[Nexus 5 General] jaaystott:
I'm not 100% sure if this is the correct thread, however given the nature that it is relevant to the general discussion of the Nexus 5 I'm going to post it in here anyway.

Do not shop at Carphone Warehouse UK

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So I bought my Nexus 5 on release day from the Carphone Warehouse. I paid £295. When I got it home to my annoyance it wouldn't charge, no matter what I did it would not charge. I'm pretty experienced with phones and could tell it was a hardware error. I use my phone primarily for business, so being without a phone is completely a no-go for me. I took my Nexus 5 back to Carphone Warehouse on the assumption that they would just do a straight swap, however no they didn't have any stock in.. which is where my trouble started.

They offered me an alternative phone, they recommended the LG G2 as it only had a price difference of £150 and for some stupid reason, I went for it. The device I received was in an

OPEN BOX

(my mistake, I admit) that has had promotional stickers ripped off, however the phone inside was sealed, and so I assumed there was no issue. Got the phone home, start using it and discover that the phone is getting hot and crashing, this is as soon as I've got it out of the box.. so it's not like I've done anything to it or used it too much.

Anyway took it back to Carphone Warehouse the following day. By this point I was quite annoyed because the store that I purchased it from is a 60.8 Mile round trip. Due to my working hours I can't go to my local one, which closes at 5PM. The store I got the G2 from closes at 8PM, making it the only store I can get to that is open. I took the phone in and spoke to a lady on the Checkout about the issue and she said that an exchange was no problem and that more importantly, they had the Nexus 5 in stock. We initiated the exchange when she checked the IMEI. At this point she said she needed to speak to her manager. After around 5 minutes of waiting and her taking my phone in the back with her, she comes back and says to me 'I'm sorry Sir, we cannot exchange this phone as YOU have taken this phone and swapped it for an identical one with a different IMEI number. Our system shows you should have a different phone'

Quite astounded at what she had told me, I explained to her that I had only just purchased the phone the previous morning. She wouldn't have any of it and sent me away with an 0845 number to call to make a complaint. On the way home I called into another Carphone Warehouse store. I spoke to a lady who called Customer Services on behalf of me to find out how this issue could have occurred. To put it plain and simple, the IMEI on the box of the phone was the same as the one on the system, but the phone I had had an alien IMEI. After she spoke to Customer Services the lady told me that unfortunately they couldn't do anything from their store because, get this, the phone I had was being sent off for a repair. I would have to take it back to the original store, the same store that just fobbed me off, in order to get it exchanged. And this was head office that told me this!

The following day I spoke to customer services myself. I rung up and lodged a complaint because I believe the fact that I was accused of committing fraud but am also expected to drive 60 Miles to resolve a problem is disgusting. I spoke to a lady called Amy who "promised" me she would get to the bottom of this for me and resolve it. She told me that she could see from notes put on the account (presumably from the previous days call to cs) that the phone was a repair handset. She then spoke to the repairs team who confirmed they were waiting for the handset to arrive. She told me that she wouldn't be able to resolve the issue until she had spoken to the store I originally bought the handset from. She then "promised" to call me back as soon as she had spoken to them, or by 5PM the same day.

For records, this was on the 6th November.

5PM came, and no call. Because she called me on an 0800 number and wouldn't give me a number to contact her on, I was unable to call her myself. However the following morning (7th November) she called me and told me that she had still been unable to get in contact with the store in question and that she would definitely have this fixed for me by the evening and that she would call me back by 5PM. Well 5PM came and went, and there was no call. By this point I was extremely annoyed. The following morning there was no call either, so I called CPW on my mobile (which has charged me) and requested to speak to Amy. By this point it was on the third day of being without a working handset and nobody had really acknowledged there was an issue, or done anything to solve it. I actually managed to get put through to Amy who told me that she had

still

not been able to get through to the store, but that her manager was in in 20 minutes and she would call me back with a resolution to the issue. I asked her if she would 100% call me back, and she promised she would. 24 hours passed and no call.

So by this point I've been without a handset for 4 days, been sold a second hand one, promised that I will have a call from customer services to resolve it but haven't, and been accused of fraud. Getting quite angry at this point.

I allowed a few days to go by to see if Amy would get in contact with me, however by Monday 11th November she still hadn't. We took the phone to the Trafford Centre store which is still a good 25 miles away. We spoke to a very helpful gentleman in the Carphone Warehouse store who went to a lot of trouble for me. He spoke to head office who reiterated the fact that the phone was a repair handset and advised the gentleman to call the store I bought the phone from. He called the store and spoke to the manager. He confirmed that the IMEI on the box of the phone I had was in store, and that there had been a bit of a mess up and he was unsure of how it had happened. I was then told that unfortunately due to the circumstances of the issue I would have to drive to the other store, a further 10 miles, to initiate the exchange OR refund.

So finally just under a week of being without a phone and driving from my house to Manchester every other day the issue was resolved and I would be able to go back to a Nexus 5 or get a refund. Hell, wasn't I wrong.

On arrival at the store we spoke to the manager who told us we had two options, either swap the LG G2 for another LG G2, or get a cheaper handset. He couldn't offer us a refund because he would have to speak to customer services who were closed, and he wasn't prepared to knock the difference off a HTC One (£50) due to all the problems we had had. Furthermore the sim-free price of a Nexus 5 at Carphone is now £495, however they are not selling them sim-free at the moment! I was then told that I could have a refund, but I would have to come back the following day!! All this after driving probably in excess of 200 miles.

I felt backed into a corner and didn't really have a choice but to accept the G2. As I said earlier I need a handset for work and it's not an option for me to be without one.

I then spoke to the complaints department of Carphone Warehouse once again yesterday. I explained everything that I have just said in this post, and their reply:

"We do not offer refunds on any sim-free products, and the manager was wrong to tell you that we do. Because you accepted the G2 there is nothing we can do for you. You chose to drive there on your free will. Would you like me to raise your complaint against the store?"

:good: Not happy.

Carphone Warehouse's Policy

If something's not working properly, here's what to do

Pop into any Carphone Warehouse store with:

your product

all the accessories that came with it (including any free gifts)

Preferably its original packaging

proof of purchase

We'll take a look at it, and if we can't fix it there and then, you'll be eligible for a return, exchange or repair. You can find out more about our repairs service on our repairs page.

Lots of common phone problems can be fixed with a simple software update, which you can do yourself. Check out our page and see how.​

So now I really do not know what to do. I have been left with a phone that I do not want and am considerably out of pocket due to fuel costs of driving to get the issue resolved. Help?