Clearance deals

The_Boss

Afternoon people

I have been looking at various websites for phones (onestop, e2save etc) and many of these have a deal on a phone and then have the same phone at a 'Clearance' rate This is always much better.

Are these clearance phones previously used stock that have been returned, and if not then what is the difference between the two sets of deals?

mobilejunkie

I've had several clearnance phones. They were all as new as far as I could tell, apart from one which didn't for some reason "feel" new. However, I also notice that since these sources (both part of the Carphone Warehouse) have muddied the waters by stealing a competitors' terms and conditions they have also added that clearance phones are possibly "refurbished". Probabaly gone unnoticed, but it USED to say they were either returned or ex demo. I got two deals for a friend and she was unlucky - had two obviously used phones which she had to return, both locked to the wrong network. However, for the right deal I would take a chance. They sopmetimes DON'T come with any hands free (earphones) or memory card which in some cases is included with a new phone, although most of mine did (might have got worse since though because my aforementioned friend also had no hands-free with her second contract!).

The_Mobile_Insider

Ive also bought clearance handsets in the past with no problems.

Many mobile retailers who sell through call centres will get a lot of returns as they sell a deal over the phone, and when the customer gets their mobile they decide they dont like the look of it and send it straight back.

They are normally returned unused, however you cant sell them on as new so you sell them as clearance. Like mobilejunkie says they may or may not come with the original box and sales contents, you do get the full years manufacturer guarantee usually though.

JSF

As far as I know you can also send back a clearance phone, and I have done so without any problems. It just did not seem to work as it should so may have been faulty, but it did look used was a SE w800. It was a contract and the contract was cancelled without fuss.

Having said that I have got other two clearance phones (from Virgin PAYG) other than they were not in the original box (but were in a new box marked reconditioned) they looked brand new complete with the plastic cover you get on new phones, no marks at all

The_Boss

Think I will steer clear then

EdCov

I have had various clearance mobiles. The W550i had problems from the start, and had to be replaced, but the next one was fine and lasted for over a year before having more problems. I can still use it for everything but phone calls. The D600 again first one did not work and had to be replaced, but has been working since for over a year.

The problem is if it is refurbished or returned with a fault they may not have ironed out the fault properly, but in both cases got a replacement phone relatively easily. I've also had two new phones that either arrived faulty or broke quite shortly afterwards. It makes it sound like I have lots of phones - which I don't, but one or two a year, a couple of which I sold on ebay.

The deals on refurbished phones are a lot better, and worth a go, but the phones are not always perfect.