Iphone 4s fault repaired within warranty but same fault has reoccurred just after warranty has expired. What can I do?

Question

My husband's phone developed an internal fault that meant the sound kept dropping out during phone conversations. He took the phone to the Apple store a couple of months ago and they fixed the problem under the warranty. The same fault has reoccurred, so he took the phone back to the store yesterday and they wouldn't fix it because the warranty has now expired, (sometime in October). If Apple do a repair three months ago that subsequently goes wrong, it is surely reasonable to expect them to fix it after such a short period of time, regardless of whether the warranty has expired? By their logic, they could replace a phone the day before the warranty expires but if it dies 48 hours later they would have no responsibility to do anything.

Answer 1

Thanks Victoria,
I figured we are not alone but is this a comfimrd, (by Apple), design fault? If the problem was a latent fault at time of purchase then Apple have to deal with the problem under EU law.
At the moment, they are wriggling out of doing anything because the warrenty has expired. We are quite clued up on consumer law and realise that it is not 'fit for purpose' under the Sale of Goods Act and, on those grounds alone, we have a good position to argue from. However, if we are sure there is a latent problem, we probably have have a good arguement for a replacement rather than a repair, particularly as they already repaired the phone about three months ago and the problem has manifested itself again.