All Sections

Phones4u says it won’t honour iPhone 6 pre-order refunds

Defunct mobile retailer Phones4u has pulled a 180 on customers’ iPhone 6 pre-orders and says it won’t dish out refunds, but Carphone Warehouse steps in to offer relief.

Last Monday we reported on the news that after losing out on renewed contracts with EE and Vodafone, high street mobile retailer Phones4u had gone into administration. Whilst customers already in existing contracts were informed that they would be unaffected by the closure, contrary to what the company had previously stated, it would no longer be able to offer refunds to those who laid down cash for an iPhone 6 pre-order.

However, Carphone Warehouse issued a statement soon after, saying that they instead would reimburse unfortunate customers any money paid up-front. All you need to do is buy your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus through their stores instead – just go into a store with a printed pre-order receipt to complete the deal.

No refunds

Just three days prior to closing its stores Phones4u had opened up the iPhone 6 pre-order service and customers duly handed over large wads of cash in return for the promise of Apple’s latest smart blowers once they became available. Initially the company had stated that despite it circumstances pre-order customers would be refunded, but it appears that being in administration sort of means you don’t have the resources to make those sorts of promises.

The retailer’s administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers subsequently emailed iPhone 6 pre-order customers (leaving every recipient’s name on display, whoops) informing them of the bad news and telling those who’d paid with credit or debit cards that they’d have try and get a refund from their card’s provider.

On the firm’s website it states:

‘Unfortunately we do not have any iPhone 6’s, therefore customers who have pre-ordered an iPhone 6 through Phones 4u will not receive their purchase.

Customers who have paid using credit cards should contact their credit card company to try and seek resolution to this matter.  If you are unable to obtain a refund through your credit card company and wish to register a claim, your claim (to the extent you have one) will rank as an unsecured claim in the Administration – please select the relevant claim form from the Creditors and suppliers tab [from the web page] on the left.’

So it appears that those who have fallen foul to Phones4u’s plight will either have to endure a lengthy refund process through their credit card company or an even lengthier process arguing their claim with PwC. For many that could take months and will no doubt leave a bitter taste in many former customers’ mouths.

Prior to Carphone Warehouse’s kind offer, British network EE offered to honour those iPhone pre-orders for any Phones 4u customers who signed up for an EE contract.

Have you been affected by the closure of Phones4u? Let us know in the comments below.

Source | Via

Image credit: Takomabibelot, Flickr

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *