What to know about your phone warranty

Warranties provide consumers with a written guarantee stating that if their phone becomes defective or damaged

Do you know what kind of warranty you have on your phone? Different manufactures offer different warranty deals and your consumer rights are different depending on the country you are in.

Warranties provide consumers with a written guarantee stating that if their phone becomes defective or damaged, it will be repaired or replaced within a certain time frame. And a defect is only when the problem is from the manufacturers of the smartphone.

There is a vast difference between manufacturers that offer a warranty, most of them can be a 1-year warranty and some can be 2 years from the date you purchase your smartphone. If the problem is a hardware fault you have the right to demand a repair, replacement, or refund. This is based on the assumption that the device was sound with the fault present.

What is covered?

If you want to know what is covered, you’ll need to go to the exact text of your warranty card, but there are still common things that you’ll find true, the manufacture is promising to cover:

Manufacturing flaws

Defective parts or materials.

If you have a 1 or 2-years warranty and within that period your smartphone develops a fault then the manufacturer will repair it only if it is determined that you aren’t the one are fault and you haven’t voided your warranty in any way.

What is not covered?

If the fault was developed from an accident, misuse or exposure to liquid or any other form factor that you can be held responsible for, then they won’t honour the warranty. If you have tampered with the phone or have taken it to an external repair shop that isn’t part of the company, you have voided your warranty and they won’t be able to repair it for you. They won’t cover for loss or theft. Read your warranty cards to get full detail on the warranty the company has to offer.

How to claim your warranty?

It’s a good idea to keep your receipt and warranty document whenever you buy a new smartphone. To claim it you’ll have to contact your retailer or manufacturer to find out what to do or refer to the warranty itself. You’ll probably be asked to return the device to a service centre. Unfortunately, the retailer will often try to pass you off to the manufacturer.

What is an extended warranty?

There’s no special meaning behind the name – an extended warranty simply extends the original manufacturer warranty by some period. Whatever is covered under the original warranty will be covered under the new one.in most cases, this still refers to the defects or malfunctions, not issues like a cracked screen, water damage or damages caused by the users.

What are you liable for?

A lot of companies will handle it, but be aware that the cost of postage might fall on your shoulders. You’re also going to be without your device when you send it away. The manufacturer will run tests to determine that the phone’s defect is not their fault and when they do that they will give you a quote for the repair and you can choose whether you go ahead with it or not. If you decided not to go on with the repair they’ll charge you for the test and send it back unrepaired. Service fees are common.

Always back up your files and remove the memory card. Also, make sure you don’t have any security software that will block access. For your own privacy, it’s advisable to wipe the phone of all your personal data.

It’s worth knowing that you might not get your phone back. Manufacturers can replace parts with new ones or generally give you a new phone if the other phone is beyond fixing.