Phones2pounds - scammed - anything i can do?

motorguy

Ok, so son was off to australia and i helped him sell off anything of value that he couldnt / didnt want to take with him. Console, console games, TV, sat nav unit, books, blu rays, mobile phone, etc.

All went well - used the usual suspects - music magpie, CEX, etc and all went well. For the mobile phone (mint iphone 6s) i used a comparison site to find the best price and found phones2pounds. Highly recommended apparently, 8.3 on Trust Pilot and a cursory look at the reviews showed mostly positive at the time. Since then a lot more of "the truth" negative reviews are at the top.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.phones2pounds.co.uk

When they get any negative reviews, they simply post a load of fake 5* reviews to drown out the negatives.

I'll be honest, son was heading off to Australia, i was distracted by that and i didnt do my due diligence. My stupidity.

So the scam seems to be, they get the phone and either never give you ANY money for it, OR eventually make a derisory offer that by then you feel forced to take OR you get them to send it back and they charge you £10 and often dont bother sending it back any way.

They've had the phone 3 weeks now, no contact at all, their "customer service" line just rings out.

So, yes, i've been really dumb, and i thought they were a legit, recommended known company not a bunch of scamming weasels and i didnt do my usual due diligence with being distracted at the time.

I'd already given my son the cash for the phone in advance of him going, so hes not down any money, but i'm down £240 on the experience.

Whilst i can ultimately write this off to my own stupidity and being scammed, is there anything i can do here to either recover the phone or the money for it OR at least make life more painful for these scamming weasels?

dj1471

Give them 30 days. Have you tried the 01582 number given in their T&Cs and/or e-mail?

After 30 days send them a letter before action for the price they offered for the phone. Assuming you have evidence of the offer and proof of posting (proof of delivery?) follow-up by small claims court as necessary.

MSE Small Claims Court guide

Don't complicate matters by referring to it as your son's phone. You purchased it from him, it's your phone.

motorguy

dj1471 wrote: »

Give them 30 days. Have you tried the 01582 number given in their T&Cs and/or e-mail?

After 30 days send them a letter before action for the price they offered for the phone. Assuming you have evidence of the offer and proof of posting (proof of delivery?) follow-up by small claims court as necessary.

MSE Small Claims Court guide

Don't complicate matters by referring to it as your son's phone. You purchased it from him, it's your phone.

Cheers, yes, i have an email from them saying they received the phone and i've proof of postage, and evidence of the offer.

I'll go down that route and see what happens.

powerful_Rogue

dj1471 wrote: »

Give them 30 days. Have you tried the 01582 number given in their T&Cs and/or e-mail?

After 30 days send them a letter before action for the price they offered for the phone. Assuming you have evidence of the offer and proof of posting (proof of delivery?) follow-up by small claims court as necessary.

MSE Small Claims Court guide

Don't complicate matters by referring to it as your son's phone. You purchased it from him, it's your phone.

Cut all this down a bit.

Just send a letter before action giving them 14 days.

motorguy

Thanks - do i send it just to their registered business address? I have found the addresses of the company "directors"?

Does it need to go recorded delivery? Do i need proof they have received it?

shaun_from_Africa

The problem with signed for delivery is that the intended recipient can refuse to accept the letter then there is no proof of delivery.

What I would do is to send a letter by ordinary post and get proof of postage but also send a copy of the letter by signed for mail.
That way you might get a signature on delivery but if you don't, you still have proof that you sent a letter and if it comes to legal action, that proof of postage should be enough to convince a judge that you have attempted to contact the company.

dj1471

Send it to their registered address, the usual advice is not to send recorded delivery as they may refuse to accept it. Get proof of posting.

motorguy

Cheers guys. I appreciate your responses.

motorguy

Just to update. I issued a LBA late last week and today got an email from them apologising for the delay (now a month) in processing my order and the full payment was sent to my account. I've checked and its in there!

:beer:

Thats a real result - i thought i'd never sniff the money. Thanks to all for the info on the next steps to take - it clearly jolted them in to doing something.

Much appreciated!