“PURSUING LEGAL ACTION: Payment Taken, No Product Delivered
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WARNING: Phonesrefurb LTD took my payment in July 2024 and never delivered the iPhone I ordered. Nine months of follow-ups resulted in empty promises, then complete silence.
My formal Letter Before Action was ignored. I am now in the process of filing complaints with UK Trading Standards, Action Fraud, and proceeding with Small Claims Court.
Their behavior shows a clear pattern of fraud. I'm sharing this to protect others from falling victim to the same scheme.”
“I paid nearly £800 for a phone I didn't received and keep getting promised I'd get a refund but it's been going on for over a month and have received nothing. Phone always goes to answerphone. Email and messages are just fobbed off. Order #38997.”
“This website comes up straight away for selling second hand/refurbished electronics via a Google search. They pretend to be operating out of London but instead are operating out of Dubai. There are hundreds of people who have been scammed by them. They put up fake reviews, I have an email exchange with them where you can clearly see their scamming ways. It’s really terrible.”
“When I ordered a refurbished Apple Watch 2 Ultra, the site indicated it would be delivered within a week of purchase. However, after a week passed without any updates, I emailed the company to inquire about the delivery status. In response, they asked me to provide proof that the card used for the purchase was mine. I found this request strange, especially since the charge had already been verified by AMEX, and I’ve never been asked to provide ID to a merchant for an online purchase before.
I responded to their email, expressing my discomfort with sending them my ID, given that AMEX had already completed the security checks. They replied, claiming that their payment processor had flagged the transaction and required additional documentation from me. I again refused to send my ID, but they insisted, stating it would prevent delays, and ended the email with, "I strongly urge you to furnish the required ID proof at your earliest convenience." After I didn’t reply, they sent a gentle follow-up reminder.
I then decided to contact their payment processor directly to verify what Phonesrefurb was telling me. The payment processor informed me that they didn’t need any information from me—only proof of invoice and shipping from Phonesrefurb. The representative also mentioned that it was unusual for a merchant to ask the consumer for such information.
I emailed Phonesrefurb again, expressing my concern that they were repeatedly requesting my ID. Now that the situation was clarified, I asked them to proceed with the delivery. Phonesrefurb replied, stating they had provided the necessary evidence to their payment processor. They also warned that if I initiated a dispute or chargeback, they would pursue all necessary actions. Despite this, they continued to insist that their request for my ID was due to a requirement from the payment processor, who had flagged the transaction for reasons unknown to them.
Finally, about 2-3 weeks after placing the order, my watch arrived in good condition. However, even though I was told shipping was free, the item was held at the post office, and I had to pay a fee to receive it. I also questioned why they mentioned pursuing all necessary actions when I never implied that I would file a complaint or chargeback.”
“It’s a complete scam.
He is only out to steal your money, you will get nothing in the post.
Lots of us have fallen victim to him, don’t be the next one.
I’ve taken him to court and won, but he’s not paying up as he’s based overseas.
And don’t believe the positive reviews, they are all fake (he’s done the same on Trustpilot and they’ve busted him).”
“Do not buy of from this company all positive review are not legitimate, I payed for a Samsung galaxy z fold 5 , the payment went though however they claimed it was cancelled by my credit card company, I then tried paying of PayPal to which they took £779 pounds claimed it was cancelled by PayPal but only sent back £729 , this is a scam”
“I have had the worst experience with this company. I bought these Airpods which they ensured would come with the box, and it did not. On top of that, their products come from abroad and you will be asked by fedex to pay import tax. They promised to reimburse me and 2 months has now passed and i have not received it.
They have no answers on their phone lines and extremely little response by email.
I could be wrong but i suspect that there is something off about this company and would not recommend at all. They have ignored most of my recent emails and I had to start proceedings at the small claims court and issue a letter before claim which again they have ignored.”
“I ordered a set of AirPod Pros, despite arriving in a timely fashion only one of the AirPods works and the customer service team have been incredibly poor at making any attempts to rectify the situation.
I made an initial complaint upon opening the product, they informed me they would send out a replacement product, this was first promised on the 02/04/2024 and then re-affirmed on the 04/04/2024. It is now the 25/04/2024 and not only has the product not been replaced, but all contact from the customer service team at Phonesrefurb has ceased - I have not heard from anyone on their team since the 17/04/2024.
A thoroughly poor experience.”
“Avoid potential scam - Buy else where
I spent days trying to check out on their website. Their payment methods were then limited to options that didn’t have any buyer protection (bank transfer only) - I emailed them to ask why and they just said I would just have to use one of the available options. Seemed too convenient so I waited!
I refreshed the page again two days later and PayPal was an option, I purchased the iPad through PayPal on a credit card (to ensure I was protected), a short while later they just cancelled the order and refunded for no reason.
I emailed to find out why it was cancelled, they stated I would need to pay via other methods, going back to bank transfer without protection. Red flag!
Looking at these reviews it’s clear I’ve dodged a potential scam! Do not pay with anything other than credit card or PayPal or both so you have a layer of protection. They just want to you to pay via bank transfer to avoid fees and buyer protection!
Also the business is registered to a business forwarding address, just like a PO BOX. This is simply an address that can receive post and be used register a business with companies house.”
“Ordered Samsung tablet in October 23, was never delivered to me. They refuse to send it, or to refund £225. They are very happy to take your money, but don't send me the pad. Still waiting in late January. AVOID AT ALL COST.”
“Twice I was sent a Chinese oneplus11 phone despite me specifically asking whether it was the UK version since the Chinese one will very quickly no longer work in the UK. I was assured that it would be. It took weeks for it to arrive. I missed out on it for my holiday, eventually arrived and it was the base model and Chinese version. Sent back and requested a refund from PayPal successfully.
I was emailed by phonesrefurb who stated it would have been better had I allowed more time for them to resolve the issue so I paid for the phone again then waited a further month. Eventually I received another OnePlus 11 phone, the correct spec this time, but yet another Chinese phone, this time with Google playstore installed.
I returned this also this time following their procedure and giving them the opportunity to rectify a second time.
What followed was a string of false information and fake tracking numbers. Firstly the blamed FedEx when all they hadreceived was a label request. Nothing has ever been sent to them. I was told on several occasions that I would without fail hear by the weekend, I never did. "This week without fail or any further delay on our part" promises, nothing at all. I did get an email saying I should email less and give it several days before I email again. Thankfully I ordered from PayPal who escalated it giving phonesrefurb 10 days to respond. 10 days later I got no response. No emails back to me directly, nothing to PayPal, stonewalled. So I got an auto refund for a second time. It was a complete waste of my time, incredibly stressful and was the single worst purchasing experience I have ever encountered. When I emailed about my disappointment before getting PayPal involved, I got a reply saying they they would include a few extras in the box for me that they hope would go some way to compensate me for the ordeal. How exactly when apparently the box had been sent weeks ago? Nothing has ever been sent to me, they lied. They and delay things as long as possible. I don't know why but research the company yourself. It's apparently Nigerian owned and the owner runs 4 other similar companies with similar practices.
Also after discussing things with PayPal they stated that they were close to pulling their pay by PayPal services entirely from this company because of the number of complaints that they were receiving.
The oh so very polite replies with smiley faces and sincere sounding "thank you so much for you patience it's very much appreciated", and "I personally will deal with this myself" and "it will be sent out as a matter of urgency by priority post" emails wear really really thin after month 3.”
“Once they get hold of your money they don't give a sh**. I ordered a playstation 5 on the 16th of November and still no playstation or a refund that I was promised. I would recommend you buy from somewhere reputable and NOT Phonesrefurb”
“Ordered a phone at the start of September and didn't receive the tracking number until over a month later after consistent chasing. Requested a refund at the start of November because I still hadn't received the phone and I still haven't got progress on my refund over a week later. Waste of my time.”
“I ordered a Tablet the 25th September and luckily I did that through Paypal even though they tried to convince me to pay with a bank transfer since with Paypal the payment is on hold.
Their customer service was very fast which was surprising. They issued a tracking number to convince me. But when I contacted Fedex, they said they only have the label created but no item since a week.
They stopped answering me now and I obviously asked for a dispute from Paypal.”
“POSSIBLE SCAM.
Ordered a pixel pro 7 on the 11th September and never received anything. Email "support" just said they'd look into it and get back to me and never did. Guy on the phone told me I'd receive a tracking number within 24 hours like 3 times. Luckily I ordered through PayPal so I could get it refunded. No idea what these other reviewers are happy about, they seem fake. Definitely avoid.”
“Horrible experience, and extremely misleading and false information about processing and delivery. On their website it states that:
'All orders are processed within 1-2 business days. The shipping estimate includes handling time.', and 'United Kingdom: 2-6 business days'. My payment cleared the very next day of ordering - and I was notified by PayPal when it did so. However, it took a full 1.5 weeks for my order to even be processed and for me to even receive my tracking code, all the while as I have been chasing customer service for my code since 2 days after I ordered, they kept promising that tracking would be provided the next day etc. but only received it 10 days late. Furthermore, shipping itself has taken a while and I have not even received my item yet even after waiting a full 2 weeks, who knows when and if I will actually even receive it.
Beware if you're ordering - you won't get it until at least after 3 weeks of ordering even though they state 2-6 days delivery.”
