[Darth-Habib]

Phones 4U collapses into administration as EE is final operator to hang up

Retailer's 720 outlets will not open on Monday, with 5,596 staff to be briefed by management, as private equity owner BC Partners launches an attack on mobile operators

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...o-hang-up.html

[lee18xx]

Feel for the staff. But it's a bad company.

[Sniffle774]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee18xx

Feel for the staff. But it's a bad company.

I agree. So sorry for the staff, they were let down.

[Rush]

Another empty shop on the high street.

[Darreninessex]

I feel sorry for the staff really..

Never liked there selling tactics...

[plymouthbloke1974]

Oooooo sh*t

[samcheese]

Wonder what will happen to the Phones4U Arena?! Can they still be called that if the company folds?

To be fair though, I still call it the MEN Arena

[Minardi]

Feel sorry for the staff, but as others have said, I have never liked the way the company operates.

[IslandNiles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samcheese

Wonder what will happen to the Phones4U Arena?! Can they still be called that if the company folds?

To be fair though, I still call it the MEN Arena

As does everyone. The MEN gets the advertising without the sponsorship these days!

[IslandNiles]

How many iPhone 6 pre-orders did they take, I wonder?

[klendathu]

It's for the best really . Terribly run company from top to bottom .

Feel for the staff , but from a selfish point of view, maybe some cheap stock may come up

[Aye Up]

I am not sad to see this company go quite frankly, the sales staff are young enough on average to be able to bounce back from this. If anything the hard selling approach will teach them a valuable lesson going forward....its not the way to behave. Alot of these shops will go under, but some of the retail estate maybe taken over by someone else.

I didn't know they employed so many people, but then I suppose thats how many it is when they try and match carphone square for square in the retail market. By and large this will probably be the end of major third party selling on the high street. Trend has been for a few years now to bring everything in house.....EE has been mulling its decision for a number of years now (practically a few months after the merger was announced).

The trend nowadays is moving away from aggressive selling to engaging the customer and helping them on their "journey" might sound cheesy but its true. Go to any of the network stores and you will see what I mean. By and large their pay packet now isn't governed by how much commission they make, its down to service (end to end).

Can only be a good thing that the dinosaur that is P4U is now more or less leaving the high street.

[nafanny29]

Terrible company, who encouraged their staff to stuff it to gullible customers!!

Good rideence!!

[plymouthbloke1974]

That's Dialaphone gone as well...

[tghe-retford]

The irony is that whilst the Phones4u website appears to still be online and trading, the front page of the website has a feature on the Sega Dreamcast, the console that developers pulled out of until Sega had to throw in the towel on its console making business to save the company. Ironic.

A terrible night ahead for the staff employed, it'll be a tough and uncertain time and I hope no-one wishes their redundancies on them, despite Phones4u's questionable practices as shown on this thread.

[Everything Goes]

Thought they might have made it past Xmas as their Vodafone contract expires in Feb 2015 but I guess EE pulling the plug which had been widely expected tipped the balance.

[Aye Up]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plymouthbloke1974

That's Dialaphone gone as well...

I wonder what will happen to their MNVO Life Mobile?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

The irony is that whilst the Phones4u website appears to still be online and trading, the front page of the website has a feature on the Sega Dreamcast, the console that developers pulled out of until Sega had to throw in the towel on its console making business to save the company. Ironic.

A terrible night ahead for the staff employed, it'll be a tough and uncertain time and I hope no-one wishes their redundancies on them, despite Phones4u's questionable practices as shown on this thread.

I don't wish redundancy on anyone naturally but as I stated the staff or average age of those instore must be in their early to mid twenties. They can survive a hit like this and work elsewhere.....I think even secretly a lot of them will be glad the sales practices of P4U will be confined to the dust bin.

Massive change is afoot in the retail sector now, companies large and small are coming through showing an alternative way in which to serve customers. A lot of them have looked to the Apple and John Lewis model in which to run their stores. Its nice being able to go into Currys or even Carphone and not being hounded out of existence as you mull over the specifics of a given product.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

Thought they might have made it past Xmas as their Vodafone contract expires in Feb 2015 but I guess EE pulling the plug which had been widely expected tipped the balance.

I wasn't expecting it so soon, I was told about a week ago that EE was looking to exit the relationship I didn't expect it to be so soon, October maybe but this though unexpected is hardly surprising. Phones4U built their business on everyone elses business and sooner or later that model was going to come ajar.

It was inevitable that networks wanted to bring everything in house, controlling service and also the profits. CPW had the wisdom in which to merge creating a very big retail giant which will actually benefit the 4 networks going forward, given their large retail estate. That merger will serve them well going forward, I also think the networks will look at other options as well specifically expanding ventures with Supermarkets. Tesco has a young but strong offering in the mix, selling its own contracts along that of the major networks. Using Dixons-Carphone and Supermarkets will be both cheap and productive, expect to see these expanded once the P4U situation has run its course.

[jonmorris]

It's hard to feel sympathy for many of the people that worked in Phones 4U stores, being quite keen to pressure people into buying things, and not having any real moral compass - any more than working as a chugger or in a call centre cold calling people.

I know a job is a job, and now there are people without a job, but some people should consider hard what types of job they are willing to take, and what jobs they aren't. If people refused to take such jobs, perhaps all industries would be better for it.

I know things had improved a bit in recent years, but there was still too much bad feeling and the company already had a terrible reputation that I am not sure it was ever going to shift.

I do think that Carphone Warehouse isn't out of the woods yet. I know it is in a far better position, and might even one day get back the contracts it has lost, but networks would sooner deal direct. Dixons Carphone could of course still sell SIM free phones, tablets (most of which are Wi-Fi only anyway), wearables, accessories and so on - and I'd actually recommend people buy SIM free anyway. Either go for a far more affordable, and shorter, contract with SIM only, or perhaps even look at some of the prepay deals that are beginning to make a contract look rather silly for a lot of users.

Separate the phone from the SIM and you can now order a SIM over the net, and then just buy a phone like any other electronic item.

The industry has been wanting to get rid of subsidies since the 1990s, so who knows - it might actually happen one day. Those who still want their 24 month contracts at silly money per month can always go to their nearest network store. More fool them.

[plymouthbloke1974]

Obviously I'm probably wise not to comment on this news, however my thoughts are with the staff regardless. No-one deserves the sword of Damocles hanging over them...

[Dean Lambert]

Will be interesting what happens with life Mobile given that EE provide network coverage

[lezlee]

It was inevitable that this situation was going to happen after Vodafone signalled it's intention not to renew it's partner contract with P4U.

P4U has been badly managed and developed a terrible reputation from the dark days of a suited salesperson waiting outside their shops to poach customers in true 'chugger' fashion.

I don't particularly agree with the statement P4U have made about distorting competition, the network providers themselves compete with each other and most customers are savvy enough to shop around, be it in store or on the respective websites. P4U just adds unnecessary costs to a network provider, when the big players generally have cities and large towns covered.

Nonetheless, I wish the staff affected all the best and hope they are treated well over the coming weeks.

[Faust]

The real downsides to this though are the public at large. The more competition you have the more that drives down prices. All the big operators want the profits for themselves. The contracts and phones will if anything become even more expensive.

[Aye Up]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

It's hard to feel sympathy for many of the people that worked in Phones 4U stores, being quite keen to pressure people into buying things, and not having any real moral compass - any more than working as a chugger or in a call centre cold calling people.

I know a job is a job, and now there are people without a job, but some people should consider hard what types of job they are willing to take, and what jobs they aren't. If people refused to take such jobs, perhaps all industries would be better for it.

I know things had improved a bit in recent years, but there was still too much bad feeling and the company already had a terrible reputation that I am not sure it was ever going to shift.

I do think that Carphone Warehouse isn't out of the woods yet. I know it is in a far better position, and might even one day get back the contracts it has lost, but networks would sooner deal direct. Dixons Carphone could of course still sell SIM free phones, tablets (most of which are Wi-Fi only anyway), wearables, accessories and so on - and I'd actually recommend people buy SIM free anyway. Either go for a far more affordable, and shorter, contract with SIM only, or perhaps even look at some of the prepay deals that are beginning to make a contract look rather silly for a lot of users.

Separate the phone from the SIM and you can now order a SIM over the net, and then just buy a phone like any other electronic item.

The industry has been wanting to get rid of subsidies since the 1990s, so who knows - it might actually happen one day. Those who still want their 24 month contracts at silly money per month can always go to their nearest network store. More fool them.

Its sad that so many are losing their job, but its hardly a surprise given how many contracts and business P4U has lost over the last 3 years. I do think P4U going under is probably wise and will consign tactics to history. It might sound stupid but P4U has been the chain around the neck for all mobile phone retailers. They have damaged reputation of the industry so much that people go into any phone shop on the defense, its sad really it is. There was nothing worse than seeing someone who had previously dealt with the company and convincing them you weren't gonna screw them over.

Anyone in the industry will have very little sympathy for them, yes to a point a job is a job. I would rather be on minimum wage at least having a sense of moral fibre than stoop to the levels the staff are FORCED to do. Lets be honest here, the aggressive tactics were a culture that is/was developed wholesale from the top of the business down. So those at the bottom they either towed the line or were sacked. I have worked with people from P4U and some becoming dumbstruck at the difference in culture and attitudes, basic pay is more but incentives less. However incentives were developed around service as opposed to sales (although sales targets do have to be met).

I don't think getting rid of subsidies will pan out as such, I think a move to something along the American lines is afoot if not already happening.

[jabbamk1]

Didn't expect this to happen so soon.

Knew it was coming though.

[Lidtop2013]

Never used them before, don't ever recall browsing in one either.

Sad news for the staff as everyone else said