Phones 4U into administration

Simon · Sep 15, 2014, 07:04:22

Retailer Phones 4U is set to fall into administration putting 5,596 jobs at risk.

The chain, which is owned by private equity firm BC Partners, said its 550 stores would all be closed on Monday.

Phones 4U blamed mobile network EE's decision not to renew its contract - which came after Vodafone made a similar decision - for the move.

"If mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business," said Phones 4U boss David Kassler.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29201191

Clive · Sep 15, 2014, 08:39:46

I've seen a lot of complaints about them.

Lance · Sep 15, 2014, 09:17:33

Going into administration is the only choice when you have nothing to sell!

zappaDPJ · Sep 15, 2014, 09:53:21

I'm not surprised none of the networks wanted to do business with them, Clive heard right, they are/were a dreadful company: https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.phones4u.co.uk

Lance · Sep 15, 2014, 11:35:46

In the past I've used phones4u for a couple of contracts. I remember on one of them the sales rep offered a 18 month contract and to clinch the deal promised that after 9 months I could drop the contract price by £10 a month (the initial contract was £5 more per month then the budget I had set) with no loss of minutes/data etc. Knowing this wouldn't be possible, I got it confirmed in writing, signed by the sales rep and his manager.

What they didn't count on was me going back 9 months later (to the day) with the signed promise in hand! The existing staff had moved on, and the new manager was furious that an impossible promise had been made! After trying to tell me there was nothing they could do, after some loud arguing in the store he agreed to give me the £90 in cash!

Simon · Sep 15, 2014, 11:46:33

Gary · Sep 15, 2014, 13:09:23

I bought a Sony P910i from them sim free, got it home to find pictures of the store inside on it... went back they tried to say I took them! The grinning selfie of one of the staff clinched it though. Full refund never used them again.

Baz · Sep 15, 2014, 13:41:10

surely it must have rang alarm bells when Vodafone dropped out so why blame EE

Lance · Sep 15, 2014, 14:26:10

O2 dropped out first apparently.

mervl · Sep 15, 2014, 15:51:01

As with so much of modern finance I gather the private equity owners may have made a profit on their purchase already. So it's alright then. As ever, the "good" times when you could sell anything at any price come to an end. They always do. I haven't yet come across the virtuous phone (re)seller though.

zappaDPJ · Sep 15, 2014, 16:12:58

I had to extricate my wife from two Phones 4U contracts they miss-sold to her. It wasn't hard because they breached the Sale of Goods Act but I do recall having to wait in line for well over an hour while the manager dealt with some very angry customers. I think he just lost the will to argue by the time he got to me. It took a less than five minutes to get a refund.

Good riddance I say!

In regard to the new iPhones, according to the manager of a local PC repair shop I sometimes work for, the three mobile chains in his high street have all told him they don't expect to clear all their order backlog for 8-12 weeks.

[EDIT] I forgot to say that the gold models have the longest supply time by some margin.

nowster · Sep 15, 2014, 17:00:30

It is rumoured that a certain venue in Manchester is soon going to be renamed the Price Waterhouse Coopers Arena.

pctech · Sep 15, 2014, 18:36:54

I've never understood the motivation of people going into places like this.

They simply get steered toward the deal that will make the rep the most commission.

I knew someone who after getting made redundant, responded to a small ad from a local courier firm that promised they could make 500 quid a week but would of course be self employed.

They went along and were told that a mobile phone would be essential so went along to their local Carphone Warehouse.

They came back with a brochure and a recommendation from a 'very nice' female rep they had seen for a 35 quid business contract on One2One included something like 700 minutes.

I suggested that he get a PAYG phone until he was established.

He went back next day and the rep talked him into the business contract so he signed on the dotted line.

He started the job and was being sent here, there and everywhere and was barely covering his petrol and living costs including this contract.

After a month he realised the 500 quid a week was not achievable unless he was on the road 24/7 and so decided to get a job but was stuck with this contract for the next 11 months.

It's as bad as double-glazing sales.

Technical Ben · Sep 15, 2014, 19:40:02

Quote from: Gary on Sep 15, 2014, 13:09:23
I bought a Sony P910i from them sim free, got it home to find pictures of the store inside on it... went back they tried to say I took them! The grinning selfie of one of the staff clinched it though. Full refund never used them again.

What a great phone! (Never actually got to see/use one though I think)

Gary · Sep 16, 2014, 09:30:40

Quote from: Technical Ben on Sep 15, 2014, 19:40:02
What a great phone! (Never actually got to see/use one though I think)

It was well ahead of its time. The hand writing recognition was amazing, sadly well before capacitive touch screens came along so it was resistive. One of the best phones I ever had.

Lance · Sep 16, 2014, 10:13:40

Quote from: pctech on Sep 15, 2014, 18:36:54
I've never understood the motivation of people going into places like this.

They simply get steered toward the deal that will make the rep the most commission.

If you knew what you wanted and are not the type to get pressured into something, they offered some good deals.

Gary · Sep 16, 2014, 10:48:57

Quote from: Lance on Sep 16, 2014, 10:13:40
If you knew what you wanted and are not the type to get pressured into something, they offered some good deals.

Also the phones the offered on contract were generally unlocked and not full of bloatware.

pctech · Sep 16, 2014, 20:14:54

Just never felt the need for a contract to be honest

Gary · Sep 17, 2014, 13:41:15

Quote from: pctech on Sep 16, 2014, 20:14:54
Just never felt the need for a contract to be honest

Never felt the need for one for years I have a simplicty one month rolling contract sim only 4G unlimited calls unlimited texts 1GB data which does me and its £21 a month with no topping up.

pctech · Sep 17, 2014, 16:53:59

Don't tend to use data as have Wi-fi pretty much everywhere I go.

Have to top up a tenner every three months or so.

zappaDPJ · Sep 26, 2014, 20:41:17

It looks like Phones 4U have backtracked and become No Phones 4U: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29377077

The recent history of this company makes for a interesting read if you've got a few minutes. It becomes quite obvious why they failed: http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21618864-row-over-another-high-street-casualty-time-mobile-phone-business-death

pctech · Sep 26, 2014, 22:00:46

Presumably it's cash reserves have been committed to its secured creditors already or had the money taken for the preorders already been paid to Apple or whatever UK distributor was handling it, hence the money not being in the business or being used by the third party to offset other debts already owed to them by P4U?

pctech · Sep 26, 2014, 22:06:37

I bet Sir Charles Dunstone couldn't believe his luck when this happened but I expect Dixons Carphone will be the next target for the networks.

zappaDPJ · Sep 27, 2014, 01:05:55

In short, the owner of Phones 4U, BC Partners, took a special dividend of £223m out of it last year. All of the mobile operators took that as sign that there was no long term future for the company and abandoned it.

mervl · Sep 27, 2014, 11:25:14

Quote from: zappaDPJ on Sep 27, 2014, 01:05:55
In short, the owner of Phones 4U, BC Partners, took a special dividend of £223m out of it last year. All of the mobile operators took that as sign that there was no long term future for the company and abandoned it.

If you believe their press release, yes. The problem with much "news" is that modern business has a whole industry of PR whose objective is to get their PR dressed up as news rehashed by journalists. Increasingly the net gives them their own channels too. Not that we know about them. The few traditional journalists find it nigh on impossible to get to the truth through the fog, so what chance have the rest of us got? I doubt there's any business of any size that isn't into financial trickery.