[tdenson]

I know they've had a brief mention before, but it's worth highlighting what scam merchants they are. I just acquired an iPhone 5 locked to EE from a friend to give to one of my family members. Rather than bother the friend to chase EE for unlocking (it was a freebie so difficult to look a gift horse in the mouth) I went to officialiphoneunlock.co.uk. where it says "iPhone unlocking from £19.99". I clicked on iPhone 5 and the "buy now" button had £19.99 in huge font, I thought, that's good it's the cheaper option. I paid the £19.99 but it was only a few days later when I chased it, I find out that in small print lower down the web page, scrolled off the bottom is some text saying "to complete the unlock there will be a further charge of £80". Only myself to blame, but what a scam !

[davethorp]

May be worth submitting a complaint to The ASA. Sounds misleading to say the least.

Also you could approach your bank and ask them to do a chargeback

[Thine Wonk]

I would make a report to trading standards, as that is a breach to not clearly display the price. Your local trading standards dept details can be found by a quick google search.

If you paid by credit card and the credit card company agrees it's a scam they'll refund you, your bank MAY do a chargeback at their discretion although banks aren't obligated to.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

I would make a report to trading standards, as that is a breach to not clearly display the price. Your local trading standards dept details can be found by a quick google search.

If you paid by credit card and the credit card company agrees it's a scam they'll refund you, your bank MAY do a chargeback at their discretion although banks aren't obligated to.

I doubt they would do much, it's a scammy website, no address, no direct contact number, no company number, payments through some strange gateway (so no credit card protection as you aren't paying the vendor directly) that could incur an international charge (so payments not made in the UK).

Quote:

Your purchase will appear on your card statements as Dalpay.is IPHONEUK, or Nochex

DalPay Retail is an authorised retailer for services provided by Official iPhone Unlock

Your purchase may appear on your card statements as dalpay.is IPHONEUK +448005200847.

Your card issuer may charge you an international service fee. Refer to http://www.intlservicefee.com

Just looking at the website shows they are a fly by night gang with nothing but a disposable 084 number.

[tdenson]

Thanks for your comments, but I really can't be bothered to pursue it. I will write it off to experience.

[gold fire 201]

Can you not go to your credit card company and reverse the charge even if you paid by paypal it would seem you have a good case ?.

[davethorp]

If you paid by nochex the following may be of use

http://www.nochex.com/shoppers/

You should be able to get your bank to charge the transaction back too as I said above. At the very least pursuing the matter would help to protect other users as if nochex get complaints or chargebacks they should disable the sellers account

[Orbitalzone]

Well lesson learnt I guess, a quick search sets off some alarm bells about them, some worrying reviews on Trust pilot , Whois shows very little about the registrant who is in Belize.

At least it wasn't too much lost and should be retrievable from the credit card company that you hopefully used to purchase.

[kmusgrave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdenson

I paid the £19.99 but it was only a few days later when I chased it, I find out that in small print lower down the web page, scrolled off the bottom is some text saying "to complete the unlock there will be a further charge of £80". Only myself to blame, but what a scam !

To be fair, it clearly states this on their price list page.

[tdenson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmusgrave

To be fair, it clearly states this on their price list page.

But it doesn't (unless you are on a different price list page to me). I started with their price list page which says "from £19.99". It's only when you actually launch into the buying process and select iPhone 5 that the small print appears at the bottom.
But, as I already said, only myself to blame, I should pay more attention.

[tdenson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davethorp

If you paid by nochex the following may be of use

http://www.nochex.com/shoppers/

You should be able to get your bank to charge the transaction back too as I said above. At the very least pursuing the matter would help to protect other users as if nochex get complaints or chargebacks they should disable the sellers account

Yes it was Nochex. however, I have no enthusiasm to follow it up as I do not have a leg to stand on, it was there in black and white (albeit small black and white!). It's not illegal, it's just a devious website designed to sucker in those not paying attention.

[Zee_Bukhari]

Looking at their facebook page, they seem very clear about the charge, says £109 to unlock iPhone 5s on EE.

[alanwarwic]

So why would you visit Facebook to know the charge ?
Sadly we are in Scam UK.

For the life of me I cannot understand why these things are not police matters.
And Watchdog gives thousands to scammers for our entertainment, yet police never get involved.

If the intent is to defraud then it is fraud. And didn't someone link to that scam site here on DS just recent, so as to, aware or not aware, legitimise it ?

[Batch]

There is no defence of this company, click through to the checkout using IMEI for an iphone 5 on EE and it clearly shows £19.99. If it then adds an extortionate second amount in the small print as per the OP, how can that not be a scam!

As far as I can see this is the first vague mention of all may not be what it seams, in the small print just before the payment page:

Quote:

Once the unlock is released for your IMEI, you will be emailed the total price, your unlock will be processed as soon as you make full payment.

In any case, thanks for the warning. It may just save someone else £20.

[tdenson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari

Looking at their facebook page, they seem very clear about the charge, says £109 to unlock iPhone 5s on EE.

And why on earth would I look at their Facebook page ?

[tdenson]

One remedy for scammy sites like this would be to have their search results removed from Google, but that's not going to happen

[Stig]

A lesson to all: the only people who can unlock an iPhone is your mobile company. End of.

Anyone who claims they can do it is actually bribing someone who works at a mobile company to do the unlock illegally for them.

Do you really want to give these kind of people your cash?

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stig

A lesson to all: the only people who can unlock an iPhone is your mobile company. End of.

Anyone who claims they can do it is actually bribing someone who works at a mobile company to do the unlock illegally for them.

Do you really want to give these kind of people your cash?

Most of the crooked staff seem to work at O2 and Vodafone though, those are the ones unlocked reasonably cheaply and quickly.

[kmusgrave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdenson

But it doesn't (unless you are on a different price list page to me). I started with their price list page which says "from £19.99". It's only when you actually launch into the buying process and select iPhone 5 that the small print appears at the bottom.

On their homepage I clicked on the price list link on the left hand navigation bar and it says it on there.

For EE/Orange/T-Mobile UK networks, there will be a final payment of approximately £80 in addition to the pre-order payment - the exact amount depends on your IMEI.

Still v expensive though of course.

---

Last edited by kmusgrave : 08-11-2014 at 16:10. Reason: Add text from web page

[sdduk]

Shame you never paid through Paypal i think you would have had a case
because whether the price was there or not they hide the main price to the last minute
so you could not get out of it.....most posters on here are right its a scam.

OP Did they unlock the phone? by any chance.

Also what do you get for £19.99? because it says from

https://www.officialiphoneunlock.co....cing-table.php

A review form Hotuk Deals
http://www.hotukdeals.com/ask/www-of...eviews-1195550

[alanwarwic]

Seems it is a multi stage scam. (some people chase an a likely scam/lost cause in hope or to recoup ego.)

Once they get that extra £60 making it £80 total, it seems they come back and tell you its Blocked and will sell you an 'Any Network' service suitable for blocked phones at £50.
http://zuco.org/2014/07/24/how-offic...ck-ignored-me/

That would be £130 so far so I wonder what stage 4 is.
So do the police here care ?

Others here got scammed too.
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...php?p=73846717

[Thine Wonk]

This is what trading standards say, it will be trading standards that people need to be contact but only if the person making the report has been scammed, a breach of the law has to have been committed as I believe it is deemed to be committed at the point of sale, so wherever the scammed person resides.

Your local trading standards dept will be able and willing to help, that's what they are there for.

Quote:

Misleading prices - what the law says
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 prohibits commercial practices that are unfair to you. If a trader misleads you or engages in an aggressive commercial practice and you make a decision to purchase goods or services which you would not otherwise have done, the trader may be in breach of the regulations. There are 31 specific commercial practices set out in the regulations which are banned outright.

The regulations also state that traders must not mislead you by giving false information or leaving out information as to the price of a product or the way the price is calculated.

The definition of 'product' in the regulations covers any goods or service.

The selling price should be:

inclusive of VAT
unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible
close to the goods or, in the case of distance contracts or advertisements, close to a visual or written description - and
available to you without them having to ask for it
The indication of any charges for postage, packing or delivery of a product must be unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible

In my opinion officialiphoneunlock.co.uk are breaking the law, hopefully people who have been scammed will report it to trading standards. Sadly people that are, often don't go because they feel silly or like it's their fault (which it isn't) which means others get scammed.

[Chris1973]

Quote:

One remedy for scammy sites like this would be to have their search results removed from Google, but that's not going to happen

Do they use Google Adwords?, If so they can be reported, and doing so will probably get their ads removed. Its unlikely to hurt their organic search results though.

[jabbamk1]

The lesson here is to buy your phone unlocked in the first place.

[Resonance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

The lesson here is to buy your phone unlocked in the first place.

Doesn't the iphone become locked to the first network you use anyway, even if you buy it sim free?