Dear all,

I have purchased a Sony Erickson phone, from “Phones 4 U “ in April 08. A few weeks later the phone went faulty, so I went in to your shop in Culver Walk. Once in the shop , I explained to a Shop assistant who informed me that I would be receiving the phone fixed no later than 14 days. I did state to the shop assistant that it was a new phone and really, I should have a replacement, although I was asked if I had another phone where I could put the Sim card in?

I was left with no alternative but to leave my phone there to be sent to be repaired with no other means of contact.

14 days passed and my phoned has not returned yet...so I phoned the “ Phones 4 U “ line and was impossible to get through, so I decided to phone the “ Phones 4 U “ shop in Culver Walk in Colchester.

Initially I spoke to “ The Manager “ who passed me through one of Staff to get my details, not interested in listening to my problem. When he came to the phone, perhaps he believed to be one of his friends... he answered the phone by “ Yes Mate....Allright...?? “ “what’s the prob..?”

I was not very impressed with the mannerisms, but my aim was to get a resolve and therefore spoken to him and explained the situation. I had been to your store on the 18th of June 08 and you sent my phone with a promise of being returned to me within 14 days, 20 days had already passed and still no signs of the phone. He rang me back after 10 minutes and explained to me that he checked with repairs department and was informed that it could be that the repair could take another 2 weeks....if I was not happy with the response, I could call customer services on 0870 061830 , quoting repair number : xxxxxxx.

I am still waiting for a resolve ....over a month now...

Note: This post has been moderated in line with moneysupermarket.com Community Standards and Terms of Service.

The law says that under the sale of goods act 1979 (as amended) that goods must meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price and all other relevant circumstances. The quality of goods includes their appearance and finish, their safety and their durability. Goods must be free from defects, even minor ones, except where these defects have been brought to your attention by the seller.

If you have purchased goods from a shop or warehouse then found after you purchased them that they were not suitable or faulty, you can reject the goods and demand a refund or a new replacement. Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended), all goods must be fit for their intended purpose. If they are not, you are entitled to a refund or replacement as long as you return the goods to the trader within a reasonable time.

Therefore as they have not repaired your phone to your satisfaction within the time originally quoted, tell them you wish to exercise your legal rights and reject the phone under the above act (as amended) and request that they provide you with a new replacement phone immediately, failing which you expect a refund in full.

Phones4u is a company I will never deal with again. From your experience I will stick with my opninon.

I have come across shop assistants that haved lied to me to sell a deal. I went in for a n95 contract, they had a deal of £30/m ( free on 18 m contract) and said it was the best deal on the market. I said I looked on the 3 website and they were offering for £24/month (free on a 18mnth contract). The sales person said it was only a online deal which he was also aware of (somehow occured to him) and then said 3 online offers were not a good deal, because if something had happened to the phone I had to take the hassle of dealing with thier online repairs dept. which was a pain. I checked with a 3 store nearly 50 yards away and said it made no difference wether the I bought the phone in store or online I could bring it in in store to get it fixed.

In my opinion with the aggresive sales techniques phones4u uses seems like a total scam to me.

One thing I have observed is that the Phones4u shops are not full these days and people have become aware of thier activites.

Hope you get to the bottom of your problem.

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.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I purchased a Sony Erickson K610i In August 2006 on the 3 netowrk, which I had for an 18 Month contract and took out the Insurance for the phone. Usual story got to the 12 months and was going to pass the phone onto a family member the phone developed a fault whereas it wouldn't charge or switch on. In the meantime I had been into Phones 4 U who advised me that after 12months I could go back to them they would pay the remainder of the contract and have another contact (which to their credit they kept up their side of the bargain!) and had a new contract with orange and the insurance has been moved over to the new phone. As i was in the cross over period I still had a contract with 3 for a month or so. I went on the 3 website and reported the phone had a fault. 3 advised me to pack up the phone, arranged a courier to pick it up, 3 days later a replacement phone!!

One thing I was not happy with when I was with 3 the contract cost £35 pm & an itemised bill, with Orange supposidly same price but every month costing me over £40 as Orange contact is £35+vat plus you don't get itemised bill without paying extra. Don't think I will be getting a contract through Phones4u again as I have seen better bargains approaching the Networks direct

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