This company is a shambles. It is run by people who know nothing about phones, they employ staff who know nothing about the industry, they sell crap as a “good deal”.
My Experience
I first got my contract with CPW back in October 2008, thinking it was a cracking contract. It consisted of the Nokia 6300 (an extremely reliable phone, though very basic), a Nintendo DS Lite (with nothing but the console, a manual and the charger), 14 days wait, £150 “up front confirmation fee”, and some snotty cow on the phone.
Basically, I applied for the contract in August when I just got paid. Happy as Larry, I completed all the forms on the screen and clicked submit. It then asked me for payment details, so I filled them in and submitted. It then asked me to confirm my order, which I did, and then submitted. On the order confirmation form, it said that the credit checks are instant, and they will email me regardless of the situation. 2 or 3 days passed, and still no email about my credit check or dispatch. 7 days passed, and still nothing. I went into one of their stores near where I live, and queried why my application for a contract phone is “stale”. They took my details, got me to confirm, and looked at me. The customer service agent called over his colleague and they both stood looking at the screen for about 5 minutes. Amongst themselves, one said to the other, “Have you seen anything like that before?”, the other replied, “No”. The guy then turned to me and said, “You’ll have to phone them up and speak to someone”. I stormed out the store, angry as hell.
Getting pretty wound up and phoned the number they give me. Stupid fucking robots. Press 1, Press 2, Press 3. I’d rather not press any fucking buttons at all and just speak to someone. When I finally got through to someone, lets just say they had difficulty speaking the Queen’s English. I couldn’t understand a blood word they were saying. After finally getting through to him what it was I wanted, he turned around to me and said, “Oh, that’s right, you need to transfer £150 as credit insurance”. I was livid. I can understand the credit insurance, but why nobody could contact me and tell me, I don’t know.
So I sent the money and finalized some details. When the phone arrived, it was thrown out of the van by the courier, then slammed onto the desk, and some grubby piece of wood with a bulldog clip on it was handed to me. I told him to hang on while I opened the bag and checked all the boxes inside were visually sound. He looked pissed off and asked me to hurry up because it was nearly his dinner time. I chuckled and checked them once more.
From that day onwards, I’ve never had contact from CPW, nor have they written to me about my expiring contract. One thing they have done is sold my mobile number onto other companies so they can try and buy my contract from me.
So if this is anything to go by, take my advice, and NEVER USE CARPHONE WAREHOUSE. They are a waste of time, they wait for you to contact them, and they use the worst couriers in the country.
Other Experiences
Other people have also had bad experiences with CPW when it comes towards the end of their contractual period. Most of them state that if you end your contract without 30 days written notice, they charge you. Of course this could be debatable, but quite a few telecoms forums have said the same thing.
