How do I get Essential to honor the Warranty

[scottatlan]

My PH-1 is not charging well. It has to do with the connection between the cable and the phone. I have tried all of the usual fixes, something is wrong with the phone. I cracked my screen around 6 months ago and had it replaced. Essential is using that to get out of a warranty replacement in what I believe is a violation of FTC rules and of the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. They want me to pay at least $200, possibly $400 for what they call out of warranty service. This is for a phone I only paid $245 new for during a promotion. The phone is not even being sold anymore and they want full price for what should be a warranty return.

One of many articles on the subject: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ftc-w...al-to-void-warranties-over-third-party-parts/

This is a portion of what they are telling me. Any advice on how to get them to honor the warranty would be great.

"We can offer damaged device replacement for a $199 replacement fee. If you wish to take advantage of this offer, please use the link that you will receive in a separate message within the next 30 minutes.

Along with the $199 replacement fee, the order you receive will require a temporary authorization hold on a credit card for $200 ($399 plus applicable taxes total) - this will ensure that you have a replacement sent to you before there is a need to send anything back. After you complete the order, you will receive an automated order confirmation message, a second message with a pre-paid return label, and a third message with tracking when the order is processed by the warehouse (typically within one business day of the order confirmation).

 

[Rukbat]

Send them the link in your post, and ask that, to avoid your having to get the FTC involved, would they please either repair or replace your phone under the warranty.

If they don't, file a complaint with the FTC (https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc - the "assistant" is a link at the bottom of the page), including the link above and tell them what happened. (If a US government agency says "Take care of this or we'll have to ban importation of your products" to a company, they'll take care of it.)

 

[Mike Dee]

Are they trying to get out of it because of the third party repair or because the screen cracked and they are assuming the port is damaged?

 

[scottatlan]

I filed the FTC complaint I will keep you all updated.