Phones4U - No refunds for upfront iPhone 6 payments
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Phones4U emailed iPhone 6 pre-orderer customers who made an upfront payment telling them, they will not receive a refund. The email tells ex-customers there basically won't be any refunds, and suggests they contact their credit card provider to dispute the charge.
Anyone that can't go to a credit card company for help is pretty much out of luck, although there is another option that involves submitting a refund claim to PwC. The problem with that is there's a high possibility it'll be more trouble than it's worth. A disclaimer on the claim page reads "Please note, given the level of secured liabilities, if there is any dividend to unsecured creditors, any payment if made at all, would not be for many months and is likely to be negligible." In normal-speak, this means if you seek a refund, your request will join a long line of companies/individuals Phones4u owes money to as a priority. And considering the company's just folded, there's unlikely to be any left for you when all the larger debts have been squared away.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/25/phones4u-iphone-6-refunds-no-dice/
Anyone that can't go to a credit card company for help is pretty much out of luck, although there is another option that involves submitting a refund claim to PwC. The problem with that is there's a high possibility it'll be more trouble than it's worth. A disclaimer on the claim page reads "Please note, given the level of secured liabilities, if there is any dividend to unsecured creditors, any payment if made at all, would not be for many months and is likely to be negligible." In normal-speak, this means if you seek a refund, your request will join a long line of companies/individuals Phones4u owes money to as a priority. And considering the company's just folded, there's unlikely to be any left for you when all the larger debts have been squared away.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/25/phones4u-iphone-6-refunds-no-dice/
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Comments
It's all very fishy
Nothing fishy about it at all, 2 private equity firms brought Phones4U for £1.5 billion. Like all private equity companies they did not use their own money to buy the company, they borrowed money against future earnings of Phones4U. So in effect Phones4U was brought using Phones4U own assets, get your head round that if you can.
The problem doing this is, that most of the company profits have to go to pay back that debt and are not re-invested into the company. This is fine as long as the company is making profit and is expected to continue making a profit. But as soon as there is any threat to those profits, such as the last of Phones4U partners walking away. Then the banks want their money back straight away, before there is no money left.
This left Phones4U unable to service their debts and the rest is history.
Of course the shareholders, the private equity firms, taking £200,000,000 in dividends last year didn't help, that would have serviced the debt for quiet some time and probably allowed the company to restructure and survive. Anybody might think they knew what was coming.
Add to that the fact that the private equity firms get nice tax deductibles for all that debt, so pay very little tax and the fact that they were never actually liable for the loan, Phones4U was, they were quids in.
As I said nothing fishy, nothing illegal.
Of course whether it should be is a whole different discussion!
Book profit does not = cash in the bank
Also if you check the last filled accounts i beleive you will find the business does not have enough cash or asset value to satisfy its liabilities
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2372404/phones-4u-wont-offer-iphone-6-pre-order-refunds-after-all
And if you paid cash good luck you'll need it!
Exactly. Amazes me how many people confuse profit and cash.
Who would pay for a phone contract using cash? Nobody. In order to take out a phone contract with Phones4U or another company, you have to give them your credit/ debit card details for the direct debit amount of your contract to come out of your account every month.
Unfortunately Debit card chargeback is not a legal right, and is something that the banks don't have to do, or can try and fail, and then decline the chargeback.
From your link:
You can not pay direct debits from a CC for a contract.
What a country we live in eh?
In fairness to the UK, it could happen in most free market/capitalist countries.