Mobile Phone shop gave out wrong phone!

JohnCleary

My girlfriend jsut rang me there...

She dropped her phone into Vodafone to get some work done on it. When she returned to collect it, the person at the counter said that they had accidently given her phone to someone else. They said that the person will probably return to the shop and return the phone.. But what if they dont?

Legally/Ethically... what is my girlfriend entitled to here? They lost her phone by giving it to someone else

Richard Dower

Well she should at least be entitled to a new phone, under the circumstances...considering her phone has probably alot of private information stored on it, such as numbers and text messages.

Give it a few days and then ask to be compensated for the loss with a new phone + some free credit.

JohnCleary

She went back into the shop there and got her phone back.

She didnt get any compensation, however I thought she should have. I know if it was me I would have kicked up total stink.. but the gf is too easy going

BrianD

Why would she be entitled to compensation over a simple mistake?

Pythia

Because of the compo-culture. Sure everyone's doing it nowadays!

JohnCleary

BrianD wrote:

Why would she be entitled to compensation over a simple mistake?

A simple mistake? They gave someones property to someone else.

What would you say if you handed your car into a garage for a service, and when you went to claim it back, they simply said "Oh sorry we gave it to someone else"

Karoma

Out of curiosity: did they hand out her sim card as well, or were there contacts i the phone's memory?

stepbar

With respect a car is a different matter (and a more serious one if sum1 drove off in ur car....) but I agree they should have given her sum call credit r sumthing cause im sure it inconviencied her having to come back into the shop a second time if they had to have been smart they would have because now its more likely she'll be telling her friends about how crap Vodafone have been instead of telling them how nice and friendly they were.....

JohnCleary

Karoma wrote:

Out of curiosity: did they hand out her sim card as well, or were there contacts i the phone's memory?

All numbers/txts/etc were on the phone memory.. This is why she was so annoyed

Fighting Irish

stepbar wrote:

With respect a car is a different matter (and a more serious one if sum1 drove off in ur car....) but I agree they should have given her sum call credit r sumthing cause im sure it inconviencied her having to come back into the shop a second time if they had to have been smart they would have because now its more likely she'll be telling her friends about how crap Vodafone have been instead of telling them how nice and friendly they were.....

not to some 14 year old girls

Bluetonic

JohnCleary wrote:

I know if it was me I would have kicked up total stink.. but the gf is too easy going

Thank God for people like your girlfriend, the world needs less people like you. I'd say your a joy to be around.

Pythia

JohnCleary wrote:

All numbers/txts/etc were on the phone memory.. This is why she was so annoyed

You do know that when they fix a phone they generally wipe the memory anyway.

JohnCleary

Pythia wrote:

You do know that when they fix a phone they generally wipe the memory anyway.

They werent fixing it.. think they were charging it or something

rubadub

BrianD wrote:

Why would she be entitled to compensation over a simple mistake?

Jesus, free credit costs them feck all it is the least the incompetent bastards could do.
What if this was a laptop with all your files and stuff, I save lots of stuff on my MMC card.

If it was a creche would it have been a "simple mistake"

JohnCleary

Bluetonic wrote:

Thank God for people like your girlfriend, the world needs less people like you. I'd say your a joy to be around.

If the world was like my girlfriend, we'd be getting sloppy meals, paying over the odds for services, etc.. the list goes on.

I am a total joy to be around, but I won't settle for 2nd best when I deserve the best. When im providing a service to my customers, they come first. Afterall, they are paying my wage. I don't see why anyone else should be different.

Random

A mistake. Mistake being the main word.

Pythia

rubadub wrote:

Jesus, free credit costs them feck all it is the least the incompetent bastards could do.
What if this was a laptop with all your files and stuff, I save lots of stuff on my MMC card.

If it was a creche would it have been a "simple mistake"

But it wasn't a creche.

They were doing her a favour by charging her phone for a few minutes. It was a mistake, get over it.

slumped

They should have offered something without admitting to any liability.

I would have the same attitude as they OP.

If I drop my kid to a creche and they give her to the wrong parents, why should I have to come back later to see if the other parents realise they have the wrong kid.

Same theory behind it. My advice, get on to their press office and let them know what happened and that you will issue a statement to the papers about it.

Probably just get 10 euro credit. What else do you want?
S

Richard Dower

A free holiday?

slumped

Richard Dower wrote:

A free holiday?

Ha ha!

Now I know you're kidding!

Richard Dower

I'm not!...the emotional trauma alone could wreck this poor girls life!!

slumped

Richard Dower wrote:

I'm not!...the emotional trauma alone could wreck this poor girls life!!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Talk to the judge cos the shop aint listening;)

Pythia

slumped wrote:

Same theory behind it. My advice, get on to their press office and let them know what happened and that you will issue a statement to the papers about it.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Mistake made in shop! Recified soon after!

Random

Pythia wrote:

HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Mistake made in shop! Recified soon after!

4 people dead in the violence which followed into the night ..

smarty

Was she charged any money for charging the phone?

If she was concerned about privacy, why didn't she have a PIN on the phone?

failsafe

Everyone makes mistakes in work, no harm was done. If they're repairing a phone they take out the sim and mmc before they send it off. But in this case they were doing her a favour by charging it for a few mins (i'm presuming.) I bet you anything it's against Vodafone's policy to do such a favour because a quick charge wouldn't be documented etc. and when a simple mistake is made, people like the OP scream for compo. I'm sure if they had said no he'd be on here complaining that they're too scabby to charge her battery.

RodVelvet

Working with phones myself, this is why i hate doing anyone a favour.People are just ungrateful SOBs.

Normally if someone asks can I charge a phone I usually say I don't have any spare chargers.Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Do you think credit grows on trees.I know if I started giving out free credit it would be taken out of my wages.A good case for never doing any one a favour.

The person in the shop made a mistake.Everyone deserves forgiveness, it says so in the bible.Don't cast the first stone and all that.

Oh cop on - they were doing her a favour by charging it.
Get over it.

parsi

JohnCleary wrote:

They werent fixing it.. think they were charging it or something

Was that a chargeable job ?

JohnCleary

slumped wrote:

What else do you want?
S

A decent apology tbh. All the person in the shop said to her was "Don't worry about it - it happens all the time" ... Because thats going to make you more confident!

chrislad

Seriously, get over it. There was no harm done. In fact, I can only see good out of this. Maybe your gf won't forget to charge her phone in the future

JohnCleary

chrislad wrote:

Seriously, get over it. There was no harm done. In fact, I can only see good out of this. Maybe your gf won't forget to charge her phone in the future

It's ok, I got the lend of an AK47, went into the shop and shot dead every staff member I could see at the time*

*Not really

mountainyman

She should quite her job and claim she did it because the incident drover her crazy.

TempestSabre

The phone itself isn't a major concern, the sim I would be more concerned about. They gave her data to someone else. In principle thats a bigger issue.

As a matter of goodwill they should have offered her something. But of course goodwill means nothing these days. No one cares about the customer. even the customer. Laughing it off is very "Irish" but thats why we have such rotten service for everything in this country.

It would be an interesting topic to ask the Data Protection Commissioner about.

Data Protection Commissioner http://www.dataprotection.ie/

Pythia

TempestSabre wrote:

It would be an interesting topic to ask the Data Protection Commissioner about.

Data Protection Commissioner http://www.dataprotection.ie/

They were doing her a favour, so she handed in her phone at her own risk. That'd be similar to ringing those guys up because your friend gave your phone to someone else.
They were just charging her phone for a few minutes. Next time I'm sure they'll remember to tell customers to **** off if they ask.

is_that_so

Yes things like that do happen. She got the phone back, so what's the fuss?
If the OP is really upset he should write a letter pointing out the error of their ways. That way you are indicating your concern at their lack of proper systems. The ability to provide good service is not intinctive. Summarises many of the the "assistants" in shops these days.
Disappointing that so many posters seem to think waving the compo flag's the way to go.

TempestSabre

Pythia wrote:

They were doing her a favour, so she handed in her phone at her own risk. That'd be similar to ringing those guys up because your friend gave your phone to someone else.
They were just charging her phone for a few minutes. Next time I'm sure they'll remember to tell customers to **** off if they ask.

Rubbish. This is a business and customer relationship. Nothing like a friend at all. If they are so inept that they give out the wrong phones, to the wrong people they should stop other sloppy practises aswell. I think its a bit much asking for compo after them doing a favour but really if you screw up, your credibility is gone, how else do you restore the customer goodwill? I've never heard of shops charging someone phone before.

I've had shops lose a few things on me. First was a Apple Laser Printer, another time it was expensive portable CD player. Its just poor service, time to take your business elsewere.

JohnCleary

Pythia wrote:

They were doing her a favour, so she handed in her phone at her own risk. That'd be similar to ringing those guys up because your friend gave your phone to someone else.
They were just charging her phone for a few minutes. Next time I'm sure they'll remember to tell customers to **** off if they ask.

Right, so say if I was doing you a 'favour' by servicing your car right... and then I go along and crash it. Do I just hand it back to you, without even apologising, saying "Ah sure it happens all the time"

:rolleyes:

TerrorFirmer

They were doing you a free favour so there's not really much you can argue.

It would be one thing alright if the phone was never recovered or if you were paying for a service but since you got it back, alls well that ends well.

As long as the shop were nice about it and apologised, what more can they really do...

chrislad

People seem to be using extreme analogies. "What if I was babysitting your kid, and his head fell off, but I said sorry? Same thing".

Fact is, Vodafone (or indeed, O2 and Meteor) do not have to charge your phone for you. In fact, as I recall, they are advised not to for this reason. Thay were trying to be friendly, and yes, a **** up happened, but a **** up that was resolved, and that didn't hurt anyone. Yes, it would have been an issue if the sim got into someone elses hands, but it would have been her own fault if a) she didn't turn off the phone when dropping it into be charged or b) didn't have a PIN. Also, it's quite easy to stop people getting at your info by turning on the sim lock that comes with pretty much any phone, so in the event of something like this happening, there should be a safety measure. I don't know of anyone who knows anything about phones who don't have a security code on their phone if another sim is inserted.

JohnCleary

JohnCleary wrote:

Right, so say if I was doing you a 'favour' by servicing your car right... and then I go along and crash it. Do I just hand it back to you, without even apologising, saying "Ah sure it happens all the time"

:rolleyes:

If the phone wasn't damaged and you got it back, stop making stupid analogies which are in no way similar.
You have the bloody phone back, don't ask for anyone to charge it for you ever again, the end.

JohnCleary

HavoK wrote:

As long as the shop were nice about it and apologised, what more can they really do...

You really didnt read my posts did you? I'm angry because they didnt even apologise to her, instead came back with "Don't worry it happens all the time"

JohnCleary

bluewolf wrote:

If the phone wasn't damaged and you got it back, stop making stupid analogies which are in no way similar.
You have the bloody phone back, don't ask for anyone to charge it for you ever again, the end.

Turns out she actually had to get something fixed under warranty, I was wrong when I thought that she was in getting it charged for her

TempestSabre

Banging on WHY it was there is missing the point.

But its very "Irish" to dismiss poor service as not important.

kirving

Pythia wrote:

You do know that when they fix a phone they generally wipe the memory anyway.

No, they "update the "software"":rolleyes: And happen to just wipe all your expensive vodafone tones in the process. Either that, or they listen to them and wonder where you got them all! And then ask you! I know a lot of phones play mp3's these days, but back in the day, I got my tones off www.gapsring.co.uk