Carphone Warehouse / O2 top-up refund

briankelleher

Went to buy credit for my wife's phone today, got a £15 O2 voucher in carphone warehouse, realised about half an hour later it should have been for the network 3. Went back to CW and they said there was nothing they could do, that I had to go to O2. Went to O2 (two doors down), they said that there was nothign they could do, CW took the money so they would do the refund.

Have since been on the phone to both and neither is willing to do anything. The voucher is unused (as confirmed by O2), all they said they could do was give us a sim card to use the credit on. CW just said there's nothing they can do.

Does this sound wrong to anyone else? If i bought the top up from CW, why can't they refund it? There's loads of detail on here for them to check it's not been used, so what's the problem?

Fosterdog

You have no right at all to a refund in this situation, you bought the wrong thing.

They may have a returns policy for physical goods to be returned depending on condition but I have never seen a shop that offers refunds on top ups.

Maybe you can ask around for someone with an O2 phone and let them use the top up, either give it to the or sell it for all or part of the amount.

bris

It doesn't sound wrong no, how do you know the code could even be made void. Regardless, you have no legal right to a refund.

MamaMoo_2

I used to work at Sainsbury's, and we'd refund top-ups if they alerted us fairly quickly. We had a number to call before we refunded that would allow us to check that the top up was unused and then cancel the voucher.
So, it is possible to have the voucher cancelled and refunded, the problem you have here is that you have no right to it. You could sell it on eBay at a slight loss?

prowla

Well, for sure I wouldn't buy anything from CPW again.

briankelleher

Thanks for your replies. I've sold it for £13 on a forum I use, and having bought two phones and a lot of top ups from carphone warehouse over the three years I've lived in the UK, I definitely won't be going back there.

melbell

CPW must be quivering. You unfortunately have no legal right to a refund.

briankelleher

Don't see how the sarcasm is necessary, but thank you for repeating what I had already accepted from several other posters. I don't think I'll bother with these forums either if this is the way people are treated.

Littlemiss27

They weren't trying to be awkward. Although it is very easy to check whether the voucher has been used (quick phone call to the network), the system used in store will not allow returns of these at all.

There used to be a way to refund them in store but this was removed ~5 years ago. I believe this was due to the vouchers still being able to be used for a short while between the refund being processed and the network voiding the voucher.

prowla

Well, the bottom line is that shops rely on repeat business and the willingness of customers to buy from them.

If they drive their customers away then they lose that business.

melbell

prowla wrote: »

Well, the bottom line is that shops rely on repeat business and the willingness of customers to buy from them.

If they drive their customers away then they lose that business.

But customers who demand the company bend over backwards for them are not the sort the company want.

CPW have done nothing wrong, Network 3 and o2 so similar NOT