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Phonebot Reviews

4.6 Rating 3,371 Reviews

91 %

of reviewers recommend Phonebot

Company Reviews

Product Reviews

About Phonebot:

Established in 2012, Phonebot is a market leader in sustainable technology products. Our aim is to reduce carbon footprint by reusing or recycling technology products. From acquiring a gently used product, our team of highly qualified technicians grades and refurbishes each device and only the most delicately used are on sold to consumers in our shops & online. Devices that do not meet the criteria are then either exported for overseas use or used as parts elsewhere.

Hundreds of positive customer testimonials on various review platforms testify our commitment to providing excellent customer service and after sales support. Our team of geeks based in Melbourne are reachable 9am to 9pm AEST via Messenger app for any troubleshooting or sales related queries.

With 2 convenient locations in Melbourne, our trained staff is busy assisting customers make sustainable and Affordable repair choices every day of the week.

Our focus is refurbished ,gently used (second hand), ex-demo, change of mind and corporate buy back devices.

Visit Website

Phone:

0394626936

Email:

support@phonebot.com.au

Location:

Shop A 289 Broadway reservoir
Melbourne
3073

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Phonebot 5 star review on 5th April 2024

Phonebot 5 star review on 26th November 2023

Phonebot 5 star review on 18th October 2023

Phonebot 5 star review on 18th October 2023

Phonebot 1 star review on 24th May 2023

Phonebot 1 star review on 4th April 2023

Phonebot 5 star review on 3rd November 2021

16

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“Don't buy anyone from this website. They sell their products with one year warranty but if something happens they never solve that issue. I bought a Samsung Z Fold 4 and after a few months the inner screen folding area got a crack, When I contacted them they said Samsung will give me the Warranty, then I contacted Samsung but unfortunately, the phone that I bought is not belong from Australia, It is from some other country so they can't provide the warranty. I again contact the phone bot and the manager call me and ask me to take a report from a repair shop. I did the same but still, they are not doing anything.”

Phonebot 1 star review on 2nd April 2023

This is how you returned the device under the warranty service. We denied your claim by declaring your item damaged and upon your unacceptance, we asked you to have it looked at by Samsung if you think that we have made the wrong decision. Otherwise, if you zoom in on the picture we have uploaded, you will clearly see that the protective film for the screen is TORN which means the phone is damaged and that's all. You have already tried lodging a dispute with PayPal and upon submitting your device's pictures, PayPal concluded the case in our favor. Now you are taking the device to any random store, we are sorry but we cannot accept any 3rd party diagnostic report on this item which is damaged as seen in the picture. We know this is frustrating but unfortunately, our hands are also tied and we cannot entertain this case anymore.

“I have not been able to use my phone as when I put my SIM card in nothing happens so I took it to Telstar and they also said the phone was faulty as I changed from Optus to Telstar to get better coverage. But Telstar put one of their SIM cards in and still couldn’t get it to work. I have explained this all to Catch but they keep telling me to take a picture of problem. I’m very disappointed as I liked my new phone and had also spent $30 on a glass protector. If I knew that it would work I wouldn’t want a refund please tell me how you can help”

Dear Suzanne, Thank you for choosing Phonebot for your recent order. We are really sorry to get to know about the inconvenience you're having with your phone. We will certainly look into this matter and we'll sort everything out for you. Generally, all our stock is tested for connectivity by using all the major carriers SIM cards like Vodafone, Telstra, and Optus. We are customer centric business and would have actively looked into your case, if this matter was forwarded to us directly on our customer service e-mail: support@phonebot.com.au We request you to please modify this review by removing it off and give us a chance to resolve your complaint. Just in case, phone fails to fix everything up for you then you can certainly put another review but at this point of time a 1-star review without giving us a chance is kinda unfair. We will be very happy to repair/ replace your item, therefore, please submit your claim by sending us an e-mail to the e-mail address given above, make sure to put in your order ID in the subject bar of the e-mail and send us a small video that shows that your phone is not catching any signal and we will revert back to you as early as possible. Best regards, Customer Happiness Team - Phonebot

“Awful - see my customer service emails”

“HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE Attempted to purchase “brand new” AirPods from phonebot. After 2 days of using them, they stopped working. After a full charge the battery would last less than 45 minutes. I was told by phonebot to take the product to Apple to get the warranty replacement. Once at Apple they did a diagnostics test and there was a clear record of the case being swapped previously and neither the serial number of the case or the AirPods themselves matched! Not only was I sold these as brand new which was a complete lie, they were void of warranty and I was left with nowhere to go. I attempted to get in contact with someone from phonebot for WEEKS. Constantly being told I would get called back by the manager as no staff is able to deal with any customer complaint other than him apparently, which in itself is a joke. They refused to acknowledge they had lied to me claiming they sold brand new AirPods - or take any ownership over fact that I had not only been sold a USED and REPLACED case, I was also sold fake aipods that did not even match the case’s serial number. After days waiting to hear back I finally get told my the manager that I wasn’t allowed a refund!! He refused to refund and told me to send them back to have them swapped. I did this - and have now been waiting well over a week and heard nothing! I was given a tracking number that doesn’t show up on auspost and no one is explaining why! DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. Save yourself the anguish, the stress, financial loss and go with a reputable Apple reseller. It’s now been almost two months and I still don’t have the product I PAID FOR IN FULL.”

Dear Customer, We understand your frustration as we know that you have already been to a long path while returning your Airpods for replacement. We are sorry for the inconvenience and the hassle. Apple Australia used to take the warranty claims for the international variants but as of now, they have discontinued this practice as per their policy. But the Product sent to you is assured to be original. Your claim was accepted by us with ownership to fix the item and send you a similar product. Your replacement has been collected by the pick up and the tracking number will begin to show the realtime info as soon as the parcel gets scanned at the postal facility, this will be done anytime tomorrow, because Today, Victoria is exercising a Public Holiday. The given tracking number would have shown you the updates today if it was a working day. We hope you will be getting the item soon.

“Poor customer service, received the wrong product and wasn't allowed to return It for the right one. They responded every couple of days and didn't want to help at all but there quick to take your money in the first place. Paid for express post and called them a week later to get a tracking link but they hadn't even sent it out. I would never spend any substantial amount of money with this company. They handled a $60 phone case so terribly there is no way I would trust them with a phone”

Dear Mitchell, Thank you for contacting Phonebot! We are really sorry to get to know about all the inconvenience of ordering the wrong item and then ending up getting torn packaging which became an obstacle in getting the WRONG COVER returned back for a refund. To be honest, this was not our fault for sending you the incorrect cover. We sent you the cover that you ordered from our website and it was your responsibility to be careful while opening up the packaging or ordering the item so this shouldn’t have happened. We are 3rd party retailer of the Original Accessories which can be returned back if they are defective but cannot be returned if you do not like the item and or you found compatibility issues after opening the cover. Because we will not be able to sell it back to anyone if we accept it back from you as the product's condition is mentioned as brand new and cannot be sold under used category. However, after looking and all the emails you sent and your review, I will be happy to make a one time exception for you and will accept discover back for a full refund or swap with any other product of your choice. You are requested to revert back to us by replying to the last e-mail that was sent from our side having the return instructions. Thanks and regards, Team Phonebot.

“Purchased a phone for my son and one month later the screen fell out. I took it to a local repair person who said screws and bracket were missing to hold in the cables. They did not have screws to replace so just replaced the screen. I took this information back to phonebot and was told the phones warranty was void and they could do nothing about it. The tech who repaired the phone said that if the phone is dropped or bumped the cables could just pop out. I have bought multiple items and spent quite an amount of money with phonebot so I thought they may help me out here since the phone was supposed to be in A class condition. The phonebot support person said sometimes they do not open the phones and check inside if the phones look ok. I will never purchase through them again and advise others to proceed with caution.”

Dear Customer, Our devices are tested and then sent out. PS not all our devices go through refurbishment, some are sent in original condition too. And yes, not all the devices are opened and tested for their internal build because there are software and tools to determine the capacity and health of the internal components. I do apologize for the inconvenience and the hassle with your purchase, we can totally understand! As a gesture of customer service, we would have entertained the case if it had been brought to us prior to the repairs done by a 3rd Party but that's not the case anymore.

“Lodged a complaint about very poor service received and posted a negative review. Then was offered some "free" extras to go with my phone purchase in exchange for "revising and modifying" my review to 5 star....the offer was subsequently withdrawn but left wondering how unethical this organisation really is?”

Thank you for contacting Phonebot! We really appreciate your cooperation in reaching us back and giving us a chance to intervene in this matter and resolve your grievance. Phonebot is a customer centric business and we always struggle to get the customer satisfaction by setting good prices, and delivering the best possible service. This year, there were additional holidays on XMAS and an unordinary lack of staff as well which made the orders a bit delayed. Orders were completed by doing overtime as we are aware that no one loves to wait extra. Not to mention, but you must refer to the incident of not using the discount coupon at the time of purchasing the item, remember how we accepted and reimbursed your $20 because you had missed while placing the order? I request you to reconsider this review, as just a little delay in the delivery should not be leading to a one star rating.

“Went to purchase phones today, the customer service was disgusting, rude and didn’t want to help. Rather than helping the customer, he gave us a business card to look online. Phonebot lost at least $1200 today. I would recommend to go else where.”

“Brought a phone from these scammers..lasted less than three months. sent phone back and unable to get the support staff to do anything about the faulty phone..will not replace phone or give back money total jokers..reported to office of fair trading and the accc to se if I can get some sort of action..wouldn't touch them again with a ten foot pole...BEWARE”

“ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!! In my 46 years i have never experienced such shocking customer service. I ordered a phone from phonebot and recieved it 6 days later, which was fine but after turning the phone on and no more than 30 mins later the phone started glitching (Scrolling between apps and pages without touching it) Rang phone bot and told them of the faulty phone. They asked me to take video of it and send it to them which i did. They then suggested to remove the protective glass film to see if that fixed the problem. This did not fix the problem and i said i will be returning the phone. They still wanted video evidence. I had to pay for the shipping and get reimbursed for it. I also specifically stated i did not want the same phone returned to me even if they thought it was fixed. (I recorded the serial number of the phone) After a long period of time and me constantly ringing them, i recieved the SAME phone back with our note we placed in the box.(stating what was wrong with the phone). Didnt look like it had even been touched. Once again after turning on the phone it started glitching again. After ringing the company again and finding out they didnt even have a service report on it I again had to send the same phone back to them. Finally recieved a new phone nearly 2 months after originally purchasing it. HOURS of my time wasted trying to get in contact with them by phone and email. Continuous empty promises of them saying they would ring me back (hardly ever did) or resolve the problem, and nearly 2 months of being without the phone i purchased. Manager also thought he could compensate me by offering a phone case. WOOHOO. Yeah that makes up for all my lost time and stress dealing with the incompetence. Would NOT recommend this company unless you want your time wasted. WORST CUSTOMER SERVIVE EVER!!!!!!!!!!”

“I would never recommend this company when purchasing a reconditioned phone. I received my phone and had 43 days of use from it before I encountered issues. The staff were very unhelpful when I contacted them to report the damage. I eventually sent the phone back to them for the technicians to diagnose the issue. I was told it has extensive water damage and that they would not repair it according to the warranty guidelines In my hands this phone was never in contact with extensive amounts of water-it was used according to the instructions and warranty attached. They have therefore accused me of lying about how I used this phone. Phonebot have declined to replace this phone and I now have a $300 phone that is useless. I have sent a complaint to the Victorian Consumer Affairs to have this issue resolved. I requested a replacement phone and instead I was offered a $50 discount on my next phone purchase from them.”

“Clock arrived broken and wrong colour m. can't contact anybody. Want to return. Rest of order did not arrive. Want refund. Can't talk to anybody... Lucky I am with PayPal.. Don't buy from this company !!!”

“Kogan is a simple grift company. There's no contact other than emails, which is a redundancy of nonsensical we'll get back to you!! Have made several purchases where the products are not properly working or delivered. At every inquiry you'll receive an email, thanking you for your query and will get back. After a few of those, you'll be sent donot reply emails. Have yet to receive a purchase that is blatantly without a problem, and never addressed. Again no way of communicating outside of emails. Buy at your risk, BUYER BEWARE”

“My daughter bought a set of apple sirpods for $300. after a while they stopped charging so she went to the Apple store where she was told they were fake. She went back to Phone bot where they were aggressive and rude and refused to do anything. This is now going to ACCC. Do not touch these guys”

“Phone arrived with the home button not working. Disappointing as we have bought other refurbished phones from phonebot and been very happy. Hopefully it is fixed up easily.”

“You DECEIVE your customers with big inflated advertisements and offers but when you are caught out, refuse to ownership of your disgusting conduct...The "AS NEW AND SCRATCHLESS" phone I bought from Phonebot was covered in scratches all over front screen and was covered over by a screen protector to deceive me. You would not acknowledge any wrong doing on your behalf or even a mistake on your behalf no matter how much discussion or facts were given to you. So I started warning others about your unethical business practices, on FB and you have responsed with lies and unfactual statements.”

Dear Linda, Most respectfully I will like to request you to tell yourself that, how come Phonebot does not honor its words and is deceitful ??? Thousands of supportive feedback or numerous platforms oppose your bogus allegation against us!! You bought a phone and after a year you come up saying that it has scratches on it then, Yes my friend, there will be scratches appearing on the screen as the device has been used. And if it comes to the other phone (Samsung flip) that you have bought, you claim that UV light shows a scratch on the screen but not a naked eye shows that then it's a JOKE! You were requested to share a few pictures of the Samsung Flip, which does not have a screen protector inside it but still, somehow you were revealing a scratch with a UV light but you never did.. and one last thing I will like to ask why would you always come after the change of mind window is closed. Therefore, I request you to be a reasonable customer and let us know if we are at fault. For any queries feel free to reach us at support@phonebot.com.au Best Regards, Team PB

“I was sold a phone that claimed to be spotless condition like new…it’s two years old with 83% battery health. How is this like new?”

“Bought 3 Iphone XS with Lifeproof cases. After approx. 3 weeks all 3 Lifeproof cases started to deteriorate. Upon the initial receipt of the cases the packaging looked old and tattered including a label saying returned item. In contacting PhoneBot about the issue they provided a too bad too sad reply indicating not their issue, contact Lifeproof. After posting an initial response on product review with bad commentary, A PhoneBot representative repeatedly called until I answered (4 times within 10 minutes) and really pushed the point that I remove my comments and they would resolve the issue, plus make it worthwhile if I gave them a 5 star review. After discussion and debate on this fact I did agree on taking the comments down because they were going to look into the issue, however declined any reward for the 5 star review. Upon providing phonebot with photos of age rubber deterioration they have come back and said "normal wear and tear" of usage. In hindsight, I feel that the pressure to remove the bad commentary was due to an Australia day sale that they didn't want bad reviews beforehand. Please see photos attached. No indication that accessories on website that they are old returned items. Give them a miss, a company is only as good as their customer service, in this case ATROCIOUS”

“I bought an “out of box” I phone 13 pro max and the battery health was 88%!I called and asked after some calls a replacement..they said that they had to look at the warehouse if there was another one for replacement and they would call back.. NEVER CALLED BACK AND NEVER ANSWERED ME. Now I left abroad and have paid for an at least 2 year old mobile at the price of an almost new one! NEVER buying again from here. Very disappointed!”

Thank you for choosing Phonebot! I will like to apologize for the hassle that you have been through. We will certainly like to look into this, therefore, please provide your order ID. For any queries feel free to reach us at support@phonebot.com.au Best Regards, Team PB

“Terrible customer service. Phone is from the U.S., which was never declared on the listing, which means I have a permanent notification up the top saying my sim isn't a Verizon sim and that all features may not work. After emailing Phonebot I was met with hostility and refusal to rectify the issue. Would never buy from here again and would never recommend anyone do so.”

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Phonebot is rated 4.6 based on 3,371 reviews