£20 extra to buy mobile with cash!!

choccyface2006

I was talking to an elderly gentleman today, apparently he had been to a mobile phone shop to buy his grandaughter a phone having seen a nice one advertsied in the window but when he came to pay he was told that he would have to pay £20 extra to pay with cash.

I don't know which mobile shop (could have been the O2 or orange but not sure) but surly this is disgraceful? Can shops really charge you extra (legally) for paying with cash? He was told it was because the phone wouldn't be linked to his payment card and to help with fraud.

He was also told that the phone wouldn't work with another sim card even if it was the same network, it had to be the one in the box. He didn't pay the extra out of principle and I don't blame him.

Does anyone else know about this?

Thanks

Sarah x

sarahg1969

I don't know about this case, but as far as I'm aware, the Carphone Warehouse don't accept any cash!

hjb123

In a way I can understand there being extra measures to combat fraud as with cash the phone will be unable to be linked to anyone whereas if payment is by credit card then there is a trail back to whoever bought it. However £20 does seem OTT.

thevillageidiot

The £20 is charged for transactions other than a credit card payment and is usually given as a top up on your payg credit. I had this issue with cfw back in the summer, but they DID accept cash on a run out model Nec e540