Is there any goverment body that these frims can be reported to?

i completely agree with you DO NOT EVER PURCHASE A PHONE FROM PHONES4U!!!!!!!

i bought a phone from phones4u, after 3 months it just stop working the screen just went white couldn't call out or text. took it back to the shop in WIGAN. they sent it off for repairs never explained anything just said we'are happy to send it off for you, just sign this booking form. which i did, got it back within a week, fixed stating all it needed was a soft ware update.

3 months later, again same problem happened, so my partner took it back to the shop, they were happy to send it off to repairs, again just sign this form and you'll get it back soon.

3 weeks later still not recieved phone back, thought i would just pop into the branch to see what the hold up was for. not the most helpful of staff in the WIGAN branch sat there for half an hour while she was on the phone to repairs, after half hour she put the phone down and said it was unrepairable due to moisture damage, which i replied it was not anything to do with moisture damage at all it is the same problem that happened 3 months ago which they said it was a soft ware update, she said if i wanted it back i would have to ring custemer relations centre and pay a courier charge of £16,

i explained i would not be paying any courier charge as it is my property they have hold of and they can not do that, very unhelpful staff said its nothing to do with them now at the branch and i would have to speak to the customer relations, as they couldn't do anything about it.

T/c to Customer Relations explained that i would like my phone back and i think it is a complete disgrace that i have to pay as i know the excuse they are giving is that it is moisture damage is completely false, when it was exactly the same problem 3 months ago when they said it was soft ware update, she was extremely unhelpful, stating i have left it somewhere where there was condensation, explained the only two places my phone is are my handbag and my bedroom floor when its on charge, which she sarcastically then went onto to say "well do you  keep perfume in your handbag thats whats probably done it", by now i was getting really *** off with their stupid excuses and said they could not legally keep hold of my phone as it was my property, i have paid for it and it is still under warrenty which she said she could and will be doing until i pay a courier charge, as i have signed for it to be sent off and it was explained to me then that i would have to pay, if they could not repair it.

1)It was never explained to me on both occassions of sending it back

2) i hadn't signed a thing it was my partner who had signed it not me, she said it didn't matter and basically i wasn't getting it back.

 i told her to send it back to the shop and get them to pay the charge, she said i would have to go back to the shop and get them to ring repairs to do this if they agreed.

T/c to the shop spoke to the same person who i had seen an hour earlier, she said they would not pay the courier charge as they couldn't authorise it, it would have to be the repairs who would have to authorise this and again it was not there problem anymore they could not do anything. REALLY ANNOYING AND UNHELPFUL STAFF

my partner also telephoned repairs as it was he's signature on the form and they point blank would not spreak to him even though he had signed the form in the first place.

all staff at  PHONES4U are the most ignorant, unsympathetic, arrogant, annoying, unhelpful people i have ever spken to. and if i hadn't have just popped in the branch i would still be at home waiting for it to come, they didn't even have the decency to send a letter out stating they could not repair it.  i will never ever purchase another phone from them and i advise anyone who is thinking of getting a new phone not to go to PHONES4U!!!!!!! 

i will not be getting my phone back as i am not paying them anything more than what i have already paid, so they can keep my phone which they will probaly fix and sell again to someone else and will keep on doing this sort of thing to everybody because they can get away with it.

Hello!!

I jus got 1 Question.... YOUR ALL COMPLAINING about phones 4 u insurance and saying its a rip off...

WELL...

House Insurance
Car Insurance..

Wat do you have to pay when you claim .. Hmmmmmm a EXCESS!!!!
SURPRIZINGLY
its the same with mobile phone insurance...

so i guess u best all should cancel your car insurance.. because there is a excess fee...when you claim...

I HOPE YOUR SEEING MY POINT!!!

You walk out the shop with a £250+ handset  (N95 £500+) and liability of your 18month unpaid contract. INSURANCE on a mobile phone nowadays is essential.. and even if your covered by your home insurance or bank.. you still have to register it with the bank/home insurance company... and then it still takes weeks for the paperwork and the mobile phone to be covered. I have seen many mobile phones damaged within the 3-4 days which would not be covered by the manufactures warranty.. and the customer walked out saying she/he was covered by her/his bank.. surprizingly.. she never registered with the bank.. and was therefore not covered.
Also when a phone is purchased via a mobile phone shop the recent you recieve will say you paid £0.00 and alot of insurance companys pay out via your receipt value.. because you took a contract with a FREE N95 worth £500+ you did not pay a penny.. so some insurance companys would not pay you anything if u damaged your phone.

As FOR PHONE Repairs.. yes the service is poor..but a lot of people dont understand that if the problem with the mobile phone is not the manufacturers fault.. e.g pressure on the phone causing the screen to bleed.. then that would only be covered if your mobile is INSURED!!...

Seriously are you on drugs?? or do you happen to be on the management of Phones 4 U??

I have had exactly the same problem as some others on here, you can see my full complaint on this site

Moderator edit -- Link to other community user forum removed in line with MS terms of service, please read the rules on joining. Thank you.

I suggest others complain on here too,

 My husband had an LG chocolate phone, the same as my daughter, her screen went white sent back to LG direct they repaired the phone free of charge within 7 days

 My husbands did the same, after just a week or so use, but phones 4 u INSISTED we take it into them and they would sort it out for us, what nice people I thought

 6 weeks and nothing, then finally after I had phoned and phoned we are told that we damaged the internal screen and have to pay over £50 to get it fixed!

It was exactly the same problem as my daughter had, with the white screen quite obviously a software crash as LG had told me was quite common with LG Chocolate phones!

Then when I told them not to bother repairing it they said I had to pay £17 just to get the phone back?

 Seriously I have NEVER KNOWN SUCH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE

I'm writing to their customer service department and will be taking it further, I suggest you guys do the same, I will let you know how I get on!

Laura
x

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Hi everyone..

LOOK what What phones 4 u does:!!!!  WATCHOUT WITH PHONES 4U!! BIG PROBLEMS!!

Information Commissioner's Office Data Protection Notice Re: Phones4U

read especially paragraph 2  on the link..

 

 sorry to hear ur storry

u saved me by getting trapped by phones4u . i was due to go and get contract from them for vodafone n95 8gb but after hearing your story i am planning to get contract from company and not by them

 

thanks

What a joke!

I can't believe I have just taken out 2 contracts with phones4u, they said they would buy me out of my old contracts offering me £300 I am now paying for 4 contracts which are very expensive and also did not have my new phones straight away. I had to wait for my phone to arive in the shop and everytime I phoned to see if it was there they told me to come in, I explained I have a baby and could'nt just pop in so they said they would phone me. No call was made instead I was made to feal a pain to them, Still waiting for one phone and it's been over a month and a half WHAT A JOKE! Phones4u are ran by people who have no idea of what they are doing! Can't believe they sent me a text asking me to reply on how satisfied I was with the service! 

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i really think that it's a shame that so many people have had a problem with phones 4 u

 

i'm a sales consultant with them and it actually really annoys me to find that there are people who are doing their jobs so badly, and not taking their job as seriously as i do.

 

i understand that a lot of you have had bad experiences, but some of the sales consultants (ie. me) really do work as hard as possible to make sure my customers get what they want. I really do strive to give the best customer service, so i can tell you  that not all of us phones 4 u consultants are the devil.

 

Em 

My bad expirience...

 I brought a PAYG phone for £200 from Phones4u website - with guaranteed next day delivery, they took the money but..

9 days later i still have no phone. Ive called customer services 3 times and am told each time it will be sent the next day as its in the warehouse, 3 times ive been told the same thing so, i tried to cancel the purchase and was told i have to return the phone before they will refund the money!

How can i return it it if they still have it??!

I recomend to any one that they steer clear as i think im never going to see my money again....

 

I'm assuming you have paid with a credit card or debit card over the internet or something as you are waiting for delivery, so all you have to do is a charge back through your bank, there is no need for you to not see your money again

I would suggest you call them again - get the persons name that you speak to and then ask to speak to the manager, get their name and explain to her very nicely that if you have not received your phone by tomorrow then explain that you will have to do a charge back, then just contact your bank and ask them to do a charge back.

Also if / when it does turn up if you don't want it now, just refuse the delivery as it will be sent back to them if you accept the delivery they may make you pay for the return postage.

 Hope that helps

Take care, Laura x

P.S. As to the guy above who is the sales assistant for Phones 4 U, could you give me your name and telephone number as perhaps I could deal with my complaint through you!?

Guys, guys, guys, I had a shame story and contract trouble with Phones4U.

Result: I am charged by Vodafone, £4000

The story:

I signed a phone for my friend, but account is mine and he used it. When I was sitting in the shop, the cashier worked hard to elimate my worries. He told me account can be transfered after 28 days and 60 pounds can be given in my account, a good valueable phone N95 is good and the mobile internet is free and landline is unlimited.

My friend watched youtube videos on the phone and the bill comes out £4000 pounds, waiting me to pay. Vodafone said N95 is only faulty from Phones4U since I am the 5th people went to ask about the high cost bill. The bill was about just 3 weeks. I saw that guy again and he was really bad.

 I told him my phone maybe faulty and cost me £4000 for the first bill now I can't change to my friend. He said, did you use it? I said my friend watched youtube but even so, shouldn't be so much. He phoned Vodafone and checked out for me. Then he decided to ask me to sign the phone and send it to repair. But I don't trust him and read the form carefully. He then pushed me saying it was half 4 in the afternoon he needs to send it to check and go away. I didn't answer him and he seemed to be rushing. I found it cost £17 to repair and I questioned him, why you don't even say there is a repair cost? He shouted that £17 compared to £4000 is just a small amount and the most important point is to send it first and he just want to leave!!!!!  poor staff and customer service.

 that was like what he did when he pushed me to sign this contract. He gave me 3 forms to sign, 1st for contract and 2nd for insurance last for phones4u. He pushed me as well when I was sitting and read the detail. The problem was that the contract doesn't even mention how much charge for 120MB internet and how much for over limit. Vodafone did not block and just let it go up to £4000.

 Of course, the staff won't accept he told me the internet is free. This time he said, the internet is free, yes, for 120MB if you don't go over limit. I realized he is trying to escape this trouble and push everything back to the customer. That is what a phone agent do.

 THEY TRY EVERY POSSIBLITY TO ASK YOU SIGN A CONTRACT FOR THEM. TRUE, BECAUSE THIS IS NOT AN EVIDENCE SINCE YOU CAN'T PROVE IT. SO, DON'T EVEN ONCE TRUST THEM, OR YOU WILL GET A UNBELEIVEABLE BILL LIKE ME.

Friend, I know you are saying i am fool to help others sign contract and did it in Phones4u, but my feeling is that, I want to use myself to keep the world away from them. They are monster and bad people.

 I am waiting for the phone being checked, I am not sure whether I should pay £4000.....

Keep in touch in discussing......

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Hi there, i have had the same problem. I just purchased my phone in december 07. The next day after purschasing it i got a phone call from future phones ltd asking if i wanted cheaper insurance and i said no. But they took 44.99 out of my account without me authorising it or nothing! I dont understand how they got my personal details. I phoned up vodafone and they advised me this is not the first time this has happened and phones 4 u gave out 361 peoples personal details out in the last year. I phoned up phone4u and they starting being rude saying that they would never do that and wouldnt even write my complaint down. Im thinking of taking legal action but i need help from other people who have been through this too. I woiuld appreciate it if you would help me.

I currently work at Phones 4 u in a management position, Id like to say phones 4 u is a group of people just like any other group of people, and there are good and bad apple's . The company wouldnt want me ot be discussing this, but i feel i must say something in defence of my employers. 1 . I dont think you can say these problems are going to be limited to phones 4 u in particular, we have had customers in store complaining with the same issues you have been talking about from other phone retailer including the network shops. Now im not saying that you people havent been poorly treated, but in any sales job ive had similar issues from buying a sofa and a stereo from two seperate reatilers hwere i feel like i was mis-sold. Im not saying any of this is excusable, but its not exclusive to one company.

2. Manager get finacially penalised for customer complaints both in their bonus screens and seperately on their store targets, so it really doesnt warrant losing half of a managers bonus which could mean thousands somtimes because of customer complaints. Thats what really happens. In addtion ( i wont go into too much detail but...) in one dvision nearly 200 satff were sacked for fross miss conduct in regards to contracts. The company prosecute staff in both criminal and civil courts.

3. When you buy a phone from phones 4 u , you are dealing with more than one company. The reatiler, ( phones 4 u ) , The network ( eg vodafone etc ) and the companies who produec the phones ( eg nokia ). To undersatnd what can go wrong, you need to understand what phones 4 u accually does. The networks pay phones 4 u to sign a customer onto their network , at that point you are the networks customer. Any billing issues WILL be from the network not phones 4 u , we dont bill you , they do. For example they guy who said he had ran up a large bill ofr using you tube and the internet. The tariff your on would most likley have been voda 750 mins unlimited texs and unlimited internet. Now in reality the texts and internet bith have fair usage policy ie 3000 texts and 120mb of net use. However the 'unlimited ' term is the network term of what they call the tariff, not phones 4 u.As in that is what we are told to sell from the network.

4. Quite often the networks will pass the buck to phones 4 u with some issues for example , we might ask them to lower a line rental but they sometimes dont, or sometimes customer writes to cancel but the network doesnt, or ive had a few times where the network has billed customers for other people phones. What happens is you the customer phone the network up with a complaint, you speak to someone at the network who deosnt want to deal with the problem so they just tell you to go into phones 4 u where they can see you have purchased it from. Now im not by any means saying that phones 4 u havent created any problems , because they have. I can only speak persoanlly , but i have treid to resolve any issues i have had that our are own fault, to the best of my ability. Ive moved around from store to store and dealt with many issue that are not my doing and ive had people come in wanting to tear me a new one , that i have resolved and who have quite happilly purcahsed more phones form us. That is how i want to run my shop and how most other satff will run theres.

As i said previosly their are always going to be bad apples , some of your issues are genuine , some are going to be a combination of networks and phones manufactuers and some customer issues i have dealt with im sorry to say are down to the customer, ( im not saying thats any of you, but it happens and they just want someone to balme ) My advice is this Phones 4 u produce alot of papaerwork for every thing we do, so Always read the contract , if something was said that wasnt in the contract that you feel it should be ask to have it in writing with a signature. If your expecting money back , make sure you have the amount your expevting written on a form ( called an are you happy sheet ) , If yuo return an item you will recieve paperwork, so make sure you get it and keep it. Finally in my experience some issues are simply caused by a customer wanting to leave in a hurry. When your getting a phone your getting a legal contract , so let the consultant do what they need to do, if you rush them, something may get missed out

With reference to your £4000 phone bill due to a "faulty" phone.

Let's be honest with ourselves here, a faulty phone will not cause you to view/download at such a high usage rate or determine when you should or should not log onto the internet or spend several hours checking our your latest video's on youtube.com. I appreciate that Phones 4 U doesn't exactly have the best press for it's customer service, but, the networks and the general public know this and use it to their advantage.

It seems you've signed up to a contract that consists of an allocated amount of mobile internet usage, of which you've stated you were told your allowance is 120mb?! My point is, you may be slating Phones 4 U and it seems in your eyes they've misled you and everything they have done is of poor quality, however, did you know that Vodafone advertise the same mobile internet package? But, instead of advertising it as 120mb per month, they advertise it as *Unlimited but wont tell you about the terms and conditions of their fair usage policy.

Lets be honest about things, you weren't misled about your internet package, your N95e obviously isn't faulty, you just spoke to another Vodafone customer service adviser that didn't want to have to try and explain to his floor manager that he's got an irate customer on the phone because their phone bill is £4,000 and they are at liability to pay it due to your extreme amount of usage and he/she obviously doesn't have the honesty to tell you that so he/she passed the buck to the source of the contract, it would have been the same with Carphone, Jag, Intek etc as the networks are so lazy with their efforts.

You were called by a fraudulent insurance company, there are several companies that seem to call numbers at random proposing to be Phones 4 U, Vodafone, Orange, a range of names, the FSA are aware that there are many of these companies that are causing havoc for most mobile phone owners but due to how professional these companies, the time it takes to hunt these companies down, they have closed down and started up under a new name 2 weeks later under a new name.