Not sure if this should go here or somewhere else (is there a consumer forum??)
7 months ago, I bought a OnePlusTwo phone for about £280. Paid via Paypal (this is the only way you can pay). One year warranty.
Worked fine for 5 months, but then the wifi and bluetooth stopped working.
I contacted customer service and spend 7 HOURS (!!) on a chat service in 3 successive 'sessions'. They walked me through a backup and factory reset on the phone. Multiple problems occurred with scheduling these appointments - including them giving me times in the wrong timezone which resulted in missed appointments.
They then admitted they needed to look at the phone, so it was sent to Germany. I recently received a request for £167 for the repair because the phone had allegedly been "water damaged".
The phone has NOT been anywhere near water. It hasn't been out in rain, it hasn't been dropped in any water. The dampest place it's been is my average domestic kitchen. Looking online, there are many people alleging the same thing: that their OnePlus phone has broken and water damage is alleged, even though the owners know it hasn't been wet.
I rang their customer service centre to try to escalate this - my call was dropped 4 times before I actually managed to complete (on hold 10 minutes each time). Staff are really rude. They referred the case back to the repairers, who have repeated what was originally said - that I have to pay them for the repair.
What do I do? I am at the end of my tether with all this. I realise I've been had by a cowboy company! But I don't know what recourse I have, or how I can prove that something DIDN'T happen (I swear, if I'd got the phone wet, I would just buy a new one).
Help!