Here is a summary of our experience using the Carphone Warehouse.
The order was placed on Saturday evening after around 9 failed attempts because the website said that the details being used did not match - even though they did, the bank has all our correct details etc.
After multiple failed attempts we used a different bank card and the order was successful. Ten minutes later an email was received saying the order had been cancelled due to failed security checks. No further information was provided.
My partner rings "customer services" she tells the agent the problem and the agent, without asking any form of security or looking into the issue at all says the problem is with Vodafone and we need to call them. The order was not with Vodafone, the contract was not with Vodafone, we are not currently with Vodafone, Vodafone has nothing to do with the transaction in any way. We explained this to the agent and she said "oh....maybe three...or o2?" The agent then explained that there is nothing carphone warehouse can do to help us.
We asked to be transferred to a UK based call centre as the agent explained that remote working agents in other countries cannot help us, and we reached sales.
The young girl in sales (possibly Shereen?) was very polite and apologetic and explained that the order had failed due to security checks from the contract provider we were trying to buy from (ID) and said she will place the order manually. She did this, and the deposit of £50.01 was taken from our bank account - the deposit was supposed to be £49.99 but for the sake of 2 pennies, we let it slide. She explained she would speak to ID and then call us back. When she called back my partner was on the phone to the doctor, so we missed the call.
We called back, reached the remote call centre, and made it back to sales. We then spoke to Jay and explained the situation. He looked at the notes and said he could see what Shereen (?) had started, and he would finish it. He took some details, made some calls and said that the order was all successful and that the Phone would be delivered to a store near to us, which would be in Lincolnshire, possibly Nottinghamshire. We asked him if the store was open due to Lockdown and he said, unequivocally YES. (spoiler alert, all carphone warehouse stores are currently closed.)
Ten minutes later my partner received around 13 emails, not an exaggeration, some saying the phone would be delivered to our home address, some saying it would be delivered to Newark, some saying it would be delivered to London.
We rang the customer services back, spoke to the call centre who passed us through to sales, spoke to another lad cand regaled the above story. He pressed some buttons and told us the phone would be delivered to our home address by DPD the next working day. At this point, we were so happy the saga had come to an end.
The next day we received an email from DPD saying it would be delivered......the next day.
The next, next day we received an email from DPD at 9am saying the order had failed because no one answered the door - which was odd because we had both been awake and in the house since 7am. We checked the order details and it turns out they had tried to deliver it to...........one of Carphone Warehouse's London stores.
So again, we ring customer services, pass security, they fob us off saying we need to ring DPD, we ask to speak to sales, get through to sales, tell the story, give the lad the order number for DPD, he searches it.....twice...and says that DPD is saying it's not a valid order number and no such order exists. We ask if we can simply cancel the order and get our £50.01p refunded, he agrees and explains we will need to be transferred to customer services because sales can't do this.
We are placed on a brief hold, after which point, an automated message thanks us for calling, and asks us to complete a brief customer satisfaction survey, before hanging up on us.
We call back to customer services, to be told that their systems are down and we need to call back in a couple of hours.
We immediately call right back, get through to customer services, who tell us that they are able to cancel orders and we need to go back to sales, who thankfully, promised a refund within 3 - 5 working days and sent an email to confirm.
Carphone Warehouse, you are an actual joke, your company is trying to cling to existence like Trump is trying to cling to his presidency, I think it's about time you called it a day. I would write a formal complaint, but to be honest, It's just not worth it for the £20 ex gratia apology you will probably give me if I shout loud enough, at this point, I just want every potential future customer to know how awful your company is, and to avoid you at all costs.
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