'illegal' to buy 3 or more phones

RupertRoker · 31 January 2012 at 1:16PM

grumbler wrote: »

...especially people. Could I have a dozen, please? LOL.

probably not without CPW suggesting that trying to buy that many would be fraud or telling you that it would be 'illegal'.

Quentin · 31 January 2012 at 1:28PM

RupertRoker wrote: »

Also, if I try and buy more than my quota of tubes of pringles from Tesco the person on the till won't try and tell me that there is a law against it, or tell me that I'm trying to commit fraud.

So are you saying the tesco till employees are more educated/better trained or what?

You know that the cpw employees got it wrong if they suggested it was fraud.

There are bigger fish to fry - get over this one!

RupertRoker · 31 January 2012 at 1:41PM

Quentin wrote: »

You know that the cpw employees got it wrong if they suggested it was fraud.

There are bigger fish to fry - get over this one!

I quite agree that this isn't the biggest problem in the world (and will admit that it might not appear that from a few of my posts).

I started this forum thread because CPW refused to explain their reasoning and kept on asserting on Twitter that they couldn't explain on Twitter because of not having enough space so I thought I'd call their bluff and give them the space they needed to explain what's going on and offer an apology to anybody else that they've given the fraud line to (it wasn't just staff in one store that told this to me).

Obviously I'm rather disappointed that they didn't have the decency to post their excuses, as I was hoping to see what they make of the idea that their breaching the consumer protection regs.

Quentin · 31 January 2012 at 1:43PM

Your first mistake was probably expecting any decency from them! Though you are educated enough to know the staff simply got it wrong who told you it was "fraud"!

Hezzawithkids · 31 January 2012 at 2:07PM

If it was "illegal" then how would businesses buy multiple phone contracts in one go to give to their employees??? Saying its "illegal" is nonsense, saying that it wont be possible under credit control policy is another.

Were you trying to buy them as a personal customer or as a business? If the former then you will be coming up against the networks' anti-fraud measures for all the reasons (plus a few more) already mentioned by other posters. If you were buying on behalf of a business then the sales people would have been falling over themselves to help you.

RupertRoker · 31 January 2012 at 2:34PM

Quentin wrote: »

Your first mistake was probably expecting any decency from them! Though you are educated enough to know the staff simply got it wrong who told you it was "fraud"!

You're right that I should have expected any decency. I was just amazed that not only did their store staff in two branches come out with this nonsense their Twitter team stood by it as well.

RupertRoker · 31 January 2012 at 2:36PM

Hezzawithkids wrote: »

Were you trying to buy them as a personal customer or as a business? If the former then you will be coming up against the networks' anti-fraud measures for all the reasons (plus a few more) already mentioned by other posters. If you were buying on behalf of a business then the sales people would have been falling over themselves to help you.

I tried to make this purchase in two different stores and on line. In one store I was told that there was no sales of more than 2 phones full stop. In the other I was told that if I was a business customer then I could buy more than two phones but that they categorically would not sell to an organisation other than a registered company and that I'd need proof that I was purchasing for such a company, business cards and letter head. (None of which I have). I was just amazed that they seemed to be falling over themselves to avoid selling me anything.

mazza111 · 31 January 2012 at 6:10PM

I think these cheap payg phones are also subsidised by the mobile operators, which is a bit silly when they are unlocked. If they are going to subsidise phones then surely they would be better locking them. Not that I'm complaining of course, got my 2 phones for £100 each instead of the £140 that they were elsewhere. Needless to say I didn't use them on the mobile network that they were bought for, and used them with my pay monthly sim.

Simple to get round, get your mum, sister, auntie, hamster to go into the shop and pay for them, you give them the cash.