Went to purchase phone instore how ridiculous and confusing is this?

[Netcurtainnelly]

Ive always gone into the EE store and bought a phone outright. Been with EE many years.

The store then changes the sim and does the photo transfer and everything.
I have recently been in to buy a new phone which I saw on their website at three hundreds and forty nine pounds.

We sat down to do the sale and the assistant told me it was Five Hundred as I am buying in-store. She said she didnt know why.

They said I could order it online for 349 on their website from my phone and get click and collected delivered to them. I could collect instore and they would help with sim change and everything.

I went to try this later, no offer to help me in the shop, and they said they couldn't order for me.

When i went online later after leaving the store, you could not order click and collect. I rang the helpline and they confirmed that. I could order to my home address only.

I could then take the phone to the store when it arrived and they would still help me with set up.

This is batshit bonkers isn't it.
First they wanted to charge loads more for me to buy in-store.
Then the assistant told me I could order from my phone click and collect to the the store and they would help.

That turned out not to be true when I got home. No click and collect. Direct to my home only, then take it to shop and they will help.

They could have just sold it to me in-store for 349. They are going to help set up apparantely anyway so why all this fuss?

Long standing customer both for phone and Sim.
Anyone work in a phone shop?
Any advice?
Why so much more in-store?
Why send me away telling me I can order myself and get click and collect to store and then help when the phone arrives when I cant?

Ive never known this before?
Very confusing and unhelpful and they have possibly lost a sale. I would have bought when I was in-store.

What would you do?🤔🙄
Should I complain?

I guess they are charging more instore because they are helping you with the sim etc but 150 more???

That still dosent make sense anyway because they are still helping if you order online and then take it in?
Be great to hear from anyone who has insight or works in a phone shop in particular.

It’s so, so easy to buy the phone online and just do it yourself. The last time I tried to do it in store nearly broke me. It took 2 hours of sitting and waiting while they all faffed about and then it only half got done and I had a phone where calls went to one but them WhatsApp went to the other phone. It was a nightmare. I’ve done it myself ever since and it’s so much easier.

That's because all that time you take up getting a sales assistant to do that for you and it costs them money. They have to pay for the shop and the assistants wages. See it as people who just order straight from the warehouse and do everything themselves get a discount reflecting the work they do for themselves setting up their own phone. It's a bit like a takeaway Vs restaurant service.

Eyesight problems that mean reading instructions is difficult (especially as usual voice control does not work in a transfer process)? Cognitive disabilities (which could be as simple as old age) making it hard to understand this?

I did it on Friday. My new phone detected my old phone, it involved scanning a QR code and saying to do it over Wifi. That was it, less than a minute.

Changing the SIM card was tricky.

I got a new iPhone in December.

Yoh don’t need a SIM card. It just copies it from your old phone if yoh put them next to each other.

Nothing got lost.

Hope you get it sorted OP.

Reminds me of a visit to an O2 shop years ago. I wanted to buy an iphone (just the handset), had a sim already on pay monthly. The sales guy told me he couldn’t just sell me a handset, it had to be a handset plus a new monthly contract 😂 📱

And no, I didn’t make a purchase in that O2 store.

You either need a physical SIM or an eSIM. How would you access the network otherwise? But yes, transferring the phone stuff from one to another doesn't need a SIM, just Wi-Fi.

I’m not sure what an eSIM is.

It just asked if l wanted to use my SIM card or copy the info onto the new phone. So l just selected the latter. Never touched SIM card.

Not sure this is quite right. Online you have a right of withdrawal which allows you to request a return within 14 days and you then have another 14 days to actually return the item. Some online stores might offer a 30 day returns policy but this isn't legally required.

These return rights are useful OP in case you don't get on with the phone. Like, there's nothing wrong with it but you just don't like how it works / size / colour etc.

Shops can offer different prices online and in-store, as long as they don't misleadingly suggest that the same price applies online and in-store. So whilst I agree it makes no sense, the shop can offer a much different price for online orders.

As long as you have your Google password switching phones should only take a few minutes. The phone literally tells you exactly what to do. If that's the thing you need help with?

I guess you could tried to do the click and collect thing in front of her, then at least you'd have known it didn't exist. And so would she.

It's common for retailers to have online only offers. It doesn't surprise me it's more in the shops as they have bigger overheads and probably less and less footfall as most buy everything online now.

It’s very common now for the online price to be different from the shop price. Shop price is usually more because they have more overheads. If you are buying a phone outright you should shop around and buy the phone from the cheapest seller. Any mobile phone shop you buy from will help you with the set up. If you want it to work on EE you just need to check that the phone you are buying is unlocked, most are these days.

I don't suppose the OP is buying an iPhone at that price, when I changed my android phone recently I'm pretty sure I had to move the SIM card before I transferred everything else so it may be different

Like everyone else says its really really easy to do nowadays

I have never had help transferring a phone over, there will be a YouTube video explaining how to do it.

Unfortunately, if you're dependent on the shop assistant helping you, then you're not independent. Nowadays, it's not something that you expect to need a professional to do; it's a largely automated process that virtually everybody can do, except for those with additional needs, disabilities or other vulnerabilities.

The world changes a lot, and it isn't unusual for people to need to seek help from younger generations or younger/more capable friends with all kinds of things. Just like, if you get too old to drive safely and have to give up, that doesn't mean you never travel in a car again.

It's been specifically designed to easily do the majority of it automatically - so the shop staff will be doing it as a favour to a customer who is still struggling; it isn't a standard part of their job.

If you can't press the buttons and/or see the screen to activate the transfers, you're going to struggle all the time when using the phone as well, aren't you? I have extensive nerve damage, so I know that it can be very difficult and painful using phones - which is why I use my laptop whenever possible.

Somebody who can use a smartphone can just as easily learn/manage to transfer their data - otherwise, if they prefer not to or aren't confident, they can choose to seek help.

Ultimately, you can't continually expect companies to provide costly retail store-convenience but at online prices.

Understand what your saying but 150 pounds more?

So you've got no SIM in your new phone? That doesn't make sense, it's what gives you access to the network. An eSIM is exactly what it says, a virtual SIM.

No l have no sim in my new phone.

My SIM card is in my top drawer as ds stole my old phone. He ‘knows’ about these things, and says Sim cards will be obsolete in a few years.

Do you use for phone for calls or texts?

I think it must be an eSIM. But l had it in my old phone. New phone copied all data from old phone by being placed next to it.

New phone full operational on my old network ( as they keep sending bills) with all data incl passwords. But no sim.

Sim somewhere in top drawer of my chest of drawers😬

It’s really not that confusing

I'm not sure why people are getting confused about sim free phones. The new iphone is called sim free.

What does SIM-free iPhone mean?
A SIM-free iPhone is not tied to any network and does not come with a SIM card. This means you can use it with any carrier of your choice, giving you the flexibility to switch providers when a better deal comes along. It’s also a great option if you want to avoid lengthy contracts.

"Sim free" is highly misleading. They have an e-sim built-in.

Retail and online are 2 separate entities with different cost and overheads hence different pricing

I think OP summed it up when she said she wanted to see it and a member of staff o activate and transfer data
shops cost money staff cost money these are factored into the sale price basically if you want those facilities you pay for them

BT sold O2 2006 and recent bought over EE in 2016. The customer service and weird deals are BT marketing department strategy.

You couldn't have read it.
Firstly a hundred and fifty pounds more?
Also they say you can order online, take it in and they will help you, so they are still helping.
They might as well ha e sold it on the day at 349 and got a definitely sale.
Either way, they have still offered to help eith the set up.

Poor customer service. They didn't offer to help order it for me, they didnt check i could get that particular phone sent to the shop click and collect, no help.offered in store.
Its awful. I have never been with another provide ever.
Always EE. Loyalty dosent get you good customer service. It should do as there are plenty of places you can go.

They had plenty of time to help.me further, it was Sunday so not rushed off their feet.

Never mind. I will go to an independent.
My friend recommends an independent phone shop.
They are helpful. There is one price only and its clear.
No online or instore price. They still have business overheads.

If you give the independent a deposit, they will also order a phone in for you. It goes to the shop. You collect and get help if you need it.

I think sometimes these big phone companies are too complicated.

The independent wont have an online versus shop price either.
Also they can offer you something for your phone and resell it.

EE wont do that if you buy outright so bye bye EE for buying a phone.

Probably still keep the Sim though.

To be honest, OP, they're streamlining their operations towards the vast majority of customers - who will be quite content to look through their website, choose a phone, order it, have it sent to their home address and then set it up themselves/ask a family member for help if they aren't tech savvy.

There won't even be any real benefit to going in to handle the phones, as they're mostly pretty identical size-wise; it's just the software and internal components that vary.

It will only be a matter of time before there are no 'standard' phone shops left soon, as they cost them a lot of money to run in building costs, overhead and staffing. Also, like with physical bank branches, the people who use the branches are mostly the ones who make them the least money.

I think, again like banks, we're currently coming towards the end of a unique 'dual' period of time - where most people do most things online, but facilities are still kept available for the people who aren't online. By the time the current oldest generation have all left us - if not before - I'm afraid the only solution that will be given to "But I'm not online/confident" will be "You need to get online and/or ask somebody else to help/teach you".

My DGM didn't have a landline phone, except for a few months when she had one installed with some persuasion, used it a very few times but couldn't come to terms with it and soon had it taken out again. We tried patiently to help her, but she just made up her mind against it. That didn't mean that all of the services and facilities that were (pre-internet) only available over the phone put themselves out to make themselves available to her and the rest of the tiny minority like her in person - it just meant that she had to get somebody else in the family to phone on her behalf.

It's fine if you're happy to choose to remain dependent on others - and you have family and/or friends who are willing to help - but most people who are able to do so prefer to keep/gain their independence.