Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has used this site for buying a phone and what it was like...e.g delivery times, phone quality etc. I do know about swappie also and they are well known crowd
my own experience working in this market with one of the biggest providers of 2nd hand phones in Ireland and UK.
it depends on what your buying.
Personally id keep to the latest models if possible, youll save a few pound, they are Sim free and the newer the model, the better the chance you have with it working with no issues.
So for example if I was buying an iPhone id defo buy a 13/12.
The 11s would need to be a very attractive price but id buy with caution as they are on the market for 2 years.
you can never guarantee with the phone you get that the parts haven't been changed.
If they have then likely youll have issues with the connectors, cheap parts like battery replicas expanding, fingerprint scanner, screen flickering etc.
Almost all parts put into a phone are Chinese replicas and not genuine or approved.
Its a huge market in China. they specialize in getting it to as close as possible which results in buckets of crap battries, screens, phones beyond repair due to IC's going as a result of crappy parts and questionable repair folks learning how to do things off youtube videos, equipped with heat guns, UV baths and soldering tools.
Its a vicious circle then as if you do have an issue you may have a warranty but they'll fix it with a crappy Chinese replica's.
Also what ever chargers you get, unless you want them exploding just replace them yourself with genuine chargers.
The battery life would be my main concern. Distance selling rules come in to play though where you can return within 14 days for full refund for change of mind as a result of battery being poor.
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/shopping/shopping_online.html
It looks like the companies address is just office space in Sandyford so they might be drop shipping goods from god know's where. Do your research first to be safe if you do buy from them.
I didnt find alot about them. I know there is a site called swappie and it looks to be financed and there are others like refurb.ie etc. I would be looked for a samsung phone since I have used these for the last number of years and find them ok. I will stick to something newish on advice above.
I think if anyone has used mintplus they might know how they are to deal with. Customer experience is probably key. there is a little bit on boards about them (basically saying they are an alternative to swappie but thats about it.
I found refurbed.ie very good and quick but i was getting iphone 7 and 8's
I only ever buy Amazon Renewed. Rock solid 1 year Amazon guarantee, no questions asked free returns for full refund in the event of anything going wrong.
Highly recommend.
Pretty sure Tesco mobile were using them at some stage in the past if not still. My wife got an iPhone 8 through them last year and started to have small glitchy problems straight away but in typical Irish fashion went “it I’ll be grand” and left it. Got worse and worse and then she dropped it on the ground and smashed the screen so would have had zero comeback in any case. Great advice above tbh about going for newer models.
Mint plus are part of Fonua who look after warranty repairs for all the main networks, vodafone etc, so I'd assume its genuine parts which go into these phones?
I had a phone I accidentally dropped replaced under Vodafone's insurance about 2 or 3 years ago and the replacement came from Mint Plus and the phone never gave me any trouble until I replaced it eventually.
Off Topic but couldn't find anything on those sites as to whether they buy phones or not, anyone know more about that side of things?
Refurbished direct from a manufacturer is the only way to go, shame Apple don't offer that service here anymore. Some recommended sellers on Adverts will sell new phones at discounted rates, that may be another option.
Who knows what parts are inside phones from Mint+, Swappie etc. I'm sure some in their lifetime have ended up having dodgy batteries installed.
yep I guess if they look after the repairs for main networks one can assume the parts in the phones they sell are ok also?
Yeah, Mint+ are the refurbed sales side of Fonefix/Fonua who are a well established phone repair company. They would do mobile phone repairs for a lot of the multinationals in Sanydford/Leopardstown business district.
I bought a "like New" iPhone for my partner recently and it was really "Like New". It arrived in two days. Can't fault them.
thanks sound like a good personal experience with them. 👍️
Fonefix/Fonua have been around a long time.Fixed 2 'phones for me under gaurantee.1 this year,another 10 yrs ago approx
thanks beachhead - this is a stupid question but when buying a phone direct from nokia or samsung i presume its completely unlocked and can be used with whatever network chosen thereafter. The refurb sites always explicitly say its unlocked since the phone may have previous use so I guess I an just double checking
might be of use to someone
Can confirm code above still works Wrkit5, many thanks
