Phones 4 U are being investigated by Ofcom, Phones 4 U who are a highly popular high street retailer in the UK are facing this investigation for alleged mis-selling, misrepresentation, so-called “cash back” offers and hidden charges which are proved to be unclaimable.
Phones 4 U have over 440 stores in the UK and have generated sales in the excess of £755mn in 2007 alone which makes them a major player. Ofcom the UK Telecoms regulator have had a number of complaints about the alleged things said above. Ofcom has said that they will provide their judgment on its findings within 6 months, Phones 4 U have indeed said that they will comply with all the requests for information.
Complaints were made both to Consumer Direct and Ofcom which is all part of trading standards and an Ofcom spokeswoman said that customers concerns which included Phones 4U staff allegedly misrepresenting tariff terms and cash back deals to customers and the full cashback conditions which makes redemption conditions too stringent, Phones 4 U are apparently offering mobile phone upgrades to customers without outlining costs. If these allegations are found to be right it would mean Phones 4 U will be indeed in breach of the Enterprise Act 2002, which deals with consumer protection which would in return making Ofcom seeking to bind Phones 4 U to a legal commitment to cease such activity.
A Phones 4U spokesperson said: “We intend to cooperate fully with Ofcom in this matter and we are in discussion with them. “Phones 4U prides itself in maintaining the highest standards of customer service and if any instances where this has not been the case is brought to light, as a result of this enquiry, we will act accordingly.”
Please let us know if you have had any troubles with Phones 4 U?
Source - FT.com
I worked for phones 4 u the staff openly admitted to mis selling and laughed about a staple in the tie trick to scratch phones so customers couldn’t 14 day them. I got a phone and my so called collegues ripped me off I’m stil trying to get £150 from them that I was promised and was part of the contract. Luckily I was only there 3 months but I would never go to a phones 4 u store and warn my friends and family not to.
Its about time someone did something about them it is a company trend to mis sell!
phones 4 u are one big joke but they always find a way to keep you tied into them with 18 month contracts and contract buyout deals.
I went in to one today and have never experienced such rudeness in my life! he even shouted at me as i walked out the door!
could not believe it
I worked for phones 4u for 2 months and found that they all try to fleece customers. Its full of people who wear too much hair gel and are in love with themselves! Could not wait to leave, everyone in the company is an idiot!
Got absolutely fleeced by phones 4 u on a £60 a month contract. They sold me an open box product (the sim card was not even with it). Tried to bring the phone back and cancel within 7 days and they used the scratched mobile trick. There was nothing I could do. I spent hours and hours on the phone and sending written complaints, sending the phone off etc, contacting trading standards etc. Phones 4 U refused to take it back. Meanwhile, as I was not using the phone Orange were sending me payment requests. I was being charged for a phone I did not want. Orange were saying they were not responsible and I had to settle it with Phones 4 U. But since Phones 4 U had already got their commission from Orange, they seemed to be doing everything they could to shrug me off. I just gave up in the end as there did not seem to be the support available to force Phones 4 U to give me the refund and cancellation I was entitled to. I was caught in the middle and in the end just had to use the phone and contract as I had already spent like £300 plus paying Orange (cos they said I had to) for a phone I had been mis-sold by Phones 4 U!. NEVER USE THEM!! COWBOYS!!! If anyone can help me get some form of reimbursement or tell me the appropriate actions I should take to actually get some action, I’d really appreciate it. They well and truly conned me and it has caused a lot of upset in the process. I have virtually had to pay out £600 or more for nothing. F U Phones 4 U!
i went into phone 4 u and got my son a contract phone it should have been £27 per month but worked out at £39 per month said i would be bought out old contract with £100 + 2 months free insurance at the cost of£20 so in the end had to get tradin standards involved i got them on miss sellin contract wich in the end the gave me the money to buy out contract but im sure im still out of pocket but couldnt be bothered to argue any more too stressful
phones 4 u are nothing but robbing gits. i didnt get the phone i requested. i didnt get the contract deal i wanted. and i havent recieved a penny of my cashback or my upgrade after 9 months, as i was origionally told i would get.
I just purchased an orange 3G mobile broadband from phones4u. I got home, set it up (admittedly on a PC) and found that this works no faster than the dial up I am replacing. I spoke to Orange directly and they said that phones4u calculate this differently from Orange.
I suggest anyone in doubt that they can get mobile broadband in their area, should check directly with the company and not with phones4u.
I am in a position where I cannot get a decent enough landline signal and can’t get mobile broadband from anyone (it seems).
Also, I told them I didn’t want insurance for the dongle and they still put it on, I made them take it off.
At the same time, I was changing my O2 set up to a contract and they also put insurance on this, when I didn’t want it.
I had CLEARLY said I don’t want insurance and this was ignored. I let it go as they said that first 3 months were effectively free and then I can cancel the policy. They even gave me £15 cash to cover this!
I just checked the back of the insurance form and it says you have to cancel within 14 days. So, I am phoning to cancel on monday. I will pay them their £15 back.
They are definately all about looks and fast sales.
Hi Gareth.
I work at phones 4u (head office) and totally agree that P4u are target / money driven without a care in the world for the cx.
At the moment you are in a position where they will hold you to the contract you signed.
Phone head office, explain your predicament, listen to what the advisor has to say (which they will fob you off), and then demand to speak to a supervisor, dont budge and keep asking.
Mention Ofcam and trading standards over and over again, say you have been misadvised and mis sold, and refuse to get off the phone until they offer you something.
They have call wrap up times and will probably eventually offer something (meesly), but it depends how far you want to pursue it.
I have had so many problems with this company its unreal! My handset has developed faults (which I am prepared to accept happens!) and when I took it into te store a couple of months back, the did everything possible to avoid sending it away for repairs - even to the point of suggesting I get my phone insured directly with Orange and tell them my handset is fine, then after a few days, claim a new one - do they not realise they are advising me to commit fraud there?! They also added on insurance, which I said repeatedly I did not want, and then when I cancelled it, they started sneding me text messages demanding I ring them - I got 5 in one day on one occassion, which in my mind is harrassment.
Then earlier this week, my phone just turned off and wouldn’t turn back on, so I went into the store again, explained the fault and again, anything possible to avoid sending it away for repairs, even to the point of trying to send me to carphone warehouse - what do they have to do with it?! The sales advisor was rude, un-interested and made me feel like I was wasting his time and inconviencing him - no doubt because he couldn’t get any money out of me! The funny thing is, when I originally signed up for my contract, the customer service was amazing…I wonder why…Eventually, I contacted Sony Ericsson directly, who were lovely and helpfull and are going to fix my phone, or replace it for free (I can see phones4u scratching their heads in puzzlement - replace phone for free?!) and then phoned customer services to complain about the service I’d recieved… Do not go near phones4u - if they don’t scam you financially, they will find a way to waste your time and money some other way….
Don’t tarr everyone with the same brush. I’m a P4u Store manager and take a lot of pride in delievering excellent customer service before and after someone buys a product from my store. In every industry in the world there are instances where customers may not be dealt with correctly and become unhappy this does not mean everyone who works for the company are “idiots”. My staff understand the consequences of being rude to customers and always try to help.
We are a sales driven company and everyone who comes into our shops is well aware that we are going to try and sell them something. If you aren’t happy with anything either come back to the store and see the manager or ring our customer services helpline who are in my opinion when compared to some other companies are excellent.
My recent dealings with Phones4U and their ‘customer services’, Ofcom are currently investigating the company so if you have issues with service agreements, misselling, repairs then contact them now. This is what has happened to me now I’m stuck with a faulty phone without any chance of getting this resolved by Phones4U I’m so shocked by their attitude:
I purchased a phone from Phones4U and didn’t realise at the time that they gave such bad customer services until now and I’m reading the same problem across multiple forums of an experience virtually the same as mine. I bought a phone with premium insurance which is supposed to cover for everything except it doesn’t cover you for anything in reality.
Their customer services is so bad that I never thought level of service like this existed except from unsrcupulous market stall traders. I actually work in a customer services environment for corporate IT and I’ve worked for all the big names Digital Equipment Corp, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu but Phones4U my god how can a company operate in this manner. My current complaint is with regard to a scam that Phones4U are currently running whereby you purchase your phone with 12 months warranty and they push you for insurance which you think peace of mind as the telephone was for my wife who rarely uses one except for emergencies when she takes our three small children out. The phone is kept in her handbag at all times and gets charged periodically. After 6 months the phone developed a fault where it wouldn’t turn on the screen was blank and it got hot when you attached the charger, even when you removed the battery is still got hot. The fault is definately internal (under the keypad). The phone is in pristine condition as it is hardly used without any scratches on.
What I will do is paste the complaint I’ve lodged with trading standards, also, contacted BBC Watchdog, contacted the manufacturers Samsung, about to contact Ofcom, about to write to every National newspaper about this because I believe this is a scam being run by Phones4U right across the UK:
The mobile phone is in absoultely pristine condition, has been kept in my wife handbag and charged periodically, there isn’t even a scratch on it. However, on 12th July my wife took the phone back to Phones4U store to say it won’t turn on or charge. Phones4U salesman said their company policy isn’t to replace but repair only even though my wife showed them the insurance policy that stated a replacement is an option. The response is that it’s company policy not to replace any handsets they are told not to replace phones by their management at head office. We sent the phone for repair.
In the documentation for repair ref 517XXX, said in description handset in very good condition as it is. In fact we have the faulty handset back now as they returned it with the same fault unrepaired with a charge of £17.63 saying ‘physical damage not covered under warranty’. There isn’t any physical damage to the handset which any investigator in this case can confirm - I have the evidence. If you look about complaints to phones4U they are doing this to a lot of consumers who in the main give up. In the interests of the consumer this company needs investigating for misselling and fraud in my opinion.
I have written to their customer services, to the store reprensentatives, and I’ve even contacted Tim Whiting CEO directly - you never get any response.
I’d really appreciate if this company gets checked over by the regulating bodies to protect consumers by this type of scam that must be at a national level. I know we have rights but they are refusing to replace/repair my handset under any warranty agreement or premium insurance. The handset is available for you to check to prove to you that this is a genuine scam by Phones4U with a policy that goes all of the way up to top management.
In response to ‘P4ustoremanager’ comment - which store is this you work in?! Maybe we should all go there to get our phone issues sorted…
Update on my post which I feel is only fair to Phones4U, they are looking into my complaint and and said they’re sending out a replacement, even though the process was not easy it does seem that progress is being made
Latest update head office have problems issueing a replacement phone - you can’t make this stuff up. They still want mine though that’ll be the last I see of it I reckon. So I’ll be phoneless instead of having a failed phone. Come on Phone4U sort out your customer services I’m nearly 2 months with a faulty phone under warranty and with premium insurance.
I too have been fleeced by P4U.
Had a contract with Vodafone through them - the screen of my handset smashed and when i took it into the shop they said i would be charged £50 to have it analysed and that i would not be offered a handset replacement. I was then offered to start a new contract with Vodafone which would then entitle me to have a free handset and a better contract and that the member of staff would cancel my existing contract. The contract never got cancelled, the member of staff denied ever saying such a thing so i have been paying for 2 contracts. I contacted Vodafone direct who were appalled and who have since cancelled the original contract.
I would never recommend P4U to anyone.
Phones 4 U are terrible! Last contract one of the sales adviser gave me a whole bunch of papers to sign and they forgot to tell me one of them is a insurance deal.
This year I thought all was going well. After a month signing up to contract on July 15th 2008 I find on my bill being charged £396.00! £300 of which is an upgrade fee of which they just added in the wrong. as It was a free phone. Rang them today and have been on the phone for 3 hours to Phones 4 u who blames orange etc etc.
Suppose to hear from their ‘head quarters’ people by fri… I wonder if they’ll ring…
I would just like to say that everything that i’ve read here adds up and i am currently experiencing the phones 4u treatment, their methods should be more publicised so people dont shop there. I hope OFCOM shut them down.
I am currently trying to resolve a dispute with P4U after my partner took out an 18 month contract on Orange with them. She had only been on the contract for 4 months when her handset was acting up. (freezing and switching itself off) She took the handset back to the store only to be told that they wouldn’t fix\replace it.
They then told her that what they could do was; they could buy her out of her current contract and give her a new similar contract on T-Mobile with a new handset. They offered her £100 cashback and £70 for the handset and was told to put this money into her account, lower the tariff and allow the contract to run and that the money they had given her would be enough to cover the outstanding balance……
It would appear that this couldn’t be further from the truth as there was a total of, wait for it…….£531.76 outstanding!!!
My partner has now paid £226 instead of the £170 she was given and has a letter from Orange which is demanding £305 to cancel the contract.
In my opinion she was totally mis-sold the new contract for the sake of a sale and when I’ve contacted the store I’ve had nothing short of absolutely terrible customer service from arrogant, ignorant a***holes who seem to just want to just fob you off now that they’ve had the sale!
I’m going to complain to Consumer Direct & Ofcom as well as contact the local/national press because this just simply shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
I hope Ofcom throw the book at them. Anyone thinking about a new phone should avoid P4U like the plague.
I bought a mobile from the phone4u, oxford circus branch next to Laura Ashley and opposite selfridge, in Jan 08. I was told that they will send me a cheque back form in 3 months, but I did not receive anything. Instead of £10 per month, I pay £30 per month, and it is a 18-month contract, so basically I lose £360 in total!! It’s a complete ripped off! I went to the branch 3 times and the staff, and manager’s attitudes are very rude. I finally got a cheque back for July but not April as they said I missed the 60 days deadline! I posted my cheque back form but they declined and said I would not get any redemption back at all!! I am so angry and frustrated! Phone4u is day-robbing consumers money!
I am going to complaint to consumer direct and ofcom. I hope they can press the charges against them and give it’s consumer the money back. There is justice, and the way the phone4u is doing is unlawful and in breach of laws!
I was entered into a contract which was read out to me as a 12month contract, i stupidly asked the c/s advisor to read the contract to me as i had my children with me and there a bit of a handful. the advisor read all the papers stating i was on a 12month contract and £40 a month, infact i am on an 18month contract and £65 a month i was told i had 28days to return when infact its 14days, the customer service team called me a liar as when they spoke to the guy that sold me the phone he said he informed me that i was on the 18month contract. the general manager said he was not obliged to tell me anything about my price plan and i should not have relied on them to give me information, he also lied to a solicitor i have spoken to by saying he sold me the package when he wasnt even working that day! as for the insurance on the phone p4u wouldnt change or fix my phone even though it cuts off on me all the time! i am now contacting the trading standards and ofcom! i hope they get what they deserve treating people badly. Being part of the fsa they are meant to adhere to tcf which they clearly dont.
I worked for p4u for four years, i loved working there and i admit there is some bad practice going but this is happening in all retails sectors in the uk. Carphone is just as bad, but as a consumer you have to read your contract, its shows on all the paper work the length of your contract and the amount your paying, most trariffs saying voda antime 40 are fouty pounds a month, its not really rocket sciences. when is says contract length and it reads 18M, well i wonder how long that is. I’m not saying that scratching phones and saying your gonna get a cheaque which never shows up is right, but in my experience customers who feel they got ripped off are just stupid people who don’t listen. There are laws to protect you, but there is not law to protect stupid people, read what you sign.
Hi I Love p4u
You sum up the attitude I think of the people that work at p4u. I was MISSOLD.
I am not stupid. I read the contract - and there is a lot of small print to read. The issue for me was that:
1) I told them I didn’t want insurance from the start and they still added it on (twice) and then behaved as if I was causing them problems!
2) They advised me INCORRECTLY that I could cancel insurance after three months. I read the contract in my own time at home and it stipulates that cancellation has to be within 14 days or 28 days or whatever.
P4U LIED.
To I love p4u,
What about when you upgrade over the phone and there is some idiot telling you he can give you a better deal than I already have and he will give me free mobile internet and 400 extra minutes at no extra cost then you find out the taffiff is now £10 a month more. There was no contract to read I just had his word.
I complained and was promised that the sale phonecall would be listened to and I would be contacted within 48 hours. This did not happen so I phoned again and nobody had a clue what I was on about so had tpo explain it all again then finally when I got my callback was told I had to like it and lump it, if I cancel the direct debit bailiffs will come after me and if I send the new handset back they will just repost it back to me again and again.
I do not know how you can possibly call people stupid when your the one working for the biggest fraudsters out there. I am not going to let this rest I will be advertising how crap your company is and I am going to shout until your joke of a company are out of my hair.
I have used p4u for over 6 yrs always gone to them whenever I have needed something but I guess loyalty means FA when they are screwing someone over.
hi i bought a sim only deal from p4u 30 day rolling contract said £20 a month on paper work an i could cancel it with 30 day notice…… my first bill came in at £178 quid which they took out of my account needless to say i am not happy with them as i hardly used the dam thing, this was only a sim no phonez were offered so i can’t see why it has cost me this much.
I have a contract with phones 4 u and personally have never had any problems. I ordered mine online, got a free xbox and the phone obviously didn’t get the scratched trick as it had never been opened. I never got forced to have insurance although O2 were very persistant when phoning me and both the phone and xbox were on time.
Also my friend went in today and got bought out of her contract which was no problem, she received the right amount and we ended up there half an hour after the transaction talking because thy were such nice people.
My experience was brilliant compared to carphone warehouse, maybe i just live in a nice place with genuine people. I don’t know.
People in this day and age SALES PEOPLE are what their badge says….SALES PEOPLE. The days of ‘The Customer is Always Right’ have gone, so next time some slick rick is selling you everything under the sun take his name, his managers name, the store number, and if need be record your conversation on your old phone dictaphone…..no arguements then when you go back in 2 months with a phone thats as much use as a chocholate teapot……..happy complaining.
brand new n96, wont turn on. had the ting just over 2 weeks so too late to cancel contract. About to take it back to phones4u, however have the feeling they are going to send the phone for repair and I wont see it for weeks. I need a phone today, for work, family etc. Im paying for this contract which i wont have if it spends half its life in repair centre. Think I might have to try ofcom techniques seeing as they recently got found guilty of misleading customers and failing to provided refunds / replacements.
Phones 4U mis-sold my hubby an upgrade by telling him the model he would receive as part of his free upgrade would be a later model than his then Nokia 6233. He eventually received a Nokia 3120 which failed to work properly after a few weeks . Hes had to resort to using the 6233 and have refused to replace the 3120 as it is faulty in addition to mis-selling him it in the first place. I have contacted Trading Standards on his behalf and intend to pursue the matter to the bitter end. It would be nice though if all complainants got together and dumped a massive multiple law suit on them and on the netwok companies who are clearly negligent in allowing Phones 4 U to negotiate contracts on their behalf. !!!!!!!!
They are awful to work for. I was with them for a very short while. I remember a conference call where we were told we do not take phones back as there will always be a stratch on it. Coversation then went into keeping a paperclips under your desk for a time you may need one
Samsunk, the customer is always right, what a pile of crap, you don’t know enough about phones to always be right, you’d have to go back to school 5 times over to learn what i’ve learnt about phones, selling phones for over 5 years and i’ve yet to meet a customer who’s right yet.
dave, you brought a sim only deal, the network billed you not phones 4 u, complain to them.
phil, i don’t know anything about telesales.
paul, you simply cancel the direct debit for the insurance, if you really did read the paper work which i don’t believe, it clearly states that the insurance paper work is a agreement not a contract, you have no obligation to the insurance, it can be cancelled whenever.
you can’t blame p4u for faulty handsets, because if you hadn’t already realised, p4u don’t make the phones. you should get a hint who makes your phone on the handsets, maybe something like nokia or Samsung. Yes, i know what your thinking, if you sell it you have to have after care sales with it. your right, but this has to be in line with the manfactorer who only gives p4u, cpwh, o2 shop etc 28 days to exchange or in some cases 7 days. so are the retailers to lose 300 pounds each time you have fault, now this can get expensive, cost the company losts of money, the company has to start cutting costs, people lose there jobs like what is happening now. i’ll tell you what, get a sim only contract and buy the handset, it’ll only set you back 300 to 700 pounds depending on the handset. nothing but short change then you can stop doing my f**king head in about your sh*t phones.
Well, yes it does cost the company returning phones, but it also hits the Manager’s bonus which may be why the last comment is so defensive. Every time a phone is returned it hit the managers satisfaction rate which reduced his monthly bonus by up to 50%. Maybe this is why they tend to make it hard to take phones back regardless the cost.
Hi just to add, I bought a phone of phones for you on orange…and why i can say it is probably the worst network to get in my arear…origanaly I went in for a vodaphone network and then getting convinced to go with the sales guy phone for her a 6500 classic anyway it always cuts off lose signal and the phone bill comes in on around eighty pounds a month instead of 35 a month…contacted phones 4u were they told me it is out of there hands as i am on my 15th day……contacted orange they said your phone is faulty and take it in and they will replace it….anyway 1 hour in shop i got a replacement…but to find there was no difference….so i was annoyed and asked to cancel my contract but been told i cant it is the shops fault i got miss-lead to what network i got and both orange and phones 4 u said they can’t comment as the sales guy does not work there any more…
I currently work for phones 4 u at the head office and I must say that athough some of your comments are justified I must agree with I love P4U. It is not that hard to read a contract it is not the companies fault if YOU decide not to read it and if you do buy a phone from us over the phone the entire legal contract is read to you so that you understand it! It is not our fault if you don’t listen. If your handset is broken then it will have to be sent off to be repaired and as with all things yes you do get 28 days to return it but if you leave it longer than that then im sorry but it is your own fault when you buy clothes or any other products would you take a TV back because you dropped it, it’s the same principle so why should it be different for us??
As with all industries yes you will get some people that do break the rules but don’t judge all the people who work for 1 company in the same way I personally don’t lie and always explain everything properly because all the calls are recorded and if I mess up I get the blame! But like I said before IT ISNT MY FAULT IF YOU DON’T LISTEN OR READ YOUR OWN CONTRACRT. Would you buy a house without reading the small print or paying attention why should a phone be the same?????
Hi, your right but as a saleman they just tell you what you want to hear to suit their own pocket then suiting you up with a decent phone..
It’s so annoying when there nice as pie to get you a phone, but not really interested when it breaks.
And another my n95 8gig got damaged and i got insurance for it, not directly from the shop i said i would think about it. Few hours later i gets a call on my new mobile n95 8gig (when i got it ) phoning about your insurance for your phone do you still want insurance for it. So i took the offer up and now it’s broke phones for you or the network have no clue who i am insured worth……is that my fault.
how did someone get my number few hours after i get the phone.
how did they know what phone i had.
how did they new who i was.
It’s annoying that’s all and there plenty of other comments besides mine so i dont feel that i am on my own.
phones 4 u are the biggest joke in the uk bowing down to get custom then when something goes wrong they push you to someone else.I bought 2 phones on contract and both developed faults.Iwas told to go to carphone warehouse to get them repaired.”Good customer service”faults have reoccurred and now stuck with large monthly contract fees and phones that are barely usable.
I had a phone call from p4u sales people this week. I explained ‘nicely’ that I didnt not want to renew my contract with phones 4 u as I had been mis sold, the poor girl asked me if I wanted the customer service number. I had to explain that I had already spent a fortune on ringing the head office trying to get the BACs payment I was owed from taking the contract and they had just ignored me and not bothered. I find it amusing that 3 months before my contract is up I cannot get rid of them but when I had a problem theyignored me.
I have been paying for a two contracts when I only have one phone which I had to buy pay as you go because the handsets I got from p4u are scratched and I couldn’t take them back. Must have been the phone scratching scam.
Just a warning don’t go to Phones 4 you Trafford Centre thats where I worked and they had the staple in the tie trick. As well as bluetoothing pictures of girls from the phones waiting to be repaired.
They were proud of mis selling as long as they got the numbers in.
The broadband was the funniest they would sell customers broadband dongle contracts when they knew fine well the dongle wouldn’t work in there area.
I was just about to sign up for a contract with Orange through Phones 4U when I came across these complaints. I have changed my mind now.
Worth noting that I currently have a contract with CPWH and I have successfully received all redemptions so far.
One of the recent times I was in London - Feb 2008 - went to a phones4u in Shepherd’s Bush, the one in some shopping complex across from Shepherds Bush Green, and the sales staff I got ‘help’ from were standoffish, condescending jerks and the guy ripped me off in change, probably thinking stupid tourist. The next time I am going to London - sometime this year - if the same guy is there and I think he will be, he seemed to be the manager or something, I am going to have a little talk with him and tell him he’s an effing ahole and a thief to his face.
Well C, I guess i know what they will say to that now you have already left the store. He will have a big grin on his face, will laugh, and say to you, that its your problem and will say you are lying. Best of luck
You did well Did, please avoid this shop. Phones 4 u are complete scummers.
I was “offered” and picked the best number they shown me on the screen. When i got home, to my disbelief they changed the number i picked on the contract instead i had this rubbish number now. Which i have to cope with 18 months. :((
I have had and am still having trouble with Phones 4u!!
And before anyone who works for them starts, it IS their fault!!!
I was given incorrect information from the sales adviser from the beginning! I wanted to keep my number and was told this was not possible. I said I could get my PAC code, but he insisted that I couldnt keep my number (I later called vodafone, only to be told that I could have kept my number if the adviser had done it there and then!!)
He then persuaded me to go with a contract higher than I wanted to spend claiming that it would cover all that I had said I wanted. This was not true as the contract I was on included voicemail and picture messages, which this one does NOT!!
He then told me my first bill would be for about a months line rental, maybe a little more… WRONG it was for 2 months in one go!!!!
THEN I call customer service to make a complaint and I’m told the best that they can do is to send me a £25 cheque to cover the picture message cost I may have.
4 weeks later, no cheque, so I call again and they said it was sent (yea right). They say they will send it again. 2 weeks later, still NOTHING!! So I call again this morning and was told the operator put in the wrong amount and finance have queried it, so thats why I havent got it and it may take ANOTHER 10 days.
When I started telling the operator I was appalled with their service throughout and went through all the details, saying that I actually wanted to cancel the contract as I thought I had been missold it, he said that the notes said the £25 was compensation and that this had all been resolved before!!!
Oh no no no!! So I still dont even have the small amount of compensation AND I’m stuck on this crappy contract for another 15 months,plus I have had to make several expensive phone calls!!!
NOT a happy customer!!!
please avoid them - Take the phone back then, you have 14days to return the contract. They will probably offer you lots of money to keep the phone too.
I got a w910i from p4u at the end of october ‘08. Problems began pretty much immediatly but only occasionally. It would freeze, vibrate a little,screen would go blank and a little red light above the camera would come on. It would then reset itself. As i said this was occasional,quite rare even so i decided to live with it. I know, huge mistake by me and i regret it no end. The problem became more frequent as time passed and got to the point where it would happen at least once a day, but sometimes more.
So i finally decided to take it back after checking out the terms when it comes to returning a faulty phone, and i thought all would be fine due to the 12 months manufacturers guarantee. I didn’t want a replacement, just a repair job. I found the service in the shop quite awful and began getting quite frustrated after the 5th time being asked what the fault was. But i got on with it, explained my problem, explained my mistake of not returning it sooner, and showed the guy my phone in working order!
hi phones 4 you are scamming so many people!
i took 2 contracts out 18 months ago - 1 for me and 1 for the partner, was in there 4 2 and 1/2 hours going through the contract etc and it was all fine. 30 days later exactly, both phones (both w910i’s) stopped working, were freezing restarting etc. Went back in, was told they couldn’t do anything! he ‘took’ my phone out the back to show the manager and came back saying i had dropped it in water which never happened! they also added insurance twice and 3 package deals on top of both deals increasing it from £35 a month to £50 a month!! spoke to orange and they said i had to deal with p4u not them but took off the packages. I then went back and was met by defensive members of staff who all ganged up on me and only left me along when i called my partner and got him to come in! my partner then got a new contract with them (stupidly in my opinion) and they said that all he had to do was phone orange who would downgrade his tariff from £35 to £20 straight away (which is not possible) and they would give him the money to buy out a £20 a month contract for the last 7 months! Needless to say, we phoned up orange they told us this was not possible, that you can only downgrade by one step to £30 a month in the last 3/6 months and that we had to go bk to phones 4 u and talk to them. We went back and were told that the money was compensation money and that we were lumbered with it! so i have spent a large amount of money on phones that dont work and the staff at the bournemouth branch are absolutly discusting!
Oh, and Ilove - i am not stupid i spent many hours on the phone to orange and phones for you and i spent an hour going over the contract instore and read every detail. Its not nice being told that your a liar by the member of staff that you have brought the phone off of and its not nice having your phone taken out back and suddenly being accused of dropping your phone in water when it has been no where water and that it is blatently obvious that that member of staff did that to my phone! You tell me that this is good customer service!!! i cant wait to possibly talk to the press and also talk to trading standards that you think that your customers are stupid - you really are a bright spark arent u!?
I cannot believe that the owners f this discussion are trying to use people’s comments to advertise phone products. Those links on keywords like phone and sony are obviosly links for SEO/SEM purposes.
Phones for you are lying cheating mis selling $%**ӣ but the fact that you are trying to monetise of this is disgraceful. You know paid links are actually against Google guidelines! This is a blatant example.
bought a nokia n97 from there website on a 24 month contract with orange at £40 pm. phone was faulty, took it to a nokia repair centre and they put new software on it, and it was still faulty.
read phones 4u terms and condidtions, which outlines under clause 10, that if the item is faulty, i could send it back within 28 days to get the contract cancelled, i sent it back to them within 28 days, even though they sent me the returns bag late. after i sent it to them, they sent me the phone back and said they couldnt cancel the contract as orange had refused because i used the phone outside of the date i requested the cancelation on (because of the late returns bag). rang orange and they denied this saying, they declined cancellation because of the phone calls outside of the 28 days, real reason was because the handset wasnt orange branded, that it was generically obtained from nokia. told phones 4 u but they dont care, and are forcing me to keep the phone. even tho i did everything according to there own terms and conditions!
went into one of there shops and was laughed at by a manager, then finally when i got him to read his own terms and conditions, his reply was… ‘ its how you interpret it, its like reading the bible, and the koran, you cant say which is right and which is wrong…’ and basically told me to get out of his shop because he said i was wasting his time.
like the other person said before me… FU Phones 4U!!!
Over a year ago I tool out dongle insurance with them and it was £4.99 a month, I tried my make my first claim on it today and got told it was a £25 excess fee! The people in the shop had told me that it covered everything and if I made a new claim every month it wouldn’t matter.
I used to be a staff in phones4u. I’m a admin manager which is to help sorted out customer issue within store. I do agree that some staff within this company is mis-sell but this is happen within every company in the world which sell in large amount. There is 2 problem however I find most problem happen from: 1) customer don’t listen carefully to what is offer or don’t understand at the point of sales but simple agree to it. 2) Bad customer service offer by the network. Having work 6 months there, most of the problem is customers don’t understand what they getting and never ask, this the easier issues for me at the time..I simple offer the correct way or even help them doing it such as helping them completed cheque back form and sent off for them. The most hardest problem is issue which had nothing to do with phones4u. Network want the company to sell phone for them, but anything wrong they get customer to goes to Phones4u. Customer never understand that at Phones4u they can’t do alot of thing which the network control and only can pass on adviced and promised by the network. The worst one I been is on the phone with a network for 2-3 hours every day until they done something. I had told to alot of admin manager in the area and we always try to help customer who buy the phones not only from our store but anystore within the company as much as we do. The only way this company improved is however more complain direct to the company HQ so those mis-sell sales rep end up losing their job, as phones4u had been working very hard at every level to drive the bad apple away. Will hope they still do as I left this company since 04/08