Carphone Warehouse

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Hello,

Im evaluating bill pay options from the big 3 providers before signing a new contract and I was just wondering -

Do the carphone warehouse offer exactly the same contracts that you would get in the provider's shop?

E.g. If i want a meteor contract will there be any difference if I get it in the Carphone Warehouse or the meteor shop?

I'm only after a contract, happy enough with current phone.

robinph

they are selling the same things for the same prices, but they will try and flog you their "insurance" deal instead.

long_b

They're doing i trade in offer at the moment - check out Bargain Alerts.

Sam Vimes

the contracts are the same. sometimes phones are different prices and sometimes they have phones that you can only get there.

personally i prefer to go there because you're more likely to get unbiased advice than in a network shop. it's not guaranteed because sometimes there are staff incentives for particular products but i can't picture a vodafone store employee saying that o2 is better

Random

What vimes said but i would advise popping into the network shops too to hear what they have to say. Cpw won't know as much as the network store because they have so much information to take in. Not to say network store employees can't be idiots though.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Thanks for the replies.

Question came up because i was wondering how carphone warehouse made their money. Apart from the insurance they must be recieving incentives from the providers...

Sam Vimes

yes they are. They get a fixed amount for shining people up to a particular tariff

120_Minutes

and their insurance is not a scam, like so many people round here like to think.

Sam Vimes

120_Minutes wrote: »

and their insurance is not a scam, like so many people round here like to think.

this is true. it can be a bit expensive and with certain models it's not worth it but that's usually because the price of the model has come down and the insurance band hasn't been updated to reflect it yet.

an awful lot of my customers left with new phones after destroying their own. the worst i ever saw was a flat phone after a tractor drove over it. he was glad of the insurance

Random

Worst thing is when people don't read all the T&C and make assumptions on how the insurance works.

Gillo

Personnally, I would have said go around to the network stores, talk to the staff take away the brochure's and look over them when you get home.

Try these guys, I'm not sure how recently they have updated the information but it's a very useful independent tool.

Having worked in a network store (and I'm sure other's here who have worked in network stores will agree) I've been shocked at the lack of service that CPW have given customers after they've bought something (generally they seemed to get sent to the network store to solve any issue they may have). That said I'm quite sure that there a horrow stories going the other direction also>

Sam Vimes

Gillo wrote: »

Personnally, I would have said go around to the network stores, talk to the staff take away the brochure's and look over them when you get home.

Try these guys, I'm not sure how recently they have updated the information but it's a very useful independent tool.

Having worked in a network store (and I'm sure other's here who have worked in network stores will agree) I've been shocked at the lack of service that CPW have given customers after they've bought something (generally they seemed to get sent to the network store to solve any issue they may have). That said I'm quite sure that there a horrow stories going the other direction also>

and while in cpw i got many many customers in who'd been fobbed off in the local o2 store. a good few came in fuming at how they'd been treated. it all depends on the individual staff.

also, i knew some of the staff in the o2 store and they were all on meteor. they can't be that honest if what's best for the entire staff of the store isn't what's best for any of their customers

Gillo

Sam Vimes wrote: »

also, i knew some of the staff in the o2 store and they were all on meteor. they can't be that honest if what's best for the entire staff of the store isn't what's best for any of their customers

I've known two staff to be on meteor the first most of her friends we on meteor and it suited her best to stay on meteor.

At the end of the day it's a case of shopping around, you'll get good, bad and great employees in all companies it's unfortunate when you get bad ones.

towel401

They sell their unlocked phones for extremely high prices so they can get people to buy contract/locked phones instead.

so yea they must be getting "kick backs" as they are known in the industry

graduate

They sell their unlocked phones for extremely high prices

Extremely high prices compared to who?

so yea they must be getting "kick backs" as they are known in the industry

of course they get commission for signing people up to networks, since they are doing their work for them, hardly something you would describe as "kick back".

Sam Vimes

towel401 wrote: »

They sell their unlocked phones for extremely high prices so they can get people to buy contract/locked phones instead.

so yea they must be getting "kick backs" as they are known in the industry

yes indeed. Cpw provide a service to the networks and they pay them for that service. It's a massive conspiracy

athtrasna

I have bought my last 3 phones at CW because the Meteor shops never seem to have the model I want in stock. They'll have a display model but 3 times in 3 years they haven't had the phone in stock. Next year I'll wait for the delivery I think!

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Just to follow up on what's been said about customer service;

Just went to all 3 operator stores in the northside shopping centre -

Vodafone - Guy on the phone, pointed at the brochure when i asked for the tarrifs's while he wasn't talking.

02 - Sour looking guy working behind the counter (distracted by 3 little lads acting the bolox in the shop, same story - points at tarriff plan and goes back to typing.

Meteor - Went into the shop, 3 customers with attendants. Stood for a few seconds before 1 of them broke off to ask if i needed anything. Asked her for the tarriff plan, she told me to wait two seconds and she'd write down the new offers when she'd helped the customer she was with. Couldn't have been more helpful + Meteor seem to be better value around the €50 a month bill bracket, they've got free weekend and evening calls as well.

120_Minutes

I won't name the town, but I've heard from a good source that a few of the network stores in this town send their customers to cpw AFTER they buy the phone cos they can't be arsed dealing with the problems. I couldn't believe the cheek!

laoisfan

120_Minutes wrote: »

I won't name the town, but I've heard from a good source that a few of the network stores in this town send their customers to cpw AFTER they buy the phone cos they can't be arsed dealing with the problems. I couldn't believe the cheek!

is it Lazytown?

towel401

graduate wrote: »

Extremely high prices compared to who?



of course they get commission for signing people up to networks, since they are doing their work for them, hardly something you would describe as "kick back".

eBay, expansys and anything else on the interweb. 300 eur for an unlocked E51, its freaking crazy. not really a conspiracy just a business model that pushes people to buy locked & branded phones.

Sam Vimes

towel401 wrote: »

eBay, expansys and anything else on the interweb. 300 eur for an unlocked E51, its freaking crazy. not really a conspiracy just a business model that pushes people to buy locked & branded phones.

and there's nothing wrong with that. when i was there we never even had any sim free phones in stock. there was an option on the till to sell a locked contract phone without a contract at the sim free price but we were told never to sell phones like that because it was the least profitable way to sell them

if you were running a business and you could sell something two ways, one of which make you €10 profit and another which made you €60, would you feel guilty about encouraging the second way?

towel401

Sam Vimes wrote: »

and there's nothing wrong with that. when i was there we never even had any sim free phones in stock. there was an option on the till to sell a locked contract phone without a contract at the sim free price but we were told never to sell phones like that because it was the least profitable way to sell them

if you were running a business and you could sell something two ways, one of which make you €10 profit and another which made you €60, would you feel guilty about encouraging the second way?

its just annoying that you have to resort to buying phones off the internet if you want it for a decent price and without the simlock. all because the shops are teaming up with the big network operators.

It wasn't always like that, a few years ago I got an unlocked Siemens SL55 there. wasn't that much of a rip off. they are just making the sim free phones appear artificially more expensive to entice people into buying a locked/contract phone.

So you walk in and they sell an unlocked phone for 200 eur, but on prepaid with voda for say 120. Really the phone is only worth around 120 but people think they are getting a good deal, really they are getting sweet f*** all.