For anyone considering ever buying anything in Carphone Warehouse

Attol

So last week I bought I went in looking for a nice new Nokia and to move my existing number to bill pay. Simple enough request right? I picked out my phone, wrote down my number and handed it to the girl. Contracts were signed etc.

Got home and noticed an extra sim pack. Had no idea what it was for so put it in the phone and found out it was a bill pay. Minor freak out, called the help line who told me I would have to go back to the shop to sort it out. Started getting prank calls on my old number so decided maybe I'd keep the new one.

Couple of days later check online out of curiosity how many minutes I have left from my contract. Turns out I was signed up for a Talk 60, not a Talk 200. Call up, told they'd contact the shop for me. Gave up waiting and went in, was told they'd fax the contracts to Meteor.

Next day my first bill arrives. Well funny thing is there are two numbers charged to my account. One of the numbers I have never seen before, was never told about and never received a sim card for. Go into cancel it in the shop and they say they will get someone to call me and then go over the details with me so they can cancel it. I go to work where I usually have little to no reception so don't think it too odd when my phone keeps saying no reception. Go to the pub, curse Meteor for my lack of reception and everyone else asks what am I talking about, they're all Meteor customers and have perfect reception. I'm a bit confused but put it down to being in the basement. On the way home still nothing. Call the customer service people who tell me both the numbers were cancelled and there's nothing they can do. I''ll have to call back tomorrow. I have very little free time to go chasing this and now my sim isn't working how am I meant to be calling them on the move?!?! GAHH!

thefinalstage

Keep the phone get it unlocked go to a different network. Screw them all the contract was null because you didn't get what you signed for.

Attol

Thing is I've already given that number to everyone and the phone is unlocked anyway. This wasn't Meteor's fault so I won't blame them. I've been with Meteor for years and have never had problems before. When these problems arose they were due to the staff at CPW afaik. They were the ones I went to to ask to fix these mistakes and they were the ones to make them in the first place. Basically I've had to set up everything by myself and had to take time off to fix this due to the awkwardness of the call centres. Last night the bill pay office in Meteor was apparently closed so they could do nothing for me as they could only process PAYG accounts, this morning CPW's call centre only opened at nine, my first class is at 9.30. I've left them a complaint now so hopefully something comes of this. Really losing my patience.

It's not the first time I've had trouble with CPW either. Bought a RAZR PAYG in England. The outer screen stopped working, the battery stopped lasting and it refused to send texts. When I sent it off to be repaired I went to CPW on Talbot Street. The guy scanned it in and said it was in warranty and they could find the transaction on their systems so that was ok. I send it off. I ask if they have my current details as I had moved. They didn't so I gave my mobile number, address, everything. A month later still no word. Go back in and ask is everything ok. They tell me my phone has been sitting there for 2 weeks and they tried calling me. Turns out the guy never updated my number or any other details. They'd been trying to call my English number.

MOH

I've been with Meteor (prepaid) for a couple of years, and was entitled to an upgrade with about 70 eur credit.

Went into CPW, told them I was with Meteor prepaid, asked for an upgrade. Picked out a phone, the guy started entering the details in the till. Then said I'd get 20 eur credit with the phone. I asked would I get the rest over the next few months, and he said no, just 20 eur.

I showed him the printout I had from the Meteor website showing my credit entitlements, and he said Meteor had changed this two weeks ago, and probably hadn't updated their website. Then gave me some nonsense claiming the table on the web page being just a sample of how much I would get if I bought x amount of credit on my new phone.

Left it, and emailed Meteor to check was I right, and could I buy an upgrade pack in CPW or only in Meteor. The said I was right (except I was owed 100 credit, not 70), no problem, and just make sure CPW knew I wanted an upgrade as what the guy had been offering me was a new customer pack.

Went back to CPW, got a different guy. Told him I wanted a Meteor upgrade. "We don't do those". Told him I'd been in a few days ago and was told they did. "Oh, it's a prepaid account? Just to buy a new phone, that there was no difference."

Showed him a printout of the Meteor e-mail and explained the 80 euro credit difference. He glanced at it, gave me the same rubbish about the credit plan changing, along with some new convoluted excuse involving old and new stocks of phones. Then finally told me I couldn't have a Meteor upgrade.

Left it again and got my upgrade in 30 seconds in a Meteor shop in town that weekend.

So twice, after clearly stating I wanted an upgrade, for which Meteor would give me 100 eur credit, they tried to fob me off with a new phone with only 20 eur credit. I mailed Meteor back telling them all the details and advising they might want to drop that particular shop as a reseller.

Random

Don't just take the phone and screw the contract - you're legally liable. Go into CPW, speak to manager and sort it out.

Attol

Well the bastards haven't given me a contract yet so I'm not sure what's going on. They said they'd post it but still nothing...

Sam Vimes

you can't blame the whole company because of one incompetent person. and i used to work in a phone shop (not cpw) and i can tell you that in 6 months i only managed to successfully complete one meteor contract without them f*cking it up in some way. and yes it was always their fault. every few days someone in the shop would say "meteor strikes again" and we all knew what they were talking about.

Attol

ONE incompetent person? There was the girl I bought it off the first time who made these screw ups in the first place, the guy who faxed an order to cancel both the numbers, the three useless call cantre people who just said go to the shop or that they'd call me back, the guy who failed to take my details when my last phone went to repair.

Sam Vimes

Attol wrote:

ONE incompetent person? There was the girl I bought it off the first time who made these screw ups in the first place, the guy who faxed an order to cancel both the numbers, the three useless call cantre people who just said go to the shop or that they'd call me back, the guy who failed to take my details when my last phone went to repair.

ok so you have two people who made mistakes in a multi national organisation and you branded the whole company. the two being the girl who (may or may not have) entered the details wrong and the guy who didn't update your details properly. having had extensive dealings with meteor customer care i refuse to accept that anything involving them is anybody else's fault. if only you knew the level of their retardedness. would you like some examples?

you've experienced it yourself. the meteor people you called could have sorted it out but chose to fob you off.

and you left the shop with a sim pack that you didn't want. how did that happen? she seems to have thought for some reason that you wanted two accounts on different tariffs. how did she get that idea and did you not correct her as she was going through the form? did you get two phones? and if i read your OP right, neither of the numbers on the contract were your own. is that right?

having said that, the meteor online contract system is a nightmare. i wouldn't be surprised if she made a mistake without noticing

Sam Vimes

Attol wrote:

Well the bastards haven't given me a contract yet so I'm not sure what's going on. They said they'd post it but still nothing...

did they not give you a copy when you bought it? sounds to me like the person you were dealing with was very new. did she seem nervous and like she didn't know what she was doing?

Slice

Will Meteor not reconnect your number for you onto Pay As You Go over the phone? Then perhaps you could move to billpay with someone else like a Meteor Shop or 3G Store. In fairness it's really poor customer service on CPW's part - they've compounded one mistake with another to make matters worse, so yes, it does reflect badly on the company. If you do reconnect onto PAYG then CPW might expect the phones back since the contract is void.

Sam Vimes

Slice wrote:

Will Meteor not reconnect your number for you onto Pay As You Go over the phone? Then perhaps you could move to billpay with someone else like a Meteor Shop or 3G Store. In fairness it's really poor customer service on CPW's part - they've compounded one mistake with another to make matters worse, so yes, it does reflect badly on the company. If you do reconnect onto PAYG then CPW might expect the phones back since the contract is void.

the first mistake is maybe the cpw girl's fault but i think the OP should have some responsibility there because he left the shop with a sim pack that he didn't want. should've really asked then and there what it was for. and as i said, the fact that it involves meteor means its probably their fault

the second thing is pretty much guaranteed to be meteor's fault. the guy faxed off the contract for cancellation. what else is he supposed to do?


and he has to return them to cpw. he can't just port to payg or he'll have to pay off his minimum commitment

Attol

The girl seemed to know what she was doing. My parents called back for me as I was in work and they were told the sim pack would change into the number I wanted at some point during the day. I should expect my number to stop working for 20 mins while this happened.