CPW Clearance Phones

J_J_6

Beware of the CPW clearance deals! Actually just beware of CPW in general!!

I'll try to be brief but it's a bit of a saga I'm afraid:

Got a W810i on a clearance deal about six weeks ago. I was disappointed with the reception, and after about two weeks I went back to CPW to see if the phone was faulty. They instantly agreed it was BUT they couldn't give me another one because all the clearance phones had been sold. They refused to give me a non-clearance one, even though the phones are identical!

I was told I could call in to the repair centre and get the phone back the same day; if that failed I'd get a new one. So I agreed - not ideal, but seemed like it would solve the problem. BUT the repair centre guy took one look at it and said all he could do was a software upgrade which wouldn't fix it; it'd have to be sent away. And there was no chance of a new one even if the repair didn't work.

So I phoned my local CPW and said if they wouldn't replace it I wanted to cancel the whole thing. They told me I'd have to pay for the time I'd had the contract and I'd lose my number! I called in to my local CPW a couple of days later and was told cancelling was very complicated at this stage and I'd probably have to pay the entire contract because it was with o2 and the phone was nothing to do with o2.

It was also at this point that I discovered that clearance phones are actually ex-demo models or ones returned by customers. They certainly didn't make that clear when I bought it!

Eventually I agreed to have it sent off for repair, and they agreed to lend me a w700i in the meantime. They assured me my warranty wouldn't be affected. Again not ideal, but seemed like the easiest way to a phone that works.

Well, after a couple of weeks my phone came back to the local store supposedly having been repaired. BUT when the staff tested it, it had exactly the same fault!!! So they ordered a replacement. However, the replacement isn't a new phone, or even a nearly new one - it's a refurbished one, with a warranty from CPW not Sony Ericsson. Worse still, it doesn't work either!!!!! Back to my local CPW another time. They offered to send out another refurbished phone. I declined - a) it's less than what I signed up for, b) I now have no faith whatsoever in the ability of their engineers to get me one that actually works, and c) I've compromised and given them plenty of opportunity to get it sorted on their terms and it hasn't worked.

So, now I have to e-mail the chief exec and see what he'll do for me...

kai666

it's not just CPW that give reburbished phones as replacements, vodafone do the same. My w900 broke, vodafone said they couldn't fix it, and so offered me a reburbished one as a replacement. When I grumbled, the bloke said as it was such a new phone it was likely to be a new phone rather than reburbished.

Works ok, in perfect condition, so who knows. Wasn't impressed though

gaahmad

'3' also give refurbished phones as replacements. When my Nokia 7600 was playing up, as the phone was out of stock (obsolete morelike!), they gave me a K608i instead. They said it was refurbished, but as with my previous purchases of clearance phones, it looked brand new when I received it.

J_J_6

Seems the refurbished phones are pretty common, and gernerally ok. But I've had two plus the repaired one that haven't worked... I've just been back in to CPW and they're going to send me another one. I decided that was quickest way to get one that (hopefully) will work.

Might still complain though cause of all the hassle...

ms01ma_2

many companies use phones they have got from customers on upgrades when they do trade ins

mroneliner

can i just clarify a few points in your statement.

1. you bought a 'clearance' phone that fact that they added the word 'clearance' would suggest its not normal everyday stock - it does say in BOLD print on the packaging that this is an 'as new' (not brand new) phone.

2. you got a better deal on this phone because it was a clearance phone (a clearance phone when bought from the Carphone Warehouse is either a non-faulty 14 day return / demo stock that has never been sold - so an 'as-new' phone) if they agreed in the shop that it was faulty, did you think they were just picking on you by not swapping it?, they can't give you what they don't have can they? i'm quite sure they explained to you that because it wasn't the same stock as BRAND NEW stock they had in the store that they couldn't swap it, next time you buy a used car and it breaks down, try asking them to exchange it for a brand new one instead!

3. the store you visited made 2 mistakes, firstly they told you that the repair centre would fix your phone the same day (there is no way they can assure it will be done the same day and reception issues are very difficult to fix ata repair centre) and secondly that if it couldn't be fixed then it could be replaced (again if the repair centre store in question had 'clearance' stock to exchange it for you, why would the repair centre fix it if they had a replacement that you were entitled to anyway?) the store got this wrong.

4. how many phone company's do you know of that even offer a loan phone?, let alone one as good as a sony w700i??, the most you usually get is a nokia 1100 and you have to leave a £50 deposit for this.

5. i'd like to point out here that i fully understand that your phone was faulty and that because 'clearance' phones are not in most stores it made it very difficult for an exchange to take place AND that cpw even cocked up the repair so your phone wasn't fixed properly!, however they did offer to order a replacement at this point, why are you suprised that it wasn't a NEW one?, you didn't buy a new one! you bought a clearance phone.

on the whole cpw did !!!! up and didn't offer there best service in this case. you've been very unlucky and i'm glad you've taken the matter to people who have more resources to help you. but its also worth noting that not everything is as it looks and i hope this has filled in the blanks from the original post.

mroneliner

J_J_6

I guess that is the other side of it, and it is interesting to get a different perspective. I suppose part of it is just me getting annoyed because I haven't yet got a phone that works and things weren't explained to me properly.

BUT I have to disagree on a couple of points:

1. Yes, they said it was a clearance phone, one which had been out to a store and which had come back. They didn't make clear that it had been sold to someone. I've just checked the box, and it doesn't say anywhere that it is 'as new' or anything else. 'Clearance' is a pretty ambiguous term. I guess that was one of the main reasons for my post.

2. This means that when I went back in, as far as I was concerned, the phone I had was 100% identical to the non-clearance ones but just had a different code in their system. Yes I got a better deal - but the same phone is available non-clearance on another network for £1.99pm for six months - so a difference of just £6.

3. Yep; of course there's never any guarantee something will be easily fixable. I guess the issue here is that the first guy thought it was likely to be able to be fixed in store and even called to check, whereas the repair centre guy instantly said there was no way.

4. Absolutely. To be fair, and I really should have said this above, the guys in my local store are very friendly and seemed to try their best to get things sorted - they just seem to have very limited discretion.

5. I bought one which was essentially 'nearly-new'. I don't know if the replacement is 'nearly-new' or not (since the phone is a recent model I guess it can't be that old). And to clarify, they did order a replacement which was also faulty and now I'm waiting for a second replacement.

I suppose it's a question of lots of little things building up. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end... So I'm not suggesting you avoid clearance deals, I'm just saying make sure you know what the position is.