[One (M7) General] jaaystott:
Hi there guys,

Just thought I would share with you all what happened to me today (23/05) in my local Phones4U store. I posted the following on the Phones4U forum, and don't really fancy writing it all out again so here is the paste ;)

UPDATE 24/05/2013 - After posting exactly what you see below in the post on the Phones4U forum, I was contacted by their Customer Excellence Team. On explaining the situation, I was apologised too and asked what I felt could be done to resolve the situation. On explaining that I felt nothing really, the consultant I spoke to offered me £89 of the purchase of my HTC One, bringing it to £400. A steal for a device of such quality.

After speaking to the member of staff at Customer Excellence, I feel my complaint was took VERY seriously, and so I cannot complain about that aspect of the service. It would seem that it really does depend on the store that you visit, and despise stating below that I would not recommend Phones4U, after today's service I would.

Hi there,

I purchased a HTC One from Liverpool Phones4U (WHO WERE GREAT!), which was defective. The device had gaps in it and light was leaking from the display. I do not live locally to Liverpool, and so I took my device to my local Phones4U store in Northwich, Cheshire.

When I went into the Northwich store, rather than the staff standing in the shop, they were all huddled by the door located at the back of the store, presumably where the staff quarters are. They were all on their phones and paying no attention, all in all it took around 20 seconds of me standing at the front counter before anyone noticed me - an eternity really.

I proceeded to tell the gentleman about the issues I was experiencing with my device, and rather than apologizing and reassuring me, he just told me that this was 'normal' and that 'light leak is normal'. Working with mobile devices day in and day out, I can assure you that this is not normal at all. I questioned the salesman, and he got another device out of the cupboard and powered it on. On powering it on he quickly looked at the device's display and said 'see this one is the same' and put it back in the box. I immediately asked to take a look at the device he had just put away and he did not respond, then asked his colleague to put the device back away 'before he forgot to'.

The sales person then asked me what I would like to do, as all the devices are going to be the same. This is not true, as the display models in all the shops are NOT like this. Anyway, I asked for a refund as I am not dealing with people that assume I am an idiot. I pulled my card out, and to my awe he got £490 cash and just handed it over to me. I paid for this device on card, I have the receipts to prove it. Now I'm certainly not complaining about getting cash, because it just means I can buy my iPhone a few days earlier now, but for him to actually just give me cash? Is this even allowed? As previously in Phones4U stores I have been told that you can only be refunded in the same tender the actual transaction was made in.

Furthermore, during the whole experience whilst he spent time on the phone to 'head office' in order to get authorization to issue the refund, I couldn't help but turn my attention to the sales person, Dan. He was speaking to a customer that had just come in to the shop and asked which was better; an iPhone 5 or a Samsung Galaxy S4. To this, Dan replied well we don't sell the iPhone 5 sim free, but we do sell the Galaxy S4 it is £589. Then, he says 'but my friend over there is selling his iPhone 5 on eBay, we will give you a good deal on it, it's got 10 days left and we can just take it off'. Dan was referring to the gentleman that was serving me, as the person selling the iPhone. I was absolutely shocked at this, surely this is against the law and unlawful selling anyway?

Furthermore, when explaining the devices to the gentleman that was in the store, Dan told him that the iPhone 5 costs £999 to buy direct from Apple, and that when the iPhone 5S/6 comes out, you 'will be talking well over a grand for that mate'. He then said 'but the iPhone 6 has been delayed, cus, I dunno why'.. Well Dan, please share your information with us as the new iPhone has yet to even be announced, never mind delayed Wink

He then proceeded to tell the customer that in Northwich all networks can get 4G, and that Orange will be getting 4G in Northwich next month. Oh okay, since when has Orange offered 4G? I thought that's what EE was for... The gentleman said he would think it over and left the store, to which Dan then came over and sat down on the desk next to me and sat on his phone, for around 10 minutes. Disgraceful.

Due to this experience, I will never ever purchase anything from Phones4U EVER again. Furthermore, I will not be recommending them to anyone, and will be telling as many people as I can about how disgraceful their customer service was. And considering I work in the telecommunications sector, that's a lot of potential customers.

After being in Phones4U I took a stroll over to Carphone Warehouse, I told them about my experience and had a bit of a laugh with them. Over there, the experience was much more friendly.

Regards,

Michael Stott
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Tell me what you thing, and also any advice guys. I have rung up and made a complaint, but I doubt they will take it too seriously.