Phones 4 U Warning

UnhappyCitizen

Hello all - long time lurker, first time poster here.

I just thought it might be useful to post something regarding Phones 4 U so others don't make the same mistake as this company keeps very quiet about not having the same protections as network operators when it comes to signing contracts:

For anyone considering purchasing a phone through Phones 4 U - there is no "Cooling off" period like you would have if you had purchased a phone or upgraded through your network.

If you sign up in store you are stuck throughout the life of the contract even if you change your mind the next day, I appreciate this is because they do not wish to have used returned phones that they cannot sell on which is why I offered to purchase the phone outright and organise the contract cancellation with my network (something my network was more than happy to do).

Phones 4 U refused to do this and although the person who organised the contract in store was excellent and helpful I ended up hitting a brick wall in subsequent phone calls to their customer services line.
I am not saying to not use the service this company offers however I think they keep very quiet when it comes to this particular problem.

I feel that this company tries to make itself look very modern and progressive in its media advertising but is very regressive when it comes to cooling off periods which have been standard on other similar civil contracts for years now (I.e - insurance).

I would also say that although the person who set up the contract in-store was extremely helpful about explaining the features of the contract, the in-store environment is rather sub-optimal for reading several pages of extremely small print (far smaller than any insurance contract for example, any smaller you would need a magnifying glass even with good vision). The printing method they use seemed to add spaces to the middle of words and made the whole thing even more difficult to read (to get all technical the kerning was terrible).

DUTR

UnhappyCitizen wrote: »

Hello all - long time lurker, first time poster here.

I just thought it might be useful to post something regarding Phones 4 U so others don't make the same mistake as this company keeps very quiet about not having the same protections as network operators when it comes to signing contracts:

For anyone considering purchasing a phone through Phones 4 U - there is no "Cooling off" period like you would have if you had purchased a phone or upgraded through your network.

If you sign up in store you are stuck throughout the life of the contract even if you change your mind the next day, I appreciate this is because they do not wish to have used returned phones that they cannot sell on which is why I offered to purchase the phone outright and organise the contract cancellation with my network (something my network was more than happy to do).

Phones 4 U refused to do this and although the person who organised the contract in store was excellent and helpful I ended up hitting a brick wall in subsequent phone calls to their customer services line.
I am not saying to not use the service this company offers however I think they keep very quiet when it comes to this particular problem.

I feel that this company tries to make itself look very modern and progressive in its media advertising but is very regressive when it comes to cooling off periods which have been standard on other similar civil contracts for years now (I.e - insurance).

Must say I'm dissapointed by your 1st posting, the company has done nothing wrong there, don't be making purchases and changing your mind the next day, I would have to question why so many millions of people have the ability to make a descision and you don't, and then have the cheek to blame the company? :eek: It's not even as if you had purchased mail order which the regulations gives the option to change your mind for a short time.

UnhappyCitizen

DUTR wrote: »

Must say I'm dissapointed by your 1st posting, the company has done nothing wrong there, don't be making purchases and changing your mind the next day, I would have to question why so many millions of people have the ability to make a descision and you don't, and then have the cheek to blame the company? :eek: It's not even as if you had purchased mail order which the regulations gives the option to change your mind for a short time.

I am fully aware that this company has done nothing legally wrong however in all other situations where a company requires you to sign a contract of some sort that I am aware of they provide a cooling off period - this is the nature of modern sales.

To expand on this if I had have gone into the O2 shop to do the same thing then I would have no problem at all, it is just the policy of this single company that could be a problem (from searching for this problem on the Internet I can certainly not the first person to face this).

I don't feel I was being unreasonable in any way - although it is a pain that I have changed my mind and reconsidered (the purpose of a cooling off period). I did offer to buy the phone outright and offer to pay their commission to O2 so they were not out of pocket. Their policy is very inflexible.

DUTR

UnhappyCitizen wrote: »

I am fully aware that this company has done nothing legally wrong however in all other situations where a company requires you to sign a contract of some sort that I am aware of they provide a cooling off period - this is the nature of modern sales.

To expand on this if I had have gone into the O2 shop to do the same thing then I would have no problem at all, it is just the policy of is single company that could be a problem (from searching for this problem on the Internet I can certainly not the first person to face this).

I don't feel I was being unreasonable in any way - although it is a pain that I have changed my mind and reconsidered (the purpose of a cooling off period). I did offer to buy the phone outright and offer to pay their commission to O2 so they were not out of pocket. Their policy is very inflexible.

I do feel you are being unreasonable but that is just my opinion, you could have offered P4U the same offer you did to O2, again just my opinion, the cooling off period could be BEFORE you sign the deal. It would save a lot of hassle and time.

UnhappyCitizen

DUTR wrote: »

you could have offered P4U the same offer you did to O2

What do you mean by this? I offered to buy the phone outright from Phones 4 U and reimburse any commission they may have lost from O2 due to the decision I made (which I accept is fully my fault).

It would make more sense as you said to have a cooling off period before a contract is signed (it could be described as a trial or something) but alas this is not the case.

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, I work for an insurance company dealing with complex claims and Level 2 customer service issues and customers change their mind all the time and we are not only happy to repudiate contracts if they are within a cooling off period but we are legally obliged to. Perhaps it is due to the heavier regulation in the insurance industry or the fact that most insurance these days is distance selling (rather than old fashioned bricks and mortar broker offices).

robbies_gal

i didnt think any phone bought in store had a cooling off period i could be wrong though

ZhugeEX

The only way you could cancel was due to
-Coverage (this can be a goodwill gesture)
-SOGA if there was a fault with the phone.
-Mis-Selling

UnhappyCitizen

robbies_gal wrote: »

i didnt think any phone bought in store had a cooling off period i could be wrong though

You're correct. Anything bought over the Internet or by telephone would be covered under distance selling regulations.

mobilejunkie

And anything bought in MOST shops wouldn't. THAT makes Phones4u quite normal. Of course, you could always make the purchase (usually more competitively) by ordering on their on-line website and GET the DSR protection. But, then that's the whole point - when you buy from a shop you get the opportunity to examine what you're byuying before you commit. It's up to YOU to take that opportunity if you wish. If you don't like it, campaign for a change in the law - but it wouldn't succeed, since all commerce would grind to a halt.

DUTR

mobilejunkie wrote: »

And anything bought in MOST shops wouldn't. THAT makes Phones4u quite normal. Of course, you could always make the purchase (usually more competitively) by ordering on their on-line website and GET the DSR protection. But, then that's the whole point - when you buy from a shop you get the opportunity to examine what you're byuying before you commit. It's up to YOU to take that opportunity if you wish. If you don't like it, campaign for a change in the law - but it wouldn't succeed, since all commerce would grind to a halt.

This is a good point, as I cannot understand why folk would want to sign in store only to go and quickly change their minds, stores do offer a refund exchange policy but quite rightly certain products are excluded, and it's not as if many mobile stores do not have working examples on display. I recently purchased from P4U online be it, but I was already sure what I wanted as I had been watching and waiting for months, that said I did look at a live handset in the 3 store weeks before purchasing.

macman

There is no legal right whatsoever to cancellation/return of an item bought instore, and no cooling-off period, except what the retailer may choose to offer you under their own returns policy. Why should there be? There is a cost to the retailer every time this happens ~(which is of course passed on to other customers), particularly with a handset, which once used, can can no longer be resold as new.
If you bought a new car in a showroom, would you expect to be able to take it back the next day for a full refund?