Thanks all for the replies. I have in writing requested a DSAR. They say it could take up to 60 days for me to get the transcripts.
The issue, in a nutshell:
1 I fall in river with waterproof Sony phone in a zipped coat pocket. Camera on phone stops working.
2 Phone Virgin to see what my options are in terms of fixing/replacing phone. Told my only option was to pay off my remaining six months on my contract and then start a new one.
3 Contact STW forum for advice – told there is a common problem of these phones not being waterproof and that mine should still be under warranty.
4 Phone Virgin back, explain that I am very unhappy with the information given first time I called. After a while nice lady tells me that because service was so bad first time round then they will fix my phone for free. Phone booked in for repair.
5 I send phone off, get a call a few days later saying phone case is damaged and that this is not covered under warranty. Apparently there is a hairline crack front to back on the side of the phone. I had never noticed it as the phone had always been in a rubber protector. I am told I have two choices – pay £66 to have it repaired or have it sent back to me unrepaired. I say that I am unhappy with this choice and that I had been promised verbally that my phone would fixed free of charge to make up for my poor experience on my first call. Bloke says I can’t have been offered this as it isn’t something that they offer.
6 Later the same day I get a call from Virgin Repair bloke’s manager saying that he’s listened back to my calls and I was indeed promised a free repair. He starts hedging around it with all sorts of caveats that allow him to weasel out of the promise. He tells me that if the experts open up the phone and find that it is going to be too expensive to repair (beyond economic repair ie beyond 80% of the cost of the phone) then my phone will be sent back to me unrepaired.
7 Surprise surprise this morning I receive a message to say that my phone is beyond economic repair, and that he has honoured the promise of a free repair by taking me through the assessment process only for my phone to ultimately fail to meet the criteria for repair…
And so here I am. Beyond the fact that I can’t understand how this git can say that he honoured the promise of a free repair, what baffles me is that two days ago it was going to cost £66 to repair my £200 phone and today it is deemed beyond economic repair.
I don’t even like phones, or computers for that matter.