Phones4U!!

yeslek

bare with me, its a long one.

I stupidly decided to upgrade my phone by purchasing a new contract via Phones4U as the deals offered on a new contract were better than the retentions on my old.

Anyways, i signed up for a vodaphone contract online, through quidco (another of the reasons for swapping)and was told that the phone would be delivered the next working if ordered before 1pm.
So i order at about 11am on a tuesday, not expecting the phone the exact next day as usually they have to do credit checks and such, but certainly by thrusday or the end of the week for sure.
The saturday roll's around (5th day after ordering) and i have still not had anything or heard anthing from them except the email that comfirms the order had been processed. So i email them to query this (as i usually only check my emails etc online at work). I heard nothing, back, so again on monday, i email again. Still nothing.
Wednesday i try again, only this time, as it's a week late and becaused they have not even bothered to reply to my previous email, I feel i've had enough and i ask to cancel the order (that i have still not received or been told was shipped out).
Again i hear nothing so send another two emails during the week to confirm/re-request cancellation.

The next monday (nearly two weeks after placing the order) I get home to find a delivery note from the postie.
I pop down on tuesday morning to pick up what i thought would be my amazon order, but instead find a package for a phone.
I then notice that the seal has already been broken on the box (inside the sealed special delivery bag) so alarm bell's start ringing (spesh as i'd said i didnt want the delivery anymore). Low and behold, the phone and battery have gone. I'm left with a box, a manual and a charger. nothing else.

So as you can guess i'm beginning to get really annoyed at this point (ok so the missing phone cant be 100% blamed on Phones4u but they have done nothing to help prior to this).
So again, i try and email them (the reason i have not phoned is because i work 8-6 and that's conveiniently the ONLY times their call-line is open) saying whats happened and i actually get a reply, only all it says is that they cannot accept cancellations online (what! the one time i DONT say i want it cancelled!! :mad: )

By friday (just over two weeks from ordering) - I have heard nothing except the irrelavent email regarding non-acceptance of cancellation - so as its my first day off (since receiving the phone) and since i have not had any joy from email's i try to call them on the number given in the paper-work received with the non-existant phone. What a surprise, its busy! Odd thing is, i'm not even placed in a que, I'm simply told that its busy and I should try my call later :mad:

So, as its my day off, i decide to go into town and to the Phones4u shop (even though i purchased online) and see if they can help.
As expected they cant as its an online order but they do help all they can and manage to call up and put me through to (a rude lad) on their helpline.
He basically call's me a liar saying that I WOULD have been placed in a cue and that as i'm outside of the 14 days (the first del attempt was made on the 13th day!! as they go from when the order was placed!) i could not cancel.
I explained that i emailed many times WITHIN the 14days and as far as i was concerned it SHOULD be cancelled. I also mention that the delivery was not made until the 13th day and i never actually had the phone until the 14th day so how could i have changed my mind with the handset and still be within there 14 day guarentee? a flaw on there part surely? I also point out how annoyed I am and also why would I lie and go out of my way to go to a shop if the helpline worked? I would have been happy to wait in a que than to travel all the way into town!
The guy on the other end also seems quite oblivious to the fact that i had also said the phone was missing. He just kept repeating the 14 bumpf.

Anyways, after much argueing and getting nowhere i demand to speak to a manager as this guy is obviously not going to help me.
Eventually i get transferred through (to a manger that supposedly cannot and does not take calls?! (hmmm... - er, i've done call centre work, i know the drill mr!!)
She was a lot more helpful and said that if i get a crime refferance number for the missing phone then she could go ahead an cancel the account/phone/contract without any problems.


So i get an extension and alternative number off her so i can actual call direct from home instead of going to store and i leave it at that.

THEN when i contact the police they say, sorry, you need to take it up with the royal mail as its a 'lost in post'. You will need to fill out a form and they will give you the crime ref (this sounds odd but i go along with it anyways)
I then go to the post office (this all takes me up to the next thursday, just over 3 weeks from ordering due to when/where my days off fall) and i ask for the form. They tell me that the only form they have is for the sender to fill in to make a claim and that they dont deal with crime refferance numbers(?)!!! :mad:

i then decide to give the police one last try just incase i had been misinformed the first time, but no, the postie was right, its not up to me to report the missing phone.

so off i go, back to call the lady manager to advise her of the latest update, and guess what? the number doesnt exist :mad::mad::mad:

I basically give up at this point, i send a few more emails (at high priority and with a read report) but again only get the standard, 'we cannot accept cancellations via email' that i recieved before. (i get one reply to the 4 odd emails i sent)

All this started in mid-june - its not nearly two months later and i still have the box, charger and manual sat at home, waiting to either bin it or send it back (i have been reluctant in just returning to sender as the phone's missing and i dont want to be accused of keeping it and trying to pull a fast one on them)

I have cancelled the D/D that got set up on my bank account to ensure vodaphone dont try and bill me for anything and i have given up contacting them. I am now waiting to see if they begin to chase me for the phone/non-payments (as i refuse to be charged for this mess but no doubt they will still try)

I urge any of you to be VERY VERY weary of these !!!!!!s.

They have vertually NO customer service (unless you go to the shop) and dont seem inclined to help a brand new customer (i pointed out that i'd changed my mind partly due to the bad service regarding del/queries)
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

rent over

dangeroussports

phones4u remind me of another rip off company called Tiny computers.

I think some of the staff moved over there too, within management. Horrendous people, bloodsucking peasants the lot of them.

garyparson

The only dealings I've had with them was a few years ago when I got a Nokia 6600 on contract and had to take it back a few times as it had a 'dead pixel'. They did this with no fuss but then that was in store.

Obviously the mistake you made was to pick the parcel up off the post office. I assume you had to sign for it? I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. If you don't sign, then they can't prove you ever had it. Case closed. Unlucky all the same.

pinkshoes

For the phone that went missing in the post, you need to contact Postwatch (www.postwatch.co.uk) and make a complaint through them via their web page. They will investigate the whole thing, and it can all be done online, so no phone calls. These people are fantastic and helped me alot when alot of post went missing!

As for dealing with Phones for you, you should take this up with Trading Standards (http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/). Never dealt with them myself, so not sure if it works, but i presume it does, and is worth a go!

Never give up with useless companies!! I bet they send the balifs after you for cancelling hte direct debit (which will affect your credit rating!!!!!), so you must persue this, and get independent people involved (postwatch and trading standards).

Keep us posted on how it goes!!

Ps, I suggest you WRITE to Phones4U on the address below, explaining everything, and demanding someone investigage their poor customer service and rude sales people:

Web Customer Services Team
Phones 4u House
Ore Close
Lymedale Business Park
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire
ST5 9QD

(this was on their web page)

trisontana

If you look at the second article on this page you will see an interesting feature about this particular company :-

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/columnists/article.html?in_article_id=423298&in_page_id=19&in_author_id=5

jammin_2

You have no valid contract of sale with Phones4u - because they have not delivered what you ordered.

You ordered a phone, not an empty box. The fact that you signed for it is not important. In accordance with EU Distance Selling Regulations (European Union Directive 97/7/EC), you are entitled to a period of 7 days days, to inspect the product before you legally accept it. Obviously, you are not accepting it because the order is incomplete.

Whether the phone was lost or stolen in transit or at their warehouse is their problem to work out. Simply return to them what they sent to you, with a letter stating that you are rejecting the order in accordance with European Union Directive 97/7/EC, and as such are returning the product in exactly the condition in which it was received.

BettiePage

I bought my phone instore. Girl offered me 2 months half price insurance. I declined, so she offered me one month free!
She wasn't a happy bunny when I declined (and laughed) as they'd already given me 'discounts and 'gizzits'.

dangeroussports

If a phones4u person tried to sell me something from one of their 'outside of the shop' selling I would tread on their shiny buckled shoes.

yeslek

garyparson wrote: »

The only dealings I've had with them was a few years ago when I got a Nokia 6600 on contract and had to take it back a few times as it had a 'dead pixel'. They did this with no fuss but then that was in store.

Obviously the mistake you made was to pick the parcel up off the post office. I assume you had to sign for it? I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. If you don't sign, then they can't prove you ever had it. Case closed. Unlucky all the same.

but i thought it was another order i'd placed.
its hard to tell the differance unless its open....you wont believe how many times i kicked myself over accepting it

pinkshoes wrote: »

For the phone that went missing in the post, you need to contact Postwatch (www.postwatch.co.uk) and make a complaint through them via their web page. They will investigate the whole thing, and it can all be done online, so no phone calls. These people are fantastic and helped me alot when alot of post went missing!

As for dealing with Phones for you, you should take this up with Trading Standards (http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/). Never dealt with them myself, so not sure if it works, but i presume it does, and is worth a go!

Never give up with useless companies!! I bet they send the balifs after you for cancelling hte direct debit (which will affect your credit rating!!!!!), so you must persue this, and get independent people involved (postwatch and trading standards).

Keep us posted on how it goes!!

Ps, I suggest you WRITE to Phones4U on the address below, explaining everything, and demanding someone investigage their poor customer service and rude sales people:

Web Customer Services Team
Phones 4u House
Ore Close
Lymedale Business Park
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire
ST5 9QD

(this was on their web page)

thanks for that

will try

i should just turn up at the office with the box as its only 12 miles away from me.... :rolleyes:
(out of principle i'm more than reluctant too....but the options there should they start to play silly !!!!!!s with bailiffs)

that said, i've heard nothing from vodaphone, except for a small A6 sized welcome booklet thing that arrive a month after i picked up the empty box...something tells me this whole 'set up' it a bit wayward.

jammin wrote: »

You have no valid contract of sale with Phones4u - because they have not delivered what you ordered.

You ordered a phone, not an empty box. The fact that you signed for it is not important. In accordance with EU Distance Selling Regulations (European Union Directive 97/7/EC), you are entitled to a period of 7 days days, to inspect the product before you legally accept it. Obviously, you are not accepting it because the order is incomplete.

Whether the phone was lost or stolen in transit or at their warehouse is their problem to work out. Simply return to them what they sent to you, with a letter stating that you are rejecting the order in accordance with European Union Directive 97/7/EC, and as such are returning the product in exactly the condition in which it was received.

the only problem is i was too busy messing about with crime refferance numbers and stuff that the 7 days is now long gone (wish i'd known this sooner )

thanks for the advice though guys.
I'm going to get on the case with these !!!!!!s.
even though i'm not to. fussed about the phone (i actually ended up finding a better deal elsewhere so was sort of a blessing...) i'm not going to let them get away with the severe lack of 'customer service' (if you could call it that)

it still gets me that the lady in store was most helpful and they didnt really have anything to do with it? :rolleyes:

yeslek

right - i've submitted a complain via postwatch (thanks again) and according to trading standards - Goods: Seven working days after the day on which the goods are received; - this means that when i called on the friday (from store) it was only 3 days after i received the goods so it should have been cancelled then no problems. (i have a name and number of the manager to prove i called that day so if they failed to message my account on their system then its not my fault)

The only problem is that i cant see where to report them to on the trading standards site

yeslek

UPDATE:

i received a bill from vodaphone this morning :rolleyes:

shall be calling them from work tomorrow (got no choice really) to let them know what phones4U SHOULD have told them nearly 2 months ago