Cuffy/Skill - Stafford customer service thread - Stafford retailers reports.

db

#chaplife
o2 shop in the guildhall - well cuffy!

ms. dirtybobby bought a new PAYG phone (sony ericsson S500i) from the o2 store in february, which she was dead chuffed with.. unfortunately, all the keys started splitting, and then just before the weekend her 2 key fell off altogether.. after a quick look round the internet, it become obvious that this was a widely experienced manufacturing fault..

so we took the phone back to the o2 shop, with the intention of swapping it for a different, more expensive model.. i explained the situation to the first girl we saw, who said all they could do was send it off to sony.. this would take 7 - 10 days, and in the mean time we would be stuck without a phone - unless we plonked down £25 deposit for some cuffy "loan phone".. i said this wasn't really an acceptable solution, and we wanted to swap it for a more expensive model and pay the difference.. but, she stood her ground, and said the only option was the repair..

this is fair enough - she was just doing her job by repeating o2 policy verbatim, and i wouldn't really expect her to have the authority to deviate from this.. i explained to her that if a product goes wrong within 6 months of purchase, the shop has to accept that the product was faulty at the point of purchase (see here) and offer a repair or replacement.. the important caveat to this, however, is:

Citizen's Advice Bureau said:
If the trader agrees to carry out a repair or provide a replacement, they must do this within a reasonable period of time, and without causing you any significant inconvenience.
for a device such as a phone, which one uses every single day, i would consider a 10 day wait plus a £25 deposit to be "significant inconvenience".. she agreed, and went to get the manager, a pock-faced jobsworth by the name of Keir Bellamy..

i explained the above situation to this chap, who barely looked at me whilst replying that he couldn't help - the only option was to send the phone for repair.. i explained that he has a legal obligation to either replace the goods, or repair them within an acceptable time frame, but he was of the opinion that o2 policy supercedes the law, and all he could offer was the repair..

amazingly, i was still calm at this point - the poor chap only works in an o2 store, so in fairness i couldn't expect him to be fully versed in the Sale of Goods Act 1979.. he then pointed to one of the young girls serving a customer next to him and said she was a "trained lawyer," and that he was definitely right.. she looked horrified, and said she was only a "law student," and under no circumstances was she allowed to offer legal advice.. in fact, doing so could jeopardise her future law career, and she clearly wasn't impressed that the bumbling idiot she was forced to call Boss was trying to use her as leverage!

i then played what i thought was my trump card.. i explained that, regardless of the legalities of the situation, i'd appreciate his help getting this sorted, as in addition to getting a new phone for my missus i was intending to sign up for a new o2 contract myself.. my current Orange contract runs out at the end of August, and i was intending to move to o2 so me & ms. dirtybobby could phone each other for free.. obviously, i would be reluctant to make this move if i thought i was going to have this sort of trouble every time i run into a spot of bother! i assumed this new information would change his tune, as i know mobile phone companies drop their pants at the thought of luring customers away from their competitors.. alas, this was not the case!

it was obvious by this point that we were not going to get anywhere.. he had that look on his face that poor customer service managers have when they are convinced they are right and steadfastly refuse to listen to reason.. even though we wanted to give him more money for a more expensive PAYG handset for ms. dirtybobby, and even though i wanted to switch from orange and sign up to an expensive o2 contract on the spot, he wasn't willing to budge.. he asked if i wanted him to call a senior manager, quickly adding that he would only "confirm what i am telling you".. if that is the case, what is the point of his role if he is just going to unilaterally agree with everything this bell end says, without considering the specifics of the situation??

this post is far longer than i intended, and i'm boring myself now so i'll stop.. suffice to say, the only thing we left the store with is the broken phone we walked in with, and the name of the manager in question, which will be going in a letter to o2 with recommendations that he receives some kind of training in basic customer handling..


tl;dr = don't shop in the stafford o2 store.. all their staff want to do is sell you an iphone, and the manager honestly believes that o2 policy supercedes consumer law..
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I would've said fine, get your manager on the blower then. Give him an earful too, quote the relevant laws to him (which should effing well know already), and demand immediate satisfaction* or you'll happily take the matter up with a solicitor. If he won't help, ask for his manager. If at every stage you point out that they are breaking the law, you'd hope someone with an iota of intelligence would stop and say hmm, he's right you know.

Had similar with 3, sent me a duff phone then wanted to send it for repair rather than replace. Told em where to shove it, and kept the charger etc. from the one I sent back too for the inconvenience of having to talk to call centre numpties in India.


*Be careful what you ask for here, apparently the law also covers other things you can and can't do....
 

Toble

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
and demand immediate satisfaction*


*Be careful what you ask for here, apparently the law also covers other things you can and can't do....
Yeah, cos duelling is illegal these days.
 

db

#chaplife
Silverfish said:
Sounds like a small claims court action to me...
that's just it, though - "small" is the operative word.. i haven't got time to even find out how one would go about pursuing this, let alone to actually take it to court, for the sake of a phone worth less than £100! it's frustrating in these situations that the other party knows that if they stand their ground, even if they know they're in the wrong, they will get their own way.. so what if i'm quoting laws and consumer acts to him - what am i actually going to do about it? that's the problem :roll:

as i say, i'm going to write to o2 and hopefully they will care more about the fact that he basically told me to bugger off and go back to Orange, but i won't hold my breath..
 

Silverfish

Well-Known Forumite
Talk to trading standards too. And remember, small claims at the County Court are extremely cheap and easy to pursue.
 

expert

expertrequired.com
I went into the O2 shop and they were great.............. I walked out with an iPhone!!!!!

You could take out an O2 contract with free handset, send the one away for repair, swap sims and when the repaired handset is returned cancel the contract. Free phone for the duration of your repair.
 

db

#chaplife
expert said:
I went into the O2 shop and they were great.............. I walked out with an iPhone!!!!!
see the bottom of my post.. every time i've been in there recently, no matter what i've asked, the sales person has somehow got round to ":haw: have you ever thought of getting an iphone?".. :roll:

good luck getting anything sorted if your iphone goes wrong.. they will probably just try and sell you another iphone..

expert said:
You could take out an O2 contract with free handset, send the one away for repair, swap sims and when the repaired handset is returned cancel the contract. Free phone for the duration of your repair.
bit of a palaver! i'd rather just get what i'm legally entitled to in the first place, without having to argue with some jobsworth who looks like the "before" shot in a clearasil advert..
 

theflamingred

Well-Known Forumite
I have a Sony Ericsson K800i with 3. I've had it a fair while and my contract is due up soon. The other week it died and customer services apologised and said it was a repair job. They talked through what to do with the phone so I experience minimal data loss.

I thought the 'sending off' for repairs was going to take ages. Took it to the shop where they apologised profusely that they could not send the handset on a Saturday and assured me it would go first thing Monday. They rang me early Thursday to say it was back in store. It came back cleaned with screen protection fitted.

Was happy enough with that.
 

Lunar Scorpion

Anarchy in the UK
I must mention the excellent level of service that I received from Westside this evening. Against all my hippy principles, I was forced to ring for a taxi (my dear old ma wanted me home safely, and she handed me cash - I ain't arguin'). Here is my story:

I dialled the number and barely had time to register that the telephone was ringing before it was answered. I stated my location (which was double checked, or maybe he just didn't hear me? Who cares - it was polite and friendly, rather informal) and destination. I was informed that it would be there in about half an hour (11:45pm), and asked for a cost estimation. I received the reply of £6 in just a few seconds.

11:45pmish came and went, and I was told to call again to find out where it is. Again, the same quick reflexes ensured my call was answered in a flash, such that I didn't quite register the name of the taxi company - thankfully, I knew it was the right one because it was the top number in my recent calls list. I said that I had called for a taxi 35 minutes ago that was supposed to be here in half an hour. I was immediately informed that the driver was on his way and it would be a couple of minutes.

So, at approximately 11:55pm I got into the taxi. The driver was friendly and approachable throughout the journey, and apart from having to reverse a couple of yards to turn into my road (he was in a world of his own - he must really enjoy his job!) it was a smooth and pleasant journey. On stopping, I was asked for £5.90 - 10p less than the minimum I was expecting (and even though it was now surely just gone midnight, I clearly did not even experience an attempt to rip me off)! I retrieved the crisp note from the black thing that has all my money in it that lives in my pocket and gave it to the driver. I am about 99% sure that I was handed the correct change back (I didn't check properly until I got inside and I had a little change, exact amount unknown, in there already) and the driver wished me a happy new year. I exited the vehicle in a very good mood, got settled in, back home safely, and logged on to this here forum so that I could share this with you all. =)
 

Toble

Well-Known Forumite
Lunar Scorpion said:
I must mention the excellent level of service that I received from Westside this evening.
Amazing. Sometimes we get it right.
I'll pass your praise on to Steve, who was working tonight.
 

AndyST17

King Fox
Yes i must admit Westside were very good to us on xmas eve, on time very polite driver and very nice clean minibus
 

ToriRat

Is that a Moomin?
Skill to those working in Woolies- despite the fact they are swabbing the decks of a sinking ship, they were very helpful and friendly when I was in there the other day. It was all a bit chaotic and busy but the guy at the checkout still had a minute to chat with my son.
/skill
 

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
gk141054 said:
Didn't you tip the driver Lunar you tight arse :)
I always tip cabbies, but only cos due to my long legs and big feet it takes me 'til the meter tips over to get out of the cab :)
 

db

#chaplife
gk141054 said:
Didn't you tip the driver Lunar you tight arse :)
i have to admit, i only tip taxi drivers if it's convenient.. as in, if the journey comes to £5.90 i'll give him £6 and say "keep the change".. if the journey came to £6, he'd still just get £6 lol..
 

Markerat

I'm no gynaecologist...
Bought some oil and filter for the rat family motor then realised that you cant do it without it being on a ramp due to sump drain being on the back.

Phoned RPH on astonfields for help expecting "come back next year", actually got the answer "can you be here in about ten mins mate"

big thumbs up to RPH, didnt cost the earth either. I suspect the cash went in the tip pot and if so Cheers lads enjoy :pint:

:bravo: well done RPH great service
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
Skill customer service:

Went to Tequila Red last night (NYE) having only booked on the day before so we were lucky to get a table. Had an excellent meal there, food was delicious.... we all shared starters including the Tequila Red Combo for two (was called something like that), tear and share garlic bread with cheese and nachos mountain or whatever its called.

Can't remember what mains everyone had but needless to say there were Burritos, Enchiladas, Chimichangas and Fajitas all featured. I personally had the tiger prawn fajitas which were delicious. We all ended the meal stuffed and retired to the bar for drinks and a dance before midnight.

At midnight we were given free party poppers and new year hooters (????) and following midnight there was a free mexican buffet (which we didn't touch as we were still stuffed) and free tequila shots.

For those who didn't eat in there, I think it was £10 to get in for the free buffet and tequila shot. A bit steep maybe but that meant it wasn't too busy and a good crowd - maybe the charge was more to keep the idiots out?

All in all top service by the gang there and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

Two final points, the lady who seemed to be the owner / manager of the place along with her husband is a bit of a milf in her party outfit...

Us blokes were drinking pints of San Miguel all night and all of the pints came with no head whatsoever... looked more like a pint of cider... is it normally like that or do they need to get that sorted out?
 
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