I had a Z3 compact on an O2 contract that started in June 2015 under my wife's name. After around 2 months, the phone suddenly cracked in a single line across the screen whilst it was sitting on a table. O2 took the phone and repaired it under warranty.
I then sadly lost that phone on a flight and had to pay out the remainder of the contract and start again, buying a replacement. I chose the Z3 compact again because I love using it but, to my horror, the same thing happened yesterday with a huge crack down the back appearing again without any pressure at all.
I couldn't believe that lightning would strike twice so googled the issue and see that thousands of people have had the same problem - with nearly 3,000 members of a Facebook group for Cracked Z3 phones, 10 pages of comments on the Which? website, and a Watchdog episode on the subject. This seems like a fairly constant issue - and is so prevalent that 3 staff members of O2 and carphone warehouse shops have said that they never recommend Sony Z4 and below to anyone because of the issue.
I would like to know what to do.
I like the phone in all other aspects but do not want to own one anymore as it has a significant and recurring flaw in the design - 2 cracks in 6 months is ridiculous.
O2 suggest that it will be covered under the manufacturers warranty but that would be another repair and I would still be left with the same phone that I have completely lost confidence in.
I have been told that one approach is to go to the small claims court and the industry regulator to ensure that either a refund or adequate compensation is received (ie a replacement phone of a different model that no longer has the technical malfunction - such as the Z5). This is clearly a massive use of time that I would like to avoid so would like to understand how Sony suggests I proceed.
Their customer service agent said that there was no fault with the hardware in general but this seems an infantile position given the number of complaints!!
