I attended a job interview at phones4u on monday 4th April, after my interview I asked one of the advisors to go through what sort of options I had as to taking out a new contract in the future, I had no intention of actually taking one out, as the advisor was talking to me she asked me a lots of what I thought were generalised questions regarding what sort of thing I would be looking for, such as preferred phone buttons or touch, my budget etc, which I told her was between £15-£20, she came back with a £22.50 option, then before I know it she had the contract infront of me and said sign, her, her and here, so felt extrememly pressured. I have no previous experince with contracts so did not fully understand what was happeneing, she was well aware I was not financially stable as I attended an interview at the store for a job that day(In the contract it says I have had a job for two years not true as I have had no job for one year), so I now have a 24 month contract which I cannot afford and frankly I was forced into it, I walked out of the store feeling like I was put under considerable pressure, I have called them to try and sort the issue out and they practically told me they cannot do anything as its my own fault, I am not happy at all and would like something to be done about it, I feel they took advantage of my lack of knowledge with these sorts of things. If this issue is unable to be resolved I will no longer have any dealings with phones4u and I will make it clear to people I know that phones4u are not the sort of people you want to become involved with and not to be trusted,

Please be aware of a scam that phones4u is offering, they lure you in with the offer of an instant £350 cash back deals if you take out a contract which i did. For some reason the guy Mikey in the Stockton store said the money would go onto my bank card, i have now been waiting for 16 days and still no sign of the money, it is now to late to return the phone and cancel the contract as you only get 14 days, this is obviously deliberate to stop you cancelling the contract. I have called the head office 10 times at a cost of £54 on my bill. the manager who is called Roger Barlett is an absolute ignorant pig, he never returns calls and has been no help whatsoever. The staff in the head office have been giggling in the background when i have been on the phone to them and laughing at the frustration of the customers who have been complaining. One of the staff even asked me what the iconvenience was of me not getting the £350 and what i needed the money for !! Shocking. Please do not be fooled by this awful company.

I have not had my phone for 4.5 months - yes months! I had it for two months and the speaker went - took it back to the shop (who have been brilliant!) and it was sent away - told 7-10 days. After many phone calls it came back after a month, checked it in the shop and there was no change. Off it went again...various phone calls and 2 further months down the line they agreed to replace the handset (mine was still in repair!) as a goodwill gesture. 7-10 days for delivery. Waited - it didnt arrive, rang again - their system said that the girl found out 10 mins after I got off the phone that there werent any! She didnt ring and tell me! Ok - so then nice girl says she will get one to me 24-48 hours because I had been messed around so much - doesnt turn up...ask to have contract cancelled - another long wait while it went to senior management - nope cant have it cancelled. Offered replacement but said the last two hadnt turned up so was going to seek legal advice - advice was that they were in breach of their contract with me...great! Then got email saying my original phone would be back within a couple of days - went to shop, and was told it had been destroyed! Had a row with customer service (again) who promised me 3 months replacement (had been without phone for 4 months plus) and the phone would be here 7-10 days - checked it was not working - no said stroppy girl its 7-10 days! TOday is 10 days - and lovely people told me it could be because of the postal strike (although the check arrived having been raised on day 6!) - said that there had not been an issue with couriers and that they had promised 10 days max...man on phone just said - cant do anything until mOnday! Monday is 12 days! GRRRRRR! Just feel completely stuffed...so peed off - was actually crying - how dumb is that!!!
Now - after 4.5 months I dont have a phone - they wont cancel the contract and they wont send me a replacement - any ideas folks? Will be seeing a solicitor on Monday - but can just see that I will go and see the solicitor, pay my money and they will just send a replacement handset - I want to be bought out of my contract now - trading standards and offcom have told me they have breached their contract with me so even if they supply me with a new handset I feel that I should still have no obligation to them under the contract.

My new credit card was stolen and used at Phones4u to sign up on a new mobile phone contract. According to Phones4u, in order to obtain a contract they require ID and proof of address; nonetheless they allowed a fraudulent transaction with a Deactivated credit card and wrong data of birth, to get away with the contact. I have reported this to police however I see no one is taking this matter on board. Phones4u are as fraudulent as the people who stole my credit card.

Phones4U

What goes on behind the scenes at your shops, offices and head office when you deal with customers ?.

If I said to you that I walked in to Phones4U store in very early April 08, purchased a product with cash, took it home and it failed to work. I took it back to the store the following day and asked for a refund which was refused. It's now nearly August and I still have not had my refund. What would you say or think ?. Is it right, is it funny, would you run your business that way ?

In the store the assistants openly admitted they were scared to ring their own call center about my refund request and they also refused my refund in store and promptly attempted to ignore my problem, then they got their 'procedures guy' from out back who looked like he wanted to kick my head in but luckily I can look after myself so I stood my ground so he got someone else to show me the procedure 'bible' which did not agree with the Brand of the company who's product they were selling.

I was told that the product companies terms may be their policy but it isn't ours !

I refused to budge and was given a phone number to call customer services but was refused permission to call from the store so I went home and called them from there. Spoke to customer services and they told me the store was wrong and I could quite happily go to the store and get a refund in cash ( as I had paid cash the previous day) from the till.

I go back to the store, tell them what I was told and they are surprised and don't believe me.

I demand the use of a phone in the store to call customer services, I get through to customer services and ask for the person I had spoken to. It turned out that only two people in that center could possibly have spoken to me denied they had actually spoken to them and it casued a big upset as they even had to do a call trace to prove I was telling the truth because at first they made me out to be a liar.

I then spend an hour on the phone in the Phones4u store with a girl in customer services running back and forth trying to sort things out and at the end her attitude cganged dramatically and she tells me all is in hand and she needed to speak to the store manager where I was making the call. Store manager takes the phone and I have no choice but to agree to a cheque sent to me which would take 28 days to reach me. I tell them I am not happy but accepted it.

28 days later I get my cheque and I put the cheque into my bank account.

The Phones4U checked BOUNCED ! Becasue they cancelled it !

On the check that was sent back to me from my bank it had stamped on the front 'CANCELLED' and a letter from my bank informed me I had to contact the cheque sender for the details.

I call my bank to tell them a cheque has bounced to avoid any charges and the girl at my bank call center told me I must be making a mistake and that I must have sent a cheque and that bounced as she could not believe that Phones4u would bounce a cheque.
I am then put through to India to deal with any possible charges and the girl on the phone could not understand me and eventually it sounded like they were having a party at my expense and the call ended with them laughing and the phone going dead.
I call my bank and tell them what happenned - the guy at the bank call center tells me I must be mistaken that it must have been a language thing that confused me ! lol - I have been around a fair old bit and there was no confusion believe me.

I call Phones4u, tell them what happenned and they laughed on the phone and told me I had to prove the cheque had bounced, they wanted bank statements etc. - why do I have to prove that their cheque has bounced ?

I E-mail head office with my complaint.

A week later they call me and tell me that they will cancel the cheque ! and send me a new one.!
No need to wait 28 days this time, and the girl from head office tells me that my 'new refund cheque' will be with me in ten working days and I just about get a verbal apology.

3 weeks later I still had not received a cheque and no replies to my emails about it.

I call phone4u again ( and each time I call it costs me money )and I get the usual pleasant girls on the other end who talk in the most patronising manner but they do it with style I give them that.

I am informed that these things happen and its even happenned to the girls in the office, that a cheque will definately be sent out 'quaranteed' and I will will receive it in three days time, no problem. Of course I don't believe them but what can I do at this stage on the phone ?

Three days later and Guess what ? - you got it, no cheque on my doormat.

I call phones4u and ask for the girl I had spoken to who incidently promised me she would sort it out if any problems arise. The girl who answered the phone asks me for my security details etc and then says oh 'girls name' is on the phone can I help ? I tell her my problem. Oh she says, as we speak 'girls name' is on the phone to finance about your cheque.

I ask for 'girls name' to call me back as it's an 0845 number.

She calls me back but pretends to be someone else and tells me that there is no-one in the office called 'girls name', I must be mistaken she says and giggles ! lol - urggg !

Anyway I tell her the problem, that the cheque has still not arrived and she says that it must be the postal service.

Of course I don't believe her so I keep her talking and manage to get her to slip out that the cheque is 'due to be sent', she gets confused and realises her mistake and then says it must have been sent yesterday and then she gets the giggles, again !
I tell her I have a very good friend who works as a reporter for the national press ( thats very true and another works on the picture desk of another national press office), she then gets serious and offended and says it wasn't her fault and the post office are to blame so I giggle this time - lol

That was today.

I have been told my cheque from a product that I purchased in April 08 - yes you got it April 08 and now its nearly August 08 - will arrive tomorrow 'Friday'

I affiliate only with decent companies. If a company messes me around or they mess my players and their own customers around then I stop affiliating with them and I find out a lot about customer service because I 'test buy products' via mysel and family and friends. The Phones4u purchase was just a one off high street jobbie that was urgently needed and so non affiliated .. ultimately I ended up nearly £100 out of pocket, no product, a bounced cheque and giggly, lying service staff.

So what's the point of this post ?

To tell you that I would be a mug to even contemplate affiliating with Phones4U and that it's not just Phones4 u who are doing it, it's across the board.

2 years ago our phone line was held between 2 high branded phone companies. One we were with was giving us the lowest broadband package but charging us for the best package, the other when we tried to change over messed up big time and ultimately led to us having dial up connection for three weeks. Final moment of truth was the nice call centre girl passing me through to get the line released to a gorilla at the end of the phone who spoke like Frank Bruno but with the attitude of Eminem on a bad day ans literally asked me if I was sure I wanted to leve before I had even started business with them !

My own bank treats me like an idiot and I have a business account with personal banking which is a joke, their Indian call centers are a joke and these are just few things I (and of course other people are fighting ) am fighting at the moment when I shoulds be trying to make a living. I can say if I treated my clients (outside of affiliating) the way these companies treat us, I would have no business.

My bottom line in line with this forum is - I would be a mug to even contemplate affiliating with Phones 4 U - my own abbreviation is Phonies 4 U.

Trust me it takes a hell of a lot to get me wound up and especially so to make a complaint as I understand that life is difficult across the board, even more so if you are relying on people to be honest with you in business or just on the highstreet.

So.. bottom line is Phones 4 U have shown me their true colours across the board - from highstreet shop to customer service and then head office, without even trying, they have taken over Dial a Phone who had problems with customer service and they have no idea I work as an affiliate nor did they know I have contacts in the media world and they squirmed when I mentioned the papers and it was so easy for them to blame the directors - I wonder why girls ? :-) Problem with you big companies is you think all consumers are stupid - Guess what we aint and guess something else - one day you will wake up and realise that you have only helped mess this country up.