Phone held hostage by 3rd Party Repairer

hollydays

"This is how this company operates in one shell: If you google 'repair phone screen, or mobile phone repair' or something of that nature, you get sites that offer to give you a free quote if you put your details in.The site won't be elite's website so you won't know your item is going to them.

Once you send the request for a quote, a lovely lady will call you from cell number, in my case it was 07718173320. She will give you a very low quote and tell you it includes 2 way courier by UPS and UPS can come pick up your item the same day, and she takes a deposit of £17 or so over the phone. Immediately you are impressed when you hear a reputable courier like UPS and a low quote. THAT IS JUST TO DRAG YOU IN!!!.

Once they get your item, the game changes, it is lies, extortion, threats & deception from that point. In my case, I was quoted £57 (but she does not tell you VAT is not included) to replace a cracked screen, I've used the phone for 6 months with the cracked screen and it works fine., she took £17 on the phone. They had my phone for 4 days, got a call from someone called mohammed, he said he cannot just change the screen, the LCD has a fault too at an additional cost of £45, he wanted permission from me if i will agree to the increase in cost before they do the job. Fortunately for me, I had read some reviews about this company the day before & realised I made a big mistake, so I just told him no, don't repair it just send my phone back, he said they will post it back the next day.

The next day, got a call from Ahmed, he said he wanted my debit card number for the cost of the repair!!! I told him I had asked for my phone back, why did they go ahead with the repair when I refused the cost? He said the phone had actually been repaired yesterday so it's too late now I will have to pay up!!! So I said they should *** the replacement they put on the phone & send my phone back in the state I sent it to them.

He said they will have to send the phone back to the 'engineers' and it will take between 2-3 weeks for me to get it. I could tell from his voice, he was lying and just wanted the money, when he noticed I wouldn't budge, he offered to reduce the additional cost from £45 to £30. I said I'll pay £20 which he agreed. So he quickly asked for the card details which I paid, and he promised to send the phone back the same day by courier.

When I did not receive my phone he next day, I called & spoke to Mohammed, he said it went by UPS and he gave me a tracking number. I called UPS, gave the tracking number to verify and was told the tracking number was invalid. Called Elite again, Mohammed changed his story, he said he made a mistake and the tracking number he gave was for someone else, my package actually hasn't been sent. I got really angry, to which he said he will hang up the phone because I was shouting at him, and he hung up on me.

I called back, it was Ahmed who picked, and he started name calling he said 'why dont you just go and grow up'. So I told him he is being rude, and that he was not rude when he was taking my card details yesterday, to which he replied 'you can go and shove your money up your ***!!!' and then cos he could tell I was Nigerian because of my name, he called me ' a bloody Nigerian email scammer'. Just could not believe my ears. So I dropped the phone in shock.

Well my phone arrived the next day, screen was fixed, but the ear piece was not working (if someone calls me I can only hear the person if I put it on speaker or use headphones) which was not the case before I sent it. I called up these jokers, and they said it has nothing to do with them, all they dod was fix the screen.

I was reported this company to consumer direct and the trading standards, they need to be shut down!!!just take your item put it in the bin and hit your head against the head, that much easier than dealing with these people."

hollydays

ASA RULING

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2015/11/Elite-Phones-and-Computers-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_313437.aspx#.V6iYOldHmrU

hollydays

From an older mse thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/69512542#Comment_69512542

There are several Facebook pages dedicated to these scammers called epac ( elite phones and computers) victims support

Moxey

All things I wish I'd found before sending it away.

My new fear: We come to an agreement, I agree to payment something (just for the nightmare to end), they return the phone and I am (unknowingly) walking around with fake parts in my phone after they swiped all the genuine parts.
Can't readily find something on this in the forum or online, anyone dealt with something similar?

hollydays

I just edited -there are Facebook pages if that helps

[Deleted User]

Moxey wrote: »

My new fear: We come to an agreement, I agree to payment something (just for the nightmare to end), they return the phone and I am (unknowingly) walking around with fake parts in my phone after they swiped all the genuine parts.

In your current circumstance I wouldn't agree to anything less than the return of your 'phone with you paying only the price originally quoted.

The real alarm bells were ringing for me when I saw that their repair "warranty" is only for 30 days.

Would you perhaps be better trying to source another (cheaper) 'phone from another outlet? Better than paying this shower of charlatans £200..

Moxey

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

In your current circumstance I wouldn't agree to anything less than the return of your 'phone with you paying only the price originally quoted.

The real alarm bells were ringing for me when I saw that their repair "warranty" is only for 30 days.

Would you perhaps be better trying to source another (cheaper) 'phone from another outlet? Better than paying this shower of charlatans £200..

Especially as they told me 12 months on the phone. I could have a look, or maybe claim for a lost phone via my insurance.

[Deleted User]

Moxey wrote:

Especially as they told me 12 months on the phone

It says that on the Homepage too, but not (significantly) in their Terms and Conditions.

Moxey wrote: »

maybe claim for a lost phone via my insurance.

That would be a fraudulent claim, of course.

Moxey

As an update, I've had the repair done at the cost I agreed to (they eventually caved after some pressure)
However in sending the phone back UPS managed to lose it (if I didn't have bad luck I'd have none). UPS have issued a refund but this has gone to the repairers (as the sender) and they have yet to return this money to me.....
Made a new post here - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71256138#Comment_71256138

[Deleted User]

Moxey wrote: »

However in sending the phone back UPS managed to lose it (if I didn't have bad luck I'd have none). UPS have issued a refund but this has gone to the repairers (as the sender) and they have yet to return this money to me.....

You have no rights to a refund from UPS, you'll have to chase the Repair Agent.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71256138#Comment_71256138