PhoneRecycleBank - screwing me over? [NOW CONCLUDED]

arcon5

RichA wrote: »

Price offered when I posted the handset - £127.10.
Price now offered by the same company - £90.43.

I make that £37? £44 if you factor in the now-missing battery and protective case.

Regards,

RichA

Thats the price they are willing to pay you for it, not the market value.

RichA

arcon5 wrote: »

Thats the price they are willing to pay you for it, not the market value.

Not really hugely relevant, nor true. I opted to use a phone recycling company in this instance, despite being offered below the market rate for my handset. This was because I knew I'd be in the process of moving house in the near future - the other obvious market is a well-known online auction site. By the time an auction would have completed, I'd have been nearer to the date of my move, which would've been awkward when trying to track a missing or returned parcel. I opted to use this company for convenience rather than outright monetary gain - the reality was I have been decidedly inconveniences, and suffered monetary loss.

Market value has gone down. Looking at the last dozen sales of working, good-condition handsets on the well known auction site, the average across them is currently £122.15. The oldest dozen sales(around a month ago) had an average of over £158(actual finished listings, what the items sold for after meeting a reserve and having bids). Not quite the £40 devaluation I've seen with Phone Recycle Bank, but still a substantial sum of money. So, in all probability, I'm going to be out of pocket now - not just the devaluation of the handset, but the cost of replacing the property of mine they have lost or discarded, as well as the hassle and inconvenience of chasing them so often and over a relatively long period of time.

As I said previously, here is an update of communication between the company and myself - I made contact, as-per their original request on here.

From: RichA <xx@@xx.com>
Date: 18 April 2012 15:12
Subject: Order xxxxxx
To: xx@phonerecyclebank.com


Making contact as-per your request on the MSE forums yesterday, which has now been removed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/52510593#Comment_52510593

Regards,

RichA

From: <xx@phonerecyclebank.com>
Date: 19 April 2012 15:35
Subject: FW: xxxxxx - xxxxxx - call back
To: xx@xx.com


Dear Sir

Thank you for your e-mail. In response to your enquiry, I have tried calling you unfortunately I was unable to leave your a message. Can you please confirm if you have received your handset back complete with back and battery. If you have not can you please call me on 01270 xxxxxx quoting reference number xxxxxxx and I will resolve this issue for you.

With Kind Regards

Gill

Phone Recycle - Customer Care

From: RichA <xx@xx.com>
Date: 19 April 2012 16:46
Subject: Re: FW: xxxxxxx - xxxxxx - call back
To: xx@phonerecyclebank.com


Hello Gill,

Handset was delivered on Tuesday, with the rear cover but minus the battery, protective case, and original packaging as requested. A sour end to a disappointing experience, but thank-you for the follow-up

Regards,

RichA

This is all communication to-date. Included in the email was a forwarded message from "Sam" to "Gill", as a follow-up from my call on 11th April(post #3, point 5). If Sam ever reads this, thank-you for passing the message along like you said.

RichA

From: <xx@phonerecyclebank.com>
Date: 24 April 2012 09:37
Subject: xxxxxx
To: xx@xx.com


Dear Mr RichA

I have tried calling you on several occasions, however I have been unable to contact you. I am currently looking at sending you a charger and a cover for your Samsung i9000 handset. Unfortunately the packaging was disposed of when we received your handset. Can you please confirm your current address for me so I can get these posted out to you.

With Kind Regards

Gill

Phone Recycle - Customer Care

From: <xx@xx.com>
Date: 24 April 2012 10:18
Subject: Re: xxxxxx
To: xx@phonerecyclebank.com


Dear Gill,

I presume the missed call from a withheld number at 9.02am was yourself. My apologies, I am unable to accept telephone calls during the day whilst I am at work. My phone does not show any other recent missed calls.

A charger was never a problem; I have three spare. The issue was the lost battery(presumably discarded with my packaging) - a genuine replacement new part has now been ordered at a cost of £10.33 to myself. The handset is also provisionally sold, pending delivery of the replacement part, which I hope to arrive in the next day or two.

Regards,

RichA

From: <xx@phonerecyclebank.com>
Date: 25 April 2012 12:13
Subject: RE: xxxxxxx
To: <xx@xx.com>


Dear Sir

Thank you for your response, I can confirm that as a good will gesture and apology for all the inconvenience caused I have arranged to send you a cheque for £10.33 to cover the cost. This should be with you in the next few days.

With Kind Regards
Gill

From: <xx@xx.com>
Date: 25 April 2012 12:55
Subject: Re: xxxxxx
To: xx@phonerecyclebank.com
Cc: xx@2020mobile.com


Dear Gill,

Whilst I appreciate the gesture, I really must decline out of principle. £10.33 is less than I am out of pocket - the cost of replacing the battery, devaluation of the handset whilst Phone Recycle Bank dragged their heels in returning my property to me at a time where speed was somewhat important, and the aggravation of numerous telephone calls to your company far exceed your "gesture of goodwill".

You also don't have my new address; I moved house in the midst of all this hassle. As I was expected to provide utility bills to confirm my new address in order to have my property returned to me, I'm somewhat unwilling to do-so to receive this goodwill gesture.

I would appreciate it if you could divide the gesture between two of your employees - Lee, who I spoke with on 17th April, and Sam, who I spoke with on Wednesday 11th April. It doesn't really feel right to reward someone for just doing their job, but those were the only two employees who actually returned my calls when they had agreed to. I'd like them both to have a drink as my way of a thank-you for their efforts.

As a side-note, I can see that Sam actually passed my message over to yourself on the 11th, as she promised, but sadly there was no assistance forthcoming. I've copied her in on this message in hope she'll receive my thanks.

If you have nothing further to add, I shall update my thread on the MoneySavingExpert forums, and consider the matter concluded.

Regards,

RichA

I expect to hear nothing further from Phone Recycle Bank, nor am I updating this for any further input; I just wanted to give the thread a conclusion. No cheque arrived, nor did I hear that it had been split between the two employees. A phone charger arrived at my old address - when I picked up the package, I found the earth pin had been broken off as it had just been tossed into a jiffy bag. There was no cover included.

Thanks for the advice in the early stages!

RichA