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The Link - we don't want to sell mobiles!
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sillygoose
Posts: 4,795 Forumite

Me: My Dearest its time we upgraded your phone, the Link have the Sony K510i at a good price lets pop-in store and pick one up.
Wife: OK dear here we are.
me: hello, I would like a Sony 510i on Vodaphone pay as you go please, £59 on the condition I buy £10 of Vodaphone credit.
Link: yeaaa(wn) we can do that.
me: so is the credit just like one of those codes that adds credit to my phone or do you do it on your computer?
Link: eh? no the credit has to go on the new Vodaphone pay as you go SIM card.
me: but that would mean a new number! I don't want that, I already have a Vodaphone PAYT SIM in my old phone, why can't we put that in the new phone and put the credit on that?
Link: computer says ..no. but we can transfer the phone number to the new SIM card in a while.
me: so although I already have a Voda PAYT SIM with all my contact numbers in, you say I have to have a new identical SIM with the number moved over to it.. (Fawlty mood coming on now) how in God's name does anyone gain from that? you waste your time, Voda get exactly the same call revenue either way and I just end up losing my existing credit and phonebook?
me: look just forget it, give me just the phone and I will pay the extra £10 on top.
Link: computer says...no. Oh and I just checked, we don't have any in stock anyway!
Me: walks out.
OK lets try the website, OK the phone is there for £69, happy with that still cheap but the description doesn't mention a colour, I know there is a nasty shiney purple one or a cool black one, so lets email sales and ask.
Link: "Unfortunatley we are unable to determine the exact colour of the Phones the Pictures on our Website are of illustrative purposes only If you do require a particular handset colour we would advise that you visit your local branch of The Link to see what colours are available at the time of your order."
How hard is it for someone to phone warehouse and ask someone to take a stroll to the pallet of boxes and look on the flamin label!!!
Well postage is free so I ordered one, under their own conditions (long distance selling regs really) if I don't like the look of it - ie its purple! I can take it back to the shop for a full refund, and perhaps I will keep doing that until they get their shocking sales sorted out.
Thank you for permitting my vent - my systolic is ready declining. Rob
Wife: OK dear here we are.
me: hello, I would like a Sony 510i on Vodaphone pay as you go please, £59 on the condition I buy £10 of Vodaphone credit.
Link: yeaaa(wn) we can do that.
me: so is the credit just like one of those codes that adds credit to my phone or do you do it on your computer?
Link: eh? no the credit has to go on the new Vodaphone pay as you go SIM card.
me: but that would mean a new number! I don't want that, I already have a Vodaphone PAYT SIM in my old phone, why can't we put that in the new phone and put the credit on that?
Link: computer says ..no. but we can transfer the phone number to the new SIM card in a while.
me: so although I already have a Voda PAYT SIM with all my contact numbers in, you say I have to have a new identical SIM with the number moved over to it.. (Fawlty mood coming on now) how in God's name does anyone gain from that? you waste your time, Voda get exactly the same call revenue either way and I just end up losing my existing credit and phonebook?
me: look just forget it, give me just the phone and I will pay the extra £10 on top.
Link: computer says...no. Oh and I just checked, we don't have any in stock anyway!
Me: walks out.
OK lets try the website, OK the phone is there for £69, happy with that still cheap but the description doesn't mention a colour, I know there is a nasty shiney purple one or a cool black one, so lets email sales and ask.
Link: "Unfortunatley we are unable to determine the exact colour of the Phones the Pictures on our Website are of illustrative purposes only If you do require a particular handset colour we would advise that you visit your local branch of The Link to see what colours are available at the time of your order."
How hard is it for someone to phone warehouse and ask someone to take a stroll to the pallet of boxes and look on the flamin label!!!
Well postage is free so I ordered one, under their own conditions (long distance selling regs really) if I don't like the look of it - ie its purple! I can take it back to the shop for a full refund, and perhaps I will keep doing that until they get their shocking sales sorted out.
Thank you for permitting my vent - my systolic is ready declining. Rob
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Comments
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If they are like my former mail order company employer then it is hard for someone to walk over and get it because there are only 2 people that work in the warehouse and a machine does all the picking/ packing - if they have only put in a single product ID/ pallet for the item (ie not distinguish between colour) then the picking arm only knows to go to aisle 3, shelf 2, pallet 4 and cant then read what colour it happens to be.
That said and done the service you received in the store does seem to have been poor (but then what do you expect from Dixons?) but a typical case of staff that arent empowered to do anything. As to silly discounts etc, in Dixons defence (though no idea why I should defend them) a lot of these will come from the suppliers rather than the retailor themselves.All posts made are simply my own opinions and are neither professional advice nor the opinions of my employers
No Advertising or Links in Signatures by Site Rules - MSE Forum Team 20 -
I used to work for The Link and the reason for putting the credit on the new phone is (if I remember correctly) to ensure that the company get the money from the network.
Basically, what used to happen is that people used to buy phones and never use the sim cards, then the networks got wise to it and restricted the number of phones that could be sold to one customer. They then started only giving retailers their sales commission when the phone was first used (Sometimes this is classed as putting credit on it, sometimes it is the first call made from the phone).
I still know a couple of guys who work for the link and since they were sold to O2, it seems that there is no direction for the company to go. They offer no (or very little) commission for selling, poor stock levels etc. Most staff are now looking for work elsewhere.0 -
I'm afriad them's the rules at CPW too (or they were anyway)
The network/retailer subsides the phone (have a ganders at the handset only price to see) on the proviso that you buy £x credit.
If we don't...then they don't pay the commission...and therefore, neither do the salespeople.
Sorry...:o:cool: Proud DFW Nerd 135 :cool:Sealed Pot Challenge - 0190 -
sillygoose wrote:Well postage is free so I ordered one, under their own conditions (long distance selling regs really) if I don't like the look of it - ie its purple! I can take it back to the shop for a full refund, and perhaps I will keep doing that until they get their shocking sales sorted out.
Thank you for permitting my vent - my systolic is ready declining. Rob
Be warned - the Link stores are either
a) Being converted into O2 stores like the member above says
b) Being converted into Orange stores or
c) Closing down - my local Link store was given 5 days notice and the 2 sales assistants given immediate redundancy - the manager and 2 Saturday sales assistants were given the job of actually closing the store down.0 -
Well, I ordered the phone from the website, it came in 3 days (well within the 5 stated). It is the smart black one I wanted and so I took out the Voda SIM that came with it, put in my own Voda SIM and all is well, its a very well equipped phone (1.3 megapixel camera & bluetooth) for £69, even came with a computer cable and software for transfering pictures onto my PC.
I understand the mandatory purchase of credit is to make it less economic for people who buy handsets, reprogram them and then resell them, especially as the handset is being heavily subsidised by Vodaphone.
My issue was that I was clearly not buying the phone to do the above because I was happy for the credit to be put on my Vodaphone PAYT SIM instead of their Voda PAYT SIM. It still means my £10 is tied to Vodaphone PAYT which is the point of the scheme!!!
Right I am off to Ebay the old Nokia 3510i
Rob0 -
I walked past the link near me today - closed
gone into administration apparently - this is what someone told me, do not know how true that is0 -
chrisj2006 wrote:Be warned - the Link stores are either
a) Being converted into O2 stores like the member above says
b) Being converted into Orange stores or
c) Closing down - my local Link store was given 5 days notice and the 2 sales assistants given immediate redundancy - the manager and 2 Saturday sales assistants were given the job of actually closing the store down.
if i remember rightly t-mobile have bought some and 3 have bought some. its going to be similar with phones4u, they have been sold by john cauldwell to provident (i think) and some other company so the industry is waiting to here what is happening long term.things arent the way they were before, you wouldnt even recognise me anymore- not that you knew me back thenMercilessKiller wrote: »BH is my best mate too, its ok
I trust BH even if he's from Manchester..
all your base are belong to us :eek:0 -
o2 brought the last 40% of the stock from the dsg group i beleave anyway0
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I went to the Carphonewarehouse last week to sort out a new phone. I said that I wanted to stay with Orange, keep the same number and have a contract for £30 monthly so that I could get the free broadband (as we are on Orange broadband and dont want to swap - have been on it since Freeserve!).
The guy that helped me said that I couldnt do that - that the free broadband was only for new customers and if I took out a different contract I couldnt keep the same number. I just couldnt make anything of him so went to the nearest Orange shop and got sorted there no problem - the staff there were excellent and knew exactly which way they were going!Weight Loss - 102lb0 -
Just wish the whole lot of these "stuff-the-law-and customers-once-we-have-their-money" companies would close down for good.Don't bother trying to sue me - I've got no money!0
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