O2 Recycle

I upgraded my phone in December and was pondering whether to recycle my phone or to sell it on eBay.

I have used phone recycling sites before with no issues, including Mazuma, Boots, Tesco and O2 Recycle. This time O2 stood out for me a they offered me significantly more than any of the others and promised that the money would be in my account the same day they received the phone!

The phone I sent to recycle was an iPhone 4 16gb and was in brilliant condition seeing as it was over a year old. It has always had a hard wearing cover on the back and a screen protector and as such had no scratches, dents or dinks.

I sent the phone by special delivery to ensure it was insured and that it would get to O2 the very next day. It cost me £7 but I figured it would be worth it as I assumed that the phone would be checked and processed the very next day.

I posted the phone on Monday 10th December and checked my tracking number on the Tuesday afternoon to check it had been signed for – it had. Yet I had no correspondence from O2. In fact I had nothing until I received an email from them on 13th December stating “We are very pleased to tell you we have received your order however, we wanted to update you that there is a difference between the value quoted and our final offer. This is because your item received a revision during our grading process” – then referred me to their T&Cs!!

Basically they took just over 10% off the value of my phone stating “Visible cosmetic damage”. I was hopping mad if I am honest but I composed myself as I know shouting will get you nowhere and phoned the contact number.

I spoke to a very helpful lady called Pauline who promised to investigate and come back to me, which she did later that afternoon via email stating “I have been through and have had a look at your device, it does have some very light wear and tear”.

As I said before, my phone was just over a year old so light wear and tear would be expected. I phoned again as I wanted to know where the wear and tear was and was advised it was around the edges (which i can only assume is where the phone cover doesn’t protect).

I replied back on the email asking how they expected a phone to be in “as new” condition when it was sent into be recycled and O2 replied back offering me an extra £5.70 as a gesture of goodwill.

I really felt that this wasn’t good enough and had the case escalated to a supervisor on 14th December who had the handset re-checked and was happy to offer me the full payment, however it would show as two separate payments – one for the offer amount and one for the “courtesy payment”, but I wouldn’t receive this until Tuesday 18th December. So much for a same day payment!!

Tuesday 18th arrived and no payment in my account in the morning, however the offer payment did arrive in my account later that afternoon. The courtesy payment however, was nowhere to be seen. I checked again on the 19th and again on the 20th – nothing!!

I tried to call the supervisor but got no response, so I sent another email to question where my courtesy payment was. I did get a reply stating “We have issued payments as normal however a banking error is preventing this going through. We have been advised this should be resolved soon and the funds should arrive by 5pm tomorrow”

Nothing, na-da, diddly squat!!!

By now it was Friday evening and O2 Recycle are not open at the weekend, so there was nothing I could do. No money appeared in my account on Christmas Eve and I next tried to contact O2 on 27th December after the Christmas break. I have left messages, sent emails and am now feeling very ignored. The courtesy payment is not a large one, but it would more than cover a couple of packs of nappies and some baby wipes and it is the principle more than anything now!

The funny thing was, hubby has also upgraded his phone and when I received my revised offer I thought I would see how much they would offer for his phone (exactly the same spec as mine) – they offered my revised offer amount!! Coincidence???

So beware of using these recycle sites – I wish I hadn’t bothered now!

5 thoughts on “O2 Recycle”

  1. That’s disappointing. As you say you don’t expect a phone to be perfect condition if recycled. My iphone 4 has had the same treatment: hard cover and screen protector. Not ready to upgrade yet, but I’ll be wary of using a recycling firm now.

    Reply
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