Review Time
I can only speak about my personal experience, but I had a shocking experience for my pristine iPhone 13 with Phone Box. Honestly don’t waste your time and just avoid them. Chose them because I saw good reviews online but should have known better (given it was just 700 reviews). Rejected their low ball offer and when I eventually got my phone back from them I tried somewhere actually trusty (WeBuyTek, who I’ve used before successfully) who paid me the full £230 quoted. With PhoneBox, I went via compare and recycle comparison website and was quoted £286 for ‘good’ condition (it was one of the highest offers so naturally I thought this would be great just before Christmas). PhoneBox told me it didn’t pass testing (something wrong with the microphone?!) and offered £166 instead! That’s quite a big difference! I rejected their counteroffer straight away but it then puts you through to get a call from some salesperson with an attitude who tries to negotiate a deal with you. I just wanted my phone back (asking about twenty times) but instead I had to deal with this outrageously awful ‘customer experience lead’ who tried awful tactics to try and get me to accept a lower offer when I just wanted my phone back. It was a really upsetting experience. They practically hold your phone hostage until you pay a £10 fee to get it back. Now, my real issue with the £10 fee is that being offered £120 less than quoted is a huuuuge difference, it felt like a scam and that I was mislead into sending them my phone in the first place. After a lot of chat they agreed to waive the £10 fee after I said I would post about my experience online which they were obviously worried about (the lady even said ‘sounds like you’re trying to extort us there’!). They said they would not charge the fee if I ‘left them in good faith’, in other words don’t post about us online - no chance - ordinary people deserve to know the truth. Honestly it’s such a tactic some of these companies use to high ball you to lure you in to a high price which they never deliver on. Feels like a scam. Just feels like the business model relies on people who just need money asap and who don’t know better or can’t be bothered shopping around. How come the place I actually sold my iPhone 13 to found no problems with the phone (or its microphone) and delivered on the price quoted? Phone Box said they would stop using the compare and recycle comparison website because really they can’t deliver the prices quoted - but how is that my problem? Do your own research but I would avoid these cowboys if I were you. You just can’t get away with treating people like that.
This company is an absolute scam. Just got a new phone and not desperate to get rid of the old one but having read some good reviews on Trustpilot i thought i would give Phonebox a go. Went online and got an offer of £353 for an iphone 13 Pro so thought given it was a decent offer i was happy with it was worth doing rather than having the phone sat in a drawer.They received my phone today and within a couple of hours i received an email telling me there was an issue. No explanation provided but that they had revised my offer to £200. That email was quickly followed by a second email again telling me there was a problem and my offer was now revised to £180!The reasons provided were:- Rear microphone quality issue – report available upon request- Visible scratching around the housing – Images available upon request.Safe to say i immediately rejected their revised offer and requested someone contact me to arrange the return of my phone to me, given i know for a fact the phone was in great condition and i also had zero issues with the microphone.I ended up receiving a call from a manager (the only good part of this experience was that the lady was very friendly and polite).I advised i was disgusted with the emails i had received and their revised offer and that i had had the phone in a solid phone case, with a screen protector, since new and i had also taken photos as proof of it’s condition before sending. The lady quickly went away to review my order. Upon her return, the lady advised me that actually there had been an error and my phone was in “pretty pristine condition” (her words) and that she would make me a revised offer of £270. She maintained that their Apple accredited software had advised there was an issue with the rear microphone so that needed to be replaced and apparently they would have to give the phone a polish to brighten up some dulling. Again i quickly declined the offer and asked for her to arrange the return of my phone, to which she seemed quite shocked that i wanted the phone back! She went away again and then came back with a second revised offer of £310, with the £43 deduction now being for the cost of a replacement microphone only.So in summary, i was originally offered £353, that was knocked down to £180 apparently due to an issue with the microphone (cost if which to replace is £43) and some “scratches”. All of a sudden after i request my phone is returned and maintain my position, the “scratches” seem to disappear and they can suddenly offer me another £130 on top of their original revised offer.This company is quite clearly trying to rip people off by making up “issues” with devices and then low balling revised offers.When challenged on this, all of a sudden you are then advised that oh actually there was an error and your phone is in “pretty pristine” condition and you are suddenly offered much more than they try to get away with initially.I do not believe for a second that there was an “error” with my order, i simply believe that this company tries to get away with what they can in terms of reducing offers and paying people much less than they believe they will be receiving and then when challenged they fall back on the “error” excuse.I was in a position where i was not by any means desperate to sell the phone and to be quite honest i would have preferred to have given it away than accept an offer i felt was utter robbery by an unscrupulous company but i do fear for those who do need the funds more than i do and who are then getting ripped off by this company!Absolute disgrace and a horrible experience.NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!**UPDATE to original review 06/12/24** - Following my earlier experience, i received a further phone call from Nicola the next morning and was advised that she was extremely sorry i had had a bad experience and would like to try to reach a solution that we were both happy with.I was offered compensation which has now put me in a better position than i would have been.Whilst the original experience was not good, the company has since tried to make up for the experience & my dissatisfaction (they reached out to me in order to discuss and try to ensure i was leaving the experience more satisfied and not unhappy). We have reached a resolution which i am now very happy with & Nicola was very pleasant to deal with throughout.
I sent my iPhone 12 Pro Max but mistakenly indicated it was in better condition than it was. Understandably I was given a reduced quote but it was £145 LESS than the original quote. When I requested the phone to be returned so that I could see if other trade in companies would give more, they then offered me an extra £10-20 saying they had contacts at other companies and 'know' they wouldn't be able to offer more. The lady on the phone I spoke to was lovely and professional, her boss was a little more pushy. Got my phone returned after doing a £10 bank transfer to them to have it posted back - this didn't seem safe but they had my phone. Don't know why PhoneBox demand £10 to return your own phone when many other companies offer free returns. Ended up sending it WeBuyTek who come up listed directly beneath PhoneBox on comparison sites - ended up getting an extra £50 compared to what PhoneBox offered for the same condition phone. I'd use them or shop around before sending your phone to PhoneBox otherwise you may get a reduced quote and/or have to pay to have your phone returned.
This was my first time trading in a used device. I was a little hesitant at first because I thought it would be easier to sell it to my local shop, but I gave PhoneBox a go to get more money and I can say for sure that I made the right decision. They sent me massage and emails throughout the whole process which kept me in the loop with was happening. On the day they received my device, I was informed that they would check over it the next day. The day after, I received a message to say it had been processed and the funds would be in my account that evening. Overall, a very pleasant experience. Keep up the good work PhoneBox.
Watch out for the £10 fee to return the device. Don’t waste your time with this company. Good condition iPhone 12 Pro Max just over 1 year usage, they halved the value claiming there was an issue with the camera and that it has scratches (had no scratches) £320 offered, £150 then £190. I sold elsewhere ( sell.ur.co.uk) for the full £320.
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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
