RANT: Envirofone

DebtHater

Oh dear, what an annoying experience with Envirofone.

Sent a Sony Ericcson into them, they quoted £12.10p on their site. Thought that was fair enough, what with it being a fairly old phone. Its a W395, so £12 was a fair price.

Had an email from them today saying there was a problem and was given a number to call. When I called, they explained that the IMEI number is listed as stolen or lost and has a "red flag" on it, meaning it is worthless all the time this flag is in place. They also say they cant return my phone. So I am £12 down.

They gave me an email address for "CheckMEND" (Recipero) so that I can get the red flag removed. I emailed CheckMEND and havent heard anything back, surprise surprise.

I bought the phone 4 months ago from a second hand shop to replace a broken contract phone. The contract has now given us a new phone (upgrade) so this W395 was not needed any more, hence why I thought of recycling it.

Now I'm not in need of the £12. But as this is MSE, it doesnt seem very ethical to just let £12 go down the drain, seeing as I had to put a fair bit of effort into applying on the envirofone site and sending the package off (freepost though) it just seems wrong that they can keep the phone and not pay up, all because I bought a phone in good faith from a second-hand shop and they havent done the security checks they should have done.

So what do I do? Go to the shop I bought from? Because I have technically handled stolen goods, so I am not happy about that obviously. Or do I continue to hassle Envirofone/CheckMEND? I dont see why they should be allowed to get away with it. Makes it all seem like one big scam

nellynerd

I'd report it to the police.

If the phone just happens to be the one and only one that is found to be stolen, then the shop is in the clear but should do better checks when buying second hand phones to resell.

If it has loads of stolen phones, they could be benefitting from muggings and bag dippings. It's annoying to have a phone stolen when you don't realise it - but VERY SCARY to have it taken during a mugging.

Either way, by reporting it you are supporting your local community to the tune of £12 - so at least someone benefits!

DebtHater

nellynerd wrote: »

I'd report it to the police.

If the phone just happens to be the one and only one that is found to be stolen, then the shop is in the clear but should do better checks when buying second hand phones to resell.

If it has loads of stolen phones, they could be benefitting from muggings and bag dippings. It's annoying to have a phone stolen when you don't realise it - but VERY SCARY to have it taken during a mugging.

Either way, by reporting it you are supporting your local community to the tune of £12 - so at least someone benefits!

Thanks.

I phoned the store in question, and his attitude is the same as mine. Bought in good faith, its not his fault. But he did admit that he does not do ANY imei number checks, AT ALL. Which I think is disgraceful. He said it would cost him £300 per month to check unlimited IMEI numbers and he doesnt want to do it. So for all he knows, he could be being used to offload stolen goods. Or like you suggested, he may be profitting from it.

preable

If there anything from local phone shop they will be profiting from it. I was in a phone shop in town the other day and he brought a blocked iphone and i heard im say he is sending it off to india blah blah blah