Carphone Warehouse Complaints
In the latest in a series of complaints that pre-date this blog, today I’d like to reminisce about Carphone Warehouse, and my efforts to return a phone to them.
Back in 2004 I bought two Sony Erikkson T610 phones from Carphone Warehouse, one for me and for the wife. We both had contracts already so I just bought the handsets, over £100 each.
A couple of days later I noticed that actually my wife was able to get a free upgrade with her contract, D’oh! So she returned the phone to Carphone Warehouse in Newport, South Wales.
This is where things started to go wrong. Carphone Warehouse told her that she couldn’t have a refund. This was somewhat confusing, as they had posters everywhere advertising their 14 day money back guarantee.
When she phoned me in work I was understandably outraged. I phoned the store immediately and was told by the rather rude and confrontational person on the other end that Carphone Warehouse did offer a money back guarantee, but it did not apply to phones…
Excuse me?
They have a money back guarantee at CARPHONE warehouse, and it does NOT apply to PHONES!!!
What the fuck does it apply to then????
Naturally I escalated the issue and contacted their head office, where I was told that actually YES, the money back guarantee does apply to phones. The manager of the store was instructed to call me and offer a full refund.
It meant my wife had to drag my two kids back down to the shop again to get the refund though.
Anyone else dealt with Carphone Warehouse?
I'm an Affiliate Marketeer, SEO, web developer and all round Internet personage. I run a network of content websites on a variety of different subjects. I'm also victim to some of the worst luck in the world, and I tend to Blog about all of it here. 
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The CPW have employed a bunch of liars in their sales dept. who use strong pressure tactics to prevent you from leaving. Having been a customer of CPW for the last 6 years, i was finally going to get rid of them when my contract ended in March 2008 having been lied to on change of contract terms a few months earlier. But they phoned up at the last minute offering 600 x net mins for £20 which i accepted,but when the bill came they had given me only 200 mins charging me £38.00. when i phoned them up , they denied all knowledge and told me they had set their escalation policy in progress which would take 72 hours for a reply! Folks i have no other choice than stick with this company for 18 months due to the contract, but if u have a chance go to other companies like 3( got my wife one for £15.00 & no worries). these guys are so big that yoy cant even legally challenge them as they lose the telephone records of conversations convieniently.
Last saturday I dropped my phone into a puddle and without insurance or a spare the only option I could see was to buy a PAYG phone that my sim card could go into and use that while I got mine sorted. I looked on CPW website and found that I could get a Motorola L6 for £30 including a £10 PAYG sim on O2, this was ideal as I was going to sell it once mine was sorted. I phone the local branch to check they had the phone, they did so I went in to buy it. The manager got a Samsung phone out and said ‘I thought I would offer you this as it is the last one and I can do it for £20 all in and I will throw in a free car charger its on Orange but the handset is sim free’ I bought it and took it back to work to put my sim in. My saim did not work in the phone neither did my bosses so I went back to the store and asked them to refund it and just sell me the phone that I came in for, the assistantrefunded the phone and got the Motorola out then tried to charge me £20 extra instead of £10, when I asked him why it had gone up £10 he said ‘you cant get that deal with Orange. I said ‘I dont want Orange, just refund the sim and give me the o2 deal on the L6′ the manager who had just finished with a customer said ‘we cant do that as i will lose too much money’ I said ’so I have wasted two hours and I still dont have a phone?’ he just walked off and went into the back office and that was the last i heard from him. So I repeated myself to the assistant who said ‘I dont know why your complianing to me, I didnt sell you the phone’ I said your boss has walked off who else can I complain to? I really dont like your attitude’ his reply was ‘your attitude stinks aswell!’ I was gobsmacked, I dont think I have ever been treated with such a lack of respect. I have complained to CPW and it is being investigated but this will take a week and a half! i will keep you posted
An addition to this tale is that when they refunded the phone I found that the charger was not free or thrown in but charged at £5, the manager did not give me a receipt so he could hide the fact that he had lied! I work in sales and know that this is at best dishonest but probably illegal.
A copy of the letter I have sent to The Car Phone Warehouse. Deal with this disgraceful firm at you own risk!!
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have had to resort to writing to you because your’ so-called broad-band system is incapable of sending a message from your’ own site, when I tried to send it, it just sat there for an hour not being sent. This often happens in fact your service was incapable of downloading the Google home page in three hours. Please don’t tell me that you were experiencing problems because it is a load of BS and the stock answer we have all heard endless times before if we don’t get hung up on. I was trying to get paperless billing for a second time but the email address YOU GAVE ME does not exist! (Account does not exist) What a disgrace!! The broadband service you provide is actually slower than my old dial up service.
The phone system isn’t much better sometimes when I try to phone I get a recorded message telling me my phone has no credit and I am calling from a landline with over a hundred pounds in credit. I wonder if you people realise how frustrating this is not that any body there gives a damn. I shall now be looking for a new provider and have now posted updated details of this joke service on the growing complaint list against TCW on the net. I have also promised support to the group who want to take you to court under the trade descriptions act. I shall talk to the trading standards people and Offtel. Please provide me with a telephone number where I can get my mac code.
B. V. Minot.
Carphone Warehouse………………Where do i begin!
Im not going to go into great detail here because my head is still spinning after what can only be described as Chinese Torture!
Basically 1 month after upgrading to the new and improved i-phone ‘yeah right’. I was sent a statement of charges showing that i owed £156.25 which would be automatically debited from my account!
I rang customer services only to be told that I had failed to switch the sim card that they had sent me and i was using my old sim card in my new i-phone, so
i was running my new i-phone on my old contract!
This meant, that when ever i used the ‘ so called internet’ or went ova 200 talk minutes or 100 texts from my previous contract, i was being charged!
I informed customer service that i was not told to do
this by the cutomer sales rep at any time and presumed that i would simply take the old sim out of my previous phone and pop it in the new phone like i have done for the past 4 years!
The customers sales person said that they would have to listen to the recording and get back to me within 72hrs.
Fair enough i said! 24hrs later, i recieved a phone call from the cpw to say that they sales rep had not informed me to switch the card over and that i would be refunded!
Great, i said Or so i thought! 2 months later over 24 calls to the cfw and what can only be descibed as chinese torture or groundhog day, they have finally agreed to refund me the money in full. Still waiting for the cheque btw.
My advive to anyone who is having simular problems! If u dont get anywhere with customer service within 1 week, which im sure you wont.
Then u need to email the cpw customer enquires and leave ur comment’s there! Fair do’s within 24 hrs of me leaving a rather distressing message on cpw website, the head office rang me back and eventually and i say ‘eventually’ they agreed a full refund ! Simple, partial advicve cpw! Listen to ur customers.
I am in the middle of the very long complaints procedure with CPW. As someone has already stated they do appear to conveniently lose call records! I tried to exchange my handset several times within 14 days of receiving it. Now over 6 weeks later i’m still stuck with it and it would seem they have lost all records of my phone calls! Dont touch CPW with a barge pole!!!
Ill keep this short,
i upgraded a sim only deal then within a few hours decided to cancel. The sales guy didnt cancel the upgrade and i have been charged for bills. The sim has not been used since i thought the contract was over.
I told them to check their recorded calls. Anyone think they will find it?
What do I have against them? I am not paying off the contract and they r still charging me for a deactivated sim.
help
(UPDATE ON MY REFUND)
Are u all sitting down? You’r never going to believe this! Im about to tell u all something, i never thought would happen!!!!!
Yes, believe it or not, after 4 months and about 35 calls to the CFW!, i have finally received a full refund!!!!!
To my amazement, 1 week later i also recieved a cheque 4 £90! This was from a previous cheque back offer, apparently from over a year ago.
I cannot advise you, on how best to tackle the CFW. as they do not follow their own procedures, and i am probably one of the lucky few who has actually had a full refund! My only advise 2 u all, would be 2 keep trying. Leave ur complaint every 72hours on their website. Don’t give up!
i have a nokia 8800 sirocco gold, a very expensive phone that i trusted carphone warehouse to repair. they assured me this was no problem and the problem was the phone did not ring or vibrate. on the return of the phone after 2 weeks it was apparent that it was more broken than it was when it went in. the screen started going white and then was returned to carphone warehouse where they returned it to me “repaired” for a second time which was a lie as the screen was still turning white and some of the buttons stopped working..
i then returned it for another repair. this was then returned to me “repaired” when in fact now the signal had vanished completely no matter what simcard was in it. They then took my phone back and returned it with nothing done to it insisting it was repaired. then finally it went in again and this time i never received it back. they informed me that my phone cannot be repaired but they had offered me a ‘Samsung Soul’ in return for it as they had non of my phone in stock and had not for quite some time.
i finally accepted this as it was the best deal i could get and was informed that my new phone would be here within 5 working days and they would contact me on arrival. after 7 working days i went in and they insisted it would arrive that day or the next. the 13th working day no phone call? so i went in to the shop and to my suprise there was no record of them ordering me a replacement. then the computer showed that they had now decided my phone was water damaged and therefore do not have to offer me a replacement phone. after i had been told for 3 months of them having my phone that it was a software issue. i am most dissapointed with this and very angry as i have had no phone calls or anything to tell me what was happening with it, my phone has never been near water ever!
Where do I start with CPW, they are dreadful and really dont know why keep accepting such poor service from these companies, I have had many issues with this company, first off I bought a brand new pay and go iphone and took out there insurance with it that they force down your throat, so basically the phone was taken out my back pocket while I was in town, so went through the usual steps of getting it block and getting a police report etc, so turned out that having a theft report from the police was not enough and they said it couldnt be traced back to the police station as i had done it over the phone and only had a ref number, so basically there grounds for not covering me is that I couldnt prove the phone was stolen, I find it amusing that on the life line insurance website they say a phone is stolen every few minutes so take out cover, yet when I claim for being victim to a pick pocket im declined, oh and it took them 3 weeks to decide this.
So being the fool I am I dish out a further £400 for a new one and within 12 days I notice the phones crashing allot and basically its completely dead now and wont restore or respond, so I go to ask for an exchange and they refuse saying there has been an attempted unlocking on the phone which has caused this problem, I find it bizare why I would have tried to unlock a phone on o2 network when thats the only network I have been with for the last 5 year. oh and to top it all off the one store said no, so I thought id try exchange it at another store in glasgow, the response from the second store was talking to me like I was a criminal as the main store had called all other stores to tell them not to exchange it, I must say I have never been treated so badly in my life and I will never give CPW my business ever again.
On Christmas day I was very fortunate and happy to open my new iphone touch from my girlfriend which was a perfect gift for me. Unfortunately on the 28th things went a little wrong with the wifi which I was unable to resolve myself so took it back to the carphone warehouse in the Manchester Trafford Centre where I got it from. After several minutes of the handset being passed around several members of staff they concluded that the handset was faulty but because the handset was outside the 28 day return policy they offered to repair it. I point blank refused this and escalated my concerns to the manager. After all the handset was only three days out the box. The assistant manager was pleasant enough but pointed out that Apple only offered this return period and that their hands were tied. Finding this very hard to believe I asked if the assistant manager was able to clarify this with customer services which they did and further asked if any flexibility could be offered due to the Christmas period. Carphone Warehouse refused but discovered the best was yet to come as they then asked me to leave the shop with the very phone they had sold me, take it to the the Apple shop upstairs and ask them for assistance. Stunned and lost for words I asked them to repeat what appeared to be common practice for this particular retailer. Disgusted and embarrassed I left the shop with the phone back in the bag and Carphone Warehouse feeling very happy with themselves. I had nothing else to loose so I decided to turn to the Apple store upstairs for help. Within seconds I was greeted by one of their team and I explained my story. They appeared eager to help and to my very pleasant surprise took a look a the the handset for me, ran a few diagnostic tests but were unsuccessful in repair. Almost gearing up to leave the shop with my new and broken iphone I was shocked to hear from the Apple genius that they would like to swap it for a new one. I can not tell you enough how happy I am with the my first experience with this particular Apple store, staff and service as they rescued my faith in goodwill and the best of customer experiences. I have taken note and learned from this experience and will only now deal directly with Apple and avoid at all cost the Carphone Warehouse. I have read that what they suggested is illiegal as the seller not the manufacfurer is responsible for the phone replacement and that the 28 day return policy isnt worth the paper its written on. Keep away from the Carphone Warehouse!
Hi, barry
I understand the point you getting to but.
If you had ever worked in sales or customer services, you would understand that the 28 days for exchange is not down to in this case CPW it’s down to the restraints that Apple but on people selling their goods. If CPW had of exchanged the IPod they would be left with a faulty item that would be second hand.. As apple will not exchange it for them they will only repair it. I.e. the company would be out of pocket. All off the Big UK retailers have the same policy be it comet, curry’s and PC world. All the same. The only reason that apple exchanged it is because they could, as they decide on whether they want to or not…. So in fact the CPW manger did you a favour.
It’s Apple that say exchange only 28 days then repair not CPW.. All manufactures do this as they don’t take the flak..
Hey, Mark
I have also worked in the retail trade, and understand what your saying. However , the point that everyone is trying 2 make is that the CPW don’t give a fuck! They stick 2 their script, and that’s it!
In Barrys case, all the manager had 2 do was 2 ring Apple direct and explain the sittuation 2 them. Im pretty sure that they would have done the same as the apple shop, who so kindly changed the phone.
Hey cant believe the way CWH talk to people. Is it me or do they use the corrosion line for all repairs to expensive phones, whats the point of warranties
I cannot believe this company, they are the worsted i have ever dealt with. I am extremely unhappy and can’t tell you how fed up I am of contacting them. I had a contract out for a mobile phone for 12 months, after the 12 months was up I cancelled it in writing by recorded delivery but despite this I sill received letters for payment. I contacted asking why they were still sending me letters and they said they were sorry and cancelled it over the phone. I have now come to get credit and I cant because of them affecting my credit file saying i still owe them money. What can i do to get them to remove this from my credit file?
My sympathy is with all the people on this website who have had to deal with the frustration, stress, time consumation and anger caused by various CPW stores. I am currently waiting for my 2nd Samsung i8510 to be repaired by them. The problem is one day it stops sending texts and they get stuck in the outbox. The staff in the Fort store, Birmingham pushed me from pillar to post. As I ported my number from T-mobile they couldn’t find me on their database so told me to call o2. O2 said I need to speak to CPW. CPW then told me to call Samsung!! Samsung said I need to visit their repair centre…based at CPW, finally I got my first handset back with no changes made to it though they said the software had been reflashed. While I was at the desk I told the twat of a salesperson that it wasn’t fixed and she said it would be sent away but she had just booked my loan phone out to someone else and they had none left!! I hadn’t even signed anything or left the desk. They then sent it away for 2 weeks only for it to come back still not working. I was told a replacement would be order but this couldnt come from the store’s stock it had to be ordered from head office. I went in store as I received no phone call and noone answers the phone there. I even rang them while i was in store and the phones were switched onto silent! Apparently my form hadn’t even been sent off to organise the repair even though it should have been over a week ago. I complained to CPW customer complaints that I had had to go in store 5 times now, they arranged a £10 credit to my bank. The assistant manager Dan made my skin crawl he flirted, gave me his personal number and made endless inuendos and tried to convince me he was doing a personal favour. He said none were in stock at head office and gave me a phone from out the back of the store. This was 3rd Dec 08. On 1st Feb 09 the 2nd Samsung i8510 stopped sending texts again. I called the store and spoke to Pete the manager who said because I had the phone over 28 days ago I have to go through the whole repair process again. After some protesting on my part he was steadfast in hiding behind their stupid policies but told me the engineer in store doens’t have the new samsung software so it would have to be sent away anyway. How can he have flashed the software last time if he doesn’t even have it?? I went in store and saw Pete who nipped out the back to speak to the engineer, he came back and said he probably could repair it in store but it could take 48 hours. So much for an ‘express’ repair centre. I had a call a day later and went in today only to find that the phone wasn’t working still and I checked the version of software from the handset and it was the same as the previous one from 08/2008. I had to send it to be repaired again but asked what will happen if it doesn’t work when it comes back. He said ill be offered a replacement. I asked if it will be the same or better quality and he hautily said no similar quality. I asked what it would likely be and he would not give me a straight answer but actually laughed in my face when i asked if it could be the Nokia N96. My phone actually has matching if not better reviews of the N96 so how can this be?? Anyway I can’t find any T&C’s on their website to see what replacement i am entitled to so I will just have to wait and see……
[...] thing I need to check out though is the best place to get one, as obviously I can’t buy from Carphone Warehouse, as they’re likely to rip me off the same as they did the last time I used them, where they [...]
i work for carphone warehouse. carphone ware house is not able to make refunds on most phones due to the network once its gone on the system the network will not allow the sim to be refunded and as you usualy buy it as a package it means the phone cant be either. im agreeing that some staff are unhelpfull i know some that are, at my store we always try to help if iit can be done we will do it, at least were not phones 4 u
If your phone goes faulty where do people think the money comes from replace the phone with a new one?
The manufacturer provides the warranty, the retailer only has a legal obligation within the first 6 months to facilitate a repair or replacement. The replacement as with virtually any electrical retailer is 28 days. Vodaphone only offer a 14 day faulty replacement. It makes me laugh when people say its not legal. Dont be daft, if its not legal why does every large electrical retailer from Argos to John Lewis say so in published policys?
The guy with the Iphone got a replacement from Apple because they MADE IT! And even that is something every other phone maker refuses. See many Nokia stores around these days? Motorola stores in every town?
Do the math: iphone costs consumer 350 quid. Carphone make about 15 quid profit selling it as a prepay. After 28 days (plus about a month to allow for shipping from Apple to carphone, then distribution and sales time) Apple (OR ANY MANUFACTURER) will not give carphone any money back for that handset if its returned as faulty.
So if it is returned thats a 335 quid loss. So basically carphone have to sell another 20 to make up for that 1 handset return. Apple will swap it in an Apple store as they make them and can refurb them or strip them for parts. People seem to be under the impression that carphone are refusing to return stuff just to be irritating. Do the math – carphone repair 15000 phones a week under warranty at an average handset price of 200 quid. If all of them got a new phone carphone would be bankrupt within a month. Phones would cost you the consumer ten grand to make up for all the replacements! And thats not counting the 3% of handsets given to all repair companies across the UK which turn out to be liquid damaged “cos its a mobile its waterproof right?” or customer damaged rather than build failure.
Why do people think phones have an instant replacement warranty? ever read your warranty? If your brand new 30k bmw breaks down after 6 months and you go in shouting does the salesman instantly throw you a set of keys to a new car or does he book a repair? same law applies people!
I dont work for carphone but have worked at 2 different department stores dealing with electrical goods from hairdryers to phones and ovens. Peoples ignorance of their “rights” amazes me. The shop didnt build it, go shout at the maker! If you dont like carphones repair service try posting it to the manufacturers agents..apart from apple they all quote 3 – 4 weeks and if they replace it it is often a “like for like replacement” that means a refurbished model that looks used.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sorry Lisa, i fell asleep there for a moment . Thank u for all of ur information. I particualy liked the part where you compared a BMW to a mobile phone! We are all well aware of the manufacturer’s warranty, and are willing to accept that, even if we have only just bought the bloody phone!!!
However, it would be nice if the CFW actually did what they said they would do, as in calling us back when they say they will, or when a phone is sent away for repair actually repair it, or see sense When somebody has contacted the CFW over ‘25′ times over something that was suppose to be resolved within 28 days, and ends up taking four months!
If we did not pay our phone bill then the CFW would be entitled to cut us off, and quite rightly so if we don’t pay our phone bill. However, if the CPW don’t do as they say they will then are we entiltled to cancel our contract with them and cut them off? ARE WE FUCK!!!!
Do the Math Lisa! CPW+mobile phones= Unhappy customers.
Hey lisa
Have you not heard of the Sale of Goods Act?
Your contract is with the retailer not the manufacturer and goods have to be fit for purpose. That means if they break down within a reasonable period they are deemed to be faulty. The contract is between the customer and the retailer and if they disagree you just need to issues a County Court Summons on-line. I can confidently assure all of you that they will pay up becuase if it goes to court the jugde will award in the consumers favour. If you purchased your phone using your credit card (providing the phone costs over £100) your credit card company are equally liable under the Consumer Credit Act.
CPW are the worst company I have ever dealt with. I wrote to their Directors home address (which is easy to find on the net). And suprise suprise the matter was sorted out.
Just remember consumers in the UK are protected. It doesn’t matter what the retailer says. Just issue a summons and most of them will pay up.
I work for CPW in a managerial role in a non-retail area. I have read through all of the above and am quite distressed at what im hearing.
If anyone needs assistance please leave a post on here.
Hi all,
I am another of those customers that have had a phone that I was told was water damaged and that I was therefore not entitled to a new phone- I ASKED FOR PROOF-this was never proved I now believe that it is a scam as many friends that i know echo the experience of others on this site and have all been told that if you have no insurance that you have water damaged your phoned and not entitled to anything!!
My advice is to summons the retailer to court even if it is out of the 28 days as the goods should be fit for purpose
I am sure you will win after any adjudicator hears what has been happpening and use comments from sites like this as evidence this will often give a clear undrstanding of the frustration that many customers have
I had an interesting one the other day – i ordered a phone from carphone warehouse two years ago, not been back since, they sent me a contract phone out the blue. I called them tried to palm it off as fraud and should check if a direct debit had been set up. Nope. Got a letter from orange – the contract from carphone warehouse – containing SOMEONE ELSE’S name and bank details. Again tried to palm it off as fraud – funny type of fraud – someone else pays for the phone and has it sent to me. I should hand it in they say but of course they didnt mention the ridiculous amount of red tape I’d have to go to to sign off of a contract I didnt ask for and again they still went on about fraud. Idiots.
HI .I READ ALL THESE COMMENTS WITH GREAT DISTRESS,ON THE 23 JAN 2009 MY 12 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER PURCHASED A LG COOKIE PHONE AND MEMORY CARD AT A COST OF 114 POUND ALL OF WHICH WAS XMAS AND BIRTHDAY MONEY .AFTER HAVING THE PHONE ONLY 32 DAYS THE PHONE CEASED TO FUNCTION, SO OF WE GO TO CFW WHERE A MANAGER INFORMS ME THAT BECAUSE, ITS OUT OF THE 28 DAY COVER IT NEEDS SENDING FOR REPAIR THEN SHE RUDELY SAYS IT HAS MOST LIKELY HAS BEEN DROPPED OR HAS WATER DAMAGE BECAUSE SHE IS ONLY 12 AND THEY DON’T TREAT PHONES IN RIGHT WAY, HOW I DIDNT PUNCH HER. I .DONT KNOW ONE WEEK LATER PHONE RETURNS AND GUESS WHAT IT WAS A SOFTWARE ISSUE NOT MY DAUGHTER THE MANAGER AVAILABLE TO APOLLOGISE TO MY DAUGHTER WAS’NT (LOL). TWO WEEKS LATER PHONE DOESNT WORK AGAIN SO WE RETURN TO CPW AND SEE A DIFFERENT SALES MAN. OH IT SAYS IT THE MEMORY CARD WE SOLD YOU IS MAKING PHONE NOT FUCTION, SO HOME WE COME .AGAIN 11 DAYS GO BY AND YES U CAN GUESS SAME PROBLEM, PHONE BROKE AGAIN. AT THIS POINT I SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH SHE WANTS NEW PHONE, BUT NO YOU CAN’T HAVE THAT IT HAS TO GO AWAY FOR A FURTHER REPAIR, AFTER GOING MAD IN THE SHOP AND THEY WON’T DO ANY OTHER I SENT IT AWAY ,AND COME HOME AND RING THE CUSTOMER SERVICES NO HELP OVER NEXT THREE DAYS SPEAK TO 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE AT CUSTOMER SERVICES ALL PROMISING MY COMPLANT WILL BE DELT WITH ALL TELLING ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT OR PHOBBING ME OFF AND STILL AT THAT POINT WE WERE GETTING NOWHERE.THEN THEY SAY THEY CAN’T REPLACE THE PHONE THATS ONLY 2 MONTHS OLD, SO THEY OFFER ME A REFURBISED PHONE WH,AT PLANET ARE THESE PEOPLE ON AND WERE THE HELL DO THEY TRAIN! IN CUSTOMER RELATIONS ,I THINK THEY HOPE I AM JUST GOING TO GO AWAY BUT I,M NOT .
I burst into tears the other day when i received a letter from the solicitors saying i owe CPW £801.65 for my outstanding bill. While for 9 months i waited for them to reply me regards to a bill disput of £400. My limit was £75 the point of having a limit is when you exceed it the phone is diconnected but not with CPW. I also had two bills i never received dispite my attept to contact them by email three time, two letters i had to hand write a letter and post it in their free bill posting envelop before i got a reply. Nine months ago the last letter i received stated that they would look into this, after that it was all silent until BOOM you owe us £801.65 + tracing free of £15 to find non of my details have changed at all.
I think these companies do not understant how distressing it is when they send letters of this sort and having to deal with their VERY POOR customer service. Someone need to deal with CPW’s faults its getting out of hand.
Hi, I have had more or less the same experience as Caroline. I received a new mobile for Christmas from the carphone warehouse and it started going wrong within about 2 weeks. The phone went in for a repair and was received back after 2 weeks with the problem solved. However, last weekend the phone developed a different fault and could not be used. The phone was taken back to the carphone warehouse yesterday and this time I asked for a refund because it was less than 6 months old and in my eyes was no longer fit for purpose. Because the phone was more than 28 days old, the store manager refused, said it was a repair only and for all he knew water could have got into the phone! After 10-15 minutes of arguing it was clear he was not going to budge so I felt there was no option but to have another repair. When it is proven there is no water damage to the phone I will expect an apology! Doubt I’ll get one though…..
NO……………………………………………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My i-phone is broken. Its not sending or receiving any mail, so i am going to have to take it back to CFW.
This is going to be fun!! Wish me luck!
(Note to self)
(1) Do not under any circumstances lose ur cool with the manager, because that is the only person that i itend to deal with!
(2) When the phone is “eventually” returned to you, expect it to still not be working, and have to send it away again. If this does happen, (and you no it will) please refure to note (1) ‘Do not lose ur cool with the manager’.
(3) Keep smiling nicely. No grinding of teeth, just think happy thoughts.
(4) When u do eventually get ur phone back in working order, expect to be taking a trip back to the CFW within a month, u no its going to happen!
P.S
Ur going to need a phone whilst urs is being repaired. U now have to pay the CFW a deposit to borrow one of there “out of the ark handsets” incase you don’t return!
Now theres a thought!
i live in south wales and i had some one use my name and my parents address witch i have not lived with for 17 years go to the carphone warehouse in reading (200 miles away from my address) and take out a top of the range laptop and dongle my parents had a bill and asked y i had a taken out a laptop in there address but it wasnt me why the hell would i travel all that way when there is one in neath but when i tried to contact them they didnt give a SHIT and dont belive it wasnt me AND IT WAS THE MANAGER THAT MADE THE FUCK UP I WOULD TELL PEOPLE NOT TO USE THEM AS THERE SERVICE IS CRAP AND THEY DONT CHECK ID
Hey Everyone..
I just been reading all your complaints and it making me a little nervous!
I have an LG Cookie, which was malfunctioning so i took it in to the CWH to replace it, thinking i would try another Cookie. That one malfunctioned AS WELL so i took it back again. Unfortunately i was now just outside the 28 days return date, and had to give the phone in for repairs, which i reluctantly did.
I got the phone back. It now does not turn itself off of its own accord or freeze up, vibrating constantly for minutes. It does, however, not send messages, and then send 5 of the same message all at once. It also takes two halves of messages i have recieved, put them together, and mail them to someone it picks at random from my contact list. It sends parts of messages that people send to me, back to them. Sometimes it feels to switch up the contact names of people i have sent messages to as well, so im never sure who is recieving messages that might be meant for someone else.
All in all, the LG cookie is TOTAL NIGHTMARE, and im getting ready to stand on it. The worst thing though it that i am positive the CWH will be no help at all, and im getting ready for a battle to the death!
Just a couple of weeks ago, a friend told me that he had taken them to court after they claimed his broken Iphone was “water damaged” as i see they have claimed a few times before…
I am very unhappy with the Carphone Warehouse, and will, in the future, take my business elsewhere, as well as advising friends (and even enemies!) to do the same.
hi all,
CPW are the worst company i have dealt with.
I upgraded to a nokia n96 in october 2008 just before christmas the keypad didn’t work so off to CPW who of course put it in for repair. since then its been back another 4 times, 3 for keypad and 1 for the screen. The 4th time it was sent back to Nokia for the keypad problem. I went to pick it up 19 days later and the first thing i noticed was a screw missing, i told the assistant and she went out the back and came back with the screw in place! now i switch it on and hey ho the keypads still don’t light up – what it was supposed to sent back to nokia for. Now i’m thoroughly peeved, so it is now back with them for a 5th time. How many times will it need to be “repaired” before they admit this handset has an inherent fault and replace it? i’m on o2 max @ £75 a month and for over 2 months i haven’t been able to use the phone! I’m hoping that Simon who works for CPW in a managerial role reads this because i will NEVER go back to CPW for anything!!! They have the worst customer care ever, they all speak to you in that robotic monotone that seems like they are reading from a script, and yes i’ve been down the escalations route – chocolate teapot comes to mind. Now i’m off to find the MD’s address and send him a bit of my mind!
I need an at least 5 additional sheet to write about CPW. The worst company you can ever deal with. Here are recent some examples. I have two contracts with CPW. I filled in a form to change the DD on one account, yes you guessed it right. They changed it on the wrong contract and my bank account went negative and also I was charged £5 from CPW for missing payment. Having this issue not sorted, my contract came to an end. S The real fun.
I asked them for a Samsung i8510 mobile, they said it was out of stock, so I went in on this monthly rolling contract and kept checking for stock to arrive. After 2 months of waiting for the phone, it didn’t arrive and they were not sure if they were going to get it or not. So I went it for a C905 mobile. Later after 3 days of taking this contract I called in randomly to check stock of i8510. I thought I was lucky that day as one of the customer service officers said “we have 3000 of his model in our warehouse”. Having got the 14 days contract cooling off period option I went in to upgrade for the i8510, which costs more that c905. I still agreed for it and expected delivery the following Monday.
I was waiting the whole day in anticipation to receive the phone and until 5.30 I didn’t receive any mail. I rang in to check what went wrong and stayed on line for about 30 mins after which I was informed that the Phone was still out of stock. I was totally disappointed. When I try to make a complaint they are not even ready to take it. All that they say is “Apologies (this is the 31st apology in the past 3 years) please disconnect if you are not happy”.
This is the first company I have come across in my whole life who are happy to lose customers. The people who work in customer services don’t know anything but just to read what is on the paper given to them. I have wondered many times if was talking to a robot. In short they don’t have any common sense, any what so ever, not even a bit. I have had enough with these guys being a customer for 3 years now. I have decided to move to a different provider. I have logged a formal complaint on all issues but no reply yet so far even after 5 weeks of all these happening.
CPW is definitely a BS company to deal with.
To the “Yet another disgruntled CPW customer” who posted on Feb 3, 2009 at 9:29 pm Regarding their Samsung i8510 phone issue not sending SMS text messages.
I actually experienced the exact same issue as you and have managed to overcome the issue. If you would like to know how then send me an email to: london_dean@live.co.uk
Dean
How furious am i. 6 weeks ago, i purchased the lg cookie from cpw. Couldn’t stand it, so i took it back a week later, exchanged it for a nokia, i was told was the latest model out, which was bullshit to say the least. However, a week later this phone was broken!! I took it back, they gave me yet another exchange which was the sony ericsson c510. 2 weeks later, this broke! My dad took it back to the shop last saturday to get my money back, as he didn’t have the receipt they swapped it for the samsung g600.
(Continued from above) this monday, i had to take it back because it wouldn’t turn on! Despite how i told the manager i am entitled to a full refund under the sales of goods act, he refused to refund my £100! Again, i’ve been fobbed off with another phone which IS FUCKING BROKEN! I contacted the cpw complaints line where she told me to go online and fill out a complaints form! I want my money back and i’m extremely upset about this. Can anyone please help? Xx
I AM ALLSO ONE OF THESE HACKED OFF CPW COSTERMUS i reasontly brought an LG cookie it was ok untill after 2 weeks of haveiing the phone it craked
i then got my dad to take it back and get it reafunded they turned round and said it was presere from ME i was out raged i had kept my phone in my bag to preavent this problem. on the top glass screen there was no damge not even a scratch so we then went backto cpw to ask them to prove there statement witch to this day they havent. we are planing on trying to take them to court. is there any advise anyone can give
i am SEETHING with rage. this is the email that i sent the CPW on 7/04/09:
“Dear Mr Dunstone,
I am unfortunately writing to lodge a complaint with you. In March of 2008 I took out a contract for the Blackberry Pearl with 02 and the Carphone Warehouse at Selfridges in London W1. Two months later, the handset was proving to be slightly dysfunctional and I took it to your flagship store on Oxford Street, where I was told that it was an acknowledge hardware problem where emails are deleted by themselves. The manager said that it would take at least a month to be repaired, that I would not be given a replacement handset during this time yet I would still have to pay the bills. I politely declined this somewhat interesting offer, and carried on using the phone.
However, less than nine months later, in late November, the handset suddenly became unusable, as the screen was simply not functioning and the keypad was not working. I took it along to the Carphone Warehouse store at 80 High Street Kensington, London W8 on the 1st December 2008, where I was told that they would have to send it off, and that the aforementioned policy on bills etc would come into play, although I was assured that it would take less than a month to come back. I gave the store my email address and an additional contact number on which to reach me on, had to purchase a new handset on which to use my sim card and lowered the tarriff to the lowest possible rate. By mid January 2009 I called the store to find out what was happening, but got no answer. This was followed by constant attempts to reach them, as I was unable to get into the store in person until late March. When I did get in, a week ago, I was initially told that they had no record of the phone on their systems, until eventually they managed to locate the handset, which had been sitting in their storeroom all along. When I explained that I had been trying to call the store regularly, I was told that the store telephone does not ring, which is a problem they had apparently been trying to fix for some time.
I declined to take my handset, as I wished to write to you first.
I view this all as absolutely appalling customer service, and see no reason whatsoever why I should have been paying my bills in the four months that I was without the Blackberry handset that I was paying for. I did not actually use the replacement phone during this period, and therefore it was simply the monthly tarriff that I was paying for. I see this as taking huge advantage of customers in that I was not allowed to halt the billing process until my telephone was returned, and I then get lumped with monthly bills for a telephone that I do not possess – the entire reason that I took out this O2 with the carphone warehouse contract was because it offered that very handset! To then have nobody even attempt contact with me is appalling, in addition to all the contact that I had with either CarphoneWarehouse or 02 Customer Services Call Centres passed me back to each other, offloading the problem. I have lately been refusing to pay this bill, and would like a refund in addition to the cancellation of my contract for free. I am now being sent Notice of Disconnection from 02 despite having explained the problem to them, and I do not see why my credit rating should be affected by complete ineptitude of the staff in your store.
If this is not solved within the next 14 days I see no reason why I should not go directly to Otelo.
I would appreciate a swift response, preferably by email as I am out of the country until Tuesday 14th April. After that date, my contact number is ***”
SIX WEEKS on i am still waiting for a reply, and have just received a debt collectors letter demanding £102.14 in unpaid bills to O2. I called up the CPW and they were ridiculous, suggesting that it was bad customer service (ya think??) and they offered me £15 off my next bill… I am waiting for the manager of the complaints dept. to call me, but given their track record of getting back to me i think that will be … never?? anyway so I went to the high st ken store, where the sales assistants were both horrendously rude and could not speak proper english, attempted to place the blame on me and didn’t listen to a word I said.
Anyway i refuse to pay when i haven’t had my phone that the contract was for, so bottom line is I am thinking of writing to Watchdog at the BBC – I was wondering as there are so many complaints here if any one else would be interested in doing so as well ? as if they get inundated with reports on the appallingness that is the carphonewarehouse they may do something about it. sadly its too late for me, but i just want to make sure noone else gets financially raped by them… please let me know in a comment if anyone else would be up for doing this. Thanks x
In this instance going to Otelo is not an option. You must first exhaust the internal complaints policy. Only when this is done and you are unhappy with the resolution. Also, your mobile contract is for the airtime agreement not for the device, this is on your ts and cs
I brought a £35 pay as you go mobile phone from CPW and after 2 weeks it started to switch off by itself…usually about 6 times a day meaning i had to keep re-setting the date and time.
At first i thought maybe it was me and that i was knocking the on/off button when using the slide function…(sony ericsson t303) so gave it a little longer thinking i will get used to it…there was no change so i took it back and was 2 days over the 28 day thing….so they said it needed to be repaired and would take 14 days…ok…no probs…i need a phone though so they said they could loan me a phone but want £50 deposit for it !!!
I refused and said give me a cheap lone phone and they said they didnt have any…so i told them to get one and ring me once they had it…..4 days later they rang so i went back and gave them the faulty phone while i took the loan phone. I asked them what happens if when i get my phone back its still faulty and they said they will send it off again and will keep doing so untill the 12 months warrenty has run out !!!
This is just plain wrong…if i have gave them the oportunaty to repair it and its still faulty i expect a refund or a new phone….even the consumer pages i have read say this.
They where rude…cocky and just kept repeating the same thing over and over….the phone was £35 FFS…surely its gonna cost em more to keep sending it for repairs.
If the phone comes back and its fixed then great…if not and they dont give me either a refund or a new phone then i will be seeking legal advise….its not the money its the bloody principle.
Why dont the suits do something about it….dont they care that their company has this terrible reputation…??
I m writting this letter because of
> the lack of customer service in your handset repair system. I have a
> Nokia N96 that developed a few faults with the battery and bluetooth.
> When i called your call centre they informed me that it was upto me to
> take it to the CPW shop and send it from there, and then collect it. For
> the life of me i cannot understand how a customer service department
> department expects the Customer to do all the running around back and to
> from the shop for a product that has developed a fault. My wife recently
> had to send her handset for repair from Vodafone. They sent a prepaid
> bag and some protective packaging for the phone to go into and simply
> post it to them and back the same way. This is a far more customer
> friendly system. My handset was sent back for repair on the 11/05/09 i
> called today 26/05/09 to check the progress and spoke to a person called
> Ben from the Preston call centre who informedme the handset was back
> into Broughton store ready for collection.I drove from my work the other
> side of Wrexham to the shop only to find it wasn t there and nobody
> seemed to know where it was or when it was coming back.This level of
> customer service must come from the dark ages. Im Very dissapointed from
> this company. In my role as a service manager i visit customers in the
> homes every day,and will be using this as an example of how NOT to look
> after your customers.. I recieved my phone back on the 28/05/09 only to
> find the very next day it still has the same fault. I was expected to go
> back to the shop AGAIN. Finally i have been sent a new handset and a
> SECONDHAND battery that doesnt fit correctly. what else can you get
> wrong. please respond with an acceptable resolution to this poor service
> i have recieved w. rimmer
Hello
I took a contract from CPW on 2007, it was a sim only. on august 2007 they send me a txt message that from september 2007 they are going to charge on special number started with 0845 or 0844 but they send me bills for september 2007 where they charged me for calls started with 0870. I explained them about their txt message and send them written complain but they said ”you are reliable for this bill because at that time all information were explained on there website” as a result they refused my all complain and send me regular bill for the next 15 months and also cancelled all cash back and they also put restriction on my different o2 contract and refused to take monthly payment and kept sending bills for this contract as well. I tried my best to negotiate but everytimes their customer service was very rude. Still they are sending dept letter every weeks even i changed my address.
It appeared that the CPW and their customer service team dosent know how to solve a problem but they only do making problem.
I recently bought a phone from the CPW website, with the £10.00 Top Up, compulsory purchase. It is now 3 weeks on and this top up has not been applied to my phone, called, emailed, now in the middle og complaints procedure. Having now read thro’ many different review websites, I find masses of people in the same situation, some who have even resigned themselves to never getting the top up!! I find it baffling. CPW have a great scam going, force you to purchase a top up and then never give it to you – phone if you wish but it will cost you a fortune on your landline bill and you will receive feebel excuses and some weird and wonderful explanations! I have decided (as I presently have time on my hands), to make it my mission to expose CPW for what they are. I have read the OFCOM rules and am collating evidence of customer dissatisfaction, where goods are paid for but not received, and I intend to continue until I get some kind of exposure on this. It;s illegal, it’s a scam, it’s an excellent way to make money for nothing and it’s shitting on the very people who make the company what it is. Watch this space…….
terry stone – your contract is with the network not the retailer and the manufacturer provide your warranty so unless your handset is under 28 days old and u have no insurance with CPW then the phone has to be sent for repair if faulty.
could anyone plaeas help me ,
what would happen if
i took out a nice contract on a nice laptop at carphone warehouse , acer 600 pounds ,
also take a nice ipod touch , both on orange , walk out of the store with my nice new items , and cancell the direct debits straight away and dont pay a single penny to carphone warehouse
what could they do apart from blocking the phone ?
please help me thanks ,
daytime-play@hotmail.co.uk
Jaaaaaaaaames………………………………….
Wakey, Wakey!
If you take another look at people’s comments, you will see that many of them have tried 2 send their phones away for repair, but are returned 2 them with the same fault still remaining.
It’s frustrating enough that aftert only 2 months, or even a day or so over the 28 day exchange, people’s phones are malfunctioning and are having 2 be sent away for repair! But what is even more frustrating than that, is the fact that the CFW can’t even be bothered 2 repair the phones correctly and return them 2 the customer, who then have 2 send the phone away for repair ‘Again’ and wait another bloody month or so!
It’s a sad state of affairs 2 be in really! Espeacially in this day and age, where have all of this amazing technology around us, yet somehow we seem 2 be going backwards rather than forwards.
With money being as tight as it is at the moment and employment being at it’s all time high, you would think that a Company as big as the CFW, would be doing everything it could do attract more customer’s rather than putting people of wouldn’t you??
dear all,
just to let you know that if you push them hard enough and continuously, the cpw can eventually give you what you want. in reference to my above story, i have since had the contract terminated free of charge and been refunded over £100 by cpw. this may have been a combination of luck but also not taking no for an answer. if nothing else, several email addresses of upper level management are available online, so it’s worth trying them repetitively.
good luck!
Carphone Warehouse in York most certainly have not heard of Customer Service!
I bought a PAYG mobile on 26th June for my daughters birthday on 3rd July – she loved it but the screen kept ‘flickering’ so I recharged it fully on 4th July. When I turned it back on there were lines on the screen so I took it back to CPW.
They told me that I had dropped the phone and it was not covered under warranty. I most certainly did not drop the phone! it was not out of my sight for the 24 hours it was in use. I then saw a Manager who said that I may not have dropped the phone but that it had been damaged and was not covered. There was no damage to the casing or the outside of the phone so I am intrigued as to how he ‘knows’ that I damaged the phone.
He would not budge, he would not agree to repair or replace the phone and when I pointed out that our family had 4 phones currently and always bought our phones from CPW but wouldnt in the future, he accused me of trying to blackmail him!
Anyway, I have contacted Trading Standards and have written a letter to CPW quoting the Sale of Goods Act 1979 asking for a full refund (I bought a phone elsewhere when they wouldnt help) – - fingers crossed I will get a refund but I will not take this lying down!
CPW – for the sake of £50 you have lost at least 4 future customers and probably many more as I tell everyone I know what happened and will continue to tell people until I am a satisfied customer (i.e. have my £50 back)
[...] a year ago I wrote a post about how Carphone Warehouse in Newport had tried to rip me off, before finally admitting they were wrong after I went to their complaints [...]
I took out a 18 month contract with CPW on a laptop deal where I paid an initial deposit of £150 which, I was assured, would be reimbersed to me after 12 months of the contract had completed. I reminded CPW just before the 12 months was up. Yes you guessed it they deny all knowledge of being reminded – I didn’t get my deposit returned. Anyone else out their been shafted by CPW in the same way…..
I had a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 which i ahd on a £45 a month contract, with the full Geek squad insurrance even with the added option of being able to end my contract after 9 months if i returned the phone…
Anyway i lost my phone, so i claimed off the insurrance, they then informed me that the Xperia was no longer being sold, so they offered me a series of other phones (which i have to say – were crap). I had Offered to me The HTC Hero, Htc Touch DIamond 2, Nokia E75 and a couple others… All these phones were worth less than my Xperia which i had had for 3 months. i couldn’t even get the Toch HD whihc was as old as my Xperia, but they just replied (oh you can’t do that, it’s against the agreement… I’m sorry but i read the agreement, if the same model is not available they can replace with a similar model… The Nokia E75 is no-where near similar, the Hero is like a boomerang and the Diamond is just like a crappy iPhone…
I am all over unhappy as i have 3 contracts currently running with them, and they still treat me like trash. :S
I also had to ephasise the fact that i have a 8GB memory card in it that they needed to replace i had to speak with the superviser to give me that.
All in all i am fairly frustrated, i don’t like my Touch Diamond 2 AT ALL.
Sorry to hear that Aaron, I have a Touch HD and it’s pretty damn sweet, shame they refused to let you have that.
50 complaints on here now about Carphone Warehouse, says it all really. They are a shoddy company who keep ripping people off. I’d never go near them again and would advise everyone else to do the same.
Ridiculous company to deal with. I needed a new phone and settled for a 5800 Nokia. I paid £219.95 for it and after a week it kept crashing… my wife took it back and the guy told her she was a liar, these phones never have issues, but would swap it anyway as it was near closing time and he wanted to get home. (Seems us and the 100,000 or so hits on google are all liars.)
She brings it home to me and it’s a return! The cellophane was off the phone, smudged with finger prints and grease! To top it off I tried to power up the phone and it wouldn’t work! So not only was it return but it was fauly return!
Taking it back he told us it must be us breaking them and that the phone didn’t leave the store in that condition. I said, she picked it up last night at 8.30pm and I’m bringing it back at 9am, what’s that 12 1/2 hours later!
He was now in a bad mood, went out back brought out a third one and man handled it before giving us it. He ripped the back panel off to insert the battery & SIM and jammed it back on. He bent the clips on the back panel but as this phone actually worked I managed to source another panel off the web.
We just hope to god we don’t have to deal with their repair policy. If I had to describe them it would be:
Abusive, greedy liars who don’t give a shit about the customers who pay their wages.
CARPHONE WAREHOUSE IN YORK – UPDATE
Just an update from me – after several weeks of correspondence with CPW continually denying any wrongdoing and a complete disinterest from them, I am today starting court proceedings.
It is the principal now – although I am £50 out of pocket, I will happily go further out of pocket if it means showing the cowboys I mean business.
I will not be bullied by the ‘big boys’. I will let you know what happens.
I really hate CPW!!
My phone is only 9 months old, and was working perfectly intill it stopped charging.
I called CPW and they told me to bring it in and they will send it of for repairs, I also asked what happens if they cannot fix it, they told me I they will replace it.
I got my phone back today, to be told they cannot fix it, I then asked well what happens now?, the guy said your’ll have to buy a new phone as my warrnty does not cover when a phone is beyond repair. He then went on about water damage, my phone has never been near water!! Nor was it neglected, if it was I would not of made a twat of myself going in there tryin to get them to fix it.
Home I go with my beloved broken mobile phone! I am livid. I also contacted CPW customer services to express my feelings to be told they cannot speak to me as the phone is in my husband’s name and not mine, I told them it was a birthday present, they snotty nosed woman just wouldn’t talk to me!! Just told me to take my phone to LG and try and it get it fixed! – I thought CPW sent phones off to the makers if they cannot repair them?????? That what the guy told me when I handed them my phone.
I’m £100 down now, had no phone for over two weeks, and really cannot afford another one. Theses people make me sick, the bloody phone is only worth about £70 now, I don’t understand why they cannot just replace it.
A very pissed of customer, Lisa!
Here’s a update, after writing a complaint to their email address, they replyed to me with this:
Dear Mr XXXXXX,
Thank you for your email.
I have looked in to your account and I can see that our engineers have confirmed that your phone is beyond economical repair. This is due to the instruments within the phone being damaged.
The fault is classed as unrepairable as the fault has not be caused by a manufacturing issue, but the way in which the phone has be used. This could either have been done if the phone has ever been dropped or knocked against something.
This type of fault is not covered by the warranty as it is not a fault that the manufacturer has caused when making the phone.
Please accept my apologies if you feel you where not given a full and proper explanation of the repairs report at the time of picking up your handset.
With regards to you wife calling our Customer Service helpline.
Due to Data Protection we are unable to speak to a non account holder regarding the account unless there is a password set up on the account which they have to confirm on each phone call.
As there is no password on your account we are unable to access the account, and are only able to give general information regarding the account.
When your wife was advised on the second opinion of the repair, she may not have understood fully what was being advised to her, or our advisor may not have explained what they where trying to say in an understandable way and for this I apologise.
What the advisor will have been attempting to say is that if your phone was repaired within our repairs centre and not sent to the manufacturer (which in your case is correct) you are able to send your phone directly to the manufacturer if you wish to receive a second opinion regarding whether the phone is Beyond Economical Repair.
To speak to LG regarding this please call them on: 0870 873 5454.
As you have not taken out any Carphone Warehouse insurance on your LG handset, we are unable to offer a replacement handset. This is why your wife was advised to purchase a new handset.
If there was insurance present the store advisors would have requested that you visit the store to enable them to process an insurance claim. At this time you would have been required to pay the excess fee and a replacement LG would have been provided.
As you have no insurance with the Carphone Warehouse we will offer a 10% discount on purchase of a handset only. This purchase will need to be made in a Carphone Warehouse store.
Please accept my apologies that your wife and yourself feel you have not received a good service with your repair. I would like to clarify that Carphone warehouse has not intentionally set out to make you feel
I am unable to offer a more favourable response in this matter.
Should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to reply to this email. or contact our Customer Support team on 0870 087 0168.
Regards
Maria Womack
Correspondence Department
——————————————
My phone has never been dropped or neglected!! It was perfect worked fine, just intill it would not charge.
I’m afraid this type of “couldn’t care less attitude” is typical of Carphone Warehouse. The idea that you would accept a 10% discount and buy with them again is farcical.
Go to trading standards, or BBC Watchdog. The more these jokers are exposed the more they’ll want to ‘help’ customers who have been ripped off.
Your right there MrDaz.
I sent this back to them.
Thank you for your response.
As I stated before the phone has never been dropped or knocked in anyway, the phone was working perfectly but developed a fault trying to charge it. If the phone had been neglected in anyway surely there would be marks and the screen would of cracked and stopped working. The power point on the phone has a protected cover, so I don’t understand how a knock or a fall can damage it. If my wife damaged the phone in anyway, she would not of wasted her time and dragging our children out to carphone warehouse trying to get it repaired, she would of accepted it was her fault and got a new phone. We are talking about a phone that is only worth £77. What is the point in contacting LG themselves? For all I know your company could of done something else to the phone so it looks like it was neglected on my wife’s part?
I am still very unhappy. Electrical goods fail, most stores offer a replacement or a refund if under a year old, I have never experienced anything like this! I shall be taking this matter further as it is unfair on your customers who are losing money, being forced to buy insurance, and being accusing of breaking their own phones.
I am not the only person with the same complaint, after some research it seems 100’s of your customers are experiencing the same problem with your company, because they do not have the insurance, and it’s the same story where you bacially accuse the customers of damaging the phone themselves and they are forced to buy new handsets. On one forum they are gathering people to contact watchdog!!! I for one will be contacting them aswell.
_____________________
I will not rest intill they give me a replacement
Lisa I know exactly how you feel – it is like banging your head against a brick wall isnt it???
I have started court proceedings (am yet to hear from CPW) – I would suggest that if you have no joy from the above letter then you write to them telling them that you will take them to court if they dont pay up or replace your phone – and then do it!
I was reading the Metro this morning and came across this advert from the C”F”W.
0% Commission.
100% Impartial advice.
We”ll help find the right deal for you, not us.
Our Customer Consultants in store are rewarded for the service you receive, not how much they sell.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha!
More like,
100% Commission.
100% Partial advice.
Another update from me.
After starting court proceedings and the papers being served, I received a cheque for £49.95 this morning.
No mention of the £25 court costs I have already paid, or any explanation as to why it had to go this far before I was refunded anything.
I have given them 7 days to pay me in full, otherwise I will carry on to court.
Just another happy Crapfone shithouse customer
Having bought a LG cookie from them dec 2009 it developed the usall lock out faults .
Return to CPW and sent for repair back within the week faulty from switch on !!.
contacted the trained chimps in the store and told to return Tried to ague the sales of goods act told our contracts dont fall within the SOGA !! .
rang the equally pleasent customer services dept only to be told the same and as I would not be told he was putting the phone down and did .
Another call this time told the same but admited 3 times they have had serious problems with ths phone but Lg wont do anything about it ,pointed out that CPW have a bought ot warranty with Lg reply was dont know we can only return for reair .
Asked the idiot what happens when the warrany runs out and it is still faulty Well you will have to buy a new one !!
Consumer direct as much use as a eunuch in a brothel as normal
So lesson learnt never buy from the CPW AND DONT BUY LG
I have sent my iPhone 3G 8GB In for repair luckily they are doing it for free but they are taking a hell of a long time to fix it and send it back to my local CPW branch I have phoned my local branch about 3 or 4 times now but still no luck/news on where the hell my iPhone is. The CPW Are useless.
YEY!!!!
Another update from me…
Got a letter yeaterday from a Solicitor ‘acting on behalf of CPW’ offering me ‘full and final settlement of £74.95′ – er, so that will be the £49.95 that I asked you for 3 months ago, plus the £25 I had to pay to make you sit up and take notice of me?
Of course I will accept it! thats what I asked for in the first place you incompetent fools!!!
So, CPW are happy to :
ignore me,
call me a liar,
lose my custom,
make me so mad that I tell everyone I meet not to go to CPW,
not replace my phone so that I go and spend money elsewhere,
pay out for solicitors fees and court costs,
before finally paying me back.
Are they completely thick?
Anyone working there, I pity you, I really do – I don’t think you will have jobs for much longer if the Customer Services Policies dont change soon!
I bought an expensive sony ericsson mobile from CPW in December 2008 and it was for my daughter (xmas present). She only ever kept it in her bedroom and was allowed to text and phone her mates so that she could do so in privacy without taking up the landline. 3 weeks ago it stopped working so we took it to CPW and they sent it for repair. We were then told that it was water damaged, I promise you that my daughter does not have water in her bedroom! They then said that it was probably condensation from being in her pocket. It is on a desk not a pocket was my reply. I asked them for a full refund as they must have damaged it themselves. They then said that I would need to get an independent engineers report to say that it was not water damaged. Then I get a voicemail message to say that it might not be water damaged but could have been dropped. My daughter assures me that it was never dropped so back I went to the store and the manager was so rude. I asked for her name and to speak to the area manager and I was told that area managers do not speak to customers now get out of my store. She started shouting at me when I said that I am not leaving until I speak to someone in authority. She then left to the back of the store and an assistant called the head office for me. They told me to contact Sony Ericsson direct and I tried to explain that my contract is with CPW, not Sony Ericsson so why wouldn’t they help me. They just refused. Then, get this, as I left the store, I was arrested by Police and given a ticket for a public order offence for raising my voice!!! It was the manager shouting at me!! Now I will go to Court to clear my name and then take them to the small claims court to boot. Never ever been treated like this.
arrr i feel sorry for some of u guys, iv been shopping with carphone for the past 4/5 yrs and literally have neva had a problem. go to the one stop store!!!
You all sound very bitter
Take a kit kat, have a break
xx
Hi Susan,
I take it you work for the C’F’ W, as you have sum how managed, to fuck up the well known Kit Kat slogan, “Have a break, have a Kit Kat”
I renewed by contract with CPW in June. New phone developed a fault at the end of August, I could only hear someone on the other line using the loudspeaker, the handset speaker was broken.
The same fault has now happened 3 times in 2.5 months. Yet I keep being told that it can be repaired, they do not seem to understand that whatever they are fixing on the phone is not working as the fault keeps happening. It must be costing them more to repair the thing than it would be to just give me another handset! Apparently they have now changed their policies and phones have to break 4 times before a new one is given.
Here’s a corker. 2 weeks ago I got the new Sony Ericson Satio from CFW on a 2yr contract with Orange. What a mistake! Back to store 6 times with problems, phone changed once and still problems. Now told the Satio has been recalled due to problems. After hours of frustration trying to get CFW to replace my Satio with second choice of Iphone or third choice of Blackberry Storm I have had no satisfaction at all.
Even though I could have an Iphone on an Orange contract because it is different I am told it can’t be done.
Why for goodness sake? it would be a more expensive contract and I would have to pay so much towards the phone – but apparently it can’t be done. After being told by a customer services guy that “I don’t understand” I eventually left the shop.
I am persuing the Supply of Goods and Services Act and hope I may get some satisfaction via that route. This says an item must be replaced by a comparable item – as the Satio is the only phone with a 12 mp camera this is not possible and as the refuse to replace it with one of my other choices the other option is to cancel the contract.
I have kept my cool, been frustrated almost to tears but I am determined that this crap company is not going to get away with this. I just want my contract cancelled now – why should I be tied i for 24months to a phone I didn’t choose and don’t want.
I intend contacting CFW senior management, Watchdog, The Ferret and anybody else I can think of to highlight the outragious policies this company is getting away with.
Will keep you informed
Just thought I’d add, I’ve been a carphone warehouse customer for over 10 years now and have never had a bad experience with them. I have had to put 2 phones in for repair due to faults, I paid my deposit for “loan phone” and within a couple of weeks recieved my phone back working fine and had my deposit refunded within a reasonable time.
Happy customers don’t seem to get so passionate about their experience as unhappy buyers…
Surely we should be getting upset with the manufacturers issuing substandard goods onto the market, then washing their hands of said products, leaving the retailer to pick up the tab.
[...] this comment by a ‘Carphone Warehouse customer’ for instance. The post itself ranks on the first page of [...]
The owner of this site has reported that the “carphone lover” comment above was posted by someone with an internal Carphone Warehouse email address. See http://www.mrdaz.com/carphone-warehouse-employee-lies/
A company attempting to engage in such deception rather than sorting their act out rings alarm bells.
Of course, it could just be a dopey misguided employee who thought he might be thrown a biscuit, so we shouldn’t come down too hard on CFW.
If they are looking in on this perhaps they’ll have a word with the poster and explain how stupid he has been to drag their reputation out of the mud and into the manure in this way.
I WOULD LIKE TO RECCOMEND TO EVERYONE IN THE UK NEVER NEVER Everrr! PURCHASE A PHONE FROM CPW..The bastards have took my money but not gave me the phone stil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! worst company i have ever dealt with!
I’m commenting on the exchange of the satio handset I had from the carphone warehouse in october. I was told by customer services at the CPWH that I am entitled to an exchange because my satio suffered from the symbian software bug. I called my local store & they said yes call in & we’ll exchange the satio for you, no problem. when I got there they proceeded with the exchange as promised. Whilst this was going on I got talking to the shop manager & he told me that Sony Ericsson were charging the cpwh £30.00 a pop for exchanging the handsets. Then the fun really started! I was refused an exchange because my contract was with orange service provider. I told them that orange are not responsible for the phone, only the contract. To cut a very long story short I was refused an exchange & orange spoke to the manager of the cpwh & ordered him to exchange the phone. Oh no way! Any cpwh customers out there on orange & have a faulty satio beware! you wont get the exchange you were hoping for. all other customers not on orange get in there before they blot you all out! I am now in proceedings with the office of fair trading.
News flash for you idiots.
Carphone dont make phones, they are a broker, the 28 day returns policy is as standard across the entire mobile industry.
Carphone do not bill you, they are a broker. Carphone are not the company that take your money every month. Is your payment made to Carphone……no!!!!
Carphone are not paid on commission, try going to p4u with an issue, and seeing how far you get there.
To the guy that claims a laptop deal was set up to his parents address, thats interesting, since carphone use chip and pin id proofs for all contracts now. Meaning that same someone must of had your chip and pin card, and your pin number, and your address. If you’re stupid enough to give that info out to just anyone, you deserve to be robbed, sure and simple.
Interesting someone wouldent return a satio, since mine was able to be returned no problem :S
Wake up people, this company are the biggest retailer in europe for a reason, you might have a bad experiance with them one or twice, and i do admit some members of staff are totally useless, but just look into independant customer satisfaction scores for other mobile retailers and you’ll see carphone arent so bad.
Carphone warehouse do not care about their customers, I have been waiting for an order for two days and all they will do is say, “it’s out for delivery”.
50 minutes on a call and no joy…. it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than get a straight answer.
They have an special department to deal with complaints and all that is set up for is firefighting…. they will never get my business again….
I have had a terrible experience with Carphone Warehouse when I decided to buy the Sony Ericsson W910i. My dad bought this phone as a birthday gift for me, as I was due an update of phones. The phone was good for the first few weeks, but then it started to crash constantly and it got worse and worse. Once the phone had deteriated into a state where I could no longer use the phone we decided to take the phone back to the carphone warehouse for them to fix. I waited a couple of weeks, as I was using a courtesy phone. When the W910i came back to me, and I had to go and collect it, this was my fourth trip to the store. I got the phone and the same day, it crashed again.
This went on for months, as my phone was just not working (which I know was a common problem with the W910i). After over 30 trips back and forth from the shop, we decided to complain about the carphone warehouse promising to fix a phone which they couldn’t.
I understood that maybe the phone was something which could not be fixed, but they did not seem to care that we were paying £35 a month for a phone I could not use. After complaining many times, they said there was nothing they could do, even though in the contract between us they promised to supply me with a working phone that met my needs.
Eventually, we got to the CEO of the Carphone Warehouse. Still, we got no where as nobody working at the Carphone Warehouse seemed to care about the needs of one of there customers. Eventually, I had to drop the contract with the Carphone Warehouse and go elsewhere, I still boycot the shop as it has caused me and my family alot of hassle.
I had two mobile phone contracts fraudulently taken out in my name with Carphone Warehouse 18 months ago.
According to Carphone Warehouse someone walked into Carphone Warehouse in Windsor with 2 forms of ID (one of them photo) and walked out with 2 expensive phones and contracts using an address I used to live at (so was still on my credit reference file).
I reminded the CW investigator who contacted me that I was a customer of Carphone Warehouse about 8 years ago and they let slip that they still had my bank account details for years after I left them!
I persuaded the Police to go to the CW shop in Windsor (I’d have gone myself, but I don’t live near there anymore), and the contracts miraculously turned into “Pay as you Go contracts so we don’t need photo ID”. Well the direct debits being applied to my account told a different story.
Since my account was refunded I was technically not a victim of crime (yeah right). Carphone Warehouse asked the Police to drop the case.
Just noticed the aggressive post from “I dont work for carphone…”
Looks like the guy done for the laptop was probably done in exactly the same way as me – free laptop with a contract maybe? If CW do check chip and pin now, well they didn’t when I got done which wasn’t that long ago, so it’s a bit rich to have a go at someone for losing their card and pin without the full evidence. Be interesting to know if matthew glendon had a contract a looong time ago.
i work for cpw, and have done for two and half years. im going to be leaving in six months to go to university as i have had enough of the company, the attitude and the long difficult days.
i am passionate about customer service and want to study business and public relations at uni. i have always put 100% into my work – i think some comments about cpw staff being useless (etc) is a little rude.
to clear up a few problems that come up regularly and that seem to be coming up time and time again -
- BER handsets – if your phone has come back and is beyond economic repair you will not be covered by the warrenty. water damage can be caused from using your phone in the rain, leaving it in a steamy room – while having a bath or shower etc. CPW technicians are there to repair handsets and only a handful of times will handsets be BER. its nothing personal, but its BER for a reason and they arent going to lie to you for no reason
- the 28 day faulty exchange period is set by the manufacturers and agreed with CPW – yes its poo if u come in on day 30 but its not OUR fault. its agreed by the top dogs, the guys who rake it in, not the people in the store. we are here to help you and while some employees may not have two brain cells to rub together, some of us do and dont like having to tell someone to send off their practically new handset anymore than you like hearing it.
- we do not make the handsets – they are made in bulk by the manufacturer. yes, theres going to be certain handsets that are just plain crap such as the lg cookie (it seems)
a few other bits of info before you storm into your local store – some rather amusing…
- i have been asked why my store does not provide car parking – baring in mind we are on a corner, on a main road and theres a car park opposite that we dont own but is free to use. the woman said it was disgusting and we should build one…dunno where she thought we could do that…middle of the main road, in the shop?
- i have been called an incompetant stupid b*tch because of cpw policies – i dont write them you a*rsehole. im here to pay by way, pay my taxes, have a sodding job!
- i have been told that my ‘mother must be very disappointed in you for working in a shop’ – ?!
- i have been told its my fault that there was no charger in the box sold by a store at the other side of the country and that i should pay for one myself to give the customer.
- i have been told that its my fault that you get declined on a credit check and that i ‘must be doing something wrong’
- my name has been taken about 17659321 times because of other peoples incompetancy – i understand OTHER PEOPLE make mistakes – but its not MY mistake. true to form, the individuals who are dodgy and f*ck up are sacked, and people like me, are still here…
- a customer who screams, shouts and swears at you, whatever the seriousness of whats happened shouldnt be put up with and will be banned from being anywhere near the premises or staff
- cpw staff do not work on commission. i do 46 hours a week, cannot take holidays between mid nov and end of jan. im guarenteed only one day off a year – xmas day. all other days are subject to what the company needs. i earn approx 1300 a month. i train people, im left on my own to run a store alot, im responsible for stock, cash handling, procedures, customer service and problem solving
after two and a half years, i hate this job. honestly. i do think cpw has some really sh*t points. but its also the customers who make my job a hell of alot harder. there isnt one day that goes past where i dont get shouted at, and when i do sort the mess caused, i dont get an apology.
i hope everyones issues are sorted out.
reply to this post if you need any help
To all serving members of the armed forces…………….
Do not buy or get a phone from the carphone warehouse ………………..
They state if we use our phones when our face has sweat on it it causes liquid ingress……… (sweat gets into the phone through the ear piece)
this is total sh1t am now making a test case for court to sue the brain dead morons. Carphone warehouse does not support our troops so why should we support them.
Regards a sweaty squaddie who works his butt off for these morons
Further to above comment:
We the public know carphone warehouse dont make the phones………
But they are the 3rd party who sells them and repairs them…………
Thus making them by consumer law the ones who have to answer to complaints in a court of law
[...] had my problems with Carphone Warehouse in the past, as I mentioned here. I wasn’t expecting so many people however to come forward and post comments about they feel they [...]
HI,
HAS ANYONE OUT THERE HAD A NOKIA N95 8GB THAT THEY GOT FROM CARPHONE WAREHOUSE THAT STOPPED WORKING.
WAS YOU TOLD IT WAS LIQUID INGRESS AND COULDN,T BE REPAIRED ? ?
DID YOU GET A COPY OF A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SAID DAMAGE…………..
IF SO COULD YOU JUST LEAVE A NOTE ON THIS SITE.
WE ARE PREPARING TO TAKE CARPHONE WAREHOUSE TO COURT AND WOULD LIKE AS MANY PHOTOS GIVEN TO YOU BY CARPHONE TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY THAT MIGHT LOOK SUPICIOUSLY SIMILAR………………….
IT WILL BE YOUR CHANCE TO GET EVEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALSO IF YOU HAVE A BAD QUALITY PICTURE GIVEN TO YOU BY THEM FOR ANY OTHER MODEL, THEY STATED THEY COULD NOT REPAIR, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU.
THANKYOU
I recently have got a blackberry contract from Car Phone Warehouse in – London. (28 January, 2010)
Although, it was an upgrade for Orange network and the deal which they offer me was standard for any customer. Sales Assistant offered me a promotional deal package details: Unlimited Landline, 1200 mins and 500 texts and including blackberry features and unlimited internet and £10 cash refund every month.
So, £40 monthly plan which will be £30 after cash back every month from CP W.
Later, I called Orange for inquiring MMS and they informed me that it’s extra feature and will be charged, and for any changes I have to contact CPW and things would have be different if I would have upgraded directly with Orange, however I brought this to their knowledge that I have never been contacted for any upgrade from Orange and that’s why I went to CPW, the reply was surprising that we have many customers so we can’t call everyone for upgrade.
Shortly, the received bill from orange didn’t cover landline neither cash back. On inquiry, Orange informed me, somehow it’s not covering me for the rest of the plan and it’s not applied properly by CPW.
I was understandably outraged and immediately went to the store and faced a few rude and confrontational people at CPW, who never want to own any liability or perform after sales service. They told me we are too busy in new sales and after a long wait they informed me that we can’t do anything about your contract this led to arguments and when later they confirmed with Orange they found out I was right and there are no landlines or£10 cash back applied. So then they rectified their £10 cash credit as a Big favour to me but did nothing about the unlimited landline, and as I was in desperate need of landline I have to pay extra £5 for upgrade. I literally felt lonely and helpless in this situation.
In this whole scenario I was not approached by any Manager or senior member of staff. When it comes to sales everyone is ready to serve but when it comes to care it’s a waste of time and miss on new sales. I believe it can be a human error but they can be sorted out with good customer service and sorting out the solutions. The way the handled it was really unprofessional.
All I wanted was to give me the package we agreed or cancel my contract as I fall within the time frame of 14 days as they had posters everywhere advertising their 14 day money back guarantee. And they didn’t do it.
I am very stress as I am not happy with the contract and don’t want to feel unhappy for 24 months, I want my package for £30 a month or cancel my contract. I would like the relevant staff members to look into the matter and resolve it as I have wasted my time (Sunday), effort and money for such a waste.
Hi my complaint is slightly different, I took out a new contract through carphone warehouse last week and was thrilled with my brand new handset (a blackberry storm) last night whilst looking at my pictures on the handset I have found pictures of employees in carphone warehouse in “amusing” poses and video taken on the phone whilst it was being looked at by another customer both dated last september (2009) obviously this is a second hand handset and not the new one I thought I had recieved. i will be taking the phone back this afternoon and will not expecting a very very good explanation for this.
O.M G ALEEYSSA !
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
WE WERE TOLD BY CPW, THAT “WITHOUT A DOUBT
THAT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD A CUSTOMER EVER BE GIVEN A PHONE THAT MIGHT OF BEEN OUT OF ITS BOX ! YOUR POST HAS BLOWN THEIR CLAIMS OUT OF THE WATER…….
WE ARE JUST FINISHING OFF ALL THE PAPERWORK AND EVIDENCE WE HAVE COLLECTED TO TAKE CPW TO COURT, AND THIS WAS ANOTHER BIG THING THEY DENIED.
THANK YOU, I HOPE YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK AND NEVER SHOP THERE AGAIN !
THE COMPANY IS GOING DOWN BIG TIME…………
Had a Jawbone Bluetooth which has gone faulty within 12 months. Took it back with receipts and was told as it was older than 28days the guarantee was not CPW responsibilty it was Jawbones! Left it on there counter, to which they replied that was where it would stay. Thank you CPW.
Hi All,
I’m doing a arts project on deception. CPW and other phone companies markering campaigns are where I’m focusing my project.
I’m interested in what people thing of the offers they have in store to get you to buy/sign up to a contact i.e. FREE PS3 Slim FREE PHONE with a 24 month contract at £25 a month.
In total costing £600 over 24 months
A PS3 normally costs you £209.99
This leave would £391.01 for your phone bill about £16 a month which seams to be the value of the tarrifs that comes with the phone.
So it just me or does it seam like your actually paying for the PS3 just a little every month?
I’m only starting this project but I think CPW and other should clearly state how much your contract costs you in total.
Its like saying free PS3 with this phone just £1.24 a day!!
Thoughts? Do you think they are being deceptive? especially to teenagers and 20 year olds, the people they are clearly targeting with iPods and PS3s
Thank you. all thoughts will be helpful
My Little CPW Story
I haven’t had a good experience with CPW either. I bought an accessory in the store and while at the cash desk I noticed there was a memory card behind the desk that I wanted. The first accessory, a charger was part of a “buy one get one half price” as was the memory card. When I asked the sales rep if I could also get the memory card he said the payment had gone through for the charger and there was nothing he could do as the do not give refunds or exchanges?(because the computer wouldn’t allow him) Neither of which I actually wanted to do… After trying to reason with him and the manager I said I wasn’t going to leave the store until my complaint was dealt with properly. Eventually the manager came over again after I waited for 10mins, holding up the queue, typed in some code and processed the transaction so that I received the charger and the memory card(1/2 price). Little victory but a victory none the less
The point is I knew they could do it if they wanted but the sales rep was just following “the script”. I say give the Sales Reps more power to help costumers. They are the face of your company and if they seam incompetent its because CPW don’t give them enough power. Trust your staff!
Thanks,
J
i took my mobile into cpw for repair and paid £48.84 deposit on a stand by phone.in cash.
when i went back to pick my phone up they said they had no money in the tills to pay me my deposit back.(yet on of the staff was counting what looked like thousands of pounds)i called back later that day and still no cash.i don’t have time to go back so i sent an e-mail asking if i could return the standby phone by post and they said no i must take it back to the store.they don’t give a shit about there customers.