Crusader Phone firm makes right call
ANGELA Whalley and Paulina Lewis had good reason to rejoice this Easter after their mobile phone problems were settled once and for all. While their struggles were separate, both of them happened as the customers were in the course of upgrading and searching for no-frills handsets with a good quality camera.
In July last year Angela, who has mobility problems, experienced an overpayment issue following a visit to a Vodafone store in Suffolk. There she chose a Nokia 3310, a modern version of a traditional classic renowned for featuring a simple keypad and for being easy to operate.
“Because of high demand I had to order it,” explained Angela who had expected to get a text message on her old phone when the new one arrived.
“When I didn’t see one I checked and was told it had been sent back because I hadn’t collected it. The staff reordered the handset and I paid £49 again on the understanding I would be re-credited for the first payment.”
But for several months afterwards Angela checked her statements, taking them back to the shop to prove the no-show.
“The staff spent ages trying to get it back for me but with no success,” she told Crusader. And while Angela faced an unacceptable stumbling block, pensioner Paulina in Cheshire was faced with an even trickier situation.
A long-time Vodafone customer, Paulina isn’t so comfortable with technology and as a result hadn’t upgraded her Nokia for a decade.
A few weeks ago she called into her nearest store looking for an affordable handset that “just took good photographs and received texts”, she explained.
Following advice she paid £25 for a phone but the purchase didn’t work out well.
“I wasn’t able to receive photos from my family like I’d done before.
“I then discovered the phone had a limited facility for sharing pictures but was told I could not return it as by then I’d had it for more than a month. I also found out the camera quality on the new phone wasn’t as good as my old one.”
However, swift resolutions were the order of the day after Crusader outlined the problems to Vodafone. Angela was delighted to get her credit plus £50 by way of an apology. The company said it was making further checks to ensure this kind of mix-up doesn’t happen again.
And for Paulina there was a brand new Nokia 3310 free replacement that she is very happy with.
“We are sorry she received some incorrect advice,” Vodafone told us. “Customers can return equipment and cancel without charge in the first 30 days whatever the reason.”
Multi-tasking smartphones are versatile but they are not for everyone. Vodafone reminds consumers “while a smartphone does mean that you can use apps to send and receive pictures, any phone with a camera incorporated can do the same in the form of MMS (multimedia messages)”.
The company’s recommendations for traditional-style phones include Doro 6520 for £45 pay as you go for easy access and the now updated traditional favourite Nokia 3310, £35 PAYG, with plenty (16MB) of storage and a good camera.
For simple smartphones there’s Vodafone Smart E8, £49, with voice services or the compact, lightweight Vodafone Mini 7 – £29 PAYG with GPS for location sharing.