Apple iPhone XS Max from Kogan

Hi,
About a month ago I purchased an iPhone XS Max 256GB refurbished from Kogan online, which I paid over $800 for, it’s in excellent condition, but a few days later the side button stopped working to turn the phone off, i can only turn it off if I go into settings and shut it down.

I emailed the seller and they said I had to send it back for repair which is obviously in Sydney I guess so I asked if I could take it to a phone repair shop locally where I live as I’m not going to have a phone which I obviously need but they said if I do that it would void the warranty, does this sound correct or do I have a right to get it repaired locally and the warranty still remains valid? I’m not happy that I paid that much for this phone and it’s already faulty, probably ripped off with the pricing too? Thanks in advance for any advice.

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Welcome to the Community @mel1,

The crux of your issue is that the phone is functional, it is just a button that has failed to operate, complicating your rights somewhat. Also consider the T&C you agreed to regarding the purchase. Those T&C cannot override your rights under the ACL but still must be considered.

Consider the difference between a major and minor failure. It might be possible to assert your rights to a refund, much less likely a local repair, but either way the clock is ticking and you stated you need your phone. Pursuing any alternative than that offered is going to use time so you have a decision how to proceed. If you choose to challenge the seller on the basis of your rights under the ACL you need to go formal with a Letter of Complaint - anything less is idle chit chat in getting any resolution. You can find resources from Choice, the ACCC, and other member’s advice using the Community search tool.

Even a new phone being repaired in warranty is going ‘to Sydney’ (eg a central facility) and some will be replaced with refurbs rather than physically repaired there as sometimes a repair can only be done in a specialised facility that might be in Singapore (for example).

You should also be aware that the phones are usually wiped/reset for any repair. You might be best served to buy a cheap phone to tide you over for the few weeks your phone would be off for ‘repair’.

Researching prices and service for what one purchases needs to be done prior to the purchase, not after. What is essentially ‘buyers remorse’ is neither actionable nor relevant to your failed phone being repaired.

Other members may have additional advice or opinions, but it all comes down to interpretation of the clauses in the ACL and your adopting formality and ability to present your case accordingly, and considering the overall time to ‘solution’ against your options.

Please keep your topic updated how you go as it may help others.

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Hi @mel, welcome to the community, and you must be a bit disappointed in your recent purchase.

That won’t be the case. Apple tried this on a few years ago and got into hot water.

But, if you chose to have the phone repaired yourself, you must get the agreement of the seller. Generally a repair that you instigate will cost far more than the repair done directly by the seller. A seller needs to agree to the costs. I suspect that most sellers will be unwilling to allow another unrelated party to do a warranty repair as it could become ‘how long is a piece of string’. The repairer you use could in effect charge what they like or ‘find’ other problems during the repair adding to the repair costs.

  • Have you asked the seller if they have a repair agent you can use nearby, closer than Sydney?

This may be an option to have the phone repaired more conveniently.

  • Has the seller offered to pay for postage/freight for the repair?

The ACCC website linked in the above post makes it clear that you are entitled to recoup costs for when a repair under warrantee/consumer guarantee is carried out. I would be pushing for the seller to organise for fast freight (overnight/express) rather than slower methods to ensure that you are without the phone for the shortest time possible. If the phone is critical (say used for medical monitoring etc), you might be within your grounds to ask for a phone to be made available to you during the repair period.

When contacting the seller to arrange for the repair to be done, often quoting parts of the ACCC website is useful to ensure that your rights as a consumer are upheld.

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It may be pertinent to consider what the other functions of the button are. It needs to be held down for a few seconds before it will bring up a prompt on my iPhone. To power off - shutdown requires a subsequent screen swipe to accept and enable complete power off. Alternately a single press of the button returns the phone to the Lock Screen. In combination with a press of the home button the off button produces a screen capture which can be saved to photos or other folder. Does the button perform any of these functions or has all use been lost?

Apple independently of Kogan offer reconditioned as new devices with a 12 month warranty and the option of AppleCare to extend. I’m not suggesting Apple offers a good deal and not sure if it includes phones in Oz at present. I’d however expect Kogan to offer a similar level of assurance. As a longtime iPhone and iPad user, I could not live with a device with a faulty on/off button. Assume once powered down the on/off button will restart your iPhone, or are you not game to try? Are you confident the button is not functioning at all?

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Have you asked Apple if they would repair the phone under warranty? Perhaps refurbished is different, but I have taken Apple products bought elsewhere to an Apple store, and they were willing to do work under warranty.

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Looking at a refurb iPhone XS ad on Kogan - noting not an XS Max - it is sold directly by Kogan and the warranty statement starts with

This model has undergone careful inspection and testing, and is in like-new A Grade condition, which may have some minor cosmetic blemishes. It has been Kogan Refreshed and tested to 100% working order.

There are other refurbs sold by Green Gadgets on the Kogan marketplace with their own warranty statements.

Since @mel1 wrote

that suggests the seller might not have been Kogan but a ‘market seller’ on the Kogan website. Regardless of which, if the iPhone XS Max was not sourced from Apple for the resale, I would be surprised if Apple would take responsibility for work done by a third party, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Apple will have the product’s ‘Apple History’ in their database and advise @mel1 of her options with Apple, if any.

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Completely agree.

I don’t know if it has changed, but only Apple Authorised/Accredited repairers could undertake work on Apple products and maintain warranty. Perhaps Green Gadgets is one, and there is a chain of responsibility there?

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