Brendan Hughes

Bought a Nokia 9110 from CW 3 yrs ago, with 3 yrs warranty.

It went wrong after 6 mths, so I sent it back. Asked how long it would take to service, they said 2 weeks. It took almost 2 months. Me with crappy replacement phone, but without contacts list, diary, etc.

It went wrong again in Jan, so in Feb I sent it back, from Portugal. Very specifically asked how long it would be gone. They very specifically answered about 10 working days. We made arrangements for how it would get back to Portugal (I would pay for shipping).

About 15 phone calls later to find out where it was (each time saying "we'll call you back", and they NEVER did), I finally got it back in June . It came with a receipt from Nokia to say "Unit in 7/2, unit out 19/2", so they'd had the repaired one in their warehouse for 3 months and couldn't find out how to send it to me.

I've written a four-page complaint letter - the above is a far, far shorter version of what happened - and asked for compensation of 50 quid per month for loss of my PDA services, plus international calls of being on hold for ages, etc etc. Took ages even to get them to admit they'd received it. I was promised a reply in 7-10 working days on 17 July. After 2 more emails, I sent one to the "Chairman" (ie the complaints dept). They now say they faxed a reply on 30 August (perhaps all of August doesn't count as working days as it is a holiday month??), and mention my account has been credited with 25 quid as a gesture of goodwill. So they imply that a fiver per month is reasonable [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I wish to take them to the small claims court. Anyone got good consumer advice??

Brendan

ProperCharlie

I think it would be rather difficult to prove that they owe you anything in the eyes of a small claims court. Just my opinion.

Charlie.

skipjack

write a letter of complaint to david ross, chief operating officer c/o CW head office. he's an alright bloke who should sort things out for you.

skipjack

and cc it to charles dunstone, the CEO. always go to the top. never fails if you've got a valid point.

SD

We've e-mailed Charles Dunstone before - and had a reply - when reporting very good service from a CW store manager before now. He replied back personally! He answers all complaints he recieves personally too, so definitely worth CC'ing him in on it.

Simon

dogmaul

i had same problem with them apart from they only had mine for 4 weeks instead of the 14 days the quoted that later changed to 14 working days and to top it all off when i got it back it was even more knackered than when it went so i got a 6310i free, phone citizens advice they were very good with the advice they gave me. CPW have broken quite a few of your statutory rights so they can be prosecuted just phone trading standards they will more than likely want to take this up due to cpw been well known for using there own version of British laws

Brendan Hughes

dogmaul, please can you let me know more about that? Phoning trading standards and CAB is possible but tricky from here. My profile addy doesn't work, I'd be really grateful if you could send something to brendan.hughes@emcdda.org

skipjack - where did you get "david ross" from? Emailing Charles Dunstone was what I meant by the "Chairman"; there is an option to send stuff on the website, which I used, and got a reply from the address "cdunstone@..." signed by someone else, hence I guess it is just the complaints dept.

Actually, looking at the structure of the original guy's address, I wonder if CD's personal email is actually dunstonec@...

Brendan

skipjack

brendan

to answer your question, david ross sponsors the cricket team i play for. he and charles dunstone are the two biggest individual shareholders at CW. to be honest i'd write, marked 'private & confidential'. so much stuff comes in via email that a well-targeted letter tends to capture attention when you've got a serious beef.

...and if you congratulate NHCC on their performance in the 2002 season, who knows where it might get you ;-)

good luck anyways.

Brendan Hughes

Thanks mate I will certainly store that for use if the official line continues to waste my time...

Brendan Hughes

skipjack (or anyone else), where do I write to CW's Head Office? Their website is startlingly lacking in that info, as far as I can see.

Thanks

Brendan

skipjack

Carphone Warehouse plc
North Acton Business Park
Wales Farm Road
London W3 6RS

main switchboard number is +44 20 8896 5000 if you want to check Dunstone & Co are located there.