Carphone warehouse - Mis-selling ?

pfantasmes

Recently my ageing mother of 80 paid a visit to a Carphone Warehouse as she wanted a new mobile phone for emergencies. She wanted a Virgin PAYG as she knew there was a good service in her area. However as Carphone warehouse could not get any of the virgin sim cards to work they suggested an Orange sim instead knowing full well (explained a little later) that the area that my mother lives has a very poor Orange signal.

My mother now has a phone with airtime credit she can not use as she can not get a signal.

When I went to complain on her behalf, I was told that because the Orange website claimed the post code had a good signal they had carried out their duty of care. They would change the sim card for another provider but would not refund the airtime.

I went into another Carphone Warehouse in the area to see if I could get a better or alternative outcome. In that shop the manager freely admitted that the Orange signal was rubbish in the area and that you could not even get a signal outside their shop. As I was telling him the story, in walks the assistant who actually sold my mother the phone. To my astonishment I find that this is her normal store and she was just on lone to the other store at the time when my mother bought the phone from there. She therefore knew full well that the signal was poor to non existant but still sold the her the phone.

My question to them was how can you sell a phone to a pensioner knowing that there is a very good chance they will not be able to use it. Now £10.00 may not be much to Carphone warehouse but it is a lot to a pensioner.

Any Suggestions

DarkConvict

I know the feeling i am refusing to pay a 20% restocking fee for what I class as a faulty item. Im a student so little monthly income.

So you spoke to the manager but you have not said what he did about it.

Getting airtime credit back i believe is like getting blood from a stone, so i wouldn't try speaking to orange, but continue on at Carphone Warehouse, if the signal was considered poor then you could argue the goods were knowingly not fit for purpose

p.s. Virgin Mobile uses T-Mobile masts, so for coverage check the T-Mobile site.

pfantasmes

The Manager at the second store did nothing either quoting it's store policy not to refund airtime credit

DarkConvict

Consumer Direct opens tomorrow, give them a call in the morning, see what they can suggest. A sim sold for emergency use but has no signal may be covered as not fit for purpose.