| Author |
Phones4u crap service |
suicidebob
Joined: May 19, 2003
Posts: 18
PM |
Surely they couldn't take a refund procedure more than 8 months 
Their website looks all decent and professional, damn, maybe thats what they want you to think. I guess I am lucky not to have dealth with them.
SuicideBob | |
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dave_uk
Joined: Mar 06, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
@suicidebob
Welcome to Esato. It's good to see from your first post that you're not into sweeping generalisations. I don't think, for all their sins, CPW deserve to be bracketed with Phones4U for customer service. Whilst the idiot salesman obviously didn't understand the standing order/direct debit procedure properly, he wasn't signing it with his bank details on it! Whose responsibility do you imagine it might be to check and understand what YOU sign?! It would also seem pretty obvious to me, a lowly CPW employee (No, I make no pretence!) that if you sign two standing order mandates, you will be charged twice - the point being that a standing order, unlike a direct debit, is an agreement between you and the bank, so the beneficiary cannot cancel it or alter the amount.
Interestingly, I do not feel I possess any of your beautifully bullet-pointed characteristics and, it would seem, even know some things you don't.
So cheers.... to all those who work in retail and aren't retarded!
Dave
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Miss UK
Joined: Jan 11, 2003
Posts: > 500
PM |
ive not had probs with emm :-) there fairly cheap betta than cpw maybe
This message was posted from a WAP device |
suicidebob
Joined: May 19, 2003
Posts: 18
PM |
@dave_uk
You are correct that CPW staff should not be tarnished with the same brush as those of Phones4U and I apologise if you think I was doing such as this was not my intention.
The issue about the standing order mandate however was that I was partly to blame as I said in my earlier post because I was unfamiliar with these banking procedures. When I purchased the insurance, I asked for it to be via direct debit, and when the standing order form came, I did clarify this with the salesperson before signing. I asked them for the direct debit form instead, and they said that the same form was used for direct debit. I asked them to ask another senior member of staff if this was correct and they said yes, and that was the only reason why I signed.
As for the second standing order mandate, this was started because the IMEI number on the original insurance was different to the one of the new handset. She said the procedure was that I needed to sign this new form to set the insurance in place, in which case I asked her specifically whether the original one had was being transferred to this rather than starting a new one. She said that this was correct, and upon checking my receipt this looked correct, old insurance transfered to new one and no additional charges were made.
When I got my statements, I was being charged twice, so I called went to the store and explained the situation, I called CPW Lifeline from the store, and explained the situation to the person over the phone.
My frustration was the fact that they initially said that they had made the mistake and I would receive a refund in 7-14 days, which came and passed - no refund. I went to the store again, explained the situation to the store, they put me through to Lifeline and they apologised for the fact that I was not refunded. They said 7 days... again it didn't arrive.
Third time lucky down at the store and calling lifeline... This time they said it was a banking error and that the bank gave the money and I should go to the bank to organise an indemnity claim which would work. Bank filed a claim, but because there was 2 mandates in force, it wouldn't go through. All this while time passed and I was still being billed every quarter for two insurances policies (remember I was told the first was transferred to the second which would have meant only one policy running). I tried to cancel one of the policies but they were having none of it.
After several more attempts I thought I'd try one last go at another store, and this time I spent about an hour on the phone explaining the whole situation blow by blow but very calmly. The Lifeline rep said he understood my situation but it was the banks fault and that the bank should call their admin department to sort this out. That was when I said I was going to bring in the solicitors to sort this out, he went to the admin department, they then said that they would refund me and I would receive it in 3 days.
Well the refund came, although the 3 days were optimistic, was more like 28 days but then I didn't care much as it was finally sorted out. Had it all been sorted out much sooner without them dragging it on, I wouldn't have been so annoyed but to take 8 months overall was too long for most people to not get angry.
I have found the staff to be apologetic at CPW for mistakes made by other staff members at the other store. If only all staff were like this, it would be good, unfortunately this would never happen as much as we all wish for it. Would I shop in CPW again? Yes, I probably would, but this time I will ask at least 2 members of staff for clarification and a call to head office.  Would I go to Phones4U??? You must be having a laugh... I may have been stupid, but I'm not insane.
SuicideBob
(Sorry for this long post about my situation, and I hope its not taken as hijacking someone elses thread I felt I needed to clarify the situation) |
pbwuk1234
Joined: Jun 10, 2003
Posts: 4
PM |
I went to phones4u on Saturday.. fair enough they guy I was dealing with was a traditional salesman using all the usual ploys etc., but he did only try and sell me what I wanted and in the end after saying a couple of times I'm gonna have to go and think about it, I did get a steal of a bargain - t610 for free on cheap vodafone tariff! We'll see what he's like when I go back and tell him it hisses I'm gonna ring Sony first and see what they say, just in case he denies all knowledge. Cos from what you're saying and lets face it we've all been there before with other companies (PC World are the worst so far in my books), their aftersales care isnt too hot.
Peter |
simon69c
Joined: Feb 24, 2003
Posts: 177
From: Southampton, UK
PM |
A lot of the problem with Phones 4 U (as several posters have pointed out) is that they try and push customers onto o2 and Vodafone tariffs. Why? Because Phones4U connect o2 and Vodafone customers onto Singlepoint as the service provider. Now Singlepoint is owned by the Cauldwell group. The Cauldwell group also owns a chain of high street mobile phone shops - anyone guess which chain that is? [Edit] Oh and in case you didn't know - Singlepoint can be about a bad as P4U themselves - some people have no problems with them at all but there are plenty of people out there who have had some nightmare experiences with them!
High street mobile phone chains are typically staffed by people simply wanting to make a bit of easy money - the shops will hire people based on their salesman abilities rather than their specific phone knowledge (makes sense if you are trying to make as much money as possible I suppose!).
OTOH local independent phone shops and independent online retailers are usually set-up and run by people with specific industry knowledge (they need it to be able to flourish in a market with high buying power competitors like CPW/Link/Phones4U etc.) So chances are you will be able to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about, is genuinely interested in making sure you are a happy customer (word of mouth is a crucial means of gaining new customers for them), and can actually help you make the right choice about your mobile. Online indenpendent resellers will also typically be cheaper than high street stores but don't be tempted to use high street store pricematches as these just squeeze the independents even more and eventually they will dissappear - besides you would probably get far better customer service from an online independent than you would from a high street chain anyway!
[ This Message was edited by: simon69c on 2003-06-10 08:34 ] |
duncanb99
Joined: Apr 30, 2002
Posts: 137
From: South London
PM |
The main problem with Phones4u is their guvnor - Mr. Caudwell.
He seems to think he is a business genius, and delights in telling any journalist who will listen how he is better than the "corporate tossers" who populate most companies.
Well, if timeshare sales is the business model he is trying to copy then maybe he is a genius. With high pressure and misleading sales techniques he is building a customer base, sure. But the crap service offered by his second-hand car salesmen will quickly erode this.
And as for his pathetic rip-off of The Gadget Shop which is found in some P4U branches - it looks like a hippy stall at festival.
Pathetic.
Go to CPW, they may have their faults but they know about phones and have good customer service. And no, I don't work for them - just a satisfied customer.
Dunc |
dave_uk
Joined: Mar 06, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
@suicidebob - Ok, I sympathise. I spent 3 hours on the phone to Lifeline today! They are shite - almost shite enough to be on the Pony4U payroll! I appreciate your plight and your clarification 
@pbwuk1234 - Sounds like you're about to find out why it was such a good deal!
I just object to the Caudwell Clan because I don't like being given the hard sell when I shop. Maybe when buying a car you expect it, but a mobile?! CPW pay is, obviously, commission-based, but structured such that we are genuinely able to give independent advice without being financially swayed one way or the other. With places like 4U, it's all about getting you to take out their dodgy insurance policy and how much they can milk you for.
The reason for this:
If they don't hit their monthly targets, they get NO commission. Go some way to explaining anything??!!
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impy78
Joined: Aug 17, 2003
Posts: 207
PM |
Although the lack of competance at phones 4 u worked in my favour...I went in a few weeks after the T68i came out, as they said that all phones were free on all networks, and got his new woman (obviously in her first week) and convinced her not only that this should include the t68i (which it didn't) and also that as orange phones came with Orange care, there would be no point in taking their insurance, and she gave me the phone no probs! hahahaha!
They phoned me up a couple of months ago about upgrades, and were most upset to find Orange had given me a free t610, 2 months before the old contract ran out.
"Oh, we were offering an upgrade to a t68i......." (how I can be upgraded to the same handset i already had, I have yet to understand).
And CPW gave me a couple of right old laughs in the past couple of weeks. Firstly I went in with the purpose of buying a bluetooth dongle - which I refused to as they were £80. The guy seemed to tkae real offence at this and asked why. I explained that I could get one for £40 online. At this point he told me that it would be no good to have a dongle which slotted into the port with no lead because... "Bluetooth can't go round corners" -
"really i thought it was an RF "
"a what?"
"a radio frequency"
"no it's a beam of light".
"Bye"
Then I went into the huge new CPW in leeds, and asked to upgrade the firmware as they have an SE centre in there. At this point I was given a ticking off, for trying to confuse them, as CPW calls firmware "software"...so i told them to stick it where the sun don't shine, and bought a ticket to london....
And don't even get me started on CPW insurance.....
[ This Message was edited by: impy78 on 2003-09-28 14:56 ] |
phil84
Joined: Sep 25, 2003
Posts: 3
PM |
>Later on (less than a year later) I decided to get my phone software
>upgraded to t68i software. I went into the shop who said they would
>need to send away to do it (I didn't realise there was an SP near
>Manchester then) and they would give me a replacement phone.
hey jalu, can you tell me where the service centre near manchester is (saves me calling sony ericsson!)?
cheers |
Miss UK
Joined: Jan 11, 2003
Posts: > 500
PM |
Phones4U aint dat bad I Bought a new T68i from them fri just gone I wanted a o2 enn but they didnt have any so ahh asked where I Could get the PAYG T-MOBILE enn unlocked, and they gave me directions didnt think theyd do that btw lol
This message was posted from a T68i |
wapchimp
Joined: Jun 09, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Land of the chimps
PM, WWW
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I had a conversation at work with a colleague in our upgrade dept who said p4u are cowboys!
This message was posted from a T610 |
macki_c
Joined: Jul 09, 2003
Posts: 60
PM |
Use the high street stores to test new phones and see which one you really want then go online and order it from mobileshop.com for contracts or expansys.com or mobilefun.co.uk for sim free.
[ This Message was edited by: macki_c on 2003-09-29 11:51 ] | |
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2003-06-01 04:41
