If you accidentally drop your phone while it's in a protective case, don't go expecting any damage compensation from the store that sold the case to you — at least not without a fight.
Kevin Johnstone from Porirua certainly gave it a try. He thought he deserved some money towards a replacement phone after his new iPhone 14 Pro Max smashed. He said he was in a rush and it slipped out of his trouser pocket. He believed it should have been protected by a $60 case recommended by 2degrees where he bought the phone.
However, when he went to his local store to discuss this he said: "They wouldn't even have a look at my phone, they just told me to go away." He then escalated his complaint: "I spoke to the manager and his response was even worse."
Johnstone tweeted about how the company was treating him, which finally drew a better response from 2degrees. It offered to assess the phone — but not to pay for repairs.
He knew he could use an insurance policy he had to get a replacement phone for $500 but he still felt 2degrees should take some responsibility, and he was particularly unimpressed with their customer service.
"If they had been really nice about it all, I'd have just gone with my claim," he said.
Instead Johnstone filed a complaint to the Commerce Commission and opened a case with the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service. The outcome wasn't good news: "The TDR team reached out to me and said that 2degrees still wouldn't agree to cover the cost of repairs or even to contribute to settling."
Fair Go spoke to Fraser Webb from Goodtech, a company that repairs and sells pre-owned phones as well as refurbished ones. He has a lot of experience with phones that have been dropped and can see why it's very difficult to get compensation even for phones with protective cases.
"It would be really hard to prove your phone is smashed solely because the case you purchased didn't do a good enough job."
Webb is actually a fan of phone cases. He said no phone should be without one. As for Johnstone, he thinks it would have simply been a case of bad luck, with the phone hitting the concrete at a bad angle. It seems 2degrees thinks the same way, telling Fair Go: "With phone cases, it's important people realise they're like bike helmets or seat belts — highly recommended but not effective 100% of the time."
Webb was also keen to point out that not all cases are equal. So Fair Go decided to put some to the test. We compared a $5 gel case, a $20 gel case that was recommended by Goodtech, a $23 wallet case and a $90 hard case. We also threw in a phone with no case for good measure.
The first test was from waist height. All the cases did a grand job, but the phone with no case had a smashed section on one corner where it hit the ground. We then upped the ante with a 10m drop from the TVNZ balcony, with interesting results.
The phone with no case was toast, splitting completely in two on impact.
The $5 gel case that claimed to be "shock absorbing from daily bumps and scrapes" wasn't at all happy after the 10m plunge and was left with cracks all the way through the device.
The $20 gel case was a very different story. The packaging said it was certified height drop tested, which appears to be the case. Same drop, but in this instance the phone and case were in mint condition despite the impact. Webb was ecstatic. "It does what it says on the lid, there's not a scratch on it!"
The $23 wallet case claimed to "protect from scratches and scuffs". Not a huge claim, and for good reason. The balcony fall caused the phone to smash on the back and front, although the case itself survived.
Finally the $90 military grade case also boasted of height drop testing. This was true for the phone which pulled through without a scratch, but the same couldn't be said for the case itself which was too broken for re-use.
It wasn't a scientific test and the results could have been different if done again, but they did confirm what years of experience had taught Webb — "For the best protection, you want to choose something that's relatively thick with a raised edge and that's soft so that it's got shock protection."
All useful information for Johnstone moving forward. He used his insurance to get a new phone and was saving up for a different case when good news came from 2degrees.
It said to Fair Go: "We are sorry to hear that Kevin wasn't happy with our customer service. We pride ourselves on being New Zealand's fairest telco, so it stings when people feel they haven't been treated well. We are reviewing what happened and seeing what we could have done better."
It seems 'better' in Johnstone's case was to gift him $500 towards his next monthly payment plan as a gesture of goodwill. Johnstone feels when it comes to customer service, 2degrees have finally cracked it.
"It made me feel really good, I wasn't expecting it. I just wanted people to be made aware of what they're getting into, and you guys did a great job."
SHARE ME