Poor advice, wasted time and money.

[Anonymous]

On Friday I went to the local o2 shop with a view of changing my old Pay as you Go Nokia phone for a new mobile, I chose the Samsung Galaxy III mini. I liked the size of the phone and the features however, the main use of the phone for me would be for texting, which I found the keyboard on the Galaxy rather small. The o2 advisor told me that I had 14 days to decide weather I was happy with the phone - and I quote "if you are not happy with it you can bring it back within 14 days and choose another, not like it used to be when you had to continue paying for a mobile you couldn't use". I took the mobile and signed up for the £13. on a 24 month contract. However,  I tried all weekend with texting and using the phone but couldn't text properly it took far too long, the keys were very small and the general response was rather slow, very frustrating and I wasted a lot of time in, the end I gave up. On Monday I decided to take the phone back to the shop. The salesman was sypathetic and showed me other phones that had a larger keyboard. This time I chose a Sony Experia which suited me better although it is much larger. I would have to pay £20 upfront and then £12 per month, so far so good. The the salesman started cancelling my original agreement and setting up the new credit agreement for the Sony phone only to find that Experian had denied my application - although they had agreed to give me one 2 days ago! I did not want the Samsung phone so I was left with my old Nokia with no Sim card. I had to pay £10 to activate my old phone. To say I am annoyed is an understatement. I am told I can try again in 30 days. It seems if I had chosen another Samsung I may have been accepted, but choosing the Sony put the lid on my new phone experience. So I am £10 short and still have my battered old phone.  Not Happy At All. Please advise your advisors that the advise given to your unwitting customers is worth stuff all.

[Anonymous]

What an awful experience.

I find it weird that the choice of handset model may affect passing a credit check ?

[Bambino]

Not a very good situation to find yourself in, but O2, nor the advisors in the store, would have control over how Experian treated your credit check. It may be that based on your current credit, you didn't pass the criteria for paying that much per month for the more expensive phone.

[jonsie]

Maybe it's more a problem of two credit checks in a relatively short period of time rather than the choice of handset. I'm not sure how you can lay the blame at O2's door though.

[MI5]

Yes most likely due to 2 credit checks in quick succession. We usually advise leaving a week in between.

[Bambino]

If that was the reason, then it is down to the store staff. They should know that.

[Cleoriff]

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@Bambino wrote:

If that was the reason, then it is down to the store staff. They should know that.

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And to be honest I find this 'rule' round how many times you apply for credit being a reason for refusal, is really archaic in this day and age.:smileysad:

[jonsie]

To be fair the store wouldn't know whether someones credit rating was high enough to stand up to a couple of credit checks within days of each other. Ordinarily if your credit score is high enough two checks wouldn't decline an application. I dealt with credit card applications for three years.

[MI5]

The last time I took a contract (a couple of years ago now) the guy in the store made a mistake and said that if he cancelled my application and re did it I would probably fail the CC as he had just done it - I live with a mis-spelled name now as it was easier than taking the risk at the time.
Quite how he CC'd me with the wrong name is still a mystery though

[Beenherebefore]

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@jonsie wrote:

To be fair the store wouldn't know whether someones credit rating was high enough to stand up to a couple of credit checks within days of each other. Ordinarily if your credit score is high enough two checks wouldn't decline an application. I dealt with credit card applications for three years.

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But they should know that there is a possibility, as no doubt it has happened before, so they could at least make the customer aware before it actually happens, giving the customer the option to back away.