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.

Another not reading properly.

They help you either way.
Instore cost more you get help.
Order online take it in to shop you still get help.

I did ask gor help they said no.

They are always advertising for more customers why not help keep the ones they have got.

Disagree, phone shops are often busy. Lots of people need help and assistance and what the hell is wrong with service.

Phones are very expensive too. There's loads of profit in a phone especially the new ones.

Reading fine thank you

True, but the more we buy online (and I have bought my phones online for a very long time), the sooner shops will shut, so when someone does want help/advice, they won't be there. Some people don't have family to help, and I know some people don't like to bother their family, so do go in.
Guess it's inevitable, and when we look at photos of the past in a few years, phone shops will be a late 90s-2028(?) ish thing.
It does seem stupid to me that the price is so different. Apart from anything else, if the customer goes home and googles it, they could see another phone they prefer, so the shop could lose out on the sale.
OP, who knows how things will change, but I don't think you're unreasonable. My teenage niece went mad with delight when she went to a big mall, and said she can't believe we used to be able to buy clothes in every town (small towns now seem to have few shops teenagers like, here anyway) instead of having to wait for them to be sent after online order.

Thanks, someone gets it.
We dont want everything online.

There are always plenty of people in the local EE shop when I go past. Asking questions buying phones changing contracts, upgrading etc. Yesterday not so busy as a Sunday but generally very busy.

I dont think the shops are going anywhere soon.

My OH isn’t a phone guy. A basic android does the job for him, but his last phone was getting slow and the screen was cracked so we went into EE and they had handsets for sale out right for about £90. We asked to buy one and the sales assistant said oh I can give you an appointment in about 45 minutes?
I said no, we just want to buy that handset now please. Nope, we needed a bloody appointment 🤣 and they couldn’t fit us in for 45 minutes? WTH 🤦‍♀️?

We politely declined and went and bought a phone from Argos down the street.

You should learn how to do it yourself. It’s not rocket science by any means. My 9 year old could do it.

You’re right, customer service is really crap these days. It’s made life just that little bit more crap.

They're being realistic, though. Of course they aren't going to outright say that you aren't welcome to come to their shop for help after buying from their website, but they're relying on the vast majority of people not needing/bothering to do that.

They'll be assuming that most people will either know, ask somebody or look online for answers to any queries, rather than schlep all the way into the shop and take one of their (probably not very many) staff out of action.

If everybody who bought a phone from them online went into their stores and asked/expected them to set it up for them - a process which is largely automatic, but it can take the phone a long time whirring along to do all of its stuff; and you can't even just leave it and come back, because it periodically asks you to press a button or two to confirm your choices - they'd have long queues out of the doors. Their default norm is that customers will set up their phones themselves; it's the outliers who will need hands-on help from them to do so.

If having high street stores were so profitable for them, why would they have been closing so many of them down over the last few years? Actual bricks-and-mortar premises are great when it comes to things like cafes, hair salons, shops selling fresh/timely/impulse purchases and the like; but phones are one of the things that are so very easy for the majority of people to buy - and thus for the suppliers to sell - online. Again, a bit like with banking, where you can even pay in cheques online now. Other than paying in cash, there's very little indeed that you can't do quickly and conveniently online.

I may be wrong, but I'm as certain as I can be that you'll find the shops disappearing before long. Smartphones have only existed for less than 20 years and things move very fast indeed with tech. If I were you, I would try to find out how to do things like transferring to a new phone ASAP - by asking questions instore if need be, rather than just leaving them to do it for you - before there are no more stores and that avenue is closed to you. Most people don't buy a new phone more than once every two years at a minimum... a lot can change in two years, including previously readily-available high street shops becoming nothing more than a memory.

How naive doesn’t matter how busy they are if there not making a profit then they shut

online will always had lower operating cost than the high st

Most of what you describe is anti fraud measures. Delivery to home address is more secure for the company

That makes sense then to keep the phone for upgrades

Op have you actually tried setting one up yourself. It really is easy as long as you have all your passwords. Don’t make things a bigger problem in your head than they are. Try yourself and I bet you will be delighted

If you want to feel loved, cherished, listened to, taken care of - go to my local Apple Store. 😊

Yeah, they’re always so lovely.

We had a house fire once. I took the only iPad l’d rescued which had a crack in it ( insurance takes months) and they just gave me another one💕

I'm probably more naive than OP, I thought I had to go to one of the shops operated by my phone provider to change my phone - but it looks as if I'm wrong. Can I just get a new handset, transfer everything across and continue on my current contract? Any recommendations for the cheapest way to get Apple phones?

Do not see what is confusing here at all. Web store prices have been a thing for years and obviously you can’t get things at that price in the store, what would be the point?

You’re paying £150 more in store because people can’t be bothered learning the simple process of setting up a phone so they have to pay staff/overheads.

Modern phones have eSIMs so you don’t have to change the sim anymore, not that it was that difficult before, was it?

I am tech support for family/friends but push people to do as much for themselves. I don’t mind helping but some people don’t even bloody try. Everyone can google and make an effort to sort their own stuff out.

Of course you can, I have done this for years! Buy new phone online, insert SIM, contract continues as normal.

Yes, I buy direct from Apple which is not cheap but I get a small discount for being a student. Apple products are never discounted.

So its ok to give out wrong info lol
Its their job, to know or ask.

Bet you'd like it if you booked a holiday and it didnt exist etc as the travel agent didnt know.

Or a solicitor gave you the wrong advice cos you they didnt know?
Really.

So you dont think travel agent, should exist then because people can sort their own holidays?

Everything online, no service, no talking to people face to face, wonderful.

Travel agents charge extra for that service though, so if you book through a travel agent you'll pay an increased price. The same as your situation.

I dont think the shops are going anywhere soon.

Oh, I think that's almost certainly going to happen.

People liked going into banks and speaking to real people for advice, but many of them have now closed!

We're with Tesco. I went too see about changing phones, again we buy outright. They said they'd do all the swapping for me and then added that I could buy the phone cheaper elsewhere and if I brought it in they'd still swap everything over for me no charge.