Empty phone box

Awg23

On Saturday the 17th of February my new Samsung S24+ was due for delivery by DPD. On receiving the parcel the outer Sky packing appeared in good condition when this was removed I noticed the black Samsung box was not very heavy. I planned to weigh the box and then film it being opened however when lifting it off the scales the bottom of the box came away revealing an empty box. The anti tamper security seals had been cut with a sharp blade. 

 

Gone through the investigation process with sky and DPD have stated there appears to be no signs of wrong doing and the package was successfully delivered. Sky are now holding me liable for what is a theft and expect me to see out the 36 month contract for something I never received. I have asked for a copy of the investigation but they claim they cannot give me it. 

 

The weight printed on the parcel is 0.3 kg however a full box containing a phone should weigh 0.393kg so there is a discrepancy there that sky do not seem to be interested in. The actual weight of the parcel delivered was 0.196. I have asked for the weight history from the delivery process but again they cannot provide this data for some reason. 

 

This appears to be a common occurrence with more and more phones being stolen prior to dispatch. Has anyone had any luck in attaining innocence and if so what steps did you take. 

Emmia

This is why I always buy phones from physical shops, rather than ordering online and having them delivered - opening the box in-store to see that the phone is there means the risk of ending up with an empty box, or a chocolate bar is reduced.

I don't have any suggestions as to how you can either get a replacement, or a refund.

The box will have the phone serial numbers etc, so it could theoretically be blocked/disabled.

liggerz87

Emmia said:

This is why I always buy phones from physical shops, rather than ordering online and having them delivered - opening the box in-store to see that the phone is there means the risk of ending up with an empty box, or a chocolate bar is reduced.

I don't have any suggestions as to how you can either get a replacement, or a refund.

The box will have the phone serial numbers etc, so it could theoretically be blocked/disabled.

Another thing buy buying In shop you don't the 14 day exchange so if you didn't like the phone you can't take it back

Emmia

liggerz87 said:

Emmia said:

This is why I always buy phones from physical shops, rather than ordering online and having them delivered - opening the box in-store to see that the phone is there means the risk of ending up with an empty box, or a chocolate bar is reduced.

I don't have any suggestions as to how you can either get a replacement, or a refund.

The box will have the phone serial numbers etc, so it could theoretically be blocked/disabled.

Another thing buy buying In shop you don't the 14 day exchange so if you didn't like the phone you can't take it back

I'm going to be honest, I usually spend a huge amount of time researching what I want in a phone before buying - I'll have tried demo models, researched specifications etc. and then chosen. So exchange rights aren't an issue.

I changed from a Samsung to a Pixel last year, and it was a very well considered decision - I change phones every 5-6 years, and buy SIM free.

finbaar

The problem here is with DPD, or rather Sky's contract with DPD. However I would ask Sky to disable the phone using the IMEI number from the box. 

Kim_13

liggerz87 said:

Emmia said:

This is why I always buy phones from physical shops, rather than ordering online and having them delivered - opening the box in-store to see that the phone is there means the risk of ending up with an empty box, or a chocolate bar is reduced.

I don't have any suggestions as to how you can either get a replacement, or a refund.

The box will have the phone serial numbers etc, so it could theoretically be blocked/disabled.

Another thing buy buying In shop you don't the 14 day exchange so if you didn't like the phone you can't take it back

I would favour Click and Collect for this reason, if the payment is made online you retain those rights. Though always a good idea to be as sure as you can that you won’t need to take it back, as Argos, Currys et al can be a real pain as the average member of staff doesn’t realise that the customer has those rights.

I recently had a phone delivered purely due to having no choice, as Click and Collect was only available if the item was in stock at the store you wanted to collect it from. It was well disguised, with a plain outer box that was far bigger than the phone box, so it didn’t scream ‘contains a phone’. Sky don’t appear to have done anything of the sort, handing it to a courier who considers marking it as delivered while somewhere in the vicinity (so that GPS backs them up)  ‘successfully delivered’ regardless of what they may then do with it. 

With that said, that there was nothing untoward about the Sky packaging suggests to me a Sky employee has the phone rather than a DPD one. 

I don’t know what to suggest. ActionFraud so that the number can be passed to Sky along with reiterating that you have never claimed that a package wasn’t delivered, but that it didn’t contain a phone. Consumer pages, possibly your MP if Sky continue to insist that you owe them three years worth of payments for a phone that, more likely than not, was stolen in an inside job. The Consumer Contracts Regulations that MPs passed state that risk only passes to you when you receive the item, yet many retailers and couriers come out with the kind of responses you’ve received.

Always start recording before opening the outer packaging of anything of value in future.