Reviews - Phones 4U goes into admin following EE contract termination

[HEXUS]

Thousands of jobs are at risk. Phones 4U shops won't open today.

Read more.

[crossy]

The decisions from the operators indicate that they are looking to reduce the number of contracts and handsets they sell through third-party retailers in order to retain more of the profit margin. ... "It feels to me as though these networks are acting in unison. It'll be good for the networks ultimately but it can’t be good for the customers, taking all that freedom of choice away," said entrepreneur John Caudwell, founder of Phones 4U.

Hmm, yes looks very suspicious to me - wonder how long before Carphone Warehouse gets hit? That said, locally at least, P4U seemed to have better deals than CPW - so there's more of an incentive to cut them to force people into the carrier's own stores with their extremely variable quality of service.

[SUMMONER]

Time for Phones4U to start its own MVNO service, closing the company outright seems silly.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The mobile networks can cut out the middle man and make more money. Maybe its time to investigate them,otherwise they can form a nice cartel and bump up prices.

[Judge Zetsumei]

That's what happens when you buy people out of their contracts, the networks get fed up. I feel for the people who's jobs are on the line but P4U's shady tactics have caught up to them it seems.

[Disturbedguy]

That's what happens when you buy people out of their contracts, the networks get fed up. I feel for the people who's jobs are on the line but P4U's shady tactics have caught up to them it seems.

What shady tactics? Apart from giving people what they want...

[peterb]

Its what happens when your business model depends solely on one business with limited suppliers. I'm not sure what added value phones4U really gave the market. A shrewd move by the founder of the company (who when mobile technology was new) to sell it a few years ago.

Carphone warehouse must be feeling nervous - iirc, they lost the Vodafone contract a while back. Again, iirc, they used to install phones in cars, but as most cars now have integrated bluetooth, that probably doesn't generate any revenue either.

[Top_gun]

A punch in the face for a profitable company like Phones4U. Whose hard work helped build customers for the selfish mobile phone networks. I don't think this story is done as I believe the networks will be fighting each other for the retail space left behind during administration.

More importantly, it also shows, it seems, that the merger between Orange and Tmobile was never in the public interest. So a decision from EE has disproportionately affected the retail market meaning less choice and value for us the consumer.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

EE has been quietly bumping up prices for data massively since its 4G now. By getting the resellers out of the market,they cut competition and so can charge more. Like I said its time these companies are investigated as I expect they might try a fast one to up prices.

[Rob_B]

Well, the view of rising prices is a tricky one, I remember when getting someone to buy a £30/month tariff would get you laughed at, BUT the best tariff that gave you 1000mins was £75/month.

It's all data now though, something which the networks haven't prepared for enough in my opinion. With people demanding 4G and massive data allowances it's easy to see why we're paying more for that side of things.

But... On topic... I Can't say I ever saw p4u as anything but shady from my personal experience with them. Mobile retailers are genuinely a pretty much useless middle man and things are now catching up to then.

[Hicks12]

Hope to god they get the contracts reinstated as they're profitable the administration side seems slightly better. I have two cashback redemption deals with dialaphone and they're part of phones4u so they're gone now , can only hope the money gets to me still as its like £300!.

[shaithis]

Around 1995 I purchased my first "mobile" phone....It was a free handset on a £10/month contract with 5p/min call charges (back when cellnet were still around)

Now technology is supposed to get cheaper over time, yet mobile charges have just kept being ramped up and up and up. It's now nothing for operators to expect you to take a £40/month tariff that still has limits.

[crossy]

More importantly, it also shows, it seems, that the merger between Orange and Tmobile was never in the public interest. So a decision from EE has disproportionately affected the retail market meaning less choice and value for us the consumer.

All the merger of Orange+TMobile meant for me was worse service and pricing, which were the major reasons why I switched to Virgin (for the moment).

EE has been quietly bumping up prices for data massively since its 4G now. By getting the resellers out of the market,they cut competition and so can charge more. Like I said its time these companies are investigated as I expect they might try a fast one to up prices.

+1 on this. Not that anything would come of any investigation seeing as Voda - for one - seem to be a business who can get away with anything short of murder.

Actually speaking of EE and 4G, am I just being paranoid or has the quality of EE's 3G signal coverage dropped since they started really pushing their 4G products? I'm with Virgin (who are EE MVNO's) and I'm definitely seeing places where I'd get 1-2 bars of H+ now giving 0 bars and the "circling arrow". It's getting so bad that I'm seriously thinking of returning to Three, (who'll have 4G in my area 12 months ahead of EE by the way, plus the US data roaming will be really handy for holiday 2015).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

All the merger of Orange+TMobile meant for me was worse service and pricing, which were the major reasons why I switched to Virgin (for the moment).

+1 on this. Not that anything would come of any investigation seeing as Voda - for one - seem to be a business who can get away with anything short of murder.

Actually speaking of EE and 4G, am I just being paranoid or has the quality of EE's 3G signal coverage dropped since they started really pushing their 4G products? I'm with Virgin (who are EE MVNO's) and I'm definitely seeing places where I'd get 1-2 bars of H+ now giving 0 bars and the "circling arrow". It's getting so bad that I'm seriously thinking of returning to Three, (who'll have 4G in my area 12 months ahead of EE by the way, plus the US data roaming will be really handy for holiday 2015).

Where I live in Kent EE coverage has degraded - sometimes even with full H+ data is still slow.

[Jowsey]

Maybe it's just my generation but I've never stepped foot inside a P4U. I used an online price comparison site and got cashback through TopCashback. I would never have went there if I had an issue with my phone as my service provide have several stores in my nearest town ( 3, and they have at least 2 stores in Newcastle ).

It is said though. It's not like this was a struggling high-street shop. This is a very profitable store, hopefully PWC will get some kind of temporary agreement for a couple months so they can continue to trade with the store before they decide what they have to do. Liquidising P4U just seems like a waste.

[Top_gun]

Maybe it's just my generation but I've never stepped foot inside a P4U. I used an online price comparison site and got cashback through TopCashback.

I'm comfortable in seeking deals online but none of them offered cash straight into your hands like P4U did.