Comments on: Carphone Warehouse Complaints

By: tom cobley

tom cobley — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:15:50 +0000

Just been told by CPW that my dell streak that no longer works, has water damage, this is a blatant lie, and i now have a £400 phone that is useless, any suggestions as what to do would be very helpful….

By: mr anthony dobson

mr anthony dobson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:00:53 +0000

i was in the car phone warhouse in newcastle under lyme i went in to renew 3 contracts and three men was dossing there doing sod all i went to them i never seen so many ignorant people i asked and they were not bothered i am now thinking of going phones for you they are cheerfull helpfull and friendly not like them tossers they want dismissing put them on dole idle so and so,s i bet sod all happens if this is not sorted out i will put it on all the sites i use and show what idol idiots they are well i dont think i will give the phone warehouse any more buissiness and i think if any body else feels this way do as i am and get rid of the crap service

By: Dr ACB

Dr ACB — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:52:21 +0000

On the 14th Feb 2011, the sales team of the Carphone Warehouse initiated a call to me , and when I had confirmed my details , started discussing my contact . The agent suggested that I was due an upgrade , but as I was happy with my old phone , he reviewed the tariff , and suggested that if I were to renew this plan for 24 months I would be eligible for a £ 420 cash back . Now this seemed like a good deal , and I agreed to continue with the tariff , and not upgrade the phone . A lot of sales talk went in to how I could buy a “pay as you go “ phone with the £ 420 , and use it as a second phone . I have no need for another phone , but the prospect of £ 420 to do what I was already doing , seemed to make sense in today’s economic climate. I was assured that this cheque was “auctioned” at this point .
The next morning I was surprised to find a registered parcel delivered , from Carphone Warehouse , containing a new SIM card , and an invoice from the firm , detailing the “GSM upgrade” , and confirming the tariff . The SIM card was put in the phone , and over the next few days was repeatedly tried but the notice “SIM card registration failed” kept recurring . The old SIM card functioned as normal , but I was reassured by the fact that £ 420 was on my way .

By the 1st of March no cheque had been delivered , and the SIM card still failed to register . So I telephoned the Carphone Warehouse no. on the invoice , 0841 5223401 . To my consternation , the BT message was repeated “number not recognised”.

So to summarise (1) I had a SIM card which did not work (2) the promised cheque for £ 420 did not arrive (3) the number on the invoice was “not recognised” . Score – 0 out of 10 so far .

I went on to the Carphone Warehose help line and after 5 or 6 wrong directions in their automated system and about 45 mins got in contact with a representative , who then told me he could not deal with it as it not his responsibility , nor had he “enough experience” . I re iterated my case several times and he then went off “to consult his manager” . When he returned he told me that he “was escalating the complaint” , and that Carphone Warehouse , though their name was on the invoice , did not deal with such matter , that another company “One Stop Phone Shop” did , and they would deal with it . He gave me the number and I pointed out that he was actually devolving the responsibility , but he reiterated the fact that he was “escalating the complaint” . Try as I would he refused to deal with the matter , even when I pointed out that , from my perspective , that I had been “sold something” on a false promise . He connected me to a number for this firm , and amazingly the operator said the no. was no longer available and gave another .

So this time an operator (1) who did not deal with the matter (2) told me he was “escalating the matter” – though devolving it (3) gave me , and connected me to a no. which was no longer available . Score on this section – 0 out of 10

Eventually I got through to a very nice young lady , in the “One Stop Phone Shop” ,who scored 10 out of 10 for helpfulness . She explained that after I had got my new SIM card it would have been 14 days after it was registered , before I would have been eligible for the cheque , which would take up to 28 days to be paid , as the bank is Portuguese . I explained about the faulty SIM card , and she was apologetic and suggested I use my old SIM card and forget the new one . It also appeared that the “salesman” had not auctioned the cheque payment , which she then did . So it’s 28 days plus 14 before my “great deal” might come to pass . I say might as with this shambles of an organisation , anything is possible . Customers are treated very poorly .
So in this sector (1) original deal and check not auctioned (2) disregard the SIM they had sent by registered delivery (3) another 28 days before I might see a cheque Score of 3 out of 10 (only because of the young lady’s efforts otherwise it would have been another 0 out of 10 .

Total score 3 out of 30 – a completely useless business model , which fails it’s customers .

By: mrs siw

mrs siw — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:58:13 +0000

I have just fallen prey to the CPW one liner Water Ingress. My phone is a Nokia N97 mini which was the third replacement phone i had supplied as the previous 2 had only lasted days & weeks. This phone was swapped on 8th Dec 2009. It had been fine then in November 2010 my phone decided to display a blank screen so as its touch type was not operable. I took into the CPW on 5th November. It took 6 weeks for the report to be returned to tell me that the phone had moisture damage and that it was beyond economical repair, i quoted that Nokia gave a 2 year warranty but they said it wouldnt be covered. I am in a £30 monthly contract which i was paying for and getting no use of a phone so i had no other option but to buy another handset. Luckily i had a bank account which offered me phone insurance so having taken CPW word for it i submitted a claim believing the handset couldnt be fixed. 3 weeks later i recieve my original handset back after paying £30 excess and fixed. I have been on the phone to CPW trying to work out if there repair centre couldnt fix the phone then how can my own insurance company, and why has it resulted in me the customer paying needless excess on the policy???? Can anyone help with the process of pursuing a complaint agains CPW as they are being no help at all?

By: Ian P

Ian P — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:30:25 +0000

Same story here – 9 week old DHD suffers odd problems, took it to CPW, wasn’t told it had to back to HTC for inspection. Weeks later get a call, “water damage – no warranty – £170 needed”.

Can’t be right, its a brand new smartphone that I have lovingly cherished? CPW just don’t move so I contact Barclays legal and find its as much for CPW to prove I did something, and as much for CPW to prove they didn’t mishandle the phone as I most certainly didn’t. As I also have Barclays Mobile Phone Insurance which I am damn well not using I am hoping that someone sees I am being honest.

One thing to take from this: NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM CPW

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:53:02 +0000

I didn’t even get to have a phone in my hand before CPW tried fleecing me.

I spent a day before Xmas researching all the various smart phone offers on as many retailers websites as possible, plotting them on an excel spreadsheet so I could pick the best deal. I chose the new Nexus through CPW on O2 at £30/mth for 18mths with the phone free under this package. I completed the order online and received an email confirmation of my order, you’d think I’d be good to go.

2 days later I get an email telling me that after a credit check the network requested a deposit of £150 refundable within 12 mnths. Having been out of work for 8mnths last year I accepted this condition and called up customer support as requested to make arrangements for the deposit to be charged to my bank account. That was when things started to go odd…

‘How did I want to pay the £199 for the phone’ I was asked. When I pointed out that my order included a free phone I was told that this wasn’t possible as I wanted the 18mth option and that wasn’t with a free phone. I referred him to my order and the email confirmation I had. His resposne was to tell me that it was impossible for me to have made the order and that I had to pay or cancel the order. Of course I argued about my rights but was repeatedly told that it was not possible for me to have placed the order legitimately. Three times I was told I must be lying.

I made a complaint and the response was, ‘sorry you’ve had problems, we love our customers why not just pay for the phone’.

I decided to swallow my pride and order a different phone from them thinking my experience was some strange abberation (before I found this site!). This time I went for the Samsung S on a 24 mth deal again with O2. I received the expected email saying I would need to pay a deposit of £xx. I called and went through the steps of agreeing to pay the deposit and was told I’d have it tomorrow. Thank God I thought, finally all sorted.

Then just as I was ready to say thanks and goodbye I was told ‘Sorry Sir, an internal message has been flagged on my system and we cannot provide you with this phone or service. Your order has been cancelled and no money has been taken. There is nothing I can do about this Sir, thank you and good bye’. Talk about being dumbstruck!

I’ve emailed and called Customer Service numerous times but not once has anyone addressed my complaints merits. All they say is sorry you’ve had a poor experience, we really value your feedback and we do love our customers. Clearly toeing a pathetic company line of placation without substance.

Hopeless company with no integrity or decency.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:50:24 +0000

Would I be able to go into a shop even though I took my contract out online via e2save? It would be a big inconvenience for me to have to go all the way to the nearest shop but the way things are going I would consider it if I thought it would do any good.

By: joah harper

joah harper — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:14:45 +0000

i recently bought an LG Optimus GT540 from CPW and within two days of having it the LCD screen broke. i was fully aware of the 14 day return policy and went into my local CPW in Bury St Edmunds to see if it could be replaced, however the manager there told me that i was i liar and that i had caused the damage myself. he told me that i had put ‘exessive pressure ‘ on the screen. i told him that that was a stupid exclaimatiion to make as why would i purposly damage a brand new phone which i loved. they charged me £60 to fix the phone which could take 2 weeks to repair. i think what shocked me the most was the way that the manager of the store handled the situation calling me a liar like a child in front of several customers. i will definatly pursue this matter furhter and will contact CPW head offfice and anyone else i need to get this issue resovled truely dssapointed with the managers poor customer service what a complete a**hole

By: Anna Kay

Anna Kay — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:14:34 +0000

I have an LG Optimus 8 weeks old, started crashing constantly, asked for a replacement from the rudest manager I have met in my life. Was told no a repair, well 3 weeks late low and behold its unrepairable and being offered a refurb, which is completely unexeptable. why replace a phone with another phone which has already had a fault and probably never been fixed properly by a bunch of complete cowboys – it like your buying off the back of a lorry – its so bloody seedy. I am refusing a refurb after all 8 weeks ago I got a new phone, which was not my fault it broke. I could scream. I will never buy from CFW again and want to cancel my home phone and broadband as they are useless F**Kers.

By: neil

neil — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:18:05 +0000

Carephone Warehouse are a complete bunch of jokers.
My parents just moved into a new house and planned to keep BT and my father cancelled Carephone Warehouse or so he thought whom the previous owner had.
When he rang them up they said no problem sir and there will be no charge. A month later he got a bill from Car Phone Warehouse for a service he was not using and had cancelled. So he rang them up and after a hour of being passed around from UK to India he finally got through to somone who tried to sell him the product and obviously did not listen to what he saying that he wanted it to be cancelled and the fact that the previous owners family had not cancelled the contract he was not willing to pay for someone elses bill. Two week later he got a letter from their debt department saying that he had to foot the bill. Again he rang them up and basically after threatining legal action against Car Phone and to contact the press they backed off or so he thought. A week passed the local rep turned up and tried to sell him Car Phone Warehouse and when my father said he had issues with the Call centre the rep actually had the cheek to say we do not have a call centre. After been told a few blunt truths which the rep took offence to he walked off grumbling. Then 2 months later guess what another female rep turned up at the door and tried the same stunt, but was politely told to get lost.
Obviously these people have a issue with the basic english language and fail to realise when a customer says no he means no and use pressure sales techniques and as both my parents are retired the last thing they want are idiots turning up and phoning up who have a issue understanding basic english obviously this is probably the only company that would hire such people