Phones4U.. Strange one.. What to Do?

johnashu

Hi all,

I went into store to buy a phone for a friend as a present.

if he was on O2 for more than 6 months on PAYG then he was entitled to 20 pounds off.

i was told i would need 10p to make a call..

i went through the process, paid the 79.95 but the 11p on my sim was not enough to make the call..

i said ok then ill go elsewhere. dont want to top up the 10 pounds as it was a present and i can only afford x amount.. of course i would love to have been able to top it up for him as well ..

long stopry short, the guy was very rude to the point where i had to leave.

phones4u refused to give cancel the transaction (from head office)

said i had to go back to the original advisor, who made me leave as he was adamantly blaming me, saying it was my fault and unless i topped up and rang this number there was nothing at all he could do.. so i left before i got very angry ..

they still have my money.

i have asked to refund it but they are not refunding back to my account unless i go back to the store or send me a cheque.

i said cancel the transaction as i had spent a whole day going back and forward asking them to cancel the transaction that was floating in limbo at that point..

apparently P4U cannot ring thier bank and cancel a transaction.. furthermore only the shop where the transaction was made can cancel said transaction.

they offered the phone but id already bought the same one for 20 quid more at o2..

so basically they took my 79.95 and are not giving it me back unless i go back to the store where i was being treated like scum because i asked for my money back rather than top up an extra 10 pounds..

two stores, 3 customer service reps and managers, head office all said the above..

i asked a straightforward question of 'is the only way P4U able to put the money back into my account (bearing in mind it had not left at this point) is to go back to the store)

all of the above said yes..

after an hour or so the options increased to the following:

1. go back to the store (no as they were all very rude to the point of wanting to hit the smug !!!!!!s! - if i was not a pacifist that is.. also they are kinda blaming o2 as its their deal..

2. send a cheques - that will take 3 weeks!

3. bank transfer if it send them my bank statementsv - i do all banking online so its a hassle..

so obviously they lied..

i said i wanted them to cancel the transaction as it had not gone through..

they refused to tell me the bank they are with so i could confirm that the only bank in the uk is unable to cancel a false transaction (i always assumed that what the dleay was there for)

bearing in mind this is after agreeing to send me a cheque with the banks name on it!

anyhow i told them that until the money is in my bank i am charging them 42.50 a day.

they still have my money.. no reply..no phone call.. no apology..oh and i have not even touched the box the phone was is..

anyhow, i am just going to send them an invoice one a week for the 42.50 a day charge for looking after my 79.95

i explained this to them on the phone several times (which was recorded).

where do i stand? what should i do?

the terms brick wall, head and banging are understatements

any ideas where i stand?

HappyMJ

I have no idea why you couldn't just top up the £10. You spent £79.95 another £10 to make calls with is hardly anything.

grumbler

johnashu wrote: »

i said i wanted them to cancel the transaction as it had not gone through..

If it had not, there is no anything to cancel and you have nothing to worry about because the money had not left your account.

You don't want the cheque.
You don't want the bank transfer.
And you don't want to go to the store.
What do you want then? If you have ever returned anything to any retailer you should know that they need your card to process the refund.

anyhow i told them that until the money is in my bank i am charging them 42.50 a day.

Charge them then. £15K p.a. is not bad as an extra income. Don't forget to fill the tax return and to pay the income tax and NI.

johnashu

HappyMJ wrote: »

I have no idea why you couldn't just top up the £10. You spent £79.95 another £10 to make calls with is hardly anything.

i didnt have an extra 10 pounds..

the whole point of the deal was that you did not have to top up..

johnashu

If it had not, there is no anything to cancel and you have nothing to worry about because the money had not left your account.

***8exactly.. the money had not left my account so they could cancel the transaction....

You don't want the cheque.
You don't want the bank transfer.
And you don't want to go to the store.
What do you want then? If you have ever returned anything to any retailer you should know that they need your card to process the refund.

*****all of the above options were made available the day after, after refusing..when i went to the shop they refused to refund my card because they had set up an account with the person i was buying for and would not release MY funds without their permission.. even though it apparently did not go through..


Charge them then. £15K p.a. is not bad as an extra income. Don't forget to fill the tax return and to pay the income tax and NI.

***** i will. properly, unlike P4U
................................................

JimmyTheWig

I'm confused.

On what phone did you want to make a call?
With whose 11p credit?
Why?

Have you got the phone from phones4u? Has the box been opened? Has the phone been used?
Have they got your money?
How did you pay?

Did you spend £20 more in O2 because you got something better or just because they were rude in phones4u? Are you happy with this decision?

On what basis are you charging them £42.50 a day? I can't see them agreeing to this.

redped

johnashu wrote: »

i went through the process, paid the 79.95 but the 11p on my sim was not enough to make the call..

i said ok then ill go elsewhere. dont want to top up the 10 pounds as it was a present and i can only afford x amount.. of course i would love to have been able to top it up for him as well ..

johnashu wrote: »

they offered the phone but id already bought the same one for 20 quid more at o2..

This doesn't make sense - you paid £80 for the phone, but didn't want to pay an extra £10 for a top-up, but yet you also later bought the same phone for £100 at O2?

TBH, it's hard to follow exactly what happened as the original post is long and rambling but it seems like P4U have offered to return your money via several methods, yet you aren't happy with any of them.

OneADay

Whatever happened and I can't follow it - just be smart and go back to the shop and get it sorted in a calm manner.

johnashu

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I'm confused.

On what phone did you want to make a call?
With whose 11p credit?
Why?

Have you got the phone from phones4u? Has the box been opened? Has the phone been used?
Have they got your money?
How did you pay?

Did you spend £20 more in O2 because you got something better or just because they were rude in phones4u? Are you happy with this decision?

On what basis are you charging them £42.50 a day? I can't see them agreeing to this.

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I'm confused.

On what phone did you want to make a call?
With whose 11p credit?
Why?

Have you got the phone from phones4u? Has the box been opened? Has the phone been used?
Have they got your money?
How did you pay?

Did you spend £20 more in O2 because you got something better or just because they were rude in phones4u? Are you happy with this decision?

On what basis are you charging them £42.50 a day? I can't see them agreeing to this.

1230pm

i wanted to buy a phone..

it cost 100 plus you had to top up

if you were already on o2 payg then you were entitled to an 'upgrade'

this means the phone cost 80 pounds and there was no need to top up..

the process works like this..

1. they put the phone number into the computer.

2..the computer says weather the number is eligible or not (you have had to have been on o2 payg for 6 months of more to be eligible).

3. if eligible then you are entitled to the above deal.

4. they take the details of the person who the phone is for

5. they take payment for the phone (in my case a debit card)

6. they then ring some number and confirm the sale.

7. the customer receives the phone and the receipt..


before point 4 i was told that i needed 10p to make the call to complete the deal.

by point 6 it was apparent that 11p was not enough to make the call.

i was told i had to top up.. i said no cancel the transaction and ill take my business elsewhere..

this was because the salesperson was being incredibly rude and implying that it was all my fault and i should have read the terms and conditions etc etc.. even though he told me i only needed 10p..

when i pointed this out he became very rude and agitated and further accused me of doing something wrong.telling me he could not refund or cancel the transaction because the only thing that was possible was to top up and ring this number!.

meanwhile the manager was literally telling him to 'stop it' ALEX, STOP IT NOW!' and he would not shut up..

this point i had left the shop as i would have ended up shouting.

i went for a coffee and calmed down..i was with my friend who can confirm this.. i am a very calm person and i cant believe this..

so i went to the other store on northumberland st..

spoke to the manager, told him the situation..

he rang the other shop and told me the only solution was to go back to the shop and sort it out.

i said i did not want to go back after that experience he said there was nothing he could do..

i spoke to customer services they said i had to go to my bank to cancel the transaction.

i went to the bank.. they accused me of stealing the phone.. obviously standard protocol..

they said P4U could quite esaily cancel the transaction.

went back to the second shop

spoke to a guy in head office.. he was trying to guilt trip me by saying he had gone out of his way to enable me to buy the phone without having to ring this number..

i told him it was too late and i had bought a phone from elsewhere at which point he started being arsey with me and back to square one..

eventually we came to the agreement that the phone could be brought to the second store to initiate said refund.

5pm

back at the second shop, the phone is there.. the card machine is there..me.. the manager and the phone..

scans the phone..

rings up customer services.. spends 15 mins explaining the situation..then gives me the phone..

the account has been set up in another name so we cant issue the refund..

ie the person who i was buying the phone for is the only person who can authorise the refund to my card..

i left

the next day i rang up to sort it out and the conversation went like this..

you have to go to the store that is the ONLY way possible..

then is was we can send you a cheque it will take 3 weeks..

then it was we can do a bank transfer if you fax through x, y, z, and the sq root of pi..

i asked them to cancel the pending transaction.. they refused..

i said they can cancel the transaction or pay me 50 quid a day to look after my money and they can return it any way they please but that was the charge..

the reason it is 42.50 a day is because it started at 50 a day but then i dropped it to 45 and then to 42.50 but refused to go any lower..


so basically they have had many chances to give me my money but have not and have been driving me crazy so i believe i am well in my rights to charge them for my time to get it back

am i?

OneADay

I still do not understand the 10p business but do not want to get into an argument about it.

I don't understand how you managed to upgrade someone's phone but never mind that either.

If you want this dealt with - take the person in whose name this phone is with you to the first shop or the second shop.

Deal with the simple things first -returning and getting back whatever costs you have been charged - forget the business about "your time". Something has gone wrong between you and the sales person - which I cannot understand.

MissKeith

What to do? Go back to the shop and get your refund obviously. I don't think this is rocket science.