mobiles.co.uk

Firstly this review is not about the phone I purchased.

Having had a Pay-as-you-go phone for many years, I finally decided to bite the bullet and take out a pay monthly contract. After looking round the various high street and on-line retailers I went with Mobiles.co.uk, since I'd had a good experience using their services earlier this year when purchasing a phone for my wife. They offer a next day delivery service if the order is placed before 4pm, although this applies only to mainland UK and since I live across the pond in Northern Ireland I expected to receive it by Wednesday or Thursday having placed the order on a Sunday night.

I selected my phone, term and free gift very easily, and was feeling quite pleased, until I received an email from their sales dept on the Tuesday. This seems to be the best way to communicate with them, stated on their website, as they do not operate a call centre. They do supply a telephone number but unless you are prepared to hit the redial button continuously you have very little chance of getting an answer.

The email informed me that, due to my selected free gift being discontined, they would not be able to process my order and could I contact their sales representitive on the afore mentioned telephone number.

Many redials later I finally got through, changed my phone selection, term and free gift selection. This was now Wednesday and the sales rep. told me I should receive my goods the following day. Thursday came and went. No phone.

On Friday the goods arrived. This posed no problem to me as, if you remember I live in Northern Ireland, so I reckoned that the sales rep. had got a little ahead of himself telling me the goods should be with me a day earlier.

The only thing that strikes me as strange now, looking back, is that when I opened the bag, the contents of the box had spilled out inside, and the sim card was not in an envelope. Why I know it should have been in an envelope will become apparent shortly, but everything else looked ok so I accepted it as fact and continued on with my new purchase.

Then, on the Thursday of the following week, to my surprise I received yet another package from mobiles.co.uk, with an identical phone inside, but with a different invoice and mobile number, and with a sim card in a sealed envelope stating that if opened it would be non-returnable.

Why was the first sim card I received already opened? Was my phone a customer return? This in itself poses no probelm to me at present as everything seems to be working ok. It is just the principle that is annoying me.

When I contacted mobiles.co.uk about the duplicate order, by email of course, they duely sent me a returns number, but informed me that I had to send the package back to them, at my expense, and contact both the phone insurance and gadget support companys, on premium rate telephone numbers, to inform them that I was cancelling the phone contracts on a phone that I had not ordered.

Also, that the phone contract itself would not be cancelled until they had received the package back at their warehouse, and within the 14 day cancellation period supply with any contract.

Remembering that I live in Northern Ireland, and with the postal service in uncertain status, whats to say that the package would not be delayed in getting back to them?

I take it I would be liable for a phone contract that I did not order and do not want.

This is still ongoing at present and as yet I have not received my first, ordered, free gift. If I receive a second free gift I take it that I will be responsible for sending it back at my own expense.

Some times it pays to go to the high street, cos what you might save when buying over the internet, you could lose through not fault of your own. Paying for mistakes made by someone you will never see is something no-one likes to do.