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Carphone Warehouse and iPhone 3G

P

Padster

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 4, 2008
6
0
I spoke to Carphone Warehouse on numerous occasions this week here are some of the responses:

1) iPhone not available for pre-order, sorry don't have prices (Monday)
2) iPhone 8Gb £399 and 16Gg £450 PAYG with free 3G data for life (and they took my card details for pre-order)

3)iPhone not available for PAYG
"Are you sure?", "Well, no. I didn't go to the meeting"

4)iPhone available on PAYG for £350 and £400. No free 3G. Have to have bolt on for £10 a month. Not doing pre-order and will not. You will not get it on the 11th July.

5)iPhone available on PAYG for £410. 16Gb only. No details of data.

*Sound of my head banging against a brick wall*
 
Hmm. Carphonewarehouse. I think they will say anything to try to secure a customer to sign up. I'm avoiding them, and going straight to O2.
 
Padster said:
I spoke to Carphone Warehouse on numerous occasions this week here are some of the responses:

1) iPhone not available for pre-order, sorry don't have prices (Monday)
2) iPhone 8Gb £399 and 16Gg £450 PAYG with free 3G data for life (and they took my card details for pre-order)

3)iPhone not available for PAYG
"Are you sure?", "Well, no. I didn't go to the meeting"

4)iPhone available on PAYG for £350 and £400. No free 3G. Have to have bolt on for £10 a month. Not doing pre-order and will not. You will not get it on the 11th July.

5)iPhone available on PAYG for £410. 16Gb only. No details of data.

*Sound of my head banging against a brick wall*
Click to expand...


Dude...i spoke to CPW today they said £349 for 8GB and £399 for 16GB

So i would take it with a pinch of salt...i did pre order an iPhone but you mark my words they will call you Thursday and say...

"sorry Apple and 02 have been difficult and wont let us sell it on PAYG" then they will throw loads of figures at you and say "how about a contract"

If you do not want a contract dont do it!!!!!!
 
Padster said:
5)iPhone available on PAYG for £410. 16Gb only. No details of data.
Click to expand...

£410 sounds like £400 iphone + £10 sim card. 16gb only could indicate that they only wanted to sell 16gb to push their sales figures. But then again, O2 has posters out already saying PAYG isnt available till "later this year".
 
Leave O2 and CPW alone... they obviously have no clear information from the top yet, all you're going to get is mixed messages from over-confident store workers who are trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
 
miniConvert said:
Leave O2 and CPW alone... they obviously have no clear information from the top yet, all you're going to get is mixed messages from over-confident store workers who are trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
Click to expand...

Sorry Mr CEO of Carphone Warehouse and 02 :eek:
 
For your own sanity I'd not bother asking the shops yet as they don't appear to have a clue. The minute someone finds out something concrete, it'll be posted on here.
 
ascender said:
For your own sanity I'd not bother asking the shops yet as they don't appear to have a clue. The minute someone finds out something concrete, it'll be posted on here.
Click to expand...

I prefer O2 over CW, as of all the times i've been in O2 shops, as it's possible to talk with the Manager of the store at quiet times - they are on the shop floor, and know a lot more than is initially shown - they'll be the ones with the most up to date information. However, even they have to keep abreast of messages trickling down from higher up.
 
t0mat0 said:
I prefer O2 over CW, as of all the times i've been in O2 shops, as it's possible to talk with the Manager of the store at quiet times - they are on the shop floor, and know a lot more than is initially shown - they'll be the ones with the most up to date information. However, even they have to keep abreast of messages trickling down from higher up.
Click to expand...

CPW are re-sellers and I never deal with re-sellers. Someone else got it right - they will say ANYTHING to get a signature on an 18 month contract.

Go to an o2 store next Friday (wow - it really is only a week away) and ge thte phone from them
 
Padster said:
I spoke to Carphone Warehouse on numerous occasions this week here are some of the responses:

1) iPhone not available for pre-order, sorry don't have prices (Monday)
2) iPhone 8Gb £399 and 16Gg £450 PAYG with free 3G data for life (and they took my card details for pre-order)

3)iPhone not available for PAYG
"Are you sure?", "Well, no. I didn't go to the meeting"

4)iPhone available on PAYG for £350 and £400. No free 3G. Have to have bolt on for £10 a month. Not doing pre-order and will not. You will not get it on the 11th July.

5)iPhone available on PAYG for £410. 16Gb only. No details of data.

*Sound of my head banging against a brick wall*
Click to expand...

Right I've signed up after lurking for a while. I work for CPW and I have a natural interest in technology so I'm not a sales shark like I know some can be! I've also had iphone3g training from my regional manager so can answer most of the questions that people have.

To answer some of the questions...

All stores will get a good supply of iphones however only around 20% of them will be 16gb ones.

There will be no payg at launch for definite.

We were given payg prices of £349 and £399 (I saw the o2 website as well when the prices were 'accidently' put up so don't know how definite these are!)

There will be NO white 16gb at launch!

Most CPW stores will be open their normal time.

There are no pre-orders in CPW stores.

Interestingly the credit check 'strictness' will vary depending which iphone you go for and which tariff you want to go on. ie. If you want a 16gb iphone on a £75 tariff it will be harder to pass then a 8gb on a £35 tariff.

No stores have had any official training packs or demo iphones yet unlike the original launch where we had plenty of info leading upto the launch.

So please take it easy on CPW/o2 employees as they have had very little info from 'up high' mainly it seems due to lack of info from o2!

Thanks
merlinwiz
 
Merlinwiz - could you tell me whether as an existing 02 customer through CPW who is wanting to buy an 8gb iphone another credit check will be done?

I have a Blackberry at present and my contract is up so is my easiest route through CPW or direct with 02?
 
feistymama said:
Merlinwiz - could you tell me whether as an existing 02 customer through CPW who is wanting to buy an 8gb iphone another credit check will be done?

I have a Blackberry at present and my contract is up so is my easiest route through CPW or direct with 02?
Click to expand...

If you are billed by CPW02 ie. it says carphone warehouse at the top of your bills then you HAVE to get it from CPW if you want to keep your number. Our computer systems will automatically create a PAC number for you to transfer to o2 direct . Because it's a change of service provider I'm 99.9% sure a new credit check would be done :) HTH

Thanks
 
Merlinwiz said:
If you are billed by CPW02 ie. it says carphone warehouse at the top of your bills then you HAVE to get it from CPW if you want to keep your number. Our computer systems will automatically create a PAC number for you to transfer to o2 direct . Because it's a change of service provider I'm 99.9% sure a new credit check would be done :) HTH

Thanks
Click to expand...

He is 'out of contract' so why not give CPW02 30 days noice, take a new contract with o2 and transfer the number?

This will mean paying double for 1 month but so what. Small price to pay IMO
 
Merlinwiz said:
If you are billed by CPW02 ie. it says carphone warehouse at the top of your bills then you HAVE to get it from CPW if you want to keep your number. Our computer systems will automatically create a PAC number for you to transfer to o2 direct . Because it's a change of service provider I'm 99.9% sure a new credit check would be done :) HTH

Thanks
Click to expand...

This is unmitigated nonsense. Merlinwiz, I am not suggesting that you are misleading anyone on purpose, more I suggest, you are being given duff information.

I was on o2 with CPW and bought my original iPhone from Apple. Long story short, when I wanted my PAC code I was given the run around from several departments, including the 'porting team'. The 'Manager' that I spoke to finally told me that I had to return my iPhone to Apple and buy one from CPW if I wanted to keep my number.

I was particularly amused by the porting team admitting that they generated the codes, but could not give it to me. Why? Because it is generated when you purchase an iPhone. My response, 'who generates them', reply 'er, we do'. Okay, so can I have a code please, 'no, it's done in store' and the loop continued.

I knew that I was being lied to in order to generate a sale. I worked for CPW when I was a student (late 90's) and wrote to Charles Dunstone. What followed was a swift apology. An admission that I had been misled and a phone call on port day to apologise again and to ensure my port had gone through properly.

When I worked at CPW it was perceived as an honest company on the side of the consumer in a confusing world. It has changed beyond recognition.
 
Dunstone being the CEO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carphone_Warehouse

Wonder where the idea to buy AOL UK came from...
The wiki does describe then using slamming in the mid 90s too. They're in competition with O2 for sales. Kinda hard for them to see the sales just look at the handsets, then go direct to the 1 and only carrier in the UK selling iPhones...

On 28 October 2006 in a Times interview Richard Thomas, Britain's Information Commissioner, stated:[36]

We’re taking action against some of the telecom companies, Talk Talk and Carphone Warehouse. We’re taking action against them because we’ve had a lot of complaints that they’ve been telephoning people with marketing calls, people whose name is on the telephone preference service. And then we do these prosecutions, particularly with private detectives. We’ve got a big case coming up.
Click to expand...

They might be doing decent accessory bundles however, so it's probably worth seeing what they can haggle to - as O2 will presumably have different offers on.
 
After my experience a few years ago with CPW (they slipped a talktalk contract into the middle of the contracts despite being told categorically that I wasn't interested) I'll never set foot in one again - whether they have better plans or not. It's just not worth it.
 
Padster said:
I spoke to Carphone Warehouse on numerous occasions this week here are some of the responses:

1) iPhone not available for pre-order, sorry don't have prices (Monday)
2) iPhone 8Gb £399 and 16Gg £450 PAYG with free 3G data for life (and they took my card details for pre-order)

3)iPhone not available for PAYG
"Are you sure?", "Well, no. I didn't go to the meeting"

4)iPhone available on PAYG for £350 and £400. No free 3G. Have to have bolt on for £10 a month. Not doing pre-order and will not. You will not get it on the 11th July.

5)iPhone available on PAYG for £410. 16Gb only. No details of data.

*Sound of my head banging against a brick wall*
Click to expand...
Umm I spoke to the guy at the O2 store today, and he said that the PAYG iPhone will not be out until December at the earliest...
 
I emailed the CEO of 02 basically saying they could not organize a row of chairs and its a week until it comes out.got a reply but no more information on it he said he would inform about it :

From the email :

I'm currently looking in to this matter for you and I will have some further information on the release of the new iPhone on Pay & Go, early next week. In the meantime,

so looks like they care even gave me a number to phone him and everything i owe them for that but what a shambles

Regards
Jonathan
 
Emailing the CEO gets to customer support... no company would let random people really email their CEO. So it's really no better than phoning them at this point.
 
TonyHoyle said:
Emailing the CEO gets to customer support... no company would let random people really email their CEO. So it's really no better than phoning them at this point.
Click to expand...

Sorry to prove you wrong but I never got put through to customer support iIeven said I did not want that on the email ,it was one of these guys "Executive Director" not going to say which one!

Regards
Jonathan
 
UKLawTalkingGuy said:
This is unmitigated nonsense. Merlinwiz, I am not suggesting that you are misleading anyone on purpose, more I suggest, you are being given duff information.

I was on o2 with CPW and bought my original iPhone from Apple. Long story short, when I wanted my PAC code I was given the run around from several departments, including the 'porting team'. The 'Manager' that I spoke to finally told me that I had to return my iPhone to Apple and buy one from CPW if I wanted to keep my number.

I was particularly amused by the porting team admitting that they generated the codes, but could not give it to me. Why? Because it is generated when you purchase an iPhone. My response, 'who generates them', reply 'er, we do'. Okay, so can I have a code please, 'no, it's done in store' and the loop continued.


When I worked at CPW it was perceived as an honest company on the side of the consumer in a confusing world. It has changed beyond recognition.
Click to expand...

From what was explained to me, we have an agreement with o2 to look after cpwo2 customers while existing iphone customer have to go direct to o2, although like you explained I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work the other way that you suggested as well, it's just that it would be quicker and more convenient buying from CPW.

I've worked for CPW for 10 years so I know what you mean about the reputation of the company changing from the early years, but they've realised this and are trying to change back. ( In the stores I've managed it has never changed - funnily enough we manage to hit our targets by looking after customers as much as we can!) :)
 
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