Why is it so difficult buying things from Carphone Warehouse?

First off, this may just be coincidental but my last two purchases from Carphone Warehouse have been a lot tougher than they should have been. Basically no one able to help properly, and being shoved back and forth from customer service and the physical store.

The first was regarding the free wireless charger that comes with the S6 Edge Plus. First they never made the order for me, then I was told to go to the store to get one, the store told me I can’t have that because that’s for other customers, then I was given credit to buy one (but those were the old slow wireless chargers), then I was told that even if they had the new wireless chargers in stock, I couldn’t buy those anyway as they’re not for purchase yet. All in all a few hours over customer service and miles and miles driving back and forth when all I was expecting was to be put on queue for a wireless charger.

Note: The staff in store and customer service were all (except one) extremely helpful and patient. As the story went on there was growing confusion. It seemed no one had the authority to order in this mysterious wireless charger and so felt it was easier to keep passing me from one person to another (in the process making me wait hours on the phone, sometimes hanging up on me). It was finally resolved with an online complaint. The matter was addressed swiftly and they dispatched a wireless charger to my home in Wales.

I thought that was that until I bought an invisible Shield screen protector. £19.99 was a bit pricey for a bit of plastic I thought but I was sold on the fact that if I ever needed to, the lifetime guarantee meant I could pop in the store and get a new one. The staff that sold it to me said these self heal and even though it looked horrible on application, it would sort itself out. The top one eventually did. the bottom had a massive bubble (like almost the width of the phone) that wasn’t going anywhere. I think it didn’t help that he sprayed my phone first with the application spray and not the plastic (he thought it’s ok and it’s meant to do that despite the instructions saying not to. To be fair, he did say he wasn’t going to put the protector but assisted anyway).

On the 16th September when I asked for the receipt, I was told one would be emailed out to me. My account was definitely checked at the store because they mentioned the wireless charger. Nothing was emailed to me. Also in store, they tried to get my details to get another invisibleshield. I was told to come back next week and they’d have it sorted. So it came as a bit of a surprise to find out that well, apparently I have no proof I was ever in the store. I couldn’t get a card statement either because on that same day, I was told the card machine wasn’t working. I had to pay in cash.

The store staff said there’s nothing they can do. I could speak to the manager or call customer services. Twitter also told me to contact customer services. Customer services told me to go back to the store and make sure that I always get a receipt or ask for reference numbers and check that my account is updated. Sure is a lot of making sure just to get a proof of purchase.

@JayMontano Hi, if you call our Customer Support Team on 0370 111 6565. They should be able to assist.

— Carphone Warehouse (@CPWTweets) September 24, 2015

I understand it’s a totally different scenario perhaps with the 920 I bought from Phones4U and the wireless charger that came in the post. Any issues perhaps were quickly dealt with possibly because either the Nokia people were extra helpful or the connections we had at the time. Having said that, the phones4U folks didn’t know about my background and didn’t have any major issues with the 920.

I don’t want to be the nagging consumer that annoys the sales staff, but then again, I don’t think that what’s been going on at my inconvenience is fair either. It might just be highly coincidental as I first mentioned that such issues keep occurring. I do have to applaud CPW on the swiftness of their service when it came to replacing the S6 Edge + one day after using it. I just had to go back to the specific store (as the local one was out of stock) and they changed it asap. Something that would have been a bit of a wait were it an online purchase.

The only other thing I didn’t like is throughout complaining about the lack of communication regarding the Samsung Wireless Charger, not once did Samsung on social media say anything. CPW, bless them, tried giving me phone numbers and then the complaint link.

So, lessons learnt. Always get your physical receipt. Don’t buy the whole “we will email it to you”. Take a picture of their screen (after asking them) to confirm updates to your account.

Category: Rant