iPhone batteries...

[Aractus]

Our laws are much better than the UK. Yes you're right about small operators closing down and starting up again, but that's no cheap exercise. For a tiny business like that one it may only cost $10-20,000 but that's still a lot of money to lose, and it doesn't change the fact that all employees are individually responsible for obeying the law and can be prosecuted separate to a defunct business. All products sold in Australia are automatically covered by a consumer guarantee that cannot be excluded or waived (previously it was called a statutory warranty). The expected life of the product is 2 years, let's say, and if they sold a new one that means that for two years if it develops a fault they have to repair or replace it or give the devalued amount. Apple ignored this law for many years, and I was absolutely foaming at the mouth when they got such a slap-on-the-wrist fine for it. And there are threads on Whirlpool that will attest to their behaviour forever. Which is one reason why I wouldn't give the company the time of day. Most other companies mind you, like Samsung, go above and beyond the legal requirements under consumer law. So for instance if I have a 3 year old TV that develops a manufacturing fault they will repair it for free - even though they can charge a modest fee and they can make you pay the postage. Kogan, is a cunt of a company, and their TVs are manufactured from less than ideal parts - within 3 to 6 months of a product being discontinued the company is unable to continue sourcing replacement parts for their own TVs. So if I have a 9 month old Kogan TV and it breaks down (as 50% or so of them do) then my TV has to go to landfill and they must give a devalued refund on the product (although under 12 months would presumably be covered by a manufacturer's warranty that would give you the full amount). In any case they do abide by the law, and they will give their customers a refund - but as I just mentioned it doesn't change the fact that the TV goes to landfill because the company can't repair it! That's so wasteful, and it's environmentally irresponsible. And on that reason alone I would never deal with the company - regardless of their other shit (poor quality customer service, and poor quality products).

And in any case eBay or PayPal will enforce the refund in this case - if it comes to it. And the fact that I've reported it to PP means that there's a strike against them, PayPal will permanently close accounts for people that deal in fraudulent merchandise, and if that happens their online sales will drop by at least half - or they'll have to use their EFTPOS machine to process online sales which will require calling the customer and will cost much more than having an online payment system provided by PP.

[jesus_wept]

Our laws are about the same as yours by the sound of it but the important point to note is that con artists dont care about the law, if they did they wouldn't be con artists. At the end of the day they know as well as you and I that they're not going to prison over your $10, at worst they'll have to give it back, and for everyone they refund there are probably 10 people who dont complain and dont get their money back, so they're still laughing all the way to the bank. And I'm sure they're smart enough to give you the money back before paypal closes their accoun, and if they do have it closed they'll just start trading under a different name again.

I dont wish to insult you but I get the feeling you're very naive.

[ManMachine]

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Okay, I'll try and make a youtube video publicly shaming this company soon.

If you're like me and you need a new battery, make sure no matter what that you check the battery cycle count as soon as you get it. You can get an app for that, but I just use a program called "iBackupBot". This is my original battery:



As you can see it's at the end of its life and can't hold a full charge.

This is the battery I got from here (they also have a website) take note of what the listing claims:

"Brand New Stock

"SkyPhonez offers only genuine and original products. Items may be unsealed due to our random inspection and for unlocking purposes, however they are 100% brand new and never used."

And this is the battery they sent me:



It didn't even look new. The manufacture date stencilled on it is 06/2012. As you can see it's also at the end of its life, and it also cannot hold a full charge.

This is the message I sent on my original PayPal payment:

Note to seller
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the large number of fraudulent iphone batteries on eBay, the first thing I will do when receiving the battery is to pull the battery info from ibackupbot. If it reads more than 5 charge cycles then the battery is not new and you will be reported to the police.

That didn't deter them from sending a fraudulent "new" battery. Once I get my refund I'll decide what further action to take, but it goes without saying I will leave the strongest possible negative feedback warning other buyers, and I will make a youtube video publicly shaming the company. And yes, I will probably report them to the NSW police as well.

Anyway, my main message in posting this is that if you buy a new battery make sure you check the cycle count before anything else. Also, a new battery shouldn't be manufactured in 2012 - I mean it could be old stock, but do take note of the manufacture date also. And frankly I could tell right away just from looking at it that it was used. A new battery does not have a bent power cable - you have to do that yourself when you install it, but an old one will be pre-bent from its original configuration in its old phone.

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These people should be charged!

MM

[Aractus]

No, and it's very unlikely the police will raid them and prosecute them for selling fraudulent merchandise. Although frankly that's what should happen.

Look as I said before, Apple has a permanent record on the internet. The Whirlpool threads will be here for the next 20 years, probably forever, and everyone will be able to see that they systematically rorted customers by refusing to honour the law. Over time that will do far more damage to their company than anything else.

Skyphonez? Yeah they may go out of business, ultimately, and that will be that. Doesn't change the fact though that every time a customer exercises their rights, and every time they get a complaint against them to PP they are closer to having no service provided. And no, you cannot just re-open another PayPal account.

Oh, and if I was "naive" I wouldn't have noticed the battery was 2 years old, no?

[ManMachine]

"These people should be charged!"

'Charged'... anyone... No? ... pfffft

MM

[pocaracas]

The big question is: is there an equivalent app for android?
I can't find it.... and, when I can't find something that's online... it tends not to exist.
Like gods!

[One Above All]

...So your problem is that you bought a device you know is overpriced, from a company you know doesn't care about its customers as long as they keep giving it money, then tried replacing a component you bought online, even though you knew there was a very real possibility of being ripped off?

My recommendation? Get a non-iPhone smartphone after you report everyone involved.

[Aractus]

Nope, I've never bought a new Apple product. In fact, I've owned 4 phones and only 1 was ever new.

[One Above All]

Nope, I've never bought a new Apple product. In fact, I've owned 4 phones and only 1 was ever new.

>_>
Did you not get the point? Stop buying Apple's shitty products.

[Aractus]

I should clarify, I've owned 4 phones, two were apple products, and neither were new.