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Original poster

Court of Mumsnet, please: Just how much fuss should I make about this?

38 replies

frogs · 31/08/2006 10:11

Okay, so there I am in the Orange phone shop with 11-yo dd1, buying a cheap and cheerful PAYG phone for her start at secondary school next week. The guy disappears off to the back as they all seem to do, returns with the phone, we call Orange to register it, blah blah, I pay £49.50 and off we go.

Once at home I'm customising it for dd1, and discover that the phone has a long list of someone else's contacts in it, a call register of someone else's calls, and in fact contains what is clearly a recycled SIM card.

Now aside from the fact that the cheeky gits in the Orange shop are upping their profit margins by passing off old SIM cards as new, I'm rather more hacked off by the security angle. Obviously in the great scheme of things, it is unlikely that the previous owner of the card was using the phone to run a drug-dealing business or contact a string of gay lovers, but there must be a good chance that dd1 might at some point receive unwanted calls or texts from god-knows who.

So how much fuss do you think I should make, when I take it back to the shop today? I think a grovelling apology and £10 of free credit would be a good start, but would like to run it past MN first to gauge the reaction here.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 31/08/2006 10:14

Take it back. Follow up w/a written letter of complaint.

SherlockLGJ · 31/08/2006 10:14

Go and create merry hell, £10 is not enough, you have paid for new goods and you want new goods.

Is this company wide practice I wonder ?? Or are these guys undermining Orange as a company with their dodgy dealings.

whoopsfallenoveragain · 31/08/2006 10:16

I had this once (not from Orange though) I took it back and got free accessories! It was a contract phone so couldn't be offered credit

Bucketsofdinosaurs · 31/08/2006 10:16

...and don't forget you're thinking of going to the local papers...

coppertop · 31/08/2006 10:17

Take it back. Why should you put up with secondhand goods when you've paid for new?

expatinscotland · 31/08/2006 10:17

Report them to Watchdog, too, b/c they're ripping people off.

Jackstini · 31/08/2006 10:19

I would want a brand new phone, with credit and free accessories and would make a very big fuss - how dare they?? If you are not getting anywhere in the store, go to head office - I am sure that would not want this made public.......
We once got a new TV home to find the guarantee card had already been filled out by a previous owner. I got a new TV, a written apology & £100 of Curry's vouchers

Gobbledigook · 31/08/2006 10:21

I'd go bananas and take it straight back to the shop. Agree with expat and would write letter of complaint to head office as well.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/08/2006 10:24

String of gay lovers?

Anyway.

Take it back. Create merry hell, they have sold you goods that are unlawful under the trades description act (should state if they are reconditioned etc) you want answers, you want to know how they can possibly assure you that future details will be kept confidential , you want full refund, you want to know what they are going to do etc etc etc.

Original poster
frogs · 31/08/2006 10:26

Wow, you guys are militant! I was going to take it back, obviously, because I think it potentially puts dd1 at risk of unwanted calls or texts, and the dozy chancer in the shop should have thought of the child protection angle when he tried to pull his fast one.

I don't particularly want upgrades, I quite like that model of handset since I know how to work it. But I think some free credit is in order, with the threat of a letter to head office. I suspect the shops are run as franchises -- does anyone know? Apart from anything else I'm peed off at the hassle since I didn't particularly want to go into town today, and any visit to a phone shop seems to involve a 40-minute wait while previous customers dither about their calling plans and their chi-chi phone features.

Grrr.

OP posts:
clairemow · 31/08/2006 10:29

Agree with everyone else. I think they should now give you a phone for free, with credit already on it and a new number and SIM. I'd write to head office as well (with copy going to the shop you bought it - get salesperson's name if you can), and say that if you don't hear back, you're considering reporting to industry watchdog (is there one?? Office of Fair Trading?), and Watchdog on the BBC...

clairemow · 31/08/2006 10:31

if you have to wait ages, start making a fuss about it, they'll see you immediately as you'll put their other customers off...

I once did that in Specsavers, started talking loudly about how they'd taken direct debits multiple times, got seen faster than you could say Bingo.

Piffle · 31/08/2006 10:34

This was on Ch4 news last week.
Defintely take it back and read a riot act, theya re meant to ensure they delete all info from the phone and SIM card while they recondition it.
The phone number will be different so she would be safe from receiving calls but from a data protection POV it's appalling
I think new phone, NEW and credit at the very LEAST

VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/08/2006 10:36

If you dont make a huge fuss, they wont treat it half as seriously as you'd like.

Make more noise than necessary then you are likely toget what you want aat the end.

Aim high etc

Orlando · 31/08/2006 10:43

Agree wholeheartedly- big fuss.

BUT, all done with a concerned mum face on. Don't go in with all guns blazing as IMO (my mother does it all the time) shop assistants switch instantly into defensive mode and start treating you like a deranged gun-toting maniac and are determined not to let you get the better of them. Be utterly reasonable and almost apologetic and approach it from the 'Obviously what we really need is a brand new phone... I'm awfully busy today and really don't want to go to trading standards if we can avoid it...' angle.

Before you know it an upgrade will be suggested and the free credit will be a done deal.

threelittlebabies · 31/08/2006 10:53

Ooh quite a bit of fuss I would think. Be polite but loud

clairemow, am amused at idea of specsavers staff panicking to shut you up!

Agree with everyone else's advice

Original poster
frogs · 31/08/2006 10:54

The thing is, we have a new phone, cos I bought it yesterday. It's just the SIM card, which I'm assuming they will replace without question (well, they jolly well better, otherwise the gloves really will come off). So is everyone agreed that extra credit is the way to go?

OP posts:
bundle · 31/08/2006 10:55

I got £20 off my new handset when I upgraded in Carphone Warehouse a few weeks back because I took my old handset in (along with the charger - but I kept my SIM) but hadn't realised they handed them back out. tut tut.

bundle · 31/08/2006 10:58

extra credit or accessories (handsfree attachment, cover for phone, cable to upload stuff like pics to your pc - or extra fascia..girls like that sort of thing, i assume!)

mummyhill · 31/08/2006 11:04

I know that they recondition old phones and sell them on so I allways wipe the memory and retain my sim card.

I would go in and complain insisting on a new sim card. Deffinatly play it from the concerened parent angle. Be calm but firm with them if you go in softly softly they will walk all over you but if you go in with all guns blazing they will get defensive and not back down.

fairyjay · 31/08/2006 11:07

I would also keep some of the old contact details, incase you don't get a very professional response, and need to let the previous owner of the SIM know what has happened.

hub2dee · 31/08/2006 11:40

I don't think I'd deal with the shop. I'd go to the network. Then you'll get results.

WideWebWitch · 31/08/2006 11:43

Complain, they're wrong, you're right, they should have wiped details.

StrawberryMoon · 31/08/2006 12:05

contac their head office, play holy hell and explain its for your young daughter but more to the point you assumed you were buying a brand new phone and got an old one( trades description?)(may not just be old sim as most pay and go come as package with phone and sim).
ask them what they are going to do about it..id suggest new phone sent/old collected by courier, free credit and free accesories

wartywarthog · 31/08/2006 12:33

ooo blood is boiling.

TOTALLY UNASSEPTABULLLLLL!!!!

Shocking violation of data protection. Definitely give them a very hard time. You paid for new goods and were given old. Unbelievable.