Can you return a (sim free) phone anywhere for refund?

Robson23

Hi all,


A few years ago I upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy 6 to the 8. The new phone was really impressive but it just gave me really dry eyes which promptly turned into a sick feeling and a headache and my partner took it off my hands and I carried on with the 6. This isn't a new thing for me, I've had the same problems with a lot of monitors at work for years, but with the right one (and galaxy s6 phone!) I'm absolutely fine with no symptoms at all.

However this s6 only has 32gb memory and can't use an external card for more memory. It's getting really slow and now the headphone and mic don;t work at all so I started trying new phones. It turns out (from what the carphone warehouse guy told me) all new phone will use the "OLED" style screen as with the s8....so I'm a bit stuck. He said I wouldn;t be able to return it if I bought one, nor would I be able to cancel a contract should I take one up, so I'm a little bit stuck!


Does anyone know somewhere that would accept a return? Everywhere I've looked at the T&Cs says returns only if phone not taken out of box etc....after what's pretty lengthy set up procedures nowadays I think it would be clear I've used a phone if I tried it and then asked for a refund....


I'm pretty set on an unlocked phone so I can continue to use giffgaff but may have to be a bit flexible to get a decent phone it seems.


I don't want to spend more than £250-£300, so was keen on the xperia 10 or Nokia 7.2. I haven't been able to try a Nokia in store unfortunately (they dont get sent test models apparently). I tried the xperia L3 (very tempting at £129) and xperia 10 for a good 15-20 mins. I feel the 10 was giving me eye strain but looking at the L3 the screen seems very similar to my samsung I like, but it's hard to know which (if not both) were giving me the eye strain.


Everyone I know (who wouldn't mind me using their phone for any length of time) only has iphone or samsung. I'm pretty certain samsungs will be painful for me and i went off apple a long time ago (price if nothing else)


My only option may be a refurbished phone I imagine....as I may be able to try that first.

Any tips are most welcome!!!!

eDicky

Huawei phones have an 'eye comfort' setting, which suppresses the screen's blue light emission. Most modern phones probably have something similar, no doubt with various names - have you tried this kind of thing..?

liggerz87

As above all phones come with a blue light filter if you take a contract out over phone or online you have a 14 day cool off period maybe go into all phone shops and explain and have a go on the demo phones maybe go have a look at a pixel 3a or a 3a xl also try tesco as I think they have demo nokia phones you could also try amazon as I know you can send stuff back to them

[Deleted User]

eDicky wrote: »

Huawei phones have an 'eye comfort' setting, which suppresses the screen's blue light emission. Most modern phones probably have something similar, no doubt with various names - have you tried this kind of thing..?

You learn something new everyday

I've just checked my Xiaomi and it's got a 'Night Light' option which tints the screen amber (by dimming the blue I guess) and can be adjusted via a slider and even scheduled.

oldagetraveller

I know, with the Samsung phone I have, there is a "night/dark mode" which I use all the time AND a blue light filter. Both may be timed to turn on and off as desired or using the drop down functions menu.
The degree of blue light filtering may also be adjusted. As Colin writes, the degree of amberness (not a word, I know).

grumbler

liggerz87 wrote: »

... if you take a contract out over phone or online you have a 14 day cool off period ...

Are you 100% sure?
This might have changed, but used to be that you couldn't cancel the contract as soon as you started using the services.
If it's a contract, I'd chose some safe option like, say, O2 Refresh that can be cancelled easily. Or I'd leave the new SIM untouched and used the new phone with the old SIM.

Robson23

Ahh thanks everyone. I hadn't tried a huawei as I understood they may not be supported from feb so thought I'd better stay away for now but I could look into those. I did mess around a lot with the blue light filter on both samsungs but didn't find much difference, I possibly only scratched the surface though so need to look into all of that thank you.

Amazon say they'll only accept returns on phones if unused or faulty. Most stores say returns only if box unopened so they can sell again.
The salesperson I explained my situation to in a carphone warehouse store said they wouldn't let me cancel a contract on this basis.

Will have a look in Tesco, thanks again everyone!

DCFC79

Get yourself a refurb phone, alot of choice out there, Im sure I read some Huawei phones would still be supported so maybe look for a Huawei refurb that's supported.

grumbler

Robson23 wrote: »

Amazon say they'll only accept returns on phones if unused or faulty. Most stores say returns only if box unopened so they can sell again.
The salesperson I explained my situation to in a carphone warehouse store said they wouldn't let me cancel a contract on this basis.

14 days are for distance sales.
E.g. https://www.o2.co.uk/help/phones-sims-and-devices/our-change-of-mind-policy - just a random example.


And have a look at Xiami. They are pretty comon in UK now, and quality is about the same as Huawei's.

HoofeHearted

Try "Blue Light Filter" from the Play Store.