Warranty on replacements

Discuss The Industry
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There’s the occasional comment in the marketplace and in the help topics about a phone having a new warranty when it has been replacement. I wasn’t sure whether this is true, and it appears to be difficult to find reliable information on this topic. I’m posting my findings here, in case this is useful for anybody. These are my own interpretations, I can be wrong. This is not legal advice. Neither am I in any way representing Fairphone.

EU information suggests warranty differs per country.

For example the UK:

Is the repaired/replaced product covered by a new guarantee?
No. The guarantee period is only extended by the time necessary for repair or replacement (subject to terms and conditions of the commercial guarantee).

And similarly, The Netherlands:

Is the repaired/replaced product covered by a new guarantee?
No. The guarantee period is only extended by the time necessary for repair or replacement.

Whereas in Germany:

Is the repaired/replaced product covered by a new guarantee?
The law does not say, but in general, after a replacement, the consumer can claim legal guarantee rights for 2 years. In the case of a repair, the legal guarantee is only extended with regard to the repaired or exchanged parts.

For other countries, see the your europe page on Guarantees and returns, click ‘Guarantees for faulty goods’, scroll down and click ‘choose country’. Note that the page’s language can be changed at the top right of the page, above the search bar.

Which country's law applies?

In most countries the trader is responsible for putting things right. This does not apply if the trader only acts as an intermediary. Check the terms and conditions of sale. If you buy from a local reseller probably your local laws apply, unless they’re acting as an intermediary.

Many people will have bought from the Fairphone webshop. The Fairphone Warranty is quite clear in that consumer law relevant to your country applies (though I’m not sure whether that is billing address or delivery address):

Throughout the EU, warranties are covered by Directive 1999/44/EC on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees. This European Union Directive provides harmonised standards of your minimum rights when the good delivered to you are not in conformity to the sales contract. Having said that, since national consumer protection laws vary from one European Union country to another, it may be so that the national law applicable to you provide extra consumer protection rights.

The Fairphone 2 Warranty will not restrict, limit or otherwise affect the rights of you have under such national laws or the EU Directive.

A note on buying second hand

If you're buying from a company, they will have to provide a legal warranty, though this warranty may be restricted to 1 year. If you're buying from an individual, they do not need to provide any legal warranty. In these cases Fairphone has been known to deem any remaining original warranty to have been transferred to the new owner. You will, however, need to have proof of the original purchase to be able to use it, so make sure you get this from the person you're buying from. As outlined above, this will tell you which trader you should approach when there are issues, as well as when the warranty period lapses (in most cases). When cross-border selling second hand: I'm not sure which consumer law will apply - the one of the country that it was sold to, or the one that the new owner is residing in.

TL/DR:

Warranty on replacement devices varies, check your local consumer laws.
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The tricky part, however, is what you can base your claim on.

Let’s say you bought stuff in a local store. So you got an invoice as proof of purchase with the date of purchase. After a while the stuff shows a fault and you get it replaced on warranty in the local store, but do you get a new invoice or a similar document with a new date from which a new warranty could be counted?
Not automatically, just speaking from my own experience :wink: .

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You could be lucky if it’s shipped internationally: often a pro-forma invoice is issued to comply with shipping/customs/insurance requirements.

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You’re right, I edited to make more clear I was talking about local stores, no shipping, no email, no date :slight_smile: .

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I see what you mean. Guess you have to need to remember to get some documentation (but I can imagine that some traders will be hesitant to provide it).

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Oh dear, even more confusion :confounded:

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Up to my knowledge and experience so far the initial invoice counts. With it the warranty period starts. Any part having to be fixed is covered by warranty not extending it automatically. Depending on how long the repair took the customer may claim an extension for this period of time as he could not use the product meanwhile.
Separate parts having to be replaced (not a tiny screw but something of value) usually again have the full 2 years of warranty. Specifically spare parts as they mostly also can be purchased individually being covered with the usual 2 years of warranty as well (e.g. no batteries after 6 months though, as known).
Anything untouched/unmodified will be covered by the remaining warranty period according to the first receipt (unless the claim for an extension is granted). As far as I can remember in many cases there is a record made to document any repair or replacement.
Sometimes a full unit is exchanged which does not automatically mean the warranty period restarts at 2 years again. So keeping the initial invoice is mandatory for at least 2 years.
I mainly made these experiences based on repairs for cars and computers.
Some dealers I met rather tend to somehow cut the warranty with each case of repair or replacement, so staying alert here is essential.

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