I recently recycled my iPhone through Phone Box after they offered a price of £594 on a comparison website. My phone was meticulously cared for, always kept in an Apple case with a screen protector, and in good condition – something I documented thoroughly with photos and videos before sending.Imagine my disappointment when I received an email stating they needed to drastically reduce their offer to £450 due to a "Proximity Sensor Fault," "Visible scratching around the housing," and "Visible scratches around the rear camera rings." This devaluation felt excessive and completely at odds with the actual condition of my device.Upon rejecting this revised offer and requesting a call, I was contacted by a staff member who attempted to professionally devalue my phone further. Despite my insistence on its very good cosmetic condition (which even the staff member admitted were "very minor" scratches, contradicting their initial assessment), they continually reverted to the alleged proximity sensor fault.As we are an Apple household with AppleCare, I knew this sensor had never presented any issues. The screen always turned off during calls as expected. When I suggested having Apple verify this, Phone Box conveniently informed me of a £10 return fee – a no-lose situation for them, either I accept their low offer, or they profit from returning my own phone!The manager later echoed the sentiment that these "common faults" are easily detected by their systems, even if not apparent to the user. This rang alarm bells, especially considering a colleague had an almost identical experience with Phone Box just a week prior, facing similar damage claims and ultimately paying £10 for a return. That colleague then successfully sold his phone for the advertised price online through another comparison site vendor with no faults found.Furthermore, my wife also used Phone Box last year to recycle her equally well-maintained iPhone 14. Predictably, she too was presented with claims of cosmetic damage and a "faulty microphone/speaker" – an issue that was never apparent in her usage. I wish I had known that experience was PhoneBox before completing the order on the comparison website. Given my unease and the striking similarities in these three incidents, I decided to negotiate. I asked Phone Box to pay me £549 – the amount I needed to clear my balance. To be frank, with them in possession of my phone after this experience and the "coincidences" surrounding the alleged faults on my device, my wife's, and my colleague's, I didn't trust that it would be returned to me in its original condition. While I have no concrete proof of such practices, the lack of trust was significant.The manager I spoke with was chatty and pleasant and agreed to round the offer up to £550, which I accepted. The payment was indeed processed quickly, arriving in my account the next day.While the manager's handling of the final negotiation and the swift payment were positive aspects, the overall experience was far from satisfactory.
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PhoneBox is a leading UK phone recycling company offering an easy way of selling your old phone. We have a range of services designed to make the process as simple, secure and to get you the most money in your pocket! We like to keep things as straightforward as we can, so we provide free postage on every trade. Pack up your phone and send it using our prepaid postage label (which we send to every customer because we are just that awesome), at no cost to you! We offer a 14-day price lock to give you time to relax. Once you've accepted the quote, you're locked in at that price for the next two weeks! Once we receive your device, our amazing tech team carefully inspect it to ensure it matches the description provided. After that, we process your payment quickly, on the same day! So that you can get your money straight away. Whether you're upgrading to a new phone or just cleaning out your drawers, PhoneBox is the easy way to turn your old phone into cash with our transparent, reliable and customer-friendly service 😊See more
