well, it was a wasted trip! Apple weren't interested because it's 90 days out of warranty. The O2 store weren't bothered either, for the same reason.

Apple offered me a refurb iPhone 4 for £119. Given that my iPhone 4 is good enough to flog it to envirophone, o2recycle, etc and get £240ish for it, £499 for an iPhone 4S is probably more tempting.

But... I don't think I'm being unreasonable in saying that a phone on a 2 year contract should last 2 years (is that so crazy? ) so I'll see if I can get O2 to change their mind before I go down that route.

No, you're not being unreasonable.
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In reply to a post by xela:

But... I don't think I'm being unreasonable in saying that a phone on a 2 year contract should last 2 years (is that so crazy? ) so I'll see if I can get O2 to change their mind before I go down that route.

I love how all these companies love their contracts, but as soon as you throw it back at them over something like this, they don't want to know.

I see it much like this. The bank 'owns' your house until the very last penny is paid on your mortgage. That's how they can repossess it should you default on payments. This is a contract.

In a similar way, the phone is not your property until you have paid for it. If it's not your property, it must be theirs, until the last penny is paid on the contract. So it should last the duration of it (given it is looked after and maintained).

If you default on payments, the property/phone needs to be returned to the bank/phone company. O2 start chasing you for debt/ask you to return the phone. The bank repossess your home.

Ok, the two aren't completely comparable, but I think mostly similar.

Edited by deleted (Wed 26-Oct-11 06:20:15)

I'm afraid that's a bit like saying that if you buy a car on hire-purchase then you shouldn't have to pay for any repairs until you own the car. (A more extreme comparison could be made with a mortgaged house.)

Unless your contract states otherwise, it covers the cost of calls only. Some include insurance for the phone, but it doesn't sound like yours does. Normal consumer law is your only protection. You could try rejecting it as "unfit for purpose" (less than 2 years seems unreasonable for any mobile phone), but that may not work. Frankly, I'm surprised that Apple don't want to know.

Unlike my car, though, my phone is not built to be repaired. It is a sealed unit and the vast majority of faults will require a replacement, rather than repair. Also, most cars are sold with a much longer warranty these days.

The "unfit for purpose" line is the one I'll follow.