DO NOT BUY FROM CARPHONE WAREHOUSE (Carphone Warehouse)

Member Name: Taylor

Product:	Carphone Warehouse
Date:	04/10/08 (353 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: DEFINITELY NO ADVANTAGES

Disadvantages: LOADS

DO NOT BUY, AVOID - GO STRAIGHT TO THE PROVIDER. LOAD OF UNPROFESSIONAL MUPPETS!!!!

On 21st April 2008, I purchased a mobile phone (LG KF510) from CPW, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh for my son who is 13 and was buying it with his own money. n 3rd June 2008 I had to take the phone back as it had a faulty microphone. They sent it away for repair and said it would take 7 days.

On 11th June I collected the phone and took it home to find out that the fault was still there, they had not repaired it. I then took it back the next day and was told that they would have to exchange the phone for a HAB (which is a refurbished HANDSET AND BATTERY of the same make and model). I queried that the phone was only 44 days old and this was unfair that I was getting an exchange for a refurbished handset. They told me that as the phone was over 28 days old I was not entitled to an exchange or refund. They therefore went ahead and ordered a HAB for me and said it would be delivered to their shop by Tuesday and I could come down and collect it. In the meantime my son was left without a phone.

On 17th June I went down and collected the refurbished handset.

On 16th July I had to take the refurbished handset back to them because the keys kept freezing. They then sent the handset back for repair. In the meantime they gave my son a standby phone to use as I was unhappy he was being left without a phone all the time.

Around 25th July I collected the repaired handset and gave them back their standby phone.

On 30th August I took the phone back because the keys were freezing again. I was very unhappy by this time. They said they would give me another refurbished handset of the same make and model. I told them I had lost confidence in the phone. They said they would submit a form to their service department to request a change to a HELPING HANDSET which would be a different make and model. I stressed I was very unhappy about this, the inconvenience of taking the phone back all the time and was extremely unfair as the phone was only 4 months old and it had been in for repair more times than my son had used it. They stressed to me that I would not get a new phone and I would not get a refund!! Their Customer Care Centre will take 72 hours to make a decision and they will give me a call on Wednesday with the outcome. In the meantime my son was without a mobile phone again as they did not have a standby phone in stock to give him.

On Wednesday 3rd September I called Ocean Terminal branch again for the outcome and was told by the manager that it could take up to 7 working days to get an answer on whether I could receive a change of handset. I explained to Richard I was not happy about this, I was told 72 hours and now I am being told 7 working days. I wanted something done about this today, my son was left without a phone, I wasn't happy about letting him out and about and not being able to check up on him by phone. The manager said he would get a standby phone from another shop and I could pick it up tomorrow. I therefore did that.

On 9th September, I got an email from the manager that he had received from Customer Care with the choice of 3 phones that my son could choose from. None of the phones had the same specification of his phone, especially as his phone has a 3 megapixel camera and they were only offering me phones with 2 megapixel cameras and obviously phones that were of lower value to the one bought in April at £129.95. These ones you could buy in the shop for £70 and £80. They explained that I would only be given the choice of these 3 phones as they were in the same price range of what the phone would be worth now, bearing in mind my son has hardly used the phone since we bought it. It was only 44 days old when he first had trouble with it. I told them I wasnt happy and the manager told me to phone the customer care myself and explain to them I wasnt happy etc. He said sometimes it helps if the customer complains over the telephone rather than the shop. I did this and they said they would get back to me in 3 days to let me know if I could be offered any other phones. They never got back to me.

On Friday 12th September I phoned the manager to ask if he could get in touch with Customer Care for me as I had not heard from them and I wasn't going to run up anoher phone bill phoning a pemium rate number. He said he would do that and get back to me.

On Tuesday 16th September, the manager from Ocean Terminal called me and asked if I had heard from Customer Care, I explained I had not. He said he was on the understanding they were going to get back to me. He told me he would phone customer care and call me back, which he did so 15 minutes later, and said he'd had no joy from Customer Care and he was told by them that a decision had been made a long time ago that I was only being offered these 3 phones and that was that. They had not replied to my telephone call or explained that to me when I called them. They had just left me hanging on. As you can imagine I was very unhappy and had just had enough. The manager told me to think about the 3 phones I had been offered and get back to him with which one I had picked and he would order it. I said if there was no alternative then that's what I would have to do but I was very unhappy about it.

On Friday 19th September, In the end all I could do was choose one of the 3 phones which were less value to the one bought, my son reluctantly chose the Sony Ercisson S500i and I phoned the manager to tell him he had chosen that one. He said he would order it in and he should have it in 3 working days.

On Sunday 28th September I went into the Ocean Terminal branch to ask if the phone had arrived yet and the manager said it hadn't been delivered yet and he was expecting it in on Tuesday or Wednesday. To me, he didnt sound very intested at all about it.

Today, Saturday 4th October at 11am I had not heard from the manager on Tuesday or Wednesday so I phoned him and he said the phone had not arrived yet, he was expecting it in this morning but it hadnt arrived, he will get in touch with customer care and call me back in 5 MINUTES.

ITS NOW 3PM THE SAME DAY AND HE HAS NOT CALLED ME BACK.

HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD A PROBLEM LIKE THIS - I BET THERE ARE LOADS. DO NOT BUY FROM CARPHONE WAREHOUSE, THEY ARE UNPROFESSIONAL AND NOT INTERESTED IF YOU HAVE A PROLBEM.

Summary: LOAD OF UNPROFESSIONAL MUPPETS