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Carphone Warehouse Reviews

1.6 Rating 1,631 Reviews
13 %
of reviewers recommend Carphone Warehouse
1.6
Based on 1,631 reviews
Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods
Postal Service, Courier
Average Delivery Time
Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery
Greater than 25%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders
Greater than 85%
Customer Service
Communication Channels
Telephone, Live Chat, Email
Queries Resolved In
Over A Week
Customer Service
1.3 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process
Difficult
Returns Process
Could Be Better
Read Carphone Warehouse Reviews

About Carphone Warehouse:

The Carphone Warehouse was founded in 1989 to bring mobile services to consumers. The market has always been complex and our aim from the very beginning has been to offer our customers simple, impartial advice while also offering outstanding value. As a result we have grown from a handful of stores operating exclusively in the UK selling mobile handsets and contracts, to a European-wide platform of over 1,500 stores in 10 countries, providing a wide range of mobile and residential telecoms services.

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Phone:

0870 111 6565

Location:

The Carphone Warehouse, PO Box 375
Southampton
SO30 2PU

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Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 25th April 2022
Rachel Pollard
Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 25th April 2022
Rachel Pollard
Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 1st July 2021
Neil
Carphone Warehouse 5 star review on 1st September 2020
Ilyas
Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 2nd July 2020
Brian Gillbanks
Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 5th July 2017
Unsatisfactory Treatment!!!
Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 2nd December 2016
Yeakub Kiani
3
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
Bought samsung s7 edge phone on the 17/9/16 on Vodafone pay monthly contract and was told phone would be connected within 24 hours. 4 days later no service so call to carphone warehouse who advised system issue so I called Vodafone seems the person in store had placed order as a new account instead of using my current account with Vodafone as such Vodafone rejected order as there systems thought it was fraud and a black mark placed on my credit file because of this. Check promised by carphone warehouse to cover first months rental as apology for issues and multiple conversations via phone and email and 3 weeks later still no check. Best of it all staff I have spoken to have advised check has been posted to me but will take 28 days to arrive ?? Really I think not how are they sending this via a snail. Called today the 6/10/16 and was told check was issued on the 22/9/16 but then canceled on the 3/10/16 and reissued so why after this date where staff still telling me it had been posted on the 22/9/16. They can not even follow simple requests either multiple emails and calls I have said to call me around 14:30 to discuss issues when I am on my dinner at work so they ring every other time but the requested time and then even when calling in they can not get your address or post code right after telling them 5 times they still got it wrong and when they ask to place you on hold and you say no like I did they place you on hold anyway and as for notes on your account with them forget it I qoute from there complaints line "we have no legal responsabilty to leave notes on your account however are calls are recorded so don't worry" really ?? Joke of a company who tell you anything to get sale but then after sale service if anything goes wrong is terrible honestly over 9 calls in week to call centre and not once spoken to someone who speaks good English or can help and every single person will tell you different information and say previous advisors have made mistakes. Complete headache and not worth it avoid unless u have weeks free to sort there mess out.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
When they try to sell you a new phone don't be kidded by the comment from the salesman saying 'we will take care of everything'. What they do is sell you something then when it doesn't quite work out YOU have to chase the provider not them. I quizzed the salesman on the phone several times before buying the new handset as I had been conned the last time with the cost of a new contract when the old one ran out. Paying an upfront sum and a final bill, only to have a few days later another bill from O2. As expected their reply - go and ask O2! This is the last time I will ever use carephonewarehouse.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Shockingly rude staff, they made an error in my order & treated me as if I was totally stupid & at fault. No apology from them just total rudeness, it was just all too much trouble for them.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Everything! This staff are rude and unfriendly. I was going in to ask whether i could possibly get my iPhone 5c fixed, which has been broken for months and its only a year old. I sat waiting there for around half an hour where they just ignored me and carried on doing nothing. Finally when someone asked what i needed i told them the whole story. After him asking lots of questions, he just said "come back and buy a new one". I thought this was very rude and I will not be buying from them again.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
I traded in my iphone6 for the iPhone 7 of which I received a £200 trade in for my old phone I was like yes this seems to good to be true and it was not only has my phone not been delivered on time I haven't received my trade in money so I am now phone less £200 out of pocket and now have two contracts active!!! Staff are rude impolite and extremely pushy for sales tried to contact the store to ask where my phone is and my money and surprise surprise they don't answer the phones free contuinsly calling the store for 3Hours with no succes I tried the call centre number which is clearly run by a bunch of monkey they are unable to help apart from track a order or to sell you more products when you say you want to complain they explain sorry we can't deal with complaint you need to do this by email only!!! I will never be a returning customer nor I will ever use such a poorly run and crap company again!!
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Just found out today that I've signed up to a 24 month contract with carphone warehouse while in was at work plastering a ceiling contact ee and they tell me to contact carphone Guys name was Stuart that done the phantom contract so he could get commission on the sale well if I don't get satisfaction tomorrow the police will be getting involved
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
FROME STORE..! I upgraded to the Samsung S7 edge which I did not get on with so after 2 days I took the phone back and was told I would have to hand my mobile phone in and wait 3 working days so that the contact would be ended and I could get an iPhone. After the 3 days had passed I didn't hear anything from them and went back into store to get my new mobile phone. They then said that they were waiting for confirmation from 02 that they had received the phone. Another week went by and still no contact from the staff at carphone Warehouse and yet again I went back to the store after numerous unanswered calls made to them. 5 months have now passed and this problem has yet to be sorted. I am still being charged the monthly direct debit for a mobile phone that I do not have and and a contract that I do not what. The staff and manager said that they have tried to make contact with myself but unable to get through. This is find completely unbelievable as they have 3 contact numbers to contact me on. Due to no communication from them I have had to make hundreds of unanswered calls to the store and when I finally get through they fob me off saying thay are still waiting to hear from their head office. I'm sure they would of heard from them especially after 5 months...!!!! I have also made serveal calls to 02 to try and hurry this along as carphone Warehouse staff and the manager kept telling us it was there mistake. O2 advised us that the phone I returned is currently being used in Birmingham with a giff gaff SIM card and they have not received the phone nor have they ever heard from the carphone Warehouse in frome..! Alarm bells began to ring. Inform the manager of the store of this and yet we get more lies and being spoken to in an unprofessional manner with attitude. I have had no other option but to contact trading standards and citizen advice and ask for their help on this matter. This has been ongoing for the last 5 months and has caused unbearable amount of stress and anxiety. After being told today they need an email from 02 which we rang up got and gave to them, they then said we need to give them a copy of my bank statements to prove that I have been paying it in order to get a full refund. When I went to the bank and took it back to the store the manager had conveniently gone home for the day and I would have to wait until tomorrow for him to contact their head office. AGAIN being fobbed off once again. I have advised the store that I am now seeking advice from trading standards and making a complaint and a request for compensation. I just wonder how long it will take them to sort it now knowing trading standards are backing my case and supporting my claim for compensation.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Carphone Warehouse/Currys-PC World... Alban Park, Warrington... I went into this store with my stepfather to upgrade my phone to Samsung 7 Edge... I brought with me my old phone as I was trading this in... On speaking to a member of staff called Daniel,I was informed it would cost me £15 to transfer my data from my old phone to my new... As I didn't want to lose my personal data I agreed to the fee... After what I thought was a really good and helpful transaction, I realised after reading my invoice Daniel had dishonestly and very sneakily signed me up to their Geek Squad insurance plan... What he dishonesty told me I was paying £15 pound for wasn't to transfer my data to my new phone,but was actually the first payment for their Geek Squad insurance... At no time was it made clear I was being signed up to this insurance,nor was the insurance even explained to me... To make matters worse my stepfather was getting the contract out for me in his name and through his account, however Daniel got me to sign all documentsorts relating to their Geek Squad insurance... including the direct debit guarantee,all the while making me believe I was signing trade in documents relating to my old phone... This type of behavior is illegal and should be dealt with as such... My stepfather has contacted Geek Squad who have agreed to refund the first payment and cancel the policy,however I have still not received the promised email detailing they have done this... Anyone planning on getting a contract from Carphone Warehouse should be vigilant, and make sure to check you are not being duped into signing for something you don't want... I believed businesses were passed such underhanded techniques to steal money from honest customers, I guess Carphone Warehouse never got that memo... BUYER BEWARE...
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Appalling customer service at Kingston Park, Newcastle store. Manager, Craig/Gregg was confrontational and intimidating. After purchasing 4 x consecutive contracts with DPW this will be my last. No attempt whatsoever to retain customer satisfaction. After service abysmal.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
I took my Sony Z3 back to the store in Watford town centre when it became faulty. It was still under warranty and they agreed to fix it. Just over two weeks later they contacted me and told me it was all fixed and to collect it from the shop. When I arrived they told me that they hadn't been able to fix it and tried to palm me off with a much cheaper phone, which I refused. The manager told me that he would arrange a replacement and that I would be contacted. After a month without my phone I had to go back down there as no one had been in contact and demand some answers. After much wrangling (I was in the store for a considerable time) they offered me a cash settlement of two thirds of the price of a replacement, which I also refused. They have now agreed to replace the phone, to which the manager has admitted I am "lucky" to be getting, although I have to return again next week and pick up. I don't have a lot of faith that this will actually happen and anticipate having to take the senior management to county court.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
This is my 2nd contract with Carphone Warehouse and I've never had an issue until this last 2 weeks. I took out a contract for the Samsung S7 Edge which is one of the more expensive phones and came out with a good deal and was pleased with the service I received. Recently a red line appeared on my screen which turned out to be dead pixels so I went in store to get this resolved. It took 1 hour to just simply send off my phone to repair! I was dealing with a trainee so I understand he was learning but he couldn't get my sim card out and when he did, he got it stuck in another phone! Then if it wasn't for his manager noticing, I would of left the store with a standby phone which wouldn't of even worked on my network. The phone I was also given to use while mine gets repaired, is the worst phone I have ever used! I have 2 apps and 4 photos. The memory is full! I was told to expect my phone back in 7 days but it could take longer and I could track the progress online. 1 week went by and the online tracker hasn't even acknowledged my phone was received. This concerned me as I wasn't confident the trainee had done it correctly. I googled 'Carphone Warehouse' and used the number I found to ring the store to find out what was going on. They assured me my phone had been sent but the online tracker isn't updated regularly. I was happy to hear they had sent my phone although a bit frustrated because things weren't moving quickly. I used this number a few more times to get updates. I then noticed my bill for the month was £50.95 instead of the usual £38.00. The number to contact Carphone Warehouse had been charging me! I then checked my usage to find more additional charges of £30.51 was going to be added to my following bill!!!!! Again all because of my phone calls to Carphone Warehouse. I went in store thinking I would be compensated in some way for these ridiculous charges but I was offered discount on a phone case!!!! Why on earth would I purchase a phone case??? I definitely could not afford one now due to all of these crazy charges. I left the store angry and called Customer Complaints to be told that it is my own fault and there is a freephone number on the website! Well that's great but if you google Carphone Warehouse you do not get the number they are talking about. If anyone ever needs a number then what do they do? Google it!!!!! I will never ever be using Carphone Warehouse ever again as soon as my contract is over.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Have you pre ordered something from Carphonewarehouse and later told it wont arrive on the agreed date? Ask Carphone Warehouse for a reasonable compensation (minimum £60) or if they refuse email the CEO sebastian.james@dixonscarphonegroup.com AND make sure to contact the media, BBC, Sky News,CNN all the newspapers and then contact your bank and Do a charge back, everyone!
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
I ordered a Samsung S 7 Edge which according to CarPhonewarehouse comes with a VR headset. Thought will upgrade my current contract with them. So went off and upgraded it and found that my invoice doesnt show the VR anywhere. So spoke to their support team and one guy said that keep our chat as proof. I said ok. Got my phone in post and no VR headset so thought something isnt right here so called their support. The guy on the phone tried to help me as much as he can and said first that the offer is not valid anymore and i said well its on your website and hence i went through the process or else would have gone to the shop and done it. and then the person said that oh you never added it to your basket. it was like going round and round in circles. The support guy said well if you don't want the phone anymore then you can send it back like in other words we don't really care if we have your business or not. Nice way of treating a customer. I was thinking of leaving them all together and give the phone back to them but then later on i found out from the T&C on their website that its something that the end user needs to do directly with Samsung rather than CarPhoneWarehouse. So top marks for the phone, top marks for samsung but no marks for Carphonewarehouse.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Where do we start - I phone 7 ordered for sons birthday guaranteed delivery Monday 19/9, then due to unforseen circustances would be today Tues 20/9 no emails no texts so rang them to establish they dont even have any stock of these phones and not to expect a delivery until 23/9 at earliest even though website states that they have in stock and can guarantee next day delivery. FALSE ADVERTISING!!!! - upgrade fee of £100 been taken from my account though. Nice birthday present for the son - NOTHING TO OPEN! Customer services useless and just keep lying. Awaiting call back from complaints department.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Purchased the Galaxy Note 7 and received it on 30th August. Phone developed problems on the third day just as the worldwide recall was announced by Samsung. Went into flagship store in Birmingham City Centre for help and phoned customer services for help. Over the next 3 days spoke to several people over the phone and in store, no 2 person would give same information. I find it extraordinary that in this day and age with such advanced IT infrastructure in terms of network systems and intranets in place at top companies that a uniform response wasn't handed down by top brass and relayed to customers. Then again maybe CPW ain't a top company. Barring 1 or 2 exceptions the customers service provided over the phone and in store is to put it mildly a demonstration in how to lose customers. The poor service is a result of either bad training, company policy to employ rude unhelpful people or just employ uneducated people who are not mentally developed. I cannot stress how unhelpful and rude the over the phone and store staff are as well as completely incompetent. To this day even after the Note 7 exchange program has been launched the company can't give me a date as to when I will receive my replacement Note 7. Samsung UK website says that customers will receive like for like replacement handsets week beginning Sep 19, CPW say that they will be giving Galaxy S6 as a replacement until they receive replacement Note 7's from Samsung in three weeks time. When I relay this information to Samsung UK they say this is incorrect, now who's telling the truth? I don't think Samsung have covered themselves in any glory in this matter either. I remember going into Phones 4 U just before they went into administration and thinking how rude and arrogant the staff were. The rest as they say is...
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
The great carphone warehouse iPhone scam.. they sell you an iPhone on a 2year contract, the phone breaks down after 18 months, they tell you it's outside their 12 month warranty period and you will have to pay for the repair even though iPhone warrenty their phones for 2 years, so what happens?? You pay carphone warehouse to repair your phone, they send it off to apple because as they purchased the phone from Apple it's still under warrentyand appke repair it free under their 2 year warrenty so carphone warehouse rip its customers off for a repair that is FREE. Avoid this company at all costs they are rip off merchants.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
ANSWER YOUR COMPLAINTS! Stop mis-selling products it's illegal! Never use this company unless you like setting fire to your cash.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
I pre-ordered my iPhone 7 from Carphone Warehouse by phone. Initially I tried to upgrade via their website but that failed a number of times on the upgrade check, giving some sort of error, so I eventually called them up and explained the problem to the sales consultant. The consultant kindly checked my account and explained that my input data did not match the data of my network, hence the repeated failure. It later transpired that my mobile network had really messed up my address on my account. She asked me if I wanted to try to do it via the phone, so I did. Nevertheless it failed again, so she offered to do it on a new contract and explained I would have to cancel my existing one and transfer my number when I received my phone. The order went through. I must say that she was really very helpful and polite, and cared about my concerns. Having made the order I thought I would get at least an order number or a confirmation email but I received nothing. I got onto their chat service and asked for a confirmation email but I was told there's no confirmation email for phone orders but he would have one sent to me anyway. Then I asked if he could look up an order number for me to have some sort of reference. It took quite a while but eventually I got my order number. Nevertheless the response times and generally the chat service experience was rather bad. The next day, there was still no confirmation email, so I chatted again. This time the consultant took 5 mins for every response, no matter how trivial, and eventually she abandoned the chat altogether. So I made a call to the customer service. The person who answered my call was uninterested, curt and plain rude. In the meantime I had my mobile network account sorted, and the online upgrade check worked. So I decided to get the phone online from them on upgrade and cancel the first, new contract, order. The upgrade has gone through and I got my order confirmation with delivery on the 16/9, which I thought was very optimistic. I called back again to cancel my first order. The consultant was again very helpful, corteous and cancelled my order immediately, leaving me with a cancellation reference, and promised the money would be refunded within 3-5 days. The money were on my account as she said. On Thursday evening I got an email from CPW that my device was to be delivered the next day (as promised) and soon after DPD started updating me on the delivery progress. My new iPhone 7 arrived on Friday morning as promised. On the whole, I was a bit confused by the extreme attitudes exhibited by different customer service consultants. They were either extremely corteous and helpful or rude and useless. However, all that mattered like making an order, cancelling an order, refund and delivering my device as they promised was totally free of any problems whatsoever. So I thought it was fair to give them 4* for my experience. The reviews I read after I made my first order really scared me, so I thought they deserved a good one this time.
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Utterly hopeless, DO NOT USE. - UPDATE 20 days later and STILL NO REFUND!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS these people LIE!!!!! I ordered a SIM free Galaxy S7 Edge at midday on the Monday, checked stock at my local store to ensure it was in-stock so I could collect that afternoon and completed the order. At which point the website said it would be ready for collection on the Thursday (why… it was in stock?) . I did not receive any email confirmation of the order, so three and a half hours after placing it, I phoned Carphone Warehouse, but they could not find the order and put me through to the web team, who were adamant that since the order was not on their system, and I had received no confirmation, then I had not completed the order process correctly, and my card had definitely not been charged. Given this info, I went into the store that night and purchased the handset. I then received a text message at 9:15 pm to say my click and collect order was being processed. I called Customer Service (45 minutes of my life that I will never get back!), who claimed I had placed the order at 6:15 pm that night but because the web team had finished for that day, it could not be cancelled… I would have to visit the store. No-one could explain why I had not received an email despite the correct email address being on the order, as was my phone number, since I did receive a text. I requested a Manager call back and a web team call back to resolve the fact that I now had £630 charged to me for an order which they denied I had placed at 15:30, then claimed I had placed it at 18:15 but had failed to confirm at all. No further word from anyone and NO CALLBACK, so on Thursday I was forced to visit my store and complain. The unhelpful store staff claimed they could not cancel the order because it was a web order, which would be refunded after 14 days on my card if I did not collect the item, I would have to call the web tam on my mobile, at my expense! After a LOT of insistence they let me use the store phone to contact Customer services, whereupon I began a 1 hour 45 minute phone call, which every 20 minutes whilst an advisor had me on hold, the call would be picked up by a different advisor, causing me to have to go through all the security check again and re-explain the problem (this happened FOUR times, and involved both UK as well as South African advisors!). Eventually the web team refunded the unwanted handset, but would not accept that anything was their fault, nor offer any compensation. Customer services finally offered £25 for my fuel and phone bill (over two and a quarter hours on the phone) which given the monumental cockup, and inability to resolve it, or call me back, or accept any responsibility is completely unacceptable in my view. I will NEVER use them again under any circumstances UPDATE: Here we are, 20 days on from my initial report, after a PROMISE of a refund, plus £25.00 compensation for my fuel/phone/trouble, within 3-5 working days and... yes, you guessed it, NO refund yet issued almost a MONTH later! instead, the full £629.99 is now on my credit card statement, so i need to pay it to avoid interest charges, but it's for goods i never ordered (according to them) and certainly never received. amazingly (instead of refunding the money) Carphone Warehouse emailed me today asking for details of the issues i have been experiencing, and reporting on TrustPilot. Simply unbelievable. If i could score NEGATIVE stars i would. Next stop small claims court to get this sorted out properly in front of a Judge!
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Utterly hopeless, DO NOT USE. - UPDATE 20 days later and STILL NO REFUND!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS these people LIE!!!!! I ordered a SIM free Galaxy S7 Edge at midday on the Monday, checked stock at my local store to ensure it was in-stock so I could collect that afternoon and completed the order. At which point the website said it would be ready for collection on the Thursday (why… it was in stock?) . I did not receive any email confirmation of the order, so three and a half hours after placing it, I phoned Carphone Warehouse, but they could not find the order and put me through to the web team, who were adamant that since the order was not on their system, and I had received no confirmation, then I had not completed the order process correctly, and my card had definitely not been charged. Given this info, I went into the store that night and purchased the handset. I then received a text message at 9:15 pm to say my click and collect order was being processed. I called Customer Service (45 minutes of my life that I will never get back!), who claimed I had placed the order at 6:15 pm that night but because the web team had finished for that day, it could not be cancelled… I would have to visit the store. No-one could explain why I had not received an email despite the correct email address being on the order, as was my phone number, since I did receive a text. I requested a Manager call back and a web team call back to resolve the fact that I now had £630 charged to me for an order which they denied I had placed at 15:30, then claimed I had placed it at 18:15 but had failed to confirm at all. No further word from anyone and NO CALLBACK, so on Thursday I was forced to visit my store and complain. The unhelpful store staff claimed they could not cancel the order because it was a web order, which would be refunded after 14 days on my card if I did not collect the item, I would have to call the web tam on my mobile, at my expense! After a LOT of insistence they let me use the store phone to contact Customer services, whereupon I began a 1 hour 45 minute phone call, which every 20 minutes whilst an advisor had me on hold, the call would be picked up by a different advisor, causing me to have to go through all the security check again and re-explain the problem (this happened FOUR times, and involved both UK as well as South African advisors!). Eventually the web team refunded the unwanted handset, but would not accept that anything was their fault, nor offer any compensation. Customer services finally offered £25 for my fuel and phone bill (over two and a quarter hours on the phone) which given the monumental cockup, and inability to resolve it, or call me back, or accept any responsibility is completely unacceptable in my view. I will NEVER use them again under any circumstances UPDATE: Here we are, 20 days on from my initial report, after a PROMISE of a refund, plus £25.00 compensation for my fuel/phone/trouble, within 3-5 working days and... yes, you guessed it, NO refund yet issued almost a MONTH later! instead, the full £629.99 is now on my credit card statement, so i need to pay it to avoid interest charges, but it's for goods i never ordered (according to them) and certainly never received. amazingly (instead of refunding the money) Carphone Warehouse emailed me today asking for details of the issues i have been experiencing, and reporting on TrustPilot. Simply unbelievable. If i could score NEGATIVE stars i would. Next stop small claims court to get this sorted out properly in front of a Judge!
Helpful Report
Posted 8 years ago
Carphone Warehouse is rated 1.6 based on 1,631 reviews