Poor customer service at Carphone Warehouse

Suzann

I bought a simple Motorola phone from Carphone Warehouse in spring 2012 for my elderly father. It soon became apparent that the phone had a design flaw where the volume button on the outside of the phone could not be locked, so that my father could always hear it ringing. The volume of the handset would reduce to zero if the phone was placed in his pocket or jacket - basically most of the time if he was called by anyone the phone didn't ring. I contacted the online customer service teams at both Motorola & Carphone Warehouse to ask for a fix/solution. Both companies couldn't resolve the issue so I returned the phone to the CPW branch at Brent Cross in London - the phone was a few months old and well within warranty and in as new condition. The salesman in the store was very helpful and attempted to see if he could resolve the problem, when he coudn't he explained that he would have to call the CPW customer service team and get one of the remote i.e. call centre team to discuss the return with me. I asked why CPW didn't trust it's trained branch staff to deal with a basic consumer issue and the chapnin the branch could only smile and shrug his shoulders. As I stood in the branch, in front of other customers, my lovely father and other branch staff a CPW remote representative called Jonathan explained that he wouldn't sanction a return as the phone still functioned - I was in shock; how could a phone that didn't ring fulfill it's designed function? After much heated discussion he then attempted to re-negotiate the value of the refund. I believe that Jonathan broke UK consumer law by trying to reduce the value of the refund to a percentage of it's purchase value - the phone was still in warranty and clearly to anyone with any common sense 'not fit for purpose'. In the end I got a full refund but only because I told Jonathan that I was going to report him to Trading Standards and the OFT and that I expected that our conversation was being recorded by his employers who would have to present the recording to the consumer bodies I'd mentioned. I wrote to CPW after the event and got several ridiculous responses back from anonymous reps, the final letter stated that this issue was now closed as I had been given a full refund and that was an end to the matter. The supposed senior customer service reps that drafted the replys to my complaint didn't seem to care that CPW are in my opinion breaking UK consumer law. The final letter from the company was on headed paper from 'Best Buy' which may in some way explain what has happened to CPW and why the company has lost it's way and any desire to meet it's once good customer service record. Be warned if you chose to purchase from CPW, the company may well let you down if you need help. Very disappointing experience.