Well, I am glad to report that sanity eventually returned. Had a call from CPW customer service after making a complaint. They admitted that they messed up and refunded our money. No compensation for all the wasted time and aggrevation, though.

I have contacted the bank and told CPW that I did not want the deal, but in both cases it will take some time to get the refund. With CPW they were not able to say exactly how long - if it was up to them probably never. Have to wonder how many people they catch out with this trick just because the client did not check their account! I also reported it to Trading Standards and Advertising Standards, but I don't think this company even cares if they get bad publicity.

Both my wife and I took an online flash deal (limited time) on 2 smart phone upgrades on O2 but through The Carphone Warehouse, for £17/month each with no upfront cost. When phones arrived on Friday, they charged us each £99 upfront (taken from our accounts). When asked, they said we were "not awarded" the deal even though we entered into the agreement within their timescale. They were happy though to "award" us a higher cost deal and take money that we have not agreed to. At no point did they made it clear to us that they were changing the agreement. Nor did