Being scammed by Sellphone24 - need advice

[Bubblemama]

Hi all, DH sent my old phone off to a company called Sellphone24 without doing due diligence on their reviews (as they're riding under a separate company's trustpilot, Handtec).

The phone is a pristine Samsung S9+ that is under 6months old and has no faults whatsoever. They have received the phone and claim there are scratches and screen burn. Utter lies. They revised the offer to less than half because of these "defects".

I am horrified that upon looking them up I discover the possibility of either getting the phone back in one piece or getting the full payment are highly unlikely. Previous reviews paint the picture of their phones eventually being returned severely damaged or not at all and payment being withheld. Effectively stealing or damaging the phones.

What is the best course of action here? The phone would sell on eBay for a fair amount and I don't want to lose it without a fight. It seems these are professional con artists and yet they've not been shut down.

Next time try c exchange or something where you go in person. Ebay always sides with the buyers and there a lot of underhand tactics go on there too.

I had a similar experience with a different company last year. I was horrified that I hadn't been more sensible. I wrote a review on trust pilot and they started answering emails and revising my offer. I told them they had the rest of the week to return the phone in one piece or I would be contacting the police and seeking legal advice.

The phone came back, albeit covered in fingerprints and food, certainly not how it was sent to them. What annoyed me was I sent it so well protected because I knew the condition it was in. Anyway I then sold it on Shpock for more than the originally offered.

I do know screen burn is a common issue with phones but minor really and doesn't affect use of the phone unless severe. They all use it to get the price down.

I was lucky but I think writing a public review helped me by outing them.

Good luck