Phone broken after warranty expired? Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

Your phone stopped working three months after the manufacturer's one-year warranty ran out. The retailer tells you the warranty is expired and there's nothing they can do. The manufacturer says the same. You're looking at a repair quote that's nearly the cost of a new handset — for a phone that's only 15 months old.

Here's what most people don't know: the warranty expiring is not the end of the story. Under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), you have statutory rights that exist entirely separately from the manufacturer's warranty, and those rights often last longer. A phone that fails after 15 months of normal use may well be covered — and the business that sold it to you may be legally obliged to repair, replace, or refund it.

Quick answer

The Australian Consumer Law gives you a consumer guarantee that goods must be of acceptable quality — which includes being durable enough to last a reasonable time. For a smartphone costing $800, $1,200, or more, "a reasonable time" is almost certainly longer than 12 months. If your phone has failed due to a defect rather than something you did, you can make a claim against the retailer under section 54 of the ACL regardless of what the manufacturer's warranty says. The warranty and the consumer guarantee are two different things — and the guarantee is the stronger of the two.

What the law actually says

The ACL is Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It applies automatically to every purchase you make from a business in Australia for personal use. When you buy a phone, the law implies a set of consumer guarantees into the sale — promises the seller must honour, whether or not they're written into any contract or warranty document.

The guarantee that matters most for phone failures is section 54 — acceptable quality. Goods are of acceptable quality if they are:

• Safe — they don't pose a risk of harm in normal use.
• Durable — they last for a reasonable period given their price, nature, and how they're used.
• Free from defects — manufacturing faults, software bugs baked into the hardware, or components that fail prematurely.
• Acceptable in appearance and finish — no unexpected cosmetic failures.
• Fit for all purposes they'd commonly be used for.

The word "durable" is doing a lot of work here. A $1,500 flagship phone that develops a charging port fault at 14 months, or a battery that swells and becomes unsafe at 18 months, is arguably not durable. A reasonable person buying a premium smartphone expects it to function properly for several years, not just for the length of the manufacturer's warranty.

The ACL also protects you under section 55 if you told the retailer what you needed the phone for and it failed to meet that purpose, and under section 56 if the phone doesn't match how it was described or advertised.

Crucially, section 64 of the ACL makes it unlawful for a business to exclude, restrict, or modify these guarantees. A clause in the warranty document saying "your only remedy is through this warranty" cannot override your statutory rights. The consumer guarantee exists on top of — and independently of — the manufacturer's warranty.

For a deeper look at how these two things interact, see our article on consumer guarantees vs warranty.

When this applies (and when it doesn't)

The consumer guarantee on your phone applies when:

• You bought from a business — a phone retailer, a telco, an electronics chain, or an online store operating in Australia. Private sales (Facebook Marketplace from an individual, for example) are not covered.
• The failure is due to a defect, not something you did. Dropping the phone and cracking the screen is accidental damage, not a manufacturing defect. A battery that swells without any impact, a charging port that corrodes under normal conditions, or a camera module that stops functioning — these are defects.
• The phone failed sooner than a reasonable person would expect given its price and the way it was used. This is the key test. There's no fixed number of years written into the law — it's assessed case by case, but price is a strong indicator. A $200 budget handset and a $1,800 flagship have different durability expectations.
• You can provide proof of purchase — a receipt, email confirmation, bank statement, or even a record from the retailer's own system. You don't need the original paper receipt.

The guarantee generally does not help when:

• The damage was caused by you — drops, liquid immersion beyond the phone's rated resistance, or third-party repairs that voided the device.
• The fault was disclosed before you bought it (for example, a clearance phone sold as "display model — minor screen burn").
• You simply changed your mind or found a better model. The ACL doesn't require businesses to accept change-of-mind returns.
• The phone is well beyond any reasonable lifespan — a six-year-old phone developing a fault is a different situation from a 15-month-old one.

What to do today

If your phone has failed and you believe it's a defect rather than damage you caused, here's the process that gives you the best chance of a resolution:

1. Identify who to approach. Your claim is against the retailer — the business you bought the phone from — not the manufacturer. The ACL puts the obligation on the seller. You can also make a claim directly against the manufacturer under section 263 of the ACL, but starting with the retailer is usually faster.

2. Document the failure thoroughly. Take photos or video of the fault. Note when you first noticed it, how the phone was being used, and whether it had any physical damage (if not, say so clearly). Write down the purchase date, the price you paid, and the model.

3. Write a formal demand letter. Email is fine — it creates a record. State the date of purchase, the price, the fault, and the fact that you're making a claim under the consumer guarantee in section 54 of the ACL. Be specific about what you're asking for: repair, replacement, or refund. Avoid vague language like "I want this sorted" — be precise.

4. Reference durability explicitly. The retailer will almost certainly say "the warranty has expired." Your response is that the consumer guarantee is not the warranty — it's a separate statutory right, and a phone of this price failing after this period of normal use is not durable within the meaning of section 54.

5. Set a deadline. Give the retailer 14 days to respond with a proposed remedy. State clearly that if they don't, you'll escalate to Fair Trading and then to the relevant consumer tribunal.

6. Keep the phone. Don't throw it out or have it repaired by a third party before the retailer has had a chance to inspect it. Third-party repairs can complicate your claim.

Not sure how to put all of that into a letter? fairgo can generate a demand letter for you in about 90 seconds — the wizard identifies the relevant ACL sections automatically and produces a letter you can send under your own name.

What if the business refuses

Retailers often push back — especially when the warranty has expired, because many consumers accept that as the final word. If the retailer refuses your claim, you have clear escalation options:

Step 1 — Your state's Fair Trading body. Every state and territory has a free conciliation service that can contact the business on your behalf and attempt to broker a resolution. These services are free to use and are often effective because businesses take a formal government contact more seriously than a consumer email. Find the right body for your state at /agencies.

Step 2 — Your state consumer tribunal. If conciliation doesn't resolve it, you can file a claim at your state's tribunal — NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, QCAT in Queensland, and equivalents elsewhere. Filing fees are typically modest (around $50–$100), you don't need a lawyer, and the process is designed for ordinary people. Tribunals have heard "the warranty expired" arguments many times and understand that the consumer guarantee is a separate right. See our guide on what a major failure means under the ACL to understand how tribunals assess these cases.

Step 3 — Manufacturer claim. In parallel, or as an alternative, you can pursue the manufacturer directly under section 263 of the ACL if the failure relates to a guarantee about acceptable quality. This is particularly useful if the retailer has closed or is being uncooperative and the manufacturer is more accessible.

The existence of a clear escalation path — and the willingness to use it — is often what makes retailers settle. A well-written demand letter that references the ACL and names the tribunal as the next step frequently produces a resolution without needing to file anything.

Common mistakes

People making phone warranty claims often undermine themselves in avoidable ways:

• Framing it as a warranty dispute. The moment you say "my warranty should cover this," you've accepted the retailer's framing. The warranty is their document. The consumer guarantee is your statutory right. Frame it that way from the start.

• Accepting the first refusal. Frontline staff are trained to quote store policy. A polite but firm escalation to a manager, with the ACL cited by name, often changes the outcome. Don't give up after one "no."

• Getting a third-party repair first. If you've already had the phone repaired elsewhere before approaching the retailer, your claim becomes much harder. The retailer will argue they weren't given the opportunity to inspect or remedy the fault. Always approach the retailer first.

• Confusing the manufacturer with the retailer. The ACL obligation sits with the seller. Spending weeks going back and forth with the manufacturer's customer service team while the retailer does nothing is a common time-waster. Start with the retailer.

• Not keeping records. Every phone call, every email, every chat transcript — save them all. If this ends up at a tribunal, a clear paper trail of the retailer's refusals is valuable evidence.

• Assuming price doesn't matter. It does. A $99 prepaid handset and a $1,600 flagship are assessed differently for durability. If you paid a premium price, say so — it directly supports your argument that the phone should have lasted longer.

For a comparison of how this plays out with other electronics, the article on laptop faults and consumer guarantees covers very similar ground and is worth reading alongside this one.

Related reading

• Consumer guarantees vs warranty — what's the difference?
• What "major failure" really means under the ACL
• Laptop faulty after warranty? Your consumer guarantee rights

This article is general information about Australian Consumer Law, not legal advice. The ACL is complex and your situation may have details that change the analysis. For advice on your specific case, see your state's Fair Trading body — full list at /agencies.