I have just purchased a phone from the above website taking confidence in the fact they were part of the carphone warehouse group.

Ever since placing the order I have been trying to contact them through email and phone and no one will speak to me. I wanted to cancel the order before they dispatched it (I made an error, hence my haste in trying to contact them).

I have now just got an automated email saying that it has been dispatched and a contact being set up! I managed eventually to get through to a bimbo on the phone asking why it was only after they had set up the contract were they bothered in speaking with me. She said if I wasn't happy I would have to return the phone at my cost! I asked for a returns number and she said she could only issue one when I have the phone in my hands as the returns number was only valid for 48hrs (i.e. it had to be in their hands within 48hrs of issuing the number and given the bank holiday weekend she would not give me it!)

Given it has taking me nearly 8 hours SOILD trying to get in touch with the joke of a company I am not looking forward to Tuesday when I have to try and obtain another returns number.

Also the website is full of errors if you try to look for anything and the emails have no formatting what-so-ever and have the wrong information on and omit information (such as tracking numbers) that the website refers to.

Rant over. Sorry.

wheres tj when you need him ?

wont this be covered under distance selling regs ? i know i have a cooling off period when i get a new phone/renew contract from 02 provided its unused

So in summary, do you recommend them? 😉

Yeah, I obviously reccomend them! 😆

Distance selling regs are a 7 day (is that 7 working days?) cooling off period, I am pretty sure they will stall me for 7 days if I try. Call me cynical.

I have just purchased a phone from the above website taking confidence in the fact they were part of the carphone warehouse group.

Well there's your mistake. CPW are as keen to indulge in sharp practice as anyone.

I have had a phone from mobiles.co.uk, but never needed to get in touch with them except for to claim my cashback when I remembered. You've got statutory rights (7 days with the Distance Selling Act and a cooling off period for contracts), so this should be easily sortable.

Well, I am learning that now. How niave I am trying to actually trust a high street name!

Given it has taking me nearly 8 hours SOILD trying……

I am hoping that word is not missing an 'E'.

Messy business if so.

Incidentally i never get why people go to 3rd parties when it comes to mobiles. Nearly always cheaper and less painful dealing direct….in my case o2.

lol, I apologise for my dyslexia! It can be amusing at times!

Remember not to open the box with the phone, then You'll not be able to send it back. Those companies that are "part of carephonewarehouse" are a joke. I had a phone from e2save. Try contacting them about anything, flipping impossible, switch You from line to line. My bro told them he wants the guys name (after 40min on the line) and that he will report him to trading standards (or something like that) and than magically they gave him a direct number to a dedicated e2save customer service helpline for O2. Also if they are a part of carephonewarehouse, why can't I just go to the store for an upgrade, always need to phone them up, do it over internet. I got fed up and changed to 3 and went directly not through a 3rd party. Never ever will I go to another carphonewarehouse, e2save, phones4u and other cr4p.

[edit] If You manage to return the phone and pay only the shipping cost that will mean You got off pretty easy 🙂

My friend went to a phones4u store and wanted a PAYG top up, went out with an expensive contract that was supposed to be "very cheap" and a crappy phone. It was in 3 so it has the cooling off period. Went there with my friend. I told them she wants to cancel the contract as the guy just talked her into it while she wanted a top up only. Suddenly a manager appears and then explains that even thou 3 has a cooling off period, the contract is with phones4u and they don't cancel contracts, they can however change to a different plan if she isn't happy. Started to list all the most expensive plans as the only ones possible. My friend just kept the contract as it was like talking to a brick wall. Just shows how bad the service is.
[edit]

IIRC they have a bad rep as online retailer, odd as some other CPW "faces" seem fine.

taking confidence in the fact they were part of the carphone warehouse group

that's where it went wrong I'm afraid.

they used to be alright years ago, but now there part of cpw i keep well away.

Sorry to hijack slightly, but while you are all here, has anyone had any experience with using beepy.co.uk?

As the bloke above said, it's easiest just to deal direct.

When I got my new phone, I just rang Orange, had a bit of a chat and got my phone for the same price as a cashback deal, with none of the hassle.

Don't sign for it when it comes.

Don't sign for it when it comes

I tried asking if I could do that and the 'customer service assistant' said that it would probably just then sit in a warehouse for over a week before being returned to them – a bad idea.

I did try contacting my current provider and the best they could do after pulling all the string still worked out £10 a month for a 2 year contract more expensive. In the past I have had issues with the network anyway so I don't trust them enough to warrant the extra expense.

I used mobiles.co.uk a while ago and they were fine. I never needed to contact them again though. Earlier this year I used mobilephonesdirect. Got the phone only a few days later than expected, but it was faulty. Customer services are appauling – no worse than appauling. I'm still trying to sort it now. I have finally got a replacement handset but still no accessories or postage refund.
From all the above posts it sounds like all these online retailers lack any kind of customer service beyond sales. Obviously why they're cheaper.
A question I suspect with no answer would be, 'Can anyone recommend a cheap online retailer with good after sales service?'

I have used them, to get a phone for to try it.
You can return the phone as long as you don't open the envelope they put the SIM card in, IIRC.
I used a different SIM card to let me try the phone out, and successfully returned the phone for a refund. I think I had to pay for a couple of day's line rental & return P&P, that's all.

I don't think you can expect them to pay up when it's your mistake on the order, but I do agree that they are CRAP to get in touch with.

I did some sleuthing to get a direct phone number for them rather than using the automated phone system.

So no one answered their sales line, for 8 hours?

Did you request a callback?

But tbh why not just go direct, at least one of them (3, o2, vodafone etc) has a shop in every high-street, nevermind online/phone etc.

So no one answered their sales line, for 8 hours?

Yup,

I send 4 emails through 4 different contact forms on the site and no one ever got back to me.