40 
Phones shops, in general, are dire; there’s no two ways about it. With out-to-get-you customer service, often-crummy technical knowledge, and dodgy upsell-dealings left and right, they’re just terrible. How about an actual mobile network brought to you by a phone shop then? No bloody way, mate.
Today we were graced with the news that Phones 4u, one of the most heinous names on the list of phone-shop offenders, has launched its own MVNO, meaning there’s another UK network in town. Great! You say. More competition in the mobile space can only be good, right?
Yeah, you’re right, competition is good, but hell, would you trust a network born out of the aggressiveness of phone shops? Hell, no. Or at least I wouldn’t, and here’s why.
Think about it for a second. Phone shops, for the most part, are all about the upsell. That’s not unusual, most retailers practice upselling as it’s about the only way they can make money. But phone shops have been known to upsell people based on totally factually incorrect information, selling people rubbish products they’re stuck with on contract for literally years. It’s bad enough when they’re attempting to force an ageing, crappy BlackBerry on you, because “it’s the best for email; none of the others do email”, but now Phones 4u is actually capable of upselling you to its own network too — just think of the bullshit it could now pump out.
“Nah, you don’t want EE — you want LIFE Mobile, because it’s way better for the Internet”
“No no, O2′s rubbish. If you want email on your phone you’re going to need LIFE Mobile”
“Yep, Three’s cheap, but if you want to life-stream your, err, life, you need the network with integrated life, LIFE Mobile”
OK, so I don’t know whether Phones 4u is actually going to do that, of course. But if you’ve ever actually been into a Phones 4u, or pretty much any other phone shop out there, you know it happens.
I’m sure the actual network will be fine, though, coverage and data rate-wise, because it’s actually running on top of EE’s network, which is pretty good all things considered. You’ll even be able to get 4G at some point too, which could turn out to be killer. But would you actually trust a network from a shop that would sell you just about anything, regardless of whether you need, want, or deserve it?
I know I sure wouldn’t. I wouldn’t trust them to make sure I was on the right tariff, to not try to upsell my bill, and to not jack-up the prices at every turn. You went 1KB over your monthly allowance — that’ll be £50 please. The problem with being stuck with a rubbish network is that you’re locked into it, for a not-exactly-cheap monthly fee, sucking your bank account dry. Of course, LIFE Mobile might launch with pre-pay plans, which would negate that side of things, but we’ll have to wait until March to find that kind of thing out.
Having said all this, I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised, but you wouldn’t catch me sinking my own cash into any sort of contract tying me to Phones 4u or any other phone shop for that matter.
It Wouldn't Be Black Friday Without Shoppers Fighting Over Cheap Electronics
What Kid Wouldn't Want This Nuclear Power Plant Playset?
Who Wouldn't Want a Twin-Engine Jet-Powered Harley?
Early signs of getting bust? HMV December vouchers? I smell dead rat?
I think I’d prefer to be direct with the network operator than through a middle man. Get enough problems if you have signal/phone issues in an area as it is without throwing another party into the mix.
True. Even when it’s owned and operated by the network, like GiffGaff, you still get shafted more than you might if you were with the network outright.
Disagree, been with Tesco Mobile (O2) years now and never had any problems with service, access or customer service, all at about 65% of the cost.
True, it varies actually and can’t be generalised.
I hate phones4u with a passion, I’m agreeing with you Sam I wouldn’t trust them with a contract at all. I went in there once asking for an iPhone on O2 and they must have been on a commission plan with Vodafone because any question I asked was answered with: “well Vodafone offer this” “why are you so keen on O2? “Vodafone are so much better” blah blah blah. I actually heard one of the staff trying to sell a woman an iPhone on a £45 per month contract when she specifically went in asking for a basic pay as you go phone to call her granddaughter from. Disgusting.
I meant to say the woman looked in her 60s and didn’t seem to want anything too technical.
I wouldn’t touch them. People I know who have had the misfortune to buy a phone through P4U have found their number on spam / cold call lists within days of the number being activated. I’ve never had that problem buying direct from O2.
I’ve avoided Phones4U after (admittedly about ten years back, I don’t hold grudges, much) I went in and asked for a pay-as-you-go phone and the salesman just laughed at me and said at the top of his voice “you’re out of luck then aren’t you mate.”
Nice… great attitude they have there…. time to hold grudges I think.
Too right.
These places need to remember good service, even when you don’t have a product = recommendations = more customers.
When I was upgrading my first ever contract mobile phone back in 1999, the Phones 4U salesman gave me my upgraded phone and kept my old one.
It wasn’t after a year later I realised this wasn’t the way an upgrade worked!
My own stupid fault for not questioning it, still pi**es me off thinking about the scumbag who ripped me off.
I’d be pi**ed off too. They’ve always been a classy organisation it seems, taking advantage of those who don’t know better.
I never liked going through a phone-shop because they tell you that your contract’s plan is one thing yet when your bill comes through, they have added EVERY bundle under the sun to drain more money from you.
I don’t get why you would purchase from anyone other than the network directly no matter whether you’re on proper contract or SIM-only… don’t see the point of CPW/P4U.
Similarly, I don’t get the point of MVNOs… surely Virgin/LIFE will either be worse or more expensive than the network directly, as they’re putting their profit on top of the price the real network is charging the MVNO.
I have never purchased a phone through a phone shop. Why would you? Get it direct from the carrier.
places like CPW get a rebate from the network for a connection, and so are able to generally undercut the carriers price for the same contract by a couple quid a month. also you get a carrier unlocked handset.
Three isn’t cheap…
Carphone Warehouse has had its own MVNO for years (Talk Mobile) and it seems to be fine, I’m actually quite surprised P4U are so late into the game.
MVNO’s can be cheaper because most don’t have the overheads the networks have i.e. hundreds of shops to pay rent on. That said I’m happy staying with my network.
Heck, I’ll sell you your own MVN if you want – 15 grand, SIMs extra