Query about response to a complaint that I have made

slotnicki

Last Saturday my partner purchased a new phone from Car Phone Warehouse. At the time, he made it clear that he only wanted a cheap payg phone for emergencies and was charged £20.

When he got home, I looked at the documentation and noticed that the £20 was for the top-up and is only valid for a month. As he would be extremely unlucky to have £20 worth of emergencies in a month, he clearly wouldn't need a top-up to this value. The fact that the £20 is only valid for a month was never explained to him and as he had previously had a phone where the top up lasted until it was used up, he had no idea that the £20 would only last a month.

I went back to CPW, explained what had happened and requested a refund. This was refused but after a discussion with the manager, I was offered a £10 voucher. As I still wanted to pursue the refund, I didn't accept this.

I made a complaint by email and have been told that we can take the phone back (this is academic as he wasn't charged for the phone). CWP have said that they won't refund the £20, as they have already paid this to the provider, 02. They have also said (in relation to the top-up only being valid for 30 days) that 'this is a standard practice with the network providers'.

I want to write a response and was wondering whether this is 'standard practice'? I would have thought that if I wanted a basic PAYG, there are still suppliers that enable consumers to purchase a basic voucher that provides airtime until it runs out. I know that I can still do this with my Tesco phone.

JJ_Egan

Yes 30 days is the norm .
You can see on multiple sites .

Ian011

Many of the deals give you an inclusive allowance that only lasts a month, but also have a monetary value that lasts until you use it.

Disregarding the inclusive bit that expires, once that has happened will you still have credit on the phone to make some calls?