The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Is this phone new?

I was wondering if you could help me. I was bought an iPhone 11 by my father about a fortnight ago at a shop in Galo, Francistown. First, I received a notification that it couldn't be confirmed whether my phone had a genuine Apple display so I went back to the store and spoke to the owner, and he told me that some of the phones have those messages because when he receives them in bulk, some are faulty or damaged, so they're sent back to Apple to be fixed and sent back to him. He told me that the message would go away in a few days.

Some days later I had some more problems with the phone. It would either restart itself or the screen would just turn black, even though it was on. So I went back and he took the phone and gave me a new one. With the new one, the verification message still appears, which makes me suspicious. Also, the battery capacity is at 92%, which I thought was odd for a brand new phone. Today, it just randomly restarted. I've never had any problems with brand new phones in the past, and I don't want to have to keep having them exchanged.

Is there any action I can take?

Yes, there's a very simple action you can take. Go back to the store and tell them that the only option you'll consider is a complete refund.

These guys are clearly lying about the origin of the phones. They're either fakes, perhaps second hand phones they've bought from some other country or phones that have been repaired or refurbished. The condition of the battery suggests this is an old phone and when you sent me the serial number I was able to check and the phone is long out of warranty, again suggesting that it's not new.

I'll get in touch with them and explain this to them. If they give us even a hint of resistance we'll escalate this to the Competition and Consumer Authority. Do they want a fine of P50,000? A prison sentence? Both?

What is insurance?

A consumer reported to us that they'd hit another car and were charged by the Police. The other driver asked for P4,000 and so far he's paid them P3,500, owing them the remaining P500. Now he says he's getting calls from an insurance company, demanding a further P45,000 that they spent fixing the car. He asked if this is right?

Here's what might have happened. After the accident the other guy claimed against his insurance policy but had to pay an excess fee of P4,000. Our reader agreed to pay that for him. However, the insurance company had to pay a much larger amount to repair the car (minus the excess). They are now entitled to claim that amount from the guy who caused the accident.

Yet again we need to discuss insurance, how it works and what it is.

I found a quote on Wikipedia that said that insurance "is something people buy to protect themselves from losing money". When we buy an insurance policy, whether it's for a vehicle, a house, our property or someone's life or health, we pay a regular amount to the insurance company and if something bad happens to the property or people we've insured, the insurance company pays the bills.

However, the most important thing to understand about insurance is that an insurance policy only protects the person who pays for it and not anyone else. In this case, the insurance company are looking after the interests of their client, not the guy who caused the accident. If he'd has an insurance policy, his insurer would be protecting him. He didn't, so he's on his own.

In this situation, while it's unfortunate, what the insurance company is doing is correct. They're entitled to ask the person who caused the accident to pay the costs of putting things back to normal.

There's a simple way to prevent situations like this. If you get a car, get an insurance policy as well. The good news is that a third-party policy, one that just covers the damage you might cause to other people's vehicles, can be remarkably cheap. And it can save you a very great deal of money.