Hi All,

I want to buy an iPhone for my personal use. I don’t want to pay full new price and I don’t want or need the latest version. I do want to use it for calls, texts, Whatsapp, music storage and general internet access etc…I’d like to spend less than £300 and I’d want 128Gb storage and a reasonable camera. I’m thinking an iPhone 8 would be about right.

I see loads of places offering refurbished phones and I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations of which vendor is good/bad/worth avoiding? Have you bought a phone from any of them?

Also if you’ve seen any outstanding deals etc… I’d be interested in that too :o)

Giffgaff. Bought several from them and all have been in ‘as new’ condition.

Macman Brighton (other branches exist). Reasonable pricing.
Very trustworthy. (Good for repairs too. Worked miracles on my drowned 7)
If buying 8, get a tough case as the glass back makes it more fragile. Mous seems good on my current X (used bargain at 250).
And Lifeproof work well too.

https://www.4gadgets.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvL-syoLW8wIVRLTtCh21PASGEAAYASAAEgLyHPD_BwE

Good prices, phones are in excellent condition and you get a warranty.

Another vote for 4gadgets.
Bought my S10 from them last year after they were recommended on here and it’s been brilliant.

My wife and myself both had a phone from music magpie.
My phone has been faultless but my wife’s decided to stop transmiting any data via the USB.
Music magpie replaced the faulty handset without any argument so I would use them again.

Bought my eldest an iPhone from one of the online refurb dealers, maybe Music Magpie. Very good service, decent phone.

Youngest is due one this birthday but since I’m a bit more prepared I started watching eBay and FaceBook Marketplace just in case. I got an iPhone XS with 256GB of memory (boxed and as new condition) for £250, which is a lot less than the online stores are charging.

+1 for music magpie. I’ve had a few and they have all been far better condition than I expected based on the grading and what I paid.

I’m using an old iPhone 6s+ while my iPhone X is away having a new screen fitted. I’m staggered that it seems to be completely fine – a very similar experience to using my X. Good phone, and they can’t be too expensive these days (they’re 6 years old now).

Shirely a Iphone SE 2020 would be better, same size as the 8 but a new chipset and ‘slightly better camera (looking at spec’s) and available for less than £300

I’ve had several phones from music magpie, any problems quickly sorted with a replacement phone / refund. Will use again

@z1ppy – I’ll take a look at the SE. I’ll admit to not knowing very much about the phones, I just want the best bang-for-the-buck :o)

If I get a phone, can anyone recommend a cheap SIM only deal? I don’t do many phone calls or texts but I’d want at least 5gB of data and about £10 a month or thereabouts.

Any other advice?

Recently got a refurb iPhone 8 from Music Magpie (whatever the best condition was), 64GB and was £229 I think. Giffgaff was similar but I think charged for delivery so it made MM slightly cheaper. Arrived a couple of days later and the condition is like new – the only slight grumble would be battery ‘maximum capacity’ is 87% which is a bit lower than I expected but not the end of the world (for comparison my older work iPhone 7 shows 98% capacity)