Complaining to the Phones4U CEO Tim Whiting

Hi I enquired about the Phones4u CEO +heres why
My granddaughter purchased a phone from the above a Samsung D800 at the grand cost of £165 after 4months it has now broken down [white blank screen] So off we go to the shop to see about a repair assistant scans the IMEI code off the phone to get our details + LO + behold up comes some one elses info I said thats not our name +address she says it is your phone number no says I It isnt so off she goes for the manager [jolly chap]
I ask has some one else owned this phone +returned it oh no says he we send all returned phones to a dealers to strip for parts [how come they sell clearance phones]
So we voice our opinion about this phone very nicely [well once I,d sent my husband out of the shop] +as I had seen this other persons name +address I said I would write +ask him if he had returned a phone to phones4u faulty WOW I was then quoted the data protection act but Isaid
that applies to you I was then told if I did This I could be sued for big bucks
not if I find out theyve sold a duff phone said I

So then I am told it probably got mixed up in the store when the customer was looking at them that would be feasable only we live hundreds of miles from the other person so I dont see how that could be the explanation
so I am now writing to Mr Tim Whiting then I will write to the other person whose details are logged as the owner of this phone
Any one got any other Ideas
Cheers for reading my rant

Dear me Annette, I hope that the CEO can sort out the issue right-away 😐

Thanks a lot Ewan so do we Cheers for all your help

Results phone exchanged [not sure its a new one back of case a bit scratched ] but its working bit annoyed it was sent wrapped in poly with elastic band round no box or anything else suppose its a reconditioned which is a bit much when you pay for a new one but like everything else
you give up + think enough is enough ,, theyll say its new end of story
cheers for your help
regards Annette

my bad experience with phones 4 u;
DISGRACEFUL TREATMENT BY PHONES 4 U. DONT CHOOSE PHONES 4U.
YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH THEM>> 4 EVER

my phone broke down, I could not recieve and make calls. my phone is still under 12 months warranty /pay monthly contract. I went to phones4u high wycombe branch. extremely unhelpfull staff. then they told me they can not help me. Eventually after an hour of converastion they agreed to take my phone to be sent to their reapir centre. guess what!!! they told me it might take upto 3 weeks. then I phoned the phones 4u repair centre: 08701 611 005 . I discovered that they recorded my address wrongly.. so I had to wait further untill my address was corrected. then I spoke to Ms NIcola from the same repair centre. She was as cold as ICE on the phone. And She refused to help me. and She said that she will hold the phone unless I pay 17 pounds.. for what??? Black mail!! she said she will not return my phone unless repair payment is made. How come when a phone is still under warranty?? phones 4u reapir centre also claim that it is a ‘cosmetic damage’ when it actually says on the repair form that ‘can’t receive and make calls and spring inside is loose’
although it is phones4u responsibility they aske me to contact sony ericson.. false information..
phones4u refused to help me.. watch out. Poor customer services.. and be carefull NOT TO GET PHONES Insurance with phones 4 u. You have to pay 50 pounds excess fee for each repair.. this was not explained to me at the store. So I had to pay 90 pounds insurance for nothing…

my recommendation..: dont choose phones4u.. better to deal with the man in the bazaar you will be better off or.
Not only I am left without phone.. but I hate put up with their poor customer services,,
the choice is yours.. you will be better off buying a phone in e bay or in the moon or mars..
DECISION IS YOURS BUT I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND PHONES 4U. YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH THEM 4EVER!!!

I was so annoyed by phones 4 u service I had a rant in my blog.
http://uk.360.yahoo.com/richard7485

To be fair….

I am a phones4u store manager…. There are many things wrong with phones4u….However…..

I have read the above comments….

There are two sides to every story…

Firstly…. let me explain a uk mobile phone policy….

If any mobile phone goes wrong… ie. it is not your fault, so, that means you have not dropped the phone. or the phone has no liquid contamination etc… The phone is to be exchanged, ONLY within the first 14 days of purchase.

however… Phones4u extend this policy to 28days…. (which is very honourable, seeing as phones4u do not make the phone, they simply sell the phone on behalf of the huge manufacturers….)

Now, if outside this 28 days… The phone must go away for a repair….

If this phone is faulty ie it is not your fault it is not working… The phone will be repaired free of charge and returned to the house of the customer within 14 working days…. decent service….

however… If no fault is found… the customer is charged £17.50 in courier charges… just to receive the phone back unrepaired…. The phone will not be relaesed til this fee is paid…. Fair….hmmmm…. debateble….

Almost evey insurance comapany in the world has an excess fee. Phones4u deal with a company called Policy Administration Services…. (PAS). Pas do charge £50 for every cliam made, which is simply the excess fee. Now, if you have a phone like the Nokia N95, Nokia 8600, this insurance is well worth it. As the sim free value is in the region of £599. So, £50, or £599, well worth having the insurance.

Bare in mind, this is a market leading product… ie it covers up to £10,000 worth of un authorised calls… An additional electrical item, up to £300… And it also covers the protection of your contact numbers….
Also, bare in mind, over 90% of claims are acepted, compared to the mobile phone insurance average of 64% of claims.
It also covers loss, where most policies do not.
ALso, the reason, why the excess is £50. Is simply, to reduce the amount of fraudulant claims. Which it certainly does effectively….

Consumers, should bare in mind more…. that the real reason there phone is not working…. Isnt actually the place you bought it from…..

It isnt the networks….. Its actually the manufacturer… eg nokia, sony etc… If they made the phone correctly in the beginning…. you would never have the problem in the beginning….. they make in mass quantity…. with cheap labour too…..

Thats why phones go wrong….. MASS Quantitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
poor quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not phones4u’s fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Complain to Nokia…..Sony etc……

When you buy a car from an independant dealership…. Be it brand new or used…. If it goes wrong after a few months……. The dalership will not exchange the car….. BMW etc made it….. Same as your phone……

Any questions… Feel free to give me a shout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nightprestige@aol.com

I would be happy to help….

All the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@ Bee: The source of the original fault is irrelevant. In law the retailer is responsible for providing the product that is fit for purpose and customers expect retailers to act like that.

To be pedantic – it is P4U’s fault for choosing to sell a phone without taking steps to confirm it is not faulty. In practice, I agree, that’s nigh-on impossible and certainly not within the control of shop staff, but that’s where any personal aggravation you feel has to be shelved and you have to represent your firm.

A rather disingenuous reply from the ‘manager’ above.

If I buy a phone from a store, I have a contract with that store. They have taken my money, and also the obligations under the sale of goods act. If they have a problem with a manufacturer its up to the store to complain to Nokia, Motorola etc. Thats who the store has a contract with! The reason may not be the store.. but that’s where the responsibility lies

If you are knowing selling phones which you believe will fail due to quality issues then you are clearly breaking the law by selling goods that are not of ‘merchantable quality’ and clearly not fit for purpose.
I am surprised by your admission of knowingly selling products that you know to be faulty, and assume you are therefore taking on the liability for these products, over and above the company standard return period.

The customer shouldn’t have to pay any excess in this case as any costs should be dealt with by the store. If the customer chooses to deal with the manufacturer that’s ok, but it is a choice to be made by the customer.

Excesses on insurance policies are also ok, However these need to be clearly explained when the policy is taken out. If a customer is ‘surprised’ by a £50 excess then it sounds like the policy was miss-sold.

Daughter got a lg100 chocolate on their buy back scheme, this phone broke down and was sent back on th 18 july 07, never received it back, city link lost the phone and told us we had signed for it (wrong) no one would accept responsibility for this. Eventuially after loads of phone calls I was told that they would send out a phone to us, they sent one out and it was rubbish so I sent it back they said they would send out another one no joy so far. Rang them today 24 oct 07 and offered them a resolution. said they would get back to me by close of business today, guess what now 18.30 and still no joy 3 months on and they just dont care. Should have known that any company who advertise with weird mad people should be trouble. Going to try Tim Whiting next then watchdog

Hi
After my last post I tried emailing Mr Whiting. tim.whiting at phones4u.co.uk guess what it actually worked. The very next morning I received a call from Chris Barker who is apparently quite high up in the organisation. he assured me that a phone would be sent out and that it could take up to 10 working days. Waited 10 days and no phone so contacted them again. Mr Barker apologised profusely and told me that he was having trouble with the royal mail something about a despatch number but would sort it out and the phone requested would be sent asap. Got a phone call half hour later telling me I could not have the phone we agreed on and he offered me 2 other choices (both rubbish) I went absolutely ballistic. I am a happy go lucky bloke with a very long fuse but he got everything, I told him that my daughter and I had been repeatedly fobbed off, lied to and that p4u had been taking the piss for the last 5 months very loudly and at great length. He asked if he could call me back. He rang me back 20 mins later and has now promised me a Nokia N95 brand new top of the range, apparently it will be here monday. I am unfortunately away on holiday but my daughter will be here. Wait and see the next exciting instalment. Dont forget tim.whiting at phones4u.co.uk

Guess what still no phone have contacted watchdog

wow, i hear it all the time
“god act this good act that”

at the end of the day customers sign terms and conditions without reading them, once you put pen to paper its legally binding so all those “im not paying that fee im going to trading standards” claims will go straight out the door

if your unsure of anything…read everything and IF (only if) something comes back which is NOT in any disclaimer or terms and condition forms…then goto trading standards and they might do something other than laugh at you

Lolpasta

Any contracted terms and conditions are subject to the law. Which supercedes the contract. If your Terms and conditions, for example are in breach of the ‘sale of goods act’ then they aren’t legally binding!

Now i’m sure that many of the complaints you get aren’t cases of mis-selling, fraud, or unfair termc and conditions… but some of them could be.

I am shocked and disappointed by your interpretation of what a contract actually is! and the contempt with which you treat customers.

Ok me again, forgot to write the end of my story. Middle of november came and so did the phone. A brand sparkly new Nokia N95 fully loaded with all the bells and whistles, also received a goodwill cheque for daughter. So all resolved now.
LOLpasta sorry but you are wrong, any company supplying goods or services are bound by the trading laws. Part of this is that the item bought must be fit for purpose. True you cannot just not pay, you have to go through the hoops, if you are paying for a service you are not getting you can arrange to suspend payment with the company.until that service is returned.
Not really sure where you are coming from with your blog, it seems a little disjointed

phones4u arnt responsable for your contract, your sim is left with you when you send your phone off for repair so its upto the customer to find alternative ways of using that service. Phones4u only offer ways of compensating that as a GOGW if some fault has been down to themselves…they dont have to, but do it as a “sorry we balls’d up”

terms and conditions when you send your phone off for repair are all correct, theres nothing faulty within those terms and conditions for phones4u.

my rant on terms and conditions dont apply to others, just phones4u’s t + c’s
the only problem with phones4u is mis information via the stores, the call centers are pretty spot on in most circumstances because they dont deal with customers face to face. stores will say anything to get rid of you.

in regards to terms and conditions subject to law, yes i agree, but like i stated above (which i should of been a litle clear on) theres nothing dodgy at all with phones4u’s repair t + c’s

Phones4u operate under a trading standards policy and 99 times out of 100 customers have cases thrown back at them because they didnt read what they signed and the faults were covered and stated under the terms and conditions in regards to their account

Neil Sharples, yes you are correct about goods must be fit for purpose, thats why there is exchange policy with phones4u regarding this

less than 14 days old : non like for like exhange
over 14 days and under 28 days: like for like exchange
over 28 days, phone must be repaired, if its a manufacturer fault it will be repaired under the warranty.
physical damage or liquid damage (i.e not caused by the manufacturer) it will cost you because it is the fault of your own

I am writing regarding the above numbered mobile phone, provided by 3 network, which I purchased for business purposes on, 28th February 2008 from Phones 4 u store in Southport. As I have been unable to use this phone, due to your lack network coverage, I have been attempting to terminate my contract with 3 but have been unsuccessful in my endeavours due to the lack of customer service I am receiving.

From the very start the network coverage was poor, however I persevered as I thought that the situation may improve. I gave it a week to see if there was any improvement, which there was not. Therefore on Saturday 08th March 2008 I returned to the store to voice my concerns and they gave the phone what they termed “a boost” and said that this should rectify the problem. Again I gave it a few days to see if the situation would improve, which it didn’t. Since then I have been in a constant game of bat and ball with the 3 customer service team and Phones 4 u, each passing the blame from one to another. 3 stated that they could not terminate the contract at their end and that Phones 4 U must do this. However Phone 4 U cannot terminate the contract due to a recent change in 3’s Terms and Conditions. Phones 4 U have assured me that they are happy to terminate the contract and agree completely with me, all they need is an email from 3 to say that this can be done, 3 won’t do this.

On Saturday 15th March I was again trying to rectify this awful situation and eventually resorted to going directly to the store again to see the manager Anthony Burroughs, who has been extremely understanding and helpful. I then contacted 3 customer services again, speaking to Annita, and Anthony and Annita engaged in direct conversation with regards the termination of my contract, Anthony explained to Annita why he could not do what she was telling him was the correct procedure to follow at which point Annita was unsure of what to do and informed us that she must seek further advise and promised a call back first thing Monday 17th March 2008.

Monday 17th March 2008 (when I was actually on a family holiday) came and almost went with no call from Annita or any other 3 representative, at 6:00pm I eventually called them and spent almost 2 hours on the phone, constantly losing the connection and unable to hear due to signal strength, and still got no further. The gentleman I spoke to last guaranteed me a call back the following day in order to resolve the situation, which I did not receive. Due to the fact that I was on holiday I left the issue until my return home on Saturday 22nd March 2008 when I again contacted 3 Customer Services and spoken to Reema Kanuga. Reema informed me the same as every other representative that 3 can’t terminate, Phones 4 u must do it. I explained again that they say they can’t do it (by now I am reaching the point of desperation) so I insisted that Reema phoned the store directly and speaks to Anthony Burroughs, which she did whilst I remained on hold. After an age on hold listening to the fantastic music Reema returned, only to tell me that she couldn’t do anything due to the fact that the department she needed to talk to where not working and would not be working until Monday, at which point I enlightened her to the fact that it is a bank holiday here in England on Monday, she then assured me that she will speak to the relevant department on Tuesday 25th March 2008 and call me with a solution to this abominable situation. I was very pleased to receive a call from Reema as promised on Sunday 23rd arch 2008, unfortunately though she had no solution. I was informed that my only options where, (a) I could try to find another person to take over my contract.
Although this is not an ideal situation I would have been prepared to transfer it into my wife’s name as her contract is due to end in August 2008, but Reema then informed me that I will not be able to port my number to another network. This proves to be a huge problem as we have had this number for years and run our business through this number, hence it is on ALL of our company vans, work wear, stationary etc and it also known to our existing customer base.

(b) I could terminate my contract now and they will provided
the PAK number to enable the mobile phone number to be ported, however I will have to pay £260 which they call an early termination fee!!!

I told Reema that these options where totally unacceptable and insisted that I speak with her supervisor. Vineet Yadav then came onto the phone and informed me that he had worked for 3 for four and a half years and has never known of an occasion where 3 has agreed to terminate any customers contract, he suggested that I take the matter up with Phones 4 U. I informed Vineet that Phones 4 U have said they are unable to terminate my contract without permission from 3. Vineet has said that he is more than happy to add notes to my file stating that, “3 customer contact centre is absolutely fine to cancel this contract” and that if Phones 4 U call the 3 customer contact centre any person will read this to Phones 4 U.

So again I’m being passed from pillar to post and no body seems to have any interest in customer satisfaction. I am at my wits end with the whole situation which is causing me no end of stress both in my work and home life. I signed up with the 3 network as I believed that they were a reputable company who had their customers best interest at heart, however I have been very wrong.

I am absolutely disgusted with the service that 3 and Phones 4 U are providing to their customers and I do not have the time to pursue this matter on a daily basis due to my business and family commitments. I need this problem resolved as a matter of urgency as I rely on my mobile phone as a source of communication for my customers, and I am missing out on valuable business opportunities.

I look forward to hearing your views on this matter at your earliest convenience and hopefully the situation can be resolved.

Yours faithfully

Kevin Fessey

Well done, Kevin.

Have you thought of getting your experiences into a blog?
It could only help gather attention…

Good luck!

HeavyLight’s last blog post..Whatleydude’s N95 saga: VF comes out shining!

Hi Kevin,
definatly understand the difficulty your having.
I work at Phones4u but unfortunatly i am dedicated MPRC (repairs). i do know with %100 confidence that this should of been sorted via phones4u and the agent you spoke too the first time around.
The agent should of given 3’s number a call and spoken on behalf of yourself for confirmation to terminate your account whilst you were placed on hold (so your there if any infomation or questions need to be asked instead of prommising call backs). If they needed email confirmation they should of still given 3 a call and got them to send this email at that very moment…there is no excuse for not doing this.

3 have proven to be very difficult to work with, even the repairs need to be booked through ourselves but 3 take over and collect that handset from the customer…so technically all we do is notify 3 that a customer has a fault…and wants a repair.

Why can’t 3 tell customers to call them straight away instead of going through phones4u? i dont honestly know…its more trouble than its worth.

Its Tim Whiting, CEO, Phones 4U. No email address that i can find on the internet – no surprise there, none of them do if they have any sense.

However, i did just have a look on http://www.complaintcommunity.com and they do seem to have phones 4 u as a listed complaint organisation
– means they have got the contact details for phones 4 u.

The site lets you post your complaint and then submits it to the company behind the scenes – then (the good bit) the company can manage your complaint with you online using the system. Its a new site but its pretty cool! It also seems a professional site, not the usual ranting site.

I have used it already and it seemed to be pretty good (I am part of a groupcomplaint with the NIA exhibition centre – pretty cool, you can join with others with the same complaint).

If i find any more info on the email address, i will let you know.

Its Tim Whiting, CEO, Phones 4U. No email address that i can find on the internet – no surprise there, none of them do if they have any sense.

However, i did just have a look on http://www.complaintcommunity.com and they do seem to have phones 4 u as a listed complaint organisation
– means they have got the contact details for phones 4 u.

The site lets you post your complaint and then submits it to the company behind the scenes – then (the good bit) the company can manage your complaint with you online using the system. Its a new site but its pretty cool! It also seems a professional site, not the usual ranting site.

I have used it already and it seemed to be pretty good (I am part of a groupcomplaint with the NIA exhibition centre – pretty cool, you can join with others with the same complaint).

If i find any more info on the email address, i will let you know.

Its Tim Whiting, CEO, Phones 4U. No email address that i can find on the internet – no surprise there, none of them do if they have any sense.

However, i did just have a look on http://www.complaintcommunity.com and they do seem to have phones 4 u as a listed complaint organisation
– means they have got the contact details for phones 4 u.

The site lets you post your complaint and then submits it to the company behind the scenes – then (the good bit) the company can manage your complaint with you online using the system. Its a new site but its pretty cool! It also seems a professional site, not the usual ranting site.

I have used it already and it seemed to be pretty good (I am part of a groupcomplaint with the NIA exhibition centre – pretty cool, you can join with others with the same complaint).

If i find any more info on the email address, i will let you know.

urgent for the atention of the mian boss , regarding lymes disease, have u checked out bob beck and colidal silver and his electric pulsar, and high dose vit c intro, you might be happy to find that its works for a lot of socalled incurable disease,, good luck,