Can EE charge me to replace a faulty phone?

QMy phone contract with EE included a new iphone 6S, which developed vertical lines down the side of the screen after only 29 days. I took it back immediately, but EE’S sales assistant told me I’d dropped and damaged it, which I hadn’t. It was sent away for repair, but EE says it can’t be fixed, and that I have to pay £250 for a replacement. Surely this is wrong? Bill Cole

AYes it’s wrong. As is becoming disconcertingly common, a Computeractive reader has been left frustrated by a sales assistant’s misunderstanding of consumer law. In this case, the assistant didn’t know that within six months of purchase the onus is on the retailer to prove that a fault has been caused by the customer.

Screen faults can have many causes, such as faulty pixels, so the sales assistant shouldn’t have made a judgement simply by looking at the phone. They made the right decision to send it away for a thorough examination, but now EE won’t tell Bill why it can’t be repaired. On our advice Bill plans to collect the phone directly from the repair centre, and will ask for a report.

Unless EE can prove that Bill damaged the phone, it must replace it or refund him. We’ve reminded EE of this, and asked why it thinks the phone is irreparable. We’ll let you know its answer.

When Bill has retrieved the phone he could pay for an inspection to discover whether the fault is inherent. Should that prove to be the case, he could claim the money back from EE. He should keep EE informed of his actions.