Phones 4U collapses into administration

[Deleted User]

Bring back decent 12 month contracts, Yes I know they are still available in some places but they are not such a good deal compared when they were still the norm.

mije1983

Deleted_User wrote: »

Bring back decent 12 month contracts, Yes I know they are still available in some places but they are not such a good deal compared when they were still the norm.

That's because even as the phones have got more expensive, consumers haven't got away from the fact they want a 'free' phone with a new contract. A lot of people still seem averse to the idea of paying for a phone on a contract! We can't have it both ways.

Say a phone is £400 to buy, that means the contract is going to have to cost at least £33 a month to cover the cost of it, before taking into account any profit the network would like to make!

[Deleted User]

mije1983 wrote: »

That's because even as the phones have got more expensive, consumers haven't got away from the fact they want a 'free' phone with a new contract. A lot of people still seem averse to the idea of paying for a phone on a contract! We can't have it both ways.

Say a phone is £400 to buy, that means the contract is going to have to cost at least £33 a month to cover the cost of it, before taking into account any profit the network would like to make!

Yes but the reason why people want the most expensive super duper phone "free" is because if they are going to be tied in for 2 whole years, they want something that will still be modern in 2 years time.

mije1983

Deleted_User wrote: »

Yes but the reason why people want the most expensive super duper phone "free" is because if they are going to be tied in for 2 whole years, they want something that will still be modern in 2 years time.

But that's not the reason. If people only wanted a 'super duper phone free' because they are tied in for 2 years, then they wouldn't touch 24 month deals and would be happy with a perfectly capable sub £100 phone on sim only or PAYG. They could then switch whenever there phone didn't feel 'modern' to them. Or they would be happy to pay a big wedge of the cost up front, and have a 12 month deal.

People want the latest and greatest, whether it's an iPhone, Samsung, LG etc, but at the same time seem to not want to pay for it!

There are people who really believe that the phone is 'free', and resent having to pay £100 upfront if they can get it 'free'. Even if the monthly payments are much less.

[Deleted User]

mije1983 wrote: »

But that's not the reason. If people only wanted a 'super duper phone free' because they are tied in for 2 years, then they wouldn't touch 24 month deals and would be happy with a perfectly capable sub £100 phone on sim only or PAYG. They could then switch whenever there phone didn't feel 'modern' to them. Or they would be happy to pay a big wedge of the cost up front, and have a 12 month deal.

People want the latest and greatest, whether it's an iPhone, Samsung, LG etc, but at the same time seem to not want to pay for it!

There are people who really believe that the phone is 'free', and resent having to pay £100 upfront if they can get it 'free'. Even if the monthly payments are much less.

That's what I mean, the choice of phones on a 12 month contract is limited. The networks aren't even offering all phones on 12 month even with up front costs.

That along with !!!! poor data allowances is the reason why I don't touch these contacts and just buy a phone up front and use a sim-only deal.

Tibs15

Wonder how much longer before the Adminstrators contact me to get my phone back to me so I can take it for repair. Each time I phone phones4u it's in the shop and I will be phoned. If they would just open the door I'll get it myself! Has anyone received their phone back yet?:(

minislim

sounds to me like that EE are partly to blame. by not renewing their contract with them.
no surprise they sprung at the opportunity to acquire some of the old stores though.

as usual! the mobile phone mafiosa dictating whats going on in their market place.

cklass

The networks bailed out because Phone4U's owner loaded it with £250m in debt whilst cashing in £205m for themselves. It meant that Phones4U could no longer offer the networks competitive terms when negotiating its contracts due to high debt repayments.

EE couldn't possibly have renewed their contract because they would have been the only major network supplying the company. If all Phones4U had to offer was EE contracts, they would essentially have been competing with EE's own stores.

mobilejunkie

Not entirely true. I know of at least one dealer who has lost Vodafone and O2 but is still supplying Orange and T-Mobile contracts.

Wendy_R

My son was working for Phones 4 U but left for another job the day before they announced they were going into administration. He's owed two weeks' pay but they've said that people who left before the announcement won't be paid directly from Phones 4 U administrators but need to apply to Job Centre Plus. Does anyone know the procedure and how long it's likely to take?