Same applies to a mobile phone that regularly drops calls, loses coverage, restarts itself for no reason or has an integrated function that does not work at all (a GPS receiver for instance).

Depending on where you live, different options are at your disposal to get your money back. From a Small Claims Court in the UK, to the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection in the USA, consumer complaints are dealt in different ways. What’s common to almost all of these approaches is that the first step must be taken by yourself  - the ‘ripped-off’ consumer!

What you can do

If you feel you have been ripped-off by your mobile phone reseller when you bought the N97, the first thing you should do is inform the retailer of your discontent with the product and ask for a refund-replacement (or a repair, if you wish to extend your agony).

If you bought your phone in the USA, you may want to file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant (click here) - it takes only 5-10mins and deposits your complaint into a Consumer Sentinel  - a secure online database available to thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies worldwide. Not sure what it does, but it may help once enough complaints are submitted.

If you bought your phone in Australia, contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by clicking here.

A similar process is available for Ireland, where you can report a trader on-line. Click here for the link.

If you went to the retailer first, but cannot come to an agreement with them, follow the next advised step as described on consumer protection websites listed here by country:

Australia	Australian Competition and Consumer Commission—How to make a complaint?
Ireland	National Consumer Agency—Making a Complaint
UK	Which? Advice  on How to Complain About Faulty Goods?
USA	FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection
New Zeland	Ministry of Consumer Affairs—How to complain?