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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.

Visit Website

Phone:

0870 111 6565

Location:

The Carphone Warehouse, PO Box 375
Southampton
SO30 2PU

Write Your review

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
If you expect to keep a device that you will have NO chance of returning for a refund then buy from these clowns. Once you have paid they do NOT want to know you!! AVOID AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Only given 1 star as not able to give 0 stars. Bought and paid for in full an iphone 8 sim free using my debit card registered to to my home address which was also my delivery address. called today to find out when delivery would arrive as the full amount has now left my bank and was told it had been cancelled by the fraud team as i was a security risk! The refund is only being done as I called them to ask where the phone was and will have to wait 5 days for it to arrive in my bank account. Absolutely shocking !! AVOID!!!
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Terrible company with no after sales service will never use again
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
The staff were friendly however misleading and unhelpful. I went in as my screen was not rebooting and staying on the white screen with apple logo then going off again. I was told my phone (which was due an upgrade) could not be fixed or if I tried would cost a lot and be a lot of hassle even with insurance. The staff looked at my phone for no more than a minute before bringing out another staff member with an iPad to open a new contact with a £249 upfront charge for the iPhone 8 and £42 thereafter. Upon feeling bombarded I left to gather my thoughts after witnessing another customer being told there phone would no longer work due to another reason and went across to I Lab! One hour later and at a cost of £9.99 my phone was back and as good as new!!!!! I was planning on upgrading with Car phone warehouse for myself and husband but after numerous annoying calls for upgrades and the experience yesterday I certainly will not.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Worst service ever I ordered an iPone X on the 27th October and was told it would be delivered to my local store on the release date 3rd Nov. I called into the store on the 3rd to collect my phone and was told by the staff member after they checked their computer that there was a delay in the DPD delivery that day but the phone would be there the following day and they would phone me to let me know when I could collect it. I got no phone call so called into the store again and was told the same story, the phone was in transit and would be there on the Monday 6th. That night 4th Nov I received an e mail from the CPW stating that my order had been cancelled as I had failed to pick it up from the store within 14 days of it being delivered. That means it was in the store waiting for me to collect it a week before I had even ordered it, clever stuff! I then phoned the CPW and they told me that they did not know why it had been cancelled and they would reorder, after biting my tongue and not telling them to stick it I eventually agreed to reorder and was assured it would definitely be delivered on the 17th November and I would receive a confirmation e mail within 24 hours. No e mail arrived so I phoned to see what the delay was and after getting passed back and forward from sales to customer service I was told by one operator that I would receive the phone on the 17th and another said it might be on the 17th. I thought I would leave it till Friday and see if it would arrive. About an hour after I had phoned them I received the following e mail. Hi Christine, Thank you for your email. I’m sorry that you've not received any confirmation with regards to your order. I've had a look into this matter for you and can confirm that you've purchased the iPhone X 256GB SpaceGrey phone on 8 November 2017. Your order has been processed successfully. There is currently a shortage of stock with regards to the phone due to the high volumes that has been ordered, so your estimated delivery date has since moved to the 1 December 2017. Thank you for choosing Carphone Warehouse. Point 1 my name is not Christine, Point 2 the phone was reordered on the 4th not the 8th. It would seem these people just lie to customers to get the sales knowing that they can't deliver. So I am now in the process of cancelling the order and taking my custom elsewhere I'd rather do without than deal with this shower of con men any more. Also when I was on the phone the sales rep tried to change what I had ordered to a contract instead of a sim free, obviously they get more money for selling contracts. never again will I be dealing with this company!  
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Good prices and explanations on website, but poor aftercare from customer service. Deal did not deliver as advertised and only after twitter shaming did anything happen about my missing product.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
PLEASE DO NOT BUY anything from CARPHONE WAREHOUSE!!!! DO NOT BELIEVE WHOEVER GAVE THEM MORE THEN 1STAR. The WORST customer service ever I have encountered in my life and being sold 2 faulty handsets (Honor 6X, Hauwei P10 Lite)in a month. The manager from Tottenham court road lied outright about refund policy and refused to refund for faulty handset. Have to called the customer service and agreed to refund. I have paid my handset in cash because the system was crashed on that day. While processing the refund they didn't have money at the whole store (shocking) which is only £200. And the manager told me he couldn't process and advice me to go to other branches. I asked which branch particular obviously I wouldn't go around and ask all the branches in London if they have the money to refund for my handset. The manager refused to do so. And I advised to put in my account and he refused again. I called customer service to explain my situation again and the customer service advised to leave my handset and they agreed to transfer the money to my account. But the store manager refused me to leave the handset in store. But I left my handset at store which adviced me from customer service call center. The whole situation was took almost 2 hours. Long story short after a week, called back to customer service and haven't solved the issue and still waiting to get the refund.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
PLEASE DO NOT BUY anything from CARPHONE WAREHOUSE!!!! DO NOT BELIEVE WHOEVER GAVE THEM MORE THEN 1STAR. The WORST customer service ever I have encountered in my life and being sold 2 faulty handsets (Honor 6X, Hauwei P10 Lite)in a month. The manager from Tottenham court road lied outright about refund policy and refused to refund for faulty handset. Have to called the customer service and agreed to refund. I have paid my handset in cash because the system was crashed on that day. While processing the refund they didn't have money at the whole store (shocking) which is only £200. And the manager told me he couldn't process and advice me to go to other branches. I asked which branch particular obviously I wouldn't go around and ask all the branches in London if they have the money to refund for my handset. The manager refused to do so. And I advised to put in my account and he refused again. I called customer service to explain my situation again and the customer service advised to leave my handset and they agreed to transfer the money to my account. But the store manager refused me to leave the handset in store. But I left my handset at store which adviced me from customer service call center. The whole situation was took almost 2 hours. Long story short after a week, called back to customer service and haven't solved the issue and still waiting to get the refund.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Basically liars! confirmed twice they would port my ee number to my new ee deal through them and when it came to it..said they could not and i would have to sort it by swapping to another network and then back.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Appalling customer service from Strand branch in London. Manager constantly promised investigation and call backs, none of which he did.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
3 days to deliver, customer service are no understanding that i want a refund ...
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
went to Shop in Eccleshall rd Sheffield and was sold contract way more than I needed . I was tolds id used 18 gb last month - in fact I only use about 1 gb a month . Helpline said I could go to shop and get it fixed . Manager is Called Simon , He is an ignorant f ing idiot , Hi Simon were you having a bad day or are you jusrt a complete w****** and like that all the time ?. . I m a very placid guy but if you usually act like that you will surely get what you deserve before too long . anyway now waiting for some resolution lets see if Carphone warehouse is as bad as it seems ....
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Went to Milton Keynes store to get a iPad with SIM card only to be told that I need to go to there in store at Currys, went there and they don't sell them. What a waste of time. They need to talk to each other!
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
I went into your Meadowhall store today and asked one of your salesmen for some technical advice on my existing phone, he informed me that there was a problem with the phone and offered me a free phone on a 2 year contract for £4.99 per month which I accepted During the process of establishing a contract with my bank details etc. I was informed that despite the sales leaflet clearly stating £4.99 per month I was going to be charged £6.99 per month for 2years.I was under the impression that if a store advertised a certain price they were obliged to honour it, obviously not so at carphone warehouse,I cancelled there and then in disgust.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Went online and ordered a new phone. Specifically stated that I already had a phone and existing number and did not need a new phone number/contract. I just needed to put my existing sim into my new phone. That was totally ignored and I have just found out that EE have been charging me for my old number/package which is still live but they are also charging me for a contract for a new number which I had no idea I had (which Carphone Warehouse set up incorrectly). Called them and they simply said it was more than 14 days ago and wiped their hands of the situation so I've lost over £40 due to their mistake and now have to go through all manner of process with EE (which is another painful story!) to try to put my new contract onto my old phone number and then delete the new phone number set up by Carphone Warehouse. Awful customer service. Never again! I will go straight to EE in the future.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
They always explain everything to me and I have bought at least 4 phones off them and I'm very pleased with the after sales support in the shops when I go in to ask a question
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
I am a new customer who has just signed up for a 24-month contract. Received my phone last Thursday and on Sat there was a fault. I took it back to the store and although they ordered a new one, the customer service was not great. There was no apology and the manager only cared about the fact that when the new phone arrived that I was not to have the box or the charger or the earphones! (like I am going to break a phone, take time off work and drive 30min in rush hour to stand in a crapy shop) They had to order me the phone as it was out of stock and they told me it would arrive today. I went back to the shop today and the phone was not there. Again not an apology and not even the common sense to ring up and find out when the phone might arrive, I gave the sales assistant my phone number and have waited for the shop to call to let me know when the phone will arrive- I have had no phone call, I have called the shop 5 times- no answer. I have phone customer care- who were useless and put me through to the 02 post people - because I am the customer and not the sales team they are unable to help. So I am left with petrol bill x 2 journeys (with another one to do) 7p a min for phone calls x about 45 min, paying for a contract without a phone, loss of earnings for the time taken off of work and no answer as to when I will receive the phone most of all I am feeling frustrated.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Unless you are heavily into sado-masochism do NOT attempt to procure your new portable cellular telephonic communication device from these baboons. My saga started in store on a Saturday when, after 3 hours of watching 3 staff attempt to provide me with a standard phone and contract, their IT system went down. I was asked to trot along to the cashpoint to pay in solid currency. On my return, they couldn’t actually manage that either. Home time. Sunday: another visit. Another hour whilst they did God only knows what on their computers. The lazy “couldn’t give a toss mate” sales assistant decided to guess my email address rather than ask me, resulting in a data breach as my personal data flew through the ether to a total stranger. Not satisfied with that utter balls up, I have now found out that he didn’t activate my SIM card which had now been allocated to another hapless soul. Cue 48 hours of dicking about between O2 and CPW before I eventually went back into store to cancel the lot and demand a refund. I’ve been told that’s been done, but we’ll see. I commend CPW management on their policy of employing exclusively those with severe special educational needs. At least the Saturday I spent there was spiced up by an attempted smash and grab and the arrival of a loud mouthed ‘regional manager’ who proceeded to prance around talking loudly about KPIs and his dizzy senior status. I thought they were filming an episode of ‘Phoneshop’, but no; these people really exist. AVOID.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Pre-ordered iphone x on the 27th October, and one of the first to do so in my local store. I paid the upfront cost and adjusted my tariff as it was an upgrade. I went along on 3rd November to collect my new phone and was told it wasn't there?? No phone call, no email, no text and no phone call. I got a very limp apology from store worker and that was it and he said it might be in on the 7th november. I left the store feeling slight pi**ed up and bewildered. I called the call center and was then told that I would probably have to wait until the 17th November. Again I got a very limp apology which I said none of this was good enough since they are happy to take my money and couldn't deliver on the deal. At this point, I decided to cancel it. Call centre told me that I have to speak to someone in the store. I go back to the shop to cancel the whole thing, only to be told that sorry we can't do anything now until the phone arrives, you might have to wait 72 hours to get a refund. Now its late Saturday night, and I still haven't had any feedback from the carphone warehouse, no apology or anything. Its like doing business in Victorian Britain. I used the carphone warehouse many times in the past I will never use them again.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
I can only describe the experience of trying to buying a phone from these people as something akin to stabbing yourself with a rusty corkscrew – a short, sharp initial pain followed by all the slow excruciating symptoms of tetanus in the following days. Be prepared for a rapid heartbeat, stiffness in your jaw muscles, sweating and painful muscle spasms, when trying to correspond by both email and telephone. To my surprise my credit was initially declined for a 1 month contract, for £13.99 in total. I was directed to EE and, after a short battle; common sense prevailed with the decision overturned. However Carphone Warehouse, it would appear, has no way to complete a previous order without rerunning a fresh credit check. This would surely have failed a second time, and I would again be sent crawling back to EE to appeal, which CPW cannot use... triggering a new credit check, and on and on. Despite a fruitless odyssey through customer service consisting of at least 5 different conversations over 3 days, all offering differing advice; I was not able to extricate myself from this soul crushing death spiral. I have NEVER had so much trouble trying to exchange legal tender for a mobile telephone. It was basically like Groundhog Day but without the heart-warming finale... like if it ended after Bill Murray drops the toaster in the bath.
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Carphone Warehouse is rated 1.6 based on 1,631 reviews