Carphone Warehouse..advantages?

osullivj35

Hi,

What are the advantages of going to carphone warehouse as opposed directly to the network operator?

I am looking at getting a galaxy s which isn't available directly from meteor yet....should I wait until it is available directly from meteor for a better price

Thanks,
Jon

rubicon99

good question,wondering the same

osullivj35 wrote: »

Hi,

What are the advantages of going to carphone warehouse as opposed directly to the network operator?

I am looking at getting a galaxy s which isn't available directly from meteor yet....should I wait until it is available directly from meteor for a better price

Thanks,
Jon

shanemcl

Carphone Warehouse give trade-in's on old phones, also the phones often come unlocked to the networks if you go on contract. They also offer 10% discount on accessories at time of purchase

plonk

The desire would have cost me 169euro but as I traded in my battered n73 I got it for 119.

Dammer

Usually I will always upgrade / change network at CPW as for a few reasons below.

1. All their contract phones are unlocked. Every contract phone that I bought from them were unlocked. When I leave Meteor I will be doing it at CPW.

2. Sometimes they offer phones that the networks are not selling. (Red K750i, Silver K800i, Samsung Galaxy S etc)

I actually remember overhearing a Vodafone rep saying that a customer should not buy / sign a contract with CPW as they don't sell Irish phones! :rolleyes:

mooneyd

more stores for after sales support

CarphoneIE: Fiona

Hi there,

As we carry all four networks, we can find the very best deal for your personal needs rather than the best deal offered by a specific network.

jambofc

The Carphone Warehouse Ireland wrote: »

Hi there,

As we carry all four networks, we can find the very best deal for your personal needs rather than the best deal offered by a specific network.

ok im on voda 200,bills run to around 60-70 a month,most of my family are 087,im now out of contract and looking for the best deal on a new smart phone,on a budget of say 100euro,was looking at the vodafone price plan of 300min and txt and 2gb dowload limit for 60 a month,do you recommend that for me? also what phone would you recommend in my price range.
cheers

gpjordanf1

osullivj35 wrote: »

Hi,

What are the advantages of going to carphone warehouse as opposed directly to the network operator?

I am looking at getting a galaxy s which isn't available directly from meteor yet....should I wait until it is available directly from meteor for a better price

Thanks,
Jon

I'll give you some good reasons not to use them

1) More expensive

2) Clueless staff

3) No aftersales service

This is based on my own personal experience

CarphoneIE: Fiona

Very sorry to hear you've had this experience gpjordanf1 . We are constantly working to improve our service so we will of course take this on board.

jambofc- of course the tariff you use depends on your needs in terms of texting and internet use. This tariff (Perfect Choice Access Plus 300) is the closest to the amount you already spend and if you think that this amount of texts and minutes suits your needs then it seems to fit your budget. You mentioned that your family are all vodafone. Perfect Choice Access Plus allows the same amount of data and free unlimited calls and texts to everyone on Vodafone and this is €35 per month. Calls & texts to other networks will be charged at the standard date.

By €100 budget I assume you mean you have this to spend on a smart phone? We have a number of smart phones that are priced from free when bouught on Vodafone bill pay so if you go in store you can see which ones suit the tariff you decide to go with.

smythy

Hi Carphone Warehouse Ireland, i too am out of contract with 02 and looking at my options at the moment.

I am currently on 02 Advance 350 and my average bill spend on the last 3 months were €124 per month. its a business smartphone (sync with outlook daily), my average mins over the last 3 months were 1162 minutes per month:
594 = 02
387 = other irish mobile
181 = landline
and ave 250/260 txts per month

i would appreciate your advice on which network/ plan you think would reduce my costs, bear in mind reliability, reception and minimal network hassle is a must?

sorry osullivj35 for spoiling your thread...

muboop1

For the vest answer regarding reliability with reception you should ideally give your location of usage. As in Dublin or cork or whatever

Regarding are cpw good?

I used to work there ages ago, and use them still. There might be the odd bad staff member or someone having a bad day, but no more then the actual vodafone or o2 etc stores.

They have however the advantage of not only selling one provider.

If you go there with your average mins and txts etc they will be able to get you the best plan/network out of all the major providers. Not just there own network. The amount of people who used to come to cpw who had previously shopped with a single provider and got significant savings just by changing provider. Fact is they each have different advantages and the one you are with may not be the best if you haven't looked around. CPW provides this in a single store. Convenient.

And for the unlocked phones I guess!

evolutionqy7

mooneyd wrote: »

more stores for after sales support

lmao this is bull****...last time i bought a a 3 wifi modem and needed some help with it after i bought it they told me to ring 3...i gave em abuse for being useless and left...i dont understand why phone shops don't do after sale support if they sell the stupid product...ofc these days you need certs to get a job even as a sales assistant...but managers are recruiting tards with certs that don't have a clue about phones...

smythy

muboop1 - good point, most usage in dublin 15

mariovwgolf

I think one of the advantages of shopping there is; as they supply all networks they are more honest about who offers the best deal for tariffs and/ or phones. At the end of the day whether you buy meteor, vodafone or o2 from cpw they dont really mind your still buying from them - go to a network store and they will slate all other networks! Makes sense to shop somewhere that is entirerly neutral.
Also, the people who say staff have no idea what there talking about.... I used to work in Vodafone. I dont think the general public appreciate how much there is to know when working in these places. Take Vodafone for example. Right now they have roughly 42 phones on offer + broadband + home phone + all tariffs AND YET people still go MAD when a person standing there cant answer a question. YOU go learn ALL 42 phones off by heart and tariffs and BB and come back to me! Its not possible. Give people a chance, I NEVER EVER go mad at someone who cant answer something for crying out loud like - give people a break like! Keeping the above in mind, right, you then have the nerve to say someone in cpw couldnt answer a question - when not only do they have to learn vodafones products, but also o2's, meteor's and 3's? Problem is, people expect the world on a plate these days once your standing behind a counter.... and when you deliver they still find something to fault you on. I may not have known the answers to everything but I always make sure I know how to find them i tired my hardest. Maybe next time your all about to take the heads of someone in retail try appreciate the amount of crap they have to learn before you do! I think people who work in phone shops take alot and go through alot and dont get alot in return and i take my hat off to them especially now days when everything changes so god damn quickly. Fair play to all of you and THANK GOD - with customers and spa's you guys have to deal with these days.... Im long gone from working in Vodafone!

Ghandee

mariovwgolf wrote: »

I think one of the advantages of shopping there is; as they supply all networks they are more honest about who offers the best deal for tariffs and/ or phones. At the end of the day whether you buy meteor, vodafone or o2 from cpw they dont really mind your still buying from them - go to a network store and they will slate all other networks! Makes sense to shop somewhere that is entirerly neutral.
Also, the people who say staff have no idea what there talking about.... I used to work in Vodafone. I dont think the general public appreciate how much there is to know when working in these places. Take Vodafone for example. Right now they have roughly 42 phones on offer + broadband + home phone + all tariffs AND YET people still go MAD when a person standing there cant answer a question. YOU go learn ALL 42 phones off by heart and tariffs and BB and come back to me! Its not possible Ooo. Give people a chance, I NEVER EVER go mad at someone who cant answer something for crying out loud like - give people a break like! Keeping the above in mind, right, you then have the nerve to say someone in cpw couldnt answer a question - when not only do they have to learn vodafones products, but also o2's, meteor's and 3's? Problem is, people expect the world on a plate these days once your standing behind a counter.... and when you deliver they still find something to fault you on. I may not have known the answers to everything but I always make sure I know how to find them i tired my hardest. Maybe next time your all about to take the heads of someone in retail try appreciate the amount of crap they have to learn before you do! I think people who work in phone shops take alot and go through alot and dont get alot in return and i take my hat off to them especially now days when everything changes so god damn quickly. Fair play to all of you and THANK GOD - with customers and spa's you guys have to deal with these days.... Im long gone from working in Vodafone!

and breathe........ 123, and breathe!

drunkmonkey

mariovwgolf wrote: »

I think one of the advantages of shopping there is; as they supply all networks they are more honest about who offers the best deal for tariffs and/ or phones.

There about as honest and independent as Finna Fail, you will be recommended o2 by carphone warehouse 9 out of 10 times, They are 100% in o2's pocket so much so they should just turn them into o2 stores.

CarphoneIE: Fiona

Hi all,
We have a price promise and a guarantee that we will match other prices. We are totally impartial and will suggest the best network for your needs. We do not have a greater affiliation to any network over another. Only the tariff or network to suit your needs is the one that will be recommended to you.

drunkmonkey

The Carphone Warehouse Ireland wrote: »

We do not have a greater affiliation to any network over another.

Rubbish, you have revenue share off o2. You push them above every other network

Kaskade

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

I'll give you some good reasons not to use them

1) More expensive

2) Clueless staff

3) No aftersales service

This is based on my own personal experience

I worked in CPW for 5 years. If they are more expensive then you avail of the price match. Its very hard for any retailer to be the cheapest all the time with such a fast changing market. It is up to you as a customer to price around.

You will get clueless staff in any phone shop, not just CPW. I certainly wasn't clueless but there were very clueless people working there at times.

Aftersales is crap for the sole reason that you dont get paid commission from aftersales. This is a major flaw with CPW. I made a fortune working there because I could sell and I knew the products and the offerings from the networks inside out. I was interested in technology and thats probably why. If somebody came in to do an insurance claim or with a faulty phone nobody wanted to deal with the, not even the managers as the managers wages were so crap that they had to sell lots too to make a decent living. I dont know what its like now but the basic wage back in 2004 was below minimum wage and they claimed that they would bump you up to the minimum wage if your commission didn't amount to enough for it to be legal.

I do however believe that you will get far more impartial advice than you would from the the networks. This isn't so much of an issue these days as most people are already with a network and want upgrades. But it is good for customers signing up for the first time. The only problem is the commission structure again. At times certain phones and tariffs are being promoted internally and you get more commission to sign people up to these. For example when Meteor came out first we used to get €5 for each meteor prepay phone and only 50c for 02 and Vodafone. Needless to say, anybody who had any sort of meteor signal left with a meteor phone.

In terms of aftersales though, at least if your phone is faulty within 14 days they will exchange it. I have a friend who forked out €200+ on an iphone phone, brought it home and it didn't work. Brought it back to Vodafone the next day and they wouldn't replace it. They sent it for repair for a week, came back with the report saying there were no faults. Sales person tested it to find that it was still broken and they sent it for repair again for another week. That sort of treatment is completely unacceptable and I never saw it happen in CPW.

In conclusion, I think all the mobile shops are as bad as each other, maybe not Meteor, I know they are much more customer service centric and don't pay commission but just buy wherever is cheapest and wherever you find a sales person with a brain!

Brianmeath

Steer clear of them,

Customer service is shocking.

Dropped my iphone in over three weeks ago and got it back today with a charge of 40euro.

My wife paid ed this as there is no way in hell i would.

Phone was less than six months old,

Asked for old phone back and can't be got,

I clearly asked the store manager would there be a charge for the repair and he said NO.

Insurance my eye.

Stop robbing people.

drunkmonkey

What did they charge you €40 euro for, your phone is under warranty I presume? If it's not they were right to charge but if it's under warranty i'd be looking for my 40 quid back.

Brianmeath

Plugged phone in to charge,
when i removed the charger the little strip that holds all the pins in line on the bottom of the phone fell out.

The phone is only six months old:(

They said it was my fault and apple would not cover it.

The 40euro is excess on my so called life line insurance.

A complete joke IMO

krudler

Brianmeath wrote: »

Plugged phone in to charge,
when i removed the charger the little strip that holds all the pins in line on the bottom of the phone fell out.

The phone is only six months old:(

They said it was my fault and apple would not cover it.

The 40euro is excess on my so called life line insurance.

A complete joke IMO

did you ring apple yourself? first rule with dealing with carphone (aside from the most important one, dont) is to check with the actual network or manufacturer first.

PaulPinnacle

Brianmeath wrote: »

Plugged phone in to charge,
when i removed the charger the little strip that holds all the pins in line on the bottom of the phone fell out.
...
They said it was my fault and apple would not cover it.

I would seriously question this.

There is no way a fault like this should occur under reasonable use, unless it was a manufacturers fault (so serious questions of whether the phone was of merchantable quality). I'm not well up enough on consumer rights to give any advice, but I'd strongly suggest contacting the National Consumer Agency for guidance and taking it further (or perhaps posting in the consumer issues section on boards might give some guidance).

The fact that the store manager told you there would be no charge and then getting hit with a €40 excess is just rubbing salt in the wound. I'd certainly go back and speak with the manager, asking why your consumer rights have been ignored, why you were given misleading and incorrect information and why you are out of pocket (both time and money) to get this resolved.

Brianmeath

No will do tomorrow krudler.

juansheet

Bought a 100 euro gif voucher for a friend this Christmas

This person is on pay as you go with Three and wishes to stay with Three as most of there friends are on this. Does not want a bill phone

I have noticed now that the selecton of Three pay as you go phones on the CPW website is very poor. I know I should have checked this before I bought the voucher but presumed you could buy any phone for any network there

Anyone advise what my best course of action would be?

Thanks
Juansheet

juansheet

juansheet wrote: »

Bought a 100 euro gif voucher for a friend this Christmas

This person is on pay as you go with Three and wishes to stay with Three as most of there friends are on this. Does not want a bill phone

I have noticed now that the selecton of Three pay as you go phones on the CPW website is very poor. I know I should have checked this before I bought the voucher but presumed you could buy any phone for any network there

Anyone advise what my best course of action would be?

Thanks
Juansheet

Anyone?

Davy

juansheet wrote: »

Anyone?

What are you looking for?

Go into a shop to see the selection, or use it for other accessories items or credit.

evolutionqy7

juansheet wrote: »

Anyone?

As far as I know you should be able to order any phone that three stocks. Even if it's not available in their catalogue. You just have to ask in store. That's what I was told anyway. Because they do price match, prices will be the same as 3 store

billl

I ll never use Carphone warehouse again. They are not very helpful. Got new Xperia the other day for Vodafone when I got it home my old phone sim card(Vodafone) did not work in new phone. So sent sister in to get new sim to keep old number. They said they couldn't as store policy means you have to sign for new sim. Here is my problem I live in rural village 25 miles from store and it costs 15 quid for bus ticket and bus times not convenient, my sister lives in town. When i bought the phone I was not asked a single question about sim. If sims are incompatible on same network surely standard practice should involve asking about sim. It would be quite easy to check in store and common sense. At no stage did they apologize to my sister after she told them the inconvenience a trip back to the shop would be for me, just told her I'd have to go in myself - basically tough crap to me. I cant imagine any of the other dedicated phone stores would make such glaring oversights and then be so dismissive afterward. I've bought phones from vodaphone store before and never had a problem. You would probably be better checking the deals each network has to offer on their sites then using their own store.:mad::mad::mad::mad: