No iPhones 4u

[KynloStephen66515]

From the Phones4U Facebook Page:

To our customers
Following the unexpected decision of EE and Vodafone to withdraw supply from Phones 4u, we are now offline.
Please accept our apologies and we will update you as soon as possible.
Our customer service lines are:
• Phones 4u Care (Insurance) 0844-8710535
• Technical Support 0844-8712233
• Handset Repairs 0844-8712269
• Phones 4u Customer Service 0844-8712253
• Life Mobile Customer Service 08443 221133
Thank you for your custom,
The heartbroken Phones 4u Team

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29201191
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/09/15/phones-4u-iphone-6_n_5820678.html?1410766011
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-09-14/existing-phones-4u-will-remain-unaffected/


For those who work for the company, Dixons Carphone (Carphone Warehouse)  have offered a lifeline:

Phones 4 U shop
Video: Plan Hatched To Save Phones4u Jobs
Enlarge



Email
By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
Dixons Carphone is poised to offer a lifeline to hundreds of employees of Phones 4u after the UK's second-largest mobile phone chain collapsed into administration.

Sky News has learnt that Dixons Carphone is preparing to issue a statement later on Monday in which it will highlight at least 1,500 employment vacancies at Carphone Warehouse stores, for which affected Phones 4u staff will be eligible to apply.

The 1,500 jobs, which were previously announced by the company, include vacancies at 30 Carphone-branded concessions inside Currys and PC World stores that will open before Christmas.

The newly merged retail group is also understood to be planning to say that it will honour all warranty and mobile phone upgrade commitments made to customers at the roughly 160 concessions operated by Phones4u within Dixons Carphone's stores across the UK.

http://news.sky.com/story/1336097/carphone-offers-lifeline-as-phones-4u-crashes

[Carol Haynes]

Another example of corporate greed from Vodaphone and EE - rapidly heading towards a UK duopoly.

Cudos for Dixons picking up staff but it makes you wonder how long any of these third parties involved in mobile phones are going to survive now that the big brands want to move their sales in house whilst gobbling up the smaller mobile phone companies.

[KynloStephen66515]

Another example of corporate greed from Vodaphone and EE - rapidly heading towards a UK duopoly.

Cudos for Dixons picking up staff but it makes you wonder how long any of these third parties involved in mobile phones are going to survive now that the big brands want to move their sales in house whilst gobbling up the smaller mobile phone companies.

I'm actually more shocked that Carphone Warehouse are still in business...seeing as how they own possibly the worst ISP that has ever existed (TalkTalk).

For me though...EE is a network I would NEVER touch and wouldn't recommend to a single person.

In essence, none of this story affects me as I personally think anybody who buys an iPhone is just ripping themselves off...

* Stephen66515 shrugs

^_^

[Carol Haynes]

Unfortunately stuck with EE here as the only mobile carrier that has reasonable courage.

Should update that last comment as I hadn't realised within 6 months O2, Vodaphone and EE have all withdrawn contacts from Phones4U

Agree 100% with TalkTalk/Carphone Warehouse assessment - and they are actually quite unpleasant to their customers when they try to leave!

[michaelkenward]

I've always thought of EE as cowardly rather than courageous.

Shops exist to remove as much money as possible from your wallet, especially for insurance. So they push up prices until you scream.

On-line and call-centre folks are there to retain customers, so they push down prices as much as it takes to keep you on. That's how I got my phone bill down by two thirds in a couple of years, and for much more traffic.

[KynloStephen66515]

The reason shops are more expensive most of the time, is due to having huge overheads to pay.  Things such as Ground Rent, Business Rates (Tax) and everything else such as shop fixtures and fittings making the place appealing to a customers eye...call centers don't have this problem on such a scale (All their operations usually take place out of a single building).