Dial a phone

Where do I start? I guess the beginning is the best place, so here goes ………………………….

It was a quiet night in, eyes glued to the computer, all the housework done and children sleeping happily away, then ……………………… my mobile phone rings. I had no clues as to who would be on the other end of the phone, my guess is yet another ploy to sell something to me, and so my advice from experience would be to keep all contact numbers as private as possible.

How right was I!!

On answering the phone I was greeted by a man, he did leave his name but for some reason it escapes me, and perhaps he did say what company he was calling from but to my knowledge I can not recall it happening. Any way the reason he called was because of a survey I had filled in over the internet, it was some to do with WAP phones, and he thought that I would be interested in on of there phone packages that would also include a WAP enabled phone. Like he said, as he had contacted me direct and I didn’t approach them, then they would be offering this highly fantastic deal, a deal that wouldn’t normally be on offer any where else and to be honest it did sound like a offer that sounded too good to be true and in this instance it was.

They wanted to offer me one of latest Nokia phones, I had a picture of myself day dreaming at the train station, singing away with my eyes closed, then the phone rings and wham bam, I have missed the train but there is loads of dosh on the floor!

On top of the real cool sounding Nokia phone, they were going to insure my the phone for theft, accidental damage and airtime abuse for the next 3 months, 4 months free line rental, £10’s worth of off peak calls per month and 50 free text messages per month. It really did sound the dogs’ bollocks, so before committing myself, I asked if there were any way that if I was not totally happy with what I was getting whether it could be sent back. I was told that I was under no obligations, the phone could be sent out for you and your husband to discuss and if for any reasons you were not willing to keep the phone then you have 14 days to get in touch with us and arrange for your phone to be picked up and returned. Well I guess that didn’t sound too bad, all I need to know now is how much is it going to cost me to return it! After asking a question in regards to cost of returns, I was told that ‘should you wish to return it, just phone us up and we will arrange for it to be collected by one of our couriers or give you instructions so that you can send it back via Royal Mail and there will be no cost what so ever.

Basically the bottom line of what I was hearing was that there was nothing to lose and everything to gain!

I was then asked if Friday would be suitable for my phone to be delivered to me, if it was to be delivered between 9am and 5pm, it was, so all we do is wait.

Delivery day
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Friday comes, along with a letter in the post from Dial-a-phone, saying that the delivery will be here on today’s date between 9am and 5:30pm (different to what I was told on the phone by 30 mins) and if the date and time was unsuitable then to arrange another, hahahaha, what a joke how are you supposed to rearrange when the letter comes on the same day as your parcel is due, 10/10 for stupidity. I wait in all day and just when I am about to give up and go to the shop and feed my starving children the door knocks, its my brand spanking new phone, I show my i.d, sign for my parcel, rush back in from the front door, carefully open my package and to my disappointment it’s a damm Nokia 3330, we already have a Nokia 3310, we have a PC, so what the hell use is a Nokia 3330 to us? Absolutely nothing! My intentions were to end the contract that I have running in my name for my husbands phone, then let him have this really stunning sounding phone, instead we end out with the Nokia 3310’s big brother a 3330.

As for the special £8’s per month, it ended out being £11.99 per month plus an extra £2 for itemised billing, a difference of £5.99.

Not being totally happy with the way I had been drawn to this offer by being misinformed, I called them today wishing to send the phone back. As normal I was asked why? My reply: Well I was under the impression that I was getting the latest Nokia out, not a 3330 that as been around for at least a year, and also I was informed that my monthly contract would be £8 a month not £11.99 plus £2 itemised billing. What happens it seems that who ever rang me up didn’t explain very well, that after the 4 months free line rental, and the 3 months insurance it would work out to be around £8 per month. The man apologised for the way it was explained to me and then proceeded to tempt me into keeping the phone by offering another month’s free line rental, to which I naturally refused.

Returning the phone
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So with all that had happened it was time to find out how to go about sending the phone back, I was given a reference number that I had to input on the authorised returns card along with some other details. Now I need to toddle off down to the post office, along with my parcel all carefully wrapped up and ask for it to be sent using special delivery and by express, which I was informed by the sales person that it would cost me around £5.60, of which will be refunded direct to my bank account (watch this space to see if it actually does)Other
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I now need to get in touch with my bank to cancel the insurance that will start to come out after my 3 months free insurance is up, surely this should never have been activated until I have actually agreed to keep the phone, so Dial-a-phone if you are reading please do something about the processing, it will work in your favour and save a lot of hassle and phone calls from those who decline the offer with in their 14 days approval.

Conclusion
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I would have been more than happy with my phone if they were straight with me from the start, for 1 telling me the actual model of the phone, explaining to me how they come up with £8 per month and informing me that I would have to pay the initial cost of returns but would be refunded. Although they do appear to have some competitive offers from time to time, it is worth checking out the tariff you will be connected to, if necessary ask all the questions you need to, no matter how silly they sound but be 100% sure before you enter into anything that commits you to a contract for any lengthy period. Because as I have found out, it is a bit of an ass about face process when not totally happy, I feel that they could do with improving customer relations in the future.