# phones 4 u



## Blagsta (Dec 5, 2012)

How does their business model work? They seem to offer better deals than going directly to the network.


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## souljacker (Dec 5, 2012)

Its weird isn't it? They gave me a better deal than orange could, with an unlocked handset, but my contract remained with Orange the whole time.

I presume they do some sort of deal on handsets and also get a commission from Orange/EE/whoever for saving them the hassle of having a shop.


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## Maurice Picarda (Dec 5, 2012)

Phones 4 U are a huge reseller, so they have economies of scale over other network-neutral retailers. They also have better marginal efficiency than directly owned stores, because they have a wider choice of product and so are more likely to have a successful proposition for any customer. Also, lots of internal costs and customer service activity get loaded onto the direct retail channel while the proposition to the partner channel has to stay relatively competitive.


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## Blagsta (Dec 5, 2012)

So worth upgrading with, rather than with my network directly?


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## Maurice Picarda (Dec 5, 2012)

Yes.


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## Blagsta (Dec 5, 2012)

I got a Samsung Galaxy S2 for £21.50/month, 200 mins, unlimited texts, 500Mb data


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## Badgers (Dec 5, 2012)

Blagsta said:
			
		

> I got a Samsung Galaxy S2 for £21.50/month, 200 mins, unlimited texts, 500Mb data



How long contract? 
That does not seem great value to me.


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## Blagsta (Dec 5, 2012)

Badgers said:


> How long contract?
> That does not seem great value to me.


 
24 months.  Its much better value than anything O2 were offering and much better value than my old contract.


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## sim667 (Dec 6, 2012)

Theyre also vile cunts who use horrible selling techniques to try and convince people who clearly cant afford mobile phone contracts to take them out.

I know someone who needed a new phone, and she went there and they told her they could cancel her old contract at no cost, and give her a new one, they set her up 3 or 4 contracts, costing about £150 a month and then refused to close any down even though she was still in her cooling off period.


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## Blagsta (Dec 6, 2012)

That sounds illegal.


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## sim667 (Dec 6, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> That sounds illegal.



I have no doubt, this was a good five years ago.

I went in there once just to have a look at handset, within minutes they were pretty much demanding I ring up my provider to cancel


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## Blagsta (Dec 6, 2012)

So why did your friend pay them?

My experience with them was wholly positive.


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## Bernie Gunther (Dec 6, 2012)

XDA forums seem to be mostly unanimous in describing them as utterly untrustworthy lying shitbags. Almost every time they get mentioned, someone says 'good price, but they'll get really aggressive and tell you any old shit to get a sale' or words to that effect.


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## Blagsta (Dec 6, 2012)

I knew exactly what i wanted when i went in. Maybe that's the key.


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## Bernie Gunther (Dec 7, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> I knew exactly what i wanted when i went in. Maybe that's the key.


 
Sounds likely given the nature of the stuff people complain about with them.


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## Mr Smin (Dec 7, 2012)

Same with any product you don't fully understand. I have no problems buying computer stuff but at a garage I don't have the knowledge to spot a rip off.


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## FridgeMagnet (Dec 7, 2012)

I am looking for an upgrade to my O2 contract, but I'm generally put off by the idea of entering into negotiations with a company that would like to cheat me out of as much as possible. O2 might not offer very good deals, but at least they are consistent. I don't want to haggle, this is not a souk.


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## Blagsta (Dec 7, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I am looking for an upgrade to my O2 contract, but I'm generally put off by the idea of entering into negotiations with a company that would like to cheat me out of as much as possible. O2 might not offer very good deals, but at least they are consistent. I don't want to haggle, this is not a souk.


 
I didn't haggle with phones4u, just had a look at the deals on their website (which are better than what O2 were offering) and said "I want that one"


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## FridgeMagnet (Dec 7, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> I didn't haggle with phones4u, just had a look at the deals on their website (which are better than what O2 were offering) and said "I want that one"


The "new customer" ones for iPhones are identical to O2's standard from what I can see, and they won't tell me about upgrades unless I fill in a form and get a callback from a spiv which I am not going to do.

I don't actually need a new phone anyway tbh. I'm just thinking that I might as well, since the iPhone 6 will be ages coming out and not be significantly different.


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## Wilson (Dec 7, 2012)

avoiding their taxes probably helps keep the prices down


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## sim667 (Dec 9, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> So why did your friend pay them?
> 
> My experience with them was wholly positive.



Cus she's a plonker


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## stuff_it (Dec 9, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> How does their business model work? They seem to offer better deals than going directly to the network.


Never had a problem with them and they are long established. I expect they bulk buy airtime at a discount and rely on minimising overheads*.

*taxes, wages, rent, etc


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