Phones4u

[meandbex]

pleaase find below the issues we have had with phones4u and a copy of a complaint, to be told that thers no evidence of mis-selling.

 

felt compelled to email you this afternoon in light of the appalling and shocking service we have received by phones4u both from a head office side and retail side. I am quite dismayed to see such tactics of lying happening and after another visit to your store today, we were advised by the store manager Matt, that customer services have complained to you about me and my partner and that we were abusive. This is absolutely untrue given the situation that I am a Store Manager for Somerfield.

I note of interest that all phone calls are recorded and would suggest that you listen to the calls. Not once had I swore or become threating or aggressive towards any member of staff either in the store or anyone at head office. This is my eyes is defamation of character and as such, will if necessary undertake legal action and give permission for a third party to obtain these phone call logs in order to prove the dishonesty within certain areas of your business. However lets move onto the nature of my complaint and reasoning for wanting to cancel the contract

Rebecca Timms has a O2 and a Vodaphone contract. I wanted a blackberry and Kym the sales girl at Walsall store said she would sort this out. But, o2 would only let us start one contract up and vodaphone wouldn’t let us do another. Kym said that as Rebeccas old account ended in January we could upgrade the old o2 contract to a blackberry phone in 8 weeks time. She said that the vodaphone contract would get paid up and would give us £105. Rebcecca would then keep the new contract. We asked what if we changed our minds. Kim replied well you have 14 days to cancel the contract which doesn’t include weekend days. We then said oh that’s good because we are on holiday. She again said, that’s fine like I say it doesn’t include weekend days so you can come in any other time. On top of this she stated the phone (5800) had to be picked up from Sutton Coldfield and we hung around for about 45 minutes. We were kind of happy until I got home-the phone was not new as it had pictures and videos of the staff in the store at Walsall. I assume this was a demo phone, but none the less we had been lied to.I worked out that 6 months by £45 month contract was incorrect.

I couldn’t do anything then as we were going away that night. I then went onto the 02 website and by inputting a code sent to the old 02 contract, we was advised that no upgrade can take place. We went on holiday and returned back to the store as Rebecca could not use the 5800 phone. On questioning Kim regarding the buy out she stated oh yes my fault ill get you a cheque for £60 sent out. I then raised the issue about the 02 contract being upgraded to a blackberry and still she was adamant about the fact it could be upgraded in 8 weeks time. By this time we had been in the store for 2 hours and had to feed our 8 month old in the store. It was interesting to note that on that day prior to us coming in and being seen by kim that another customer was complaining about something she had done wrong with their account also. By this time we had had enough and then on the way home next door to your store went into O2. They took the details of Rebeccas old o2 account and confirmed that they could not upgrade her to a new phone until 16th December 2009.

The time was getting on now and we had to have something to eat etc and so left it until we could get back up to the store, which in my case was as per my email sent to customer services on 7th july asking to cancel the contract and then I would go up to the store on 15th July which I assumed was the 14 day of the contract as stated by Kym (remember the 14 days not including the weekend days as above) No one from customer services had called us and spoke to Rebecca at all and simply we got a reply on the Friday which we were told it was too late. I contacted customer services on Friday evening the 8th July. After being on the phone for more than an hour and speaking to a great lady by the name of Laura, even she was confused about all that had been told us. She said that Phones4u should be able to buy you out of the contract given the lies when having been misold the contract. She said seeing as the store was now shut she would contact Matt the manager to let him know he should sit down with Kim and work out a buy out.

Imagine our dismay to arrive at the store to speak to Matt to find out he knew nothing about the issues and tht he recieved no information from laura from head office. In the end we got ignored for a long period of time in the store including Kim the original sales girl. We spoke to 3 maybe 4 people at head office in customer services trying to sort this out. I was then threated by a member of your staff on the hone telling meif I did not leave then he would call security to get me removed. I am absolutely stunned and shocked by the poor service and help on this matter. The people at head office spoke to Kim on the phone and apparently she told them she said no such thing. What a liar. It was only after coming off the phone hersef that we questioned her when she broke down in tears saying if I said that then that’s my mistake I am sorry. At this point Matt the manager finally came to find out what it was all about and took a copy of the contract (which the details are wrong and is falsification of finance application) He said he would call us on Sunday 12 th July.

By 12pm we had no call and went into the store to see Matt. He stipulated that this matter had been referred to you as I had been reported for abusive behavior and that he could do no more but assured me that the matter would be resolved by yourself by 4pm today. At the time of typing this email 1610pm I have heard nothing. I am giving this email to you as a last resort for help to resolve this matter and come to an amicable solution before I contact trading standards and my solicitor. I am sorry its such a long email but I have to explain all the issues to you as I believe only one side of a story is being given. I’d therefore lie you to closely look in brief below the issues outlined.

1. We was lied to about the 14 day cancellation process and that weekend days were not included

2. We was lied to about the phone being new and having to be fetched from another store.

3. We was lied to about how we can upgrade the old o2 contract in 8 weeks time.

4. Wrong information on application form

5. Wrong transaction for payment of vodaphone contract. Still is wrong.

6. The lack of communication from Head office to Matt

7. Being told one thing and then another

8. Going into store and being lied to

9. Being threatened by someone at head office to kick me out of store

10. No-one contacting us today.

11. The lies about me being abusive

I still belive the whole buyout is wrong. I was told that £165 was to pay my vodaphone contract off. Well £45 x 6 months does not equal that. And certainly despite the receipt saying I had £50 for my phone does not alos warrant any truth. I am now out of a phone for which I used for work (emails) and if I was to buy a new Tocco I would have to pay you £215 for one. Why should I have to do that when this has been none of our fault other than misinformed staff who are unable to carry out a service as effective as they should do.

There so much information of which I apologise but please if you are able to do so is to call us, because I was happy with Phones4u until now and I will never use you ever again if we cannot all agree to resolve this matter in an amicable and professional manner, and that others admit to their mistakes as indeed I have to when needed in my capacity as store manager. I must iterate that I will take this further and seek a 3rd party to gain access to the recorded conversations if need be. I look forward to hearing from you very soon.

 

Can anyone shed some help on what i can do next at all please

[meerkatsmimm]

hi,

 

i'd contact your local trading standards.

 

i used to work as a manager for phones 4u and this issue does not necessarily get resolved at store level - you need to request contact information for the area & regional managers - they will be more able to resolve issues.

 

as a retail manager you will know that the manager if not involved at the start of this issue, will have spoken to the staff member and will also be more inclined to take their word for it against a stranger.

 

i think you should take a breath and just keep plugging at it - we had a terrible issue years ago with some business contracts - turned out they had no/poor reception in the area they primarily worked in. the member of staff that sold the deal had convinced them to switch network (more commission if i remember right!) and this required numbers to be carried over.

 

we got the contracts cancelled but took at least 3 months for the guys to get their old numbers back - this was only achieved after intervention from me, my area manager, my regional manager and a customer services manager from HO!!!

 

You have rights - contact your local paper - or the paper that covers the area the store is in - they should be happy to run with a story.

 

As mentioned above - your local trading standards should be your first port of call.

 

take care and keep us updated,

 

meerkat xx

[meandbex]

thanks for that mate. I finally contacted 02 who intervened on our behalf on Monday just gone. O2 have cancelled the contract and accepted we were missold the phone deal.

[meerkatsmimm]

well done for getting a network to cancel - they usually just tell you to go back to the retailer!

 

I'd push P4U for compensation due to the stress - you have a good case now the network have cancelled and i'd still speak to the regional manager to see what action is being taken to ensure it doesn't happen again - staff need to be trained right! I've forgotten the number of times i had to step in and correct what a staff member was telling a customer just to get the deal done, there's no point lying as it always comes back to bite you.

 

i'd also push for compo as they've had your money and you haven't so they really do need to do something as a 'sorry' - i'd be livid! then again i'm an awkward customer! lol

 

meerkat xx