Carphone Warehouse Reviews

Name: Carphone Warehouse
Address: The Carphone Warehouse, PO Box 375, Southampton
Rating: 1.57

1.6 Rating 1,636 Reviews

13 %

of reviewers recommend Carphone Warehouse

1.6

Based on 1,636 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service, Courier
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 25%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 85%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Live Chat, Email
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.3 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

About Carphone Warehouse:

The Carphone Warehouse was founded in 1989 to bring mobile services to consumers. The market has always been complex and our aim from the very beginning has been to offer our customers simple, impartial advice while also offering outstanding value. As a result we have grown from a handful of stores operating exclusively in the UK selling mobile handsets and contracts, to a European-wide platform of over 1,500 stores in 10 countries, providing a wide range of mobile and residential telecoms services.

Visit Website

Phone:

0870 111 6565

Location:

The Carphone Warehouse, PO Box 375
Southampton
SO30 2PU

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Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 14th June 2025

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Carphone Warehouse 1 star review on 14th March 2025

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Lied to over delivery, don't bother with the customer service number as will be the most painful experience you will ever have.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Lied to about details of contract was told that when setting up new fone I could contact my provider and I would get 12 months sky sport and Spotify only to be told that it needs to be done at time of sighting contract. Also I went for the Samsung Galaxy edge 7 as I was told that I could use it with my television, this I have since found out to be untrue if you are buying as a package. Have tried to return within 14 days but CARPHONE warehouse won't take it back. Real shoddy customer care all they are interested in is getting the sales”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Techno virgin hubby ripped off by cold calling from carphone warehouse. Said phoning on behalf of EE. He was signed into a 24 month contract with a poor quality phone, Galaxy Young 2, tariff is to small for what his history would have shown them and with no mb's. (300 minutes and 500 text.) Has been going over minutes limit every month so has been costing him over £30 month! EE have confirmed it was Carphone Warephone who called him. His is now stuck in this contract and all EE can do is give him free call from 7pm to 7am.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I purchased my upgrade online, I request the delivery at home, I don't know for what reason but the phone has been,apparently, delivered to my neighbor, even if we don't have any proofs of it, and even if online says clearly ''DPD will leave a card, telling you they tried to deliver. Please call the number on the card to arrange a convenient time for your order to be delivered.'' and since then they never help me, left me without phone for now 3 months, keep paying my monthly contract, saying that i have to deal myself with police, or DPD, it is not them problem...(even police said why do i need to deal with something that i have never received??) THANKS FOR THE GREAT EXPERIENCE CARPHONE WAREHOUSE.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“On Thursday 31st of March 2016, I have purchased a new phone, iPhone SE. After 10 years I have decided to change my carrier service, and decided to go for Vodafone as it seemed to be the cheapest. I have chosen my contract plan, purchased the iPhone SE online and collected it the same in Carphone Warehouse which was based in Currys. Very impressed, curious and excited I have rushed home to try out the new phone, activate the sim and its connection around. However, unexpectedly, when after the sim card was inserted, there was no service whatsoever in the left hand corner which i thought was quite normal and hoped it would change in couple of minutes and enable me to activate my sim and be able to use my new iPhone. It did not do that though, so I tried googling information to solve my problem the same day and activate my sim. I found that I had to register on the Vodafone website, so I have. However, Vodafone requires a number, the sim number in other words, in order to be able to register. Following this, I have searched for ways of how to find out my new number despite the fact that my sim was still not activate. On the Vodafone brochure it has said that if you want to find out your number, call * #100#. When I did, it come up with ‘Error perfoming request, Unknown error.’ Which did actually make sense, as I tried to ring a number to find out my own number in oder for Vodafone to activate my sim. But how the hell am i meant to find out my number if my phone has no service and i require service for Vodafone to activate my number, but i can’t find out my number without my sim being activated? Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Following this, I have visited Vodafone website and tried to get help from the live chat which it offered. After 30 minutes of pointless questions provided by the employee, I got told to wait 24 hours and the card will activate by itself. After 24 hours, my phone still had no service, so I have decided to use the live chat again. After further 30 wasted minutes, I got told to ring their Customer Service, and that apparently they are not aware of anything and told me to ring the company therefore Carphone Warehouse where I purchased the phone from. Ok, I have rang Carphone Warehouse just like I got told by Vodafone and they have also told me that they are not aware of anything and to ring Vodafone. I was very unimpressed as it have seemed like they was shifting the blame from one company on another. Following day, I got fed up and went to Carphone Warehouse myself, to which I was made to wait for additional 20 minutes for someone to actually serve their customer, while the staff must of thought I was invisible as about 10 staff was walking around probably discussing which one of them should come and serve me. When someone actually came, additional 10 minutes was wasted of mine which consisted of the staff looking into a computer to which he told me there was an error with Vodafone. 10 bloody minutes for him to tell me there was an error? Really? Does he not think I already bloody know that after all this time?! I came there to get it sorted and not to be told something I already knew. Additionally he has concluded that if I want a new sim, I have to pay extra £60, and if I would wish to keep the old one, he would ring up Vodafone Monday, and by Tuesday the sim would be activated. Funnily enough, it is Thursday today, and guess what? I still have NO SERVICE :) …Great service. Vodafone does not want to help Carphone Warehouse, and instead of looking after their customers which pay them, they shift the blame on each other :) I still have my contracted iPhone SE which I pay for but i cannot use it. The joys :)))”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I found an I-phone 5 SE on offer on-line and went into the Carphone shop in the Curry's store in Rochdale. They offer a price match promise on one of their leaflets which states 'if you find a cheaper deal than ours on any smartphone, we'll match it and pay for your first month'. On speaking to an assistant I was told that because it was not with with a 1st party and was a special deal that it did not count. I always thought that if it states'any deal' that was what was intended. Sadly not!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“1 1/2 years ago I i spent £400 on the recommended phone and tablet - both have been subject to normal use but have had to be returned in total six times -[ in both cases faulty charging) both of them being eventually written off. on top of this customer service was unhelpful and inconsistent. i took my tablet to a little local shop who repaired it for £30. Will NEVER shop at carphone warehouse again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Asked if my sim would be right size from lumia620 to galaxy a5. got told yes even though I've got micro sim (which i told him) and need nano sim. Now have to wait for new sim before I can use my new phone. Also they made me wait while they sorted someone else even though they was half way through sorting me out. Not happy that I can't use my phone for few days now!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I don't know why I've made a mistake to buy a phone from them again... Always have issues with them! Very unreliable. When ordering online, the 'next day' delivery means you'll have to wait at least a week before it's actually delivered. When my previous phone was faulty, I've had to wait over a month for them to replace it and it took several written complaints to senior management to have it replaced. Absolutely furious with their service!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Waiting nearly a month for my phone to be repaired. Very poor customer service. Even after admitting fault, the people in store have no power to do anything and I'm now left at the mercy of the repairs team... Which I've heard sometimes send the wrong phone... So I'm looking forward to whatever random phone will turn up on Monday! That is, if anything arrives as they have lied to me before about this.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Carphone Warehouse, Lichfield Don't even think of going to this shop. They are very rude and ignore prospective customers who come through the door. I was left standing for 10+ minutes while 2 staff finished their chat. I bought a Samsung phone and was told that transferring files etc would only take a few minutes; it took 36 hours - and that was without photos being transferred. They are now not interested in trying to help get my photos transferred.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I visited the store in the business park coventry and the one in coventry city centre lower precinct?both were very rude. I wanted to buy a handset only and wanted to checked if it is unlocked, then i was accused of fraud! No wonder the store was dead quiet, such bad attitude towards customers. The store in the city center was busy? maybe that's why they are so unpatient. The manager basically said they do NOT have time for answering questions, they have customers to serve. Very bad experinces!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Bought a new Samsung S5 mini from Caphone Warehouse , Leeburn Rd, East Kilbride in December 2015. Worked fine until March 2016. Returned to shop for repairs 10th March as 'not connected to network' problem. Returned on 24th March to shop for the phone or a refund as website quotes that repairs carried out within 14 days. Manager refused refund!!! Checked 'repair tracker' on website, this a joke, phone only showing handed in for repairs, no update on progress 14 days later. So, had the phone for 3 months, for 10 weeks it was fine but now nearly 3 weeks in the repair shop. £240 smartphone phone returned for repairs and only offered a 2G to replace it, refused that right away. God knows when I will get my phone back? A very poor customer service from CFW. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THIS COMPANY HONOUR THE PROMISES ON THEIR WEBSITE?”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“The customer service here is absolutely revolting. Any small enquiry/complaint made is treated like a personal attack. We don't need belligerent people working at the customer service desks, please be mature and professional.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Due an upgrade with EE and Carphone Warehouse had the best deal for the phone I wanted on their website. Went into my local store (Worcester High Street) where the salesman couldn't have been less interested and was positively disdainful about my choice of phone. He then told me that the deal is seen was online only and they had nothing even similar available in store. So I went home and ordered online on Friday afternoon. Due to the bank holiday, the handset will not be delivered until Tuesday, which is fine. However, I got up this morning and my current handset now has no network connection. I rang Carphone Warehouse to be told that they have already ported my number to the new handset and that they cannot reverse this. So I now have no phone for three days. Oh and my mobile number is the contact for delivery of the new handset. Their genius knows no bounds and I will never use them to buy anything again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“My daughters phone stopped working in January 2016, took it back to Carphone who sent it away. Two weeks later she was told it was water damage, they said even steam from bathroom or kettle could damage the phone. My daughter asked for the phone back, long delay then carphone said they would give her a new phone. She received the new phone 16th March 2016. Not once did they phone her, she always had to chase them. No compensation and she has had to pay the phone bill for three months. Stay away form this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“After coming out of Vodafone for the lack of coverage reasons I opted for EE. I mistakenly went the route of Carphone warehouse. I set up a sim only contract of 1000 minutes/unlimited texts/2GB. I expressed the importance of retaining my existing number and provided a PAK code, so we went through all the set up process etc and was dutifully informed that my nano sim would be with me in two days. All fine and dandy there. By the third day my sim had not arrived so again I contacted Carphone warehouse to be informed that I had cancelled my original order, which was news to me...so we went through the whole process again and was promised delivery a prompt delivery, which to be fair was the case. After fitting the sim I found that the sim was not activated so again I contacted Carphone warehouse and finally spoke to an agent who advised me that the sim was activated and gave me a process to initiate the sim. This process failed so I was put through to a "help desk" and I use the term lightly. I was told that I would have to go to the service provider to solve the issue which consider a bit of a liberty as I had taken out the contract with Carphone warehouse and not EE. However I pursued this route and spoke to EE direct which was no doubt what I should have done in the first instance. I was told that my problem was quite common place, not a surprise there then but what was a surprise was that Carphone warehouse had not set up my phone using my Pak number and had they given me 1GB instead of the agreed 2GB. So in essence much less for the agreed amount. The guy at EE was knowledgeable, helpful and charged me less for my 1000min/unlimited texts/2GB than Carphone warehouse. He even saved me the trouble of cancelling my contract with Carphone warehouse. What did I learn from this ? Go direct to the service provider, they after all are the people to deal with in the event of any problems and you save money also.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“The customer service was appauling. The way the salesman spoke to myself and my husband was patronising and to be perfectly honest Rude. We left the store and will not be returning.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I went to Carphone Warehouse, as I do every time I come up for renewal. I have a regular store I go to in Norwich as it's easily accessible for parking and the staff are friendly....until I met the manager. The way the manager spoke to members of staff is completely unacceptable. I have been a manager for 17 years and I would never speak to anyone in that manner. They were told to 'shut up' and I presume a new staff member needed assistance whilst dealing with me and he was told to 'get on with it' as the manager sat down on his computer. I eventually left and apologised to the young boy. Poor management and I feel sorry for their staff members, especially if all of their stores are similar. More training is provided and I just want to say a big well done to the staff members who work below him, I've heard Carphone Warehouse has a high turnover and now I can see why. Awful company and I don't want to support such misconduct, I would rather pay more going to a O2 store and pay for parking in the city centre where I am sure their staff are treated with respect.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“ILFORD EXCHANGE IG1 - the worst customer service I have experienced in store . The female assistant manager was unhelpful , abrupt and rude. She was not forward thinking and practically accused me of lying . She was worthy of being fired . It was obvious there was little choice in appointing someone of her calibre as she was the major unprofessional women I have met . At no point did they tell me That if you buy in store that i cannot ever refund even if goods are faulty .and when I said this the assistant manager said she had to I ask the assistant first. Then she said it was in the small print I signed yet she show e me web page. I mean I went into store so why is she showing me her web page for ? There were no clear notices anywhere informing customers that certain networks will not do a 14 day cooling off like most shops will to avoid come backs . I asked her if she would call Head office or customer services on my behalf she said no she can't and I should go off and call myself . I couldn't believe my ears . Quietly I left the store . It clearly suited them to be underhanded and tie people in as assistants would highlight this as refunds policy are a priority for customers . Yes the assistant who serve me on the 9th may have innocently forgot to point it out but why was I treated as a liar ? What if the assistant said she did tell me in fear she did sowmthing wrong ? Then it would have been her word against mine . And to suggest an exchange in a faulty item and no refund ? That's against law is it not ? Yes maybe an exchange if you don't like it but a faulty product ? Then another young man was rude and started swearing not at me but generally over the phone . And at one point out the phone down after speaking to his manager and when I rang back he kept cutting me off ! Shocking behaviour even after I said I wouldn't make a complaint against him . But I did in the end after how he treated me . These people need customer service training and need to be held accountable for their behaviour . I am considering making a complaint to the regional manager. I mean is it getting that hard to employ the right sort of people in ilford? Are car phone warehouse that desperate to put the likes of that assistant manager In her post ? She was pathetic , non dynamic and an embarrassing specimin of a manager who did not make the grade it seems but none the less was made Asssistsnt Manager ? Wow . (Saying that after I went home and called customer services myself I got a full refund, having spoken to customer services on the phone but went into another branch to get the refund . BECKTON BRANCH BRILLIANT AND SENSITIVE AND UNDERSTANDING STAFF . customer services were brilliant with my complaint . ) The unprofessional service I received from ilford today made me never want to enter again but the Manager needs to know and if he responds as badly then he will be reported too. NASTY EXPERIENCE TODAY I will be seeing the manager next time I am shopping as he needs to know how rude his staff are. There are local people who have high standards and expect good customer service that is their job ultimately . Makes me laugh how they behave so important and as if it's their job to put up barriers to customer satisfaction . If they knew the occupations of half of their customers they would feel very inadequate, sorry but the arrogance made me cringe . Beware of Ilford Exchange - date 19 March 2016- Shame on the two peopl who delay with me today and if they read this they will know who they are.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Carphone Warehouse is rated 1.6 based on 1,636 reviews