Review Time
Twice I've tried to sell a phone through this website, and twice they have lowballed due to defected iPhone despite it being immaculate. Weird how they increase their offer by so much after you deny their first lowball.Use other sites.
I chose this company as the majority of the reviews here were positive. The quote for my iPhone 14 Pro was fair so I chose to send the phone to them. This device has never been dropped and in a case/screen protected for the whole time I've owned it. I sent it away using their prepaid pack on Tuesday.I was pleased to get my receipt email today at 12:48 notifying me it was going to be checked over. Imagine my surprise when I got another email 3 minutes later telling me there were some problems and offering me less than half their original offer.This is ongoing now as I have rejected this pitiful offer and they have informed me they may make me another offer - I'll update here as things progress EDIT: 2nd offer came in still £200 less than first quoted so this was also rejected. Stay tunedSecond EDIT: I had an excellent call from Nicola who has met all my expectations. Their customer first approach is to be recommended. I’m changing to 5 star.
I recently sent my apple i phone 14 to Phonebox, knowing it to be in an immaculate condition, having be given a provisional offer of £300. I was extremely shocked to be sent a revised offer of £100, as Phonebox engineers stated that the phone had a lighting problem and was scratched on the screen and around the housing, something that I had never had a problem with. A phone call from Nicola came shortly after I rejected the first two offers. I asked for the phone to be returned. A video was sent, but I could not see any scratches and the lighting issue was not evident. I asked again for the phone to be returned, complete with box and cable, as I had sent these too. After rejecting the offer twice, I received a Whatsapp from Nicola, the 'Head of customer experience', as a gesture of 'good will' we re-negotiated the price and I accepted £270. I was happier with that, as I believe the phone to be worth it and know that I could have sold it privately for more.
I sent my phone to PhoneBox after receiving a competitive online quote. Once received, they significantly downgraded the offer, citing vague issues despite the phone being in good condition. I was then contacted repeatedly with pressure to accept a much lower price, with claims that “other recyclers would say the same” and suggestions that I’d face a £10 fee if I declined.Despite asking clearly for my phone to be returned, I received multiple attempts to reopen the negotiation. Ultimately I paid the return fee and had the phone assessed elsewhere where it passed inspection with no issues and I received a significantly higher price without delay or question.This experience felt intentionally drawn out to wear the customer down into accepting a lower payment. I wouldn’t use PhoneBox again and would advise others to research alternatives before sending in a device.
Not a bad company, the reason I gave it a 4 star is because my quote for a iPhone 13 pro in excellent condition was £320 and they got back to me once I sent the phone off and got a new quote at £135 which is a huge difference, considering it was in great condition but obviously they didnt think so. I did except the quote and the money was in bank within around 4hrs which was very quick and very impressed with that. The whole process from them providing free packaging, to me sending it off to them getting back to me was very quick and easy with no issues at all! Very responsive to my email! If I had known they were going to only offer me the other amount I would of sold it privately. I would use this company again and I would recommend it
I was under the impression from other reviews that this company was different from the others - and didn't do this silly thing of making derisory offers way below their quoted offer and then slowly creeping up as you reject the offers... but seems they are just the same. In fact, they offered 30% of the lowest offer from a competitor's (revised) offer. Will be getting phone back and sell it via Apple as originally intended.
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
