Beware of O2Recycle (AKA Redeem Ltd) - Read Before Selling Them Your Phone!

[Anonymous]

If you are thinking about selling your phone to this company, think twice.

I received a quote from them for selling my iPhone 4S 32GB of £105, which I accepted. I sent my phone to them in the pre-paid packaging provided, but before I did so, I took photos of it at every angle, including with the display set to a white screen (to show up any defects).

The phone I sent them was perfect, having only been supplied by Apple eairlier this year as a replacement for a faulty one. I always use wallet-style cases so that the entire phone is protected, including the display. The phone has never been dropped and didn't have a scratch.

Here's where the fun bit starts.

A few days after sending the phone back I received a message from O2Recycle/Redeem Ltd claiming "Screen damage : Discoloured area on LCD (shading)" and offering me just £21.60 - 80% less!

I queried this and asked for photographic evidence, as I had sent a perfect handset to them. I also sent the photos that proved the handset was in perfect order.

I then received a reply from them with a different statement of damage and that Apple's advice is that it must have been dropped. They told me to 'Google it'. Of course I queried this and asked why are they are now stating something different and in any case, to offer 80% less would to me have indecated a screen damaged beyond repair - which was not the case, even if what they were stating were true. 

I also made them aware that I have over 20 years experience working in the high-tech sector, including having deploying and managing many thousands of mobile devices, including iOS devices. Their conflicting claims made no sense and they refused my requests for photographs.. I stated that if their claims were genuine, I would need to make a claim with the Royal Mail (I paid extra to upgrade to an insured service) and photographic evedence was essential for any subsequent claim.

I knew by this stage that this was some sort of scam and the fact that I found almost identical stories from their customers online only went to confirm my suspicions. When faced with the facts I had presented them with, including my photos, they suddenly upped their offer to 50% of what they had promised.

They tried strongarm tactics of saying I had 48 hours to accept, then 24 hours. I instead repeated my request for photographs before they sent my phone back. I insisted that I must have proof of their claims. They again refused this reasonable request.

At this point they decided to just ignore my further emails (there's a pattern of this if you search online). It wasn't until I warned them that my next emails would be to their owner, CEO and also to the CEO of O2 That they replied. I also made them aware that I knew that O2recycle/Redeem Ltd were in negotiations with O2 to renew their recycling contract.

They apologied for "the poor service I had received" and promised to send my phone back to me.

And guess what? I have received my phone back and there is not one sign of damage, just as when I had sent it to them!

This company is nothing other than crooked and O2 should seriously consider investigating them. I may even decide to contact Trading Standards, as no company should be allowed to behave in this way. At the very least it is uneffecal and at worse this could amount to an attempt of fraud or deception.

To add insult to injury, the price companies will pay me for my phone has now gone down during the time of this whole sorry episode.

Be warned!

[Toby]

Thanks @viridis I'll report this to the team. About to send a PM too

[viridis]

Okie dokey capitan.

[Cleoriff]

However the talk of 'going elsewhere' is hardly the argument really. The complaint on here about O2 Recycle's appalling practice of offering a good price for a phone and reducing the offer without fail for some sort of fictitious reason is nothing short of fraud in my opinion...

There are far too many for it to be a one off issue

[Anonymous]

@Cleoriff

You've hit the nail on the head. This isn't simply a case of not liking a company's service, this is fraud, pure and simple.

[jonsie]

The big problem is that they are allowed to get away with it,  both by O2 and by some customers accepting what they are reoffered. 

[Cleoriff]

O2 should disassociate themselves from these companies. We hear similar fraudulent claims from Anova, their repair centre...and the recycle section is no better....

[Anonymous]

But are the complaints on here truly representative of a problem that O2 would want to distance itself from?

The problem with community forums is that issues can seem to be magnified, when in reality they only represent a small percentage of customers. Without seeing any stats I'm only guessing of course, but it seems very much like the discussions we have around customer service.

[Cleoriff]

I realise that people usually come on here to complain @Anonymous However, if all of these have a genuine complaint, then those are the ones we should be advising...There are far too many negative comments about O2 recycle to ignore. One of our experienced regulars @viridis described his complaint in great detail...For that reason alone. I would NOT trust the company to give me a fair price on any phone I wanted to recycle

[viridis]

But to clarify, it didn't anger me, I just walked away. The issue for me was the offer being questioned and denied it existed. Others would not have walked.
But I agree, the issue is more to those who send the handsets away. Something that should be easy turns out to be a gamble...

[Anonymous]

I totally understand the concerns that have been expressed, and I don't think I'd be using their service after reading these complaints. O2 does have a problem of course, as no company wants bad publicity. But I'm just trying to gain some perspective as to how big this problem actually is, compared to the number of satisfied customers, that presumably they still have.

Edit: typo