Mobile Phone Trade-In

naveed93

Hey! I'm wondering if there's anyone who could offer me advice on this situation regarding Carphone Warehouse.

First of all, I apologise this is a long read. I wanted to include as much details as possible.

Normally, I don't deal with Carphone Warehouse because I find their service poor, but they were offering £50 more than Mazuma Mobile for my iPhone 7 Plus 256GB (£450, instead of £400).

I ordered the pack, received it. Wiped my phone, and packed it up.
On Monday the 11th of December, I sent it Special Delivery at the Post Office. Tracking it, CPW received it on Wednesday morning. On the letter I received, it said that the money can take 3-5 working days to receive from when they receive the phone.

The following Monday (18th December), I decided to phone them just to query the status since I hadn't received any sort of email confirmation to acknowledge they had at last received the phone. I spoke to someone who said that the return had been approved and that they've emailed the Trade In team to query why the money hadn't been issued yet.

Tuesday, still nothing - but I wanted to see if there was any sort of update, so I phoned up again and the person I spoke to said that the person I spoke to the day before didn't send any such email and that they were going to send it now...

Wednesday (Working day #5) and still nothing. I phone up and get the same answer as before? That the email hadn't been sent. Obviously by this point I'm annoyed to be told the same thing again. This woman said I should definitely see the money in my account by the end of the day, but that she is sending an email to the team again.

Thursday (Working day #6) and STILL nothing. I phone again and ask to speak to a Manager. I am told I cannot speak to a Manager without letting them try to resolve the issue first? So the guy puts me on hold like had been done the previous 3 calls. He comes back and this time says that he can see the email has been sent and they are awaiting feedback from the Trade In team. I tell him I'm not happy with how it's being dealt with and would like to speak to a manager. He puts me on hold and after about 5 seconds of listening to the annoying hold music, he ends the call (I know this because I am automatically transferred to their stupid phone survey for feedback).
I immediately call again and get through to another woman who insists I cannot speak to a manager until she has attempted to resolve my issue... I get put on hold again, the email is mentioned again. I tell her I want to speak to a Manager and she puts me on hold, comes back and tells me a Manager called Shane will phone me back sometime during the day, but that she cannot specify a time.

So the day goes by and I don't receive any call.

I phone again this morning (Working day #8), and tell them I was told a Manager would call me yesterday. She says she cannot help me with that until she has tried to resolve my issue? Like, are they for real? I give her all my details, I get put on hold and she tells me she can email the Trade In team? What the hell.
I tell her no and that I was told a Manager would phone me, and I want to speak to a Manager now. She puts me on hold to go and speak to "Shane" and comes back to tell me "he will definitely phone you today but he has a lot of other people to call back first". I keep asking her if she can promise a call back and she kept doing so and said "we are open until 8 but I'm sure you'll receive a call well before then". Andddd, we end the call.

At 1:30PM today, I tried messaging their Facebook page for help. So I sent summary of what had happened and they responded asking for my details to look into it. I send them my details and they get back to me saying they have escalated the claim to the relevant department and will get back to me as soon as they hear anything.
I tell them that I've been told that same thing so many times.

The next message I receive said the following:
"Hi Naveed, I've now been made aware that the handset you tried to trade-in was blacklisted, and for this reason it has been sent back to you. It was sent back to you and left with a neighbour on 15th December according to Royal Mail tracking number ############. - Will"

I'm shocked because 100% I know that phone was not blacklisted. I have been the sole owner of the device and had been using it until the day I sent it to them. I check the tracking number that they sent in that message on Royal Mail's website and it says that, whatever it was they sent, was sent to Leeds and received on December 15th....... I stay in Glasgow.
So, now I'm panicking that somehow if they did reject my phone for whatever reason, it's been sent to someone else.

I Google for a way to check if the IMEI of a mobile phone is blacklisted and there are many websites that check this. So, because I still have the box I get the IMEI number and enter it into 3 or 4 of these websites, and for all of them they accurately return the device name, type, storage, iCloud status and the Blacklist status.
Everything is fine - on all of these websites. Find my iPhone disabled, and for "Blacklisted:" it says "CLEAN".

I try and explain this to them that there must be some sort of mix up and the guy on Facebook is insisting there isn't, but he is chasing up what happened in regards to the delivery.

What can I do about this?
Is it possible to actually speak to one of their managers since they all stop it from happening and this Manager "Shane" never calls back?
I can't afford to just let £450 disappear.

Thanks in advance for your help / advice.

knightstyle

You now need to get every communication with them in writing and keep a copy. First write telling them you know the phone isn't blacklisted and askwhere they got that information from. Then you need proof of the phone being returned to you.
Give them a couple of weeks and send a letter before action claiming all your promised money, then follow this up with a claim in the small claims court.
You will win but expect a battle.

Ectophile

I would make the first letter the letter before action. Explain how much you think they owe you and why you think they owe you the money, and give them a reasonable time - traditionally 14 days - to make the payment to you.

There are loads of examples of a Letter Before Action on the internet.

If they don't pay, start the small claims process.