the country isn’t exactly local. And in my current frame of mind, I’m not expecting that this will offer a quick resolution either.
I’m frustrated because I bought the phone for the companies ethics and the features, like longevity of hardware support and repairability. The irony being, that I can’t get it fixed.
I really think I’m going to have to buy a typical smartphone because I really can’t be without a primary phone and I can’t adopt a wait-and-see approach in the mean time.
Plymouth Angel reply
Hi I first wonder if you are in the UK and in the South West, I note the £26
EDIT: I see you are halfway across the country . . . where ?
That you have contacted support within two years, did you at least receive a response and a ticket number as that ensures the warranty.
To benefit from the warranty it is not a great idea to self repair as that could be seen as an unwarranted intervention. Apart from an external clean there is little else you can do. Obviously try a new cable, charger etc.
You say not charging. What state is the battery, 1% or zero.
If very low it can take more than 12 hours just to become alive enough to accept a charge.
What about the LED, RED or Orange
If you charge ensure the phone is off, remove battery for a minute. Do not try and power on for 12 hours.
Do you get any indication or charging, like an icon when the phone is off and you plug in?
Replacing the bottom module may resolve it but inform support that you want to try that, as if they agree they are likely to refund any cost.
Repairability
On instructions from support within warranty and they will likely refund
Send it to Fairphone
Shops do not have the parts and if they fix it it will be unauthorised and void the warranty.
It can be fixed, for sure, but not in the same moment it happened. I can fully understand, that today we really rely on a phone, but as always, that means to have a backup, just in case. If your phone would be run over by a car, it might be gone completely.
It spent the whole of Sunday on charge and went from 10% to flat. Now it’s completely dead. If I plug it in, it vibrates, the Fairphone startup screen shows, it then says something like: “Battery at 1%. Please do not unplug”. Then it turns off and repeats indefinitely.
I will leave it plugged in overnight, but it just exhibited the above behaviour for about 2 hours yesterday. So I unplugged it to stop it constantly vibrating.
The LED flashes red when it’s on briefly.
I have opened a support request and it’s just within the two years. So, I’ll see what they say.
@Incanus, I’m sure the geekiest and most conscientious folks may have redundant phones, but that’s not a practical solution.
And my phone hasn’t been run over by a car. On the face of it, it’s probably a pretty common occurrence. At least with the number of posts on here, it is. And I’m sure the same is true for other manufacturers. minor hardware problems that the after-market has become used to supporting when manufacturers won’t.
And yes, I am sure it can be fixed. But it will take a lot longer and more effort on my part than if I’d bought a mainstream phone. It feels like a case of the nice guys finish last…
On main stream phones, this part isn’t even changeable. So if your repair shop is skilled enough to un- and resolder the USB port of a common phone, it should be able too do that on your phone too.
