Carphone warehouse

DUTR

ststephens97 wrote: »

it was nothing to do with the quality of phone etc, it was a HTC pay as you go with 3. ordered it then quickly realised that it was a £15 minimum top up and what you didnt use in the month you lost, the phone was for my 10 year old so he would prob only use a fiver a month so not appropriate
another poster already critisised me for not researching properly and more or less blamed me which is his or her opinion and i normally re4search stuff to the nth degree but this time i didnt!
i ordered online and cancelled via telephone within 10 mins of order-it had not been despached and the person I spoke to said i would be refunded immediately and instead Ive been messed around for a month
as i say i will not use CPW again

I had a HTC Wildfire for work, and yes the 1st top up is £10-15 for a bundle pack which expires after 30 days, subsequent top ups last until the credit expires which can vary depending upon usage.
I have only topped up once with £10 and there is still nearly £9 credit balance that is in 20 months. IIRC you can top up with £5 with a deit card, but the bundles after the 1st one are not mandotary.

Herongull

Guys_Dad wrote: »

I am very pleased that you have got your refund. It was due to you and I agree that companies are lightning fast to take money from your card and the repayment timescale can be like a wounded snail.

There is one thing, though. Your opening post says that you changed your mind 10 minutes after ordering, not after inspecting the handset after delivery. In other words, you bought without doing "due diligence" to use the current business speak.

Nothing can beat trying an item out before buying and that means a visit to a high street reseller before deciding to buy either online or at the shop. The current hassle you have had has probably made you think twice about a repeat situation.

I hope your experience can act as a warning to others who may find themselves regretting ordering something without proper checks beforehand.

Except that the Distance Selling Regs gives you a 7 day cooling off period to try out the phone if you buy online. If you change your mind, they have to refund ASAP and no later than 30 days or they are breaking the law.

If you buy in a shop and then change your mind, you don't have the protection of the DSRs. Phone companies should not be creating so much hassle for people exerting their legal rights to the cooling off period that they are tempted to buy in the shop instead.

IMO, the solution is not to deal with any company that has problems with obeying the law.

Buzby

They may be forced to refund the phone, but the top up? I don't believe so - as these are not physical goods. However, all the material facts were known yet the purchaser made the commitment - it would be much better to research fully first, not expect to check it out and then return later. It was not the fault of CW that there was 'Buyer's Remorse'.

Herongull

If a company does distance selling, it has to obey the laws on distance selling and the law allows customers 7 days to have buyers remorse.

If a company disapproves of giving refunds to people with buyers remorse, then it should only sell in shops.

Deciding not to comply with the law is the company's fault

Herongull

And the DSR 7 day cooling off period does cover topups as well as phones (as long as the topup has not been used).

ststephens97

You all seem to be missing the poin and entering into complex discussions about the law etc. Cpw agreed to refund money from day 1, the issue was about it taking a month to actually refund whichever way you look at it this is unacceptable