Fonehouse - How do they do it?

Acidvenus86

Currently out of contract so I've been searching various networks every day hoping for an early Black Friday deal. I stumbled across fonehouse. All the usual things I check make them seem genuine, such as 20k+ reviews on trust pilot, they appear on comparison websites etc.

I searched this forum, the only things I've found are the rare occurance of an incorrect price or a scammer pretending to be fonehouse. 

But the sceptic in me still can't trust it, perhaps of I understood how they can offer these deals I'll cave in and go ahead. 

For context, the phone I want is £65 per month on average over 36 MONTHS.  That doesn't include the airtime so by the time I convert it to 24 months and add an airtime plan, I'm looking at £100 per month. 

Fonehouse offer the same fone over just 24 months for around £50 per month and this INCLUDES airtime! 

The total I would pay over the 2 year doesn't even cover the price of the phone. So I couldn't even get the phone on a better deal with 0% credit card, and again that's not even thinking about the airtime.

So, as the title says. How do they do it? Is there a catch I haven't noticed on their website such as the device being 2nd hand grade C? Or some other hidden charges? 
I'll honestly never need to look for a Black Friday sale again if I use these. I feel I'd know about this company already if it's really this good. 

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this across to the Mobiles board

flaneurs_lobster

Could you post the phone and airtime deal you are looking at to give some context to your incredulity?

d123

Acidvenus86 said:

Currently out of contract so I've been searching various networks every day hoping for an early Black Friday deal. I stumbled across fonehouse. All the usual things I check make them seem genuine, such as 20k+ reviews on trust pilot, they appear on comparison websites etc.

I searched this forum, the only things I've found are the rare occurance of an incorrect price or a scammer pretending to be fonehouse. 

But the sceptic in me still can't trust it, perhaps of I understood how they can offer these deals I'll cave in and go ahead. 

For context, the phone I want is £65 per month on average over 36 MONTHS.  That doesn't include the airtime so by the time I convert it to 24 months and add an airtime plan, I'm looking at £100 per month. 

Fonehouse offer the same fone over just 24 months for around £50 per month and this INCLUDES airtime! 

The total I would pay over the 2 year doesn't even cover the price of the phone. So I couldn't even get the phone on a better deal with 0% credit card, and again that's not even thinking about the airtime.

So, as the title says. How do they do it? Is there a catch I haven't noticed on their website such as the device being 2nd hand grade C? Or some other hidden charges? 
I'll honestly never need to look for a Black Friday sale again if I use these. I feel I'd know about this company already if it's really this good. 

Fonehouse have been around for years, they are/were official EE dealers iirc.

finbaar

As far as I am aware the most expensive phone available in the UK is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 with 1tb of storage at a list price of £2049. Nobody is going to pay the list price though if they have any sense. £65 over 36 months is, well my calculator doesn't have enough digits to complete the calculation, it just says error. However I would love to know what the device in question is.

flashg67

If it is the Z fold 5 256gb, then it seems a good deale - their sim only handset price is good too. Fonehouse is a name I've seen around for a while too. Factor in the annual CPI + 3% rise every too...
There are occasionally deals highlighted n MSE where it's cheaper to get a phone on contract, so it does happen. 
Struggling to see any problem with this deal tbf