Who to go to when a new phone has a fault

You have found something wrong with a new phone. The next question is usually the same one. Who do I go to?

With a laptop the answer is simple: back to whoever sold it. A phone is different, because the party that sold it, the party that provides the service and the party that made it are often three different companies, and each of them runs on different rules.

This guide separates them out. Specific windows and conditions vary by company and get revised, so what follows is which rule governs what and where to look up your own.

Three things get confused with each other

The names sound alike but these are separate systems. One being closed does not mean the others are. A refusal at one counter is not the end of the matter.

The handset and the airtime are two contracts

This is the part that catches people out.

When you take a phone on a plan, you are usually signing up to two things at once: a device payment agreement for the handset and a service agreement for the airtime. They arrive together, on the same day, in the same conversation, and they are still two contracts.

The consequence is direct. Cancelling one does not automatically cancel the other. People cancel the airtime, assume the handset went with it, and find the device payments still running months later.

So when you contact anyone about this, be explicit about which one you are cancelling. Get the answer in writing, and get it to name both.

If you paid for the handset outright and took the service separately, this does not apply to you — but check, because bundled pricing often hides a device agreement inside what looks like a single monthly bill.

Cancelling the order is a legal right; exchange is a policy

Cancelling a distance purchase is governed by law. For UK buyers there is a right to cancel a distance sale within a set period, and separately a short-term right to reject faulty goods under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Those are set out in How long you have to cancel an online laptop order — the same rules apply to a phone bought the same way.

Early-fault exchange — “swap it for a new one within X days” — is different. That is a policy the carrier or retailer sets for itself, not a statutory right. Which means:

• It differs between companies. No two carriers are identical, and resellers differ again
• It changes. A condition someone remembers from three years ago may not be current
• It comes with conditions. Same model and colour, complete contents, no physical damage

That is why there are no day counts in this guide. A wrong number, believed and then relied on at a counter, is worse than no number.

How to find yours:

• Call the carrier or retailer and ask specifically for the early-fault exchange policy for handsets
• Look for the returns or terms page on their site, and read the section covering devices rather than airtime
• If you bought in a shop, it may be in the paperwork you were handed with the contract

Write down what you are told, with the date and the name of the person. It matters when the answer changes later.

Buying in a shop is not the same as buying online

Where the purchase happened decides which rules are available.

Bought online from a retailer. Distance selling rules apply, and the seller is the retailer. This is the most straightforward case.

Bought online from the carrier. Distance selling rules apply and the carrier’s own terms sit on top of them. Your counterpart is the carrier.

Bought in a shop, in person. The distance-selling right to cancel generally does not apply, because nothing was bought at a distance. Rights relating to faulty goods are unaffected — a fault is a fault wherever it was bought.

Bought from the manufacturer’s own store. Seller and manufacturer are the same company, so the return and the warranty are handled in one place.

Either way, find the paperwork first. When you agreed and when you received the device are what every period is counted from.

Warranty is a separate track again

An exchange being refused does not mean a free repair is refused. The warranty is the manufacturer’s obligation, not the seller’s or the carrier’s, and it runs on its own clock.

Looking up your own coverage from the serial number or IMEI is covered in How to check a manufacturer’s warranty from the serial number. What a seller tells you and what the manufacturer’s records show are not always the same, so checking directly is worth the two minutes.

Do this before you activate

Separately from all of the above, activation is a practical turning point. A conversation that is short before activation gets longer afterwards.

Which is why What to check on a new phone before you activate it puts the display, the sound and the physical condition first. Those three account for most early faults, and none of them needs a live line.

If you get nowhere

Whether a stated reason actually holds, and the order in which to escalate, are covered in When a return is refused, check the reason against the law.

One thing worth knowing now rather than later: how you paid can open a route of its own. Card payments in particular carry protections that sit outside the seller’s own process, and those have their own deadlines. That guide covers it.

What this guide could not verify

Stated plainly. This guide does not carry exchange windows or conditions for individual carriers or retailers. They differ between companies and are revised, and a specific number written here would eventually be wrong — at which point somebody relying on it is the one standing at the counter.

What is quoted instead is the part set in law, which changes slowly. Look up your own company’s terms using the methods above, and keep a note of what you find with the date on it.