My phone’s gone missing, but who’s to blame?

QOn 19 Mayy 2015, I boughtught the Motorolarola G (2nd Generation) phone from Carphone Warehouse. In Junene this year, it started havinging problems so I returnedrned it to Motorola UK. I then received a messagege from Motorola saying it had been sent to a companyompany called Anovo for repair,epair, but had now gone missing. I need help,lp, but I don’t know which company to hold accountable? David Brown

ADavid asks a good question, because it’s not immediately obvious who’s to blame. One thing is for sure though: he can’t sue Anovo because he doesn’t have a contract with that company. As we often tell readers, a contract is with the retailer that sold the product (Carphone Warehouse in David’s case), not the manufacturer that made it, nor the courier that delivered it. But we think David may have a problem because he sent the phone to Motorola for repair without telling Carphone Warehouse, forming a separate contract with the manufacturer.

We think his best bet is to sue Motorola for the loss of the phone. While he’s not covered by the new Consumer Rights Act, he still has rights under the Supply of Goods and Services Act. This law makes Motorola responsible for a repair that’s ‘fit for purpose’ and for ensuring the phone is kept safe. If Motorola refuses to take responsibility David should lodge a complaint with the Consumer Ombudsman: www.snipca.com/22287.

But hopefully it won’t come to that. We contacted Motorola after Anovo told us it couldn’t find David on its system. Now both companies are investigating the problem and said they’d get back to us as soon as they have any news. We would be very disappointed if Motorola doesn’t refund David, or send him a new phone.