o2 shop in accrington - reasons why not to shop there

[accyman]

heres my recent experience of the o2 shop in accrington and i wil leave it to you to decide if you want to risk shopping there

last week i put my pay as you go mobile phone on charge and when i returned to it the screen had gone all patchy and black like somone had thrown ink onto a piece of paper , i returned the phone to the o2 shop in accrington where i purchased it and the phone was sent away for repair as expected as it is still under warranty

the other day i get a phone call and this is how it went

o2 - goodmorning this is the o2 shop i am ringing about your phone you sent for repair

me - oh yes has it been fixed

o2 - im affraid to inform you that we have sent it to our engineers and they say that the phone has been dropped so it isnt covered under warranty and you will have to pay £55 for the repair

me - hold on a second i told you when i brought it in i put it on charge and when i returned to it the screen was all messed up , theres no sign of it been dropped are you taking the mick and where do you get £55 from the phone only cost £50

o2 - how long did you have it on charge for

me - i left in on charge over night from about 1am to 9 am like i always do why ?

o2 - ahh well you see thats probably whats done it you cant leave mobile phones on charge that long it can damage the battery

me - what the hell has the battery got to do with the screen and yes you can leave mobiles on charge overnight

o2 - well either way its not getting fixed unless you pay £55

me - hang on what exactly are you saying is the cause of the fault because just a minuite ago you said i had dropped it but now you are saying i overcharged it

o2 - didnt answer my last question but did recomend i took it to a mobile phone shop in accrington where i could get it repaired cheaper



at this point i hung up and thought about my options and decided to ring the manager but after ringing all day and been told simply he was upstairs and wouldnt be down for most of the day i decided to go directly into the shop

the manager was still upstairs 5 hours after my origional conversation trying to get hold of him and no effort was made by the staff to go get him and i never recieved the phopnecall back that they said i would get from him

after a few questions i discovered that my samsung phone had not been returned to samsung under the manufacturers warranty but their own repair people had decided to have a go and obviously if theres any way of charging for a repair its better for them so they obviously make up excuses to make you pay for repairs


so in short when returning a faulty product expect -

a: to be called a liar

b: to not have your calls returned

c: to be flobbed off with weak excuses

[cashman]

ta fer the heads up accyman.i'm with O2 payg, wont be goin in there if any probs, bought it from carphone on union st about 11/12 months ago £20 n never had any prob so far.

[accyman]

there must be some difference between how they treat contract and pay as you go customers , i guess contract customers make them more money

[onlyme]

A mate of mine had a very, very similar experience to this with the Carphone warehouse shop on Union street, but it was the manager throwing the accusations around. Even through the phone was under 30 days old (and so should have just been swapped out, as we later discovered) he sent it for repairs, and tried to charge for the repair. We spoke to the actual engineers who agreed that it wasnt a chargeable repair and should be done under warranty, and he still tried charging. Ended up getting the phone, taking it to the shop in Blackburn who then sorted the whole thing out.

[MargaretR]

I suggest that you get advice here-
Lancashire County Council
Trading Standards
58 - 60 Guildhall Street
Preston
Lancashire
PR1 3NU


t: 08454 040506 (Consumer Direct for consumer advice)
f: 01772 533648
e: [email protected]
w: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/lancashire/

Notes: Phone: 0845 600 1352 if phoning from Lancashire

[Stanleymad]

Quote the sales of goods act 1982, its not fit for purpose!! Well amongst the morning telly there is something useful on - get Dom to sort it out hahaa! Seriously amazed or not on how much retail companies get away with stuff

Is it within its warranty?

[moon]

Oh dear!

[accyman]

just spent a while on the phone to O2 customer services and they have emailed the manager direct instructing him to ring me and they didnt seem to happy about what i had to say or the way i have been treated so far either but we will see what happens

[***Mr D***]

I would fight this all the way.

If your confident you have done nothing wrong dont give up keep on fighting.

Write to the manager advising him you want to make an official complaint and to whom this should be written to, also keep copies of all letters you send. and take name of any phone calls.

I hate things like this and have had many a running battle with large companies, some have take over 6 months to be rectified.

Good luck.

[forceten]

I've been with 02 for ages and have never had a problem with them. I've found 02 customer services to be more than helpful, and have even credited my sons phone back with credit after he got stung with one of thosepremium text things.

Stick to your guns and deal with the 02 customer care people

[WillowTheWhisp]

Stick to ypur guns and good luck. They should have sent it back to Samsung and they are trying to fob you off which is not good enough. The manager knows the buck stops with him so is obviously avoiding you.

Busman and I always leave our phones on charge overnight.

[Bonnyboy]

Thats rank treatment accyman. Make sure you get some kind of satisfaction from o2 before you let the matter drop.

Sounds like the manager needs a good dressing down.

[BERNADETTE]

Originally Posted by accyman

just spent a while on the phone to O2 customer services and they have emailed the manager direct instructing him to ring me and they didnt seem to happy about what i had to say or the way i have been treated so far either but we will see what happens

Sounds like the manager is full of his own importance, maybe a dressing down from his employers is just what he needs. Hope you get things sorted

[andrewb]

I've normally had the opposite, great help in Accrington store but terrible at their customer service centers.

Anyway, you've done right to ring their customer service. Play them off against each other normally works. I've done it before but in reverse.

This is the only problem with big corporations, you sometimes end up with employees that slip through the system, unless of course the company likes that sort of employee, then you'll get them a lot.

[MITZY]

I'm sorry over your experience Accyman but I'm with andrewb I have always had exceptionally good service in the Accrington shop, only had occasion to deal with customer service once and they were ok.