Worst customer service experience I have ever had!
I ordered a new Samsung Galaxy S21FE which was advertised as minimum £150 cashback when you trade in ANY smartphone in ANY condition. I checked with staff in-store at Currys in Bolton before I ordered and confirmed I would get at least £150 for my current smartphone (Sony Xperia 5 ii).
After placing the order, I called customer services (which takes approximately 40 minutes to get through), only to be told they couldn't process the trade in as my phone make and model wasn't listed. They advised I would need to visit the store to process the trade in.
On visiting the store, they advised the ANY make/ model trade in offer doesn't actually include my Sony Xperia phone and I would need to contact customer services to cancel.
Customer services have refused to cancel the order, as the new phone has already been dispatched to Currys in Bolton. They expect me to collect the phone from the store and return it to them at my own expense which I naturally refused to do.
The CS team then transferred me to the sales team and said Sales would be able to cancel the order and arrange collection of the phone (more hold time).
Sam in the sales team spoke to his 'manager' and said I needed to leave the phone without collecting it at the Bolton store and the order would be cancelled automatically after 14 days, which (conveniently), is the same length of time as the cooling off period so again I declined.
Sam then agreed he would arrange with the customer services team to have the phone collected from the Bolton store before putting me on hold. After another lengthy hold time, I was blind transferred back to the customer services team.
I then asked to speak with a manager and was put through to the sales team manager, Jason who agreed that the situation was ridiculous and promised he would speak with customer services personally to arrange the order cancellation. Again, I was placed on hold and got transferred back to the CS team, and the call was cut off - I received no call back despite them having my mobile number on file.
I called back AGAIN, spoke with an agent named Ijaz and asked to speak with the sales team manager Jason. Ijaz refused to transfer me to any manager and said he would arrange a callback which of course, I never received.
After spending several infuriating hours on the phone with these disgraceful time-wasters, I have still been unable to cancel the order and will now have to waste even more time going back into the store to return the item at my own expense.
From the other reviews on Truspilot, it appears the Carphone Warehouse business model is to advertise fake offers and then rely on a literally useless customer service team to ensure that customers are unable to cancel before the end of their 14 day cancellation period. Absolutely appalling!

1) I ordered my new mobile through Carphone website as follows
Your order details are:
Order Date: 02/03/2020
Order Number: *******
Order Total: 349.99
Order Contents:
1 x SAMSUNG A70 CORAL £349.99

2) I wanted to collect my new mobile from the nearest Carphone Warehouse near my workplace which is near Victoria station. I chose
Oxford Street East
Currys PC World - Carphone Warehouse, 94 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1BZ.

3) On the 3rd March 19 I received a SMS message as follows:
Order ******* has been dispatched to your chosen store. Please ensure you take the credit/debit card used to make your payment. For further details, please check your email.

4) I received no further emails from carphone warehouse about my order. Due to illness I was not able to go and collect the new phone from the shop on the 3rd Mar. My illness lasted until 12th Mar. I had also not gone to work as a result. I reside in Chelmsford which is 42 miles from the Carphone Warehouse shop at 94 Oxford street and takes 1.5 hours on the train/tube network.

5) Just to be sure, my new mobile was in the shop, I phoned up customer services on the 12th Mar / 13th Mar. I rang the FREEPHONE telephone number *******250. They adviced me that the phone was indeed in the shop and had been signed in by the 94, Oxford street store manager. I should be ok to collect.

6) I made a special trip from Chelmsford to 94 Oxford street on the 12th March to get my new mobile. I spent 1.5 hours on the train and £21.50 on the train/tube. I got to 94 Oxford Street, and the Sales Assistant (sorry I haven't got the name) checked me in in terms of my credit card details, identity source (driving license).
Then 2 sales assistants went down to the shop warehouse/stockroom to retrieve my mobile. But they could not physically locate my above order. Yet they saw on the system that it was signed for by the store manager.

7) I was then told to come back the next day.
A) I said I could not do that, since I had come a long way from Chelmsford, wasted 1.5 hours of my time at an expense of £21.50
B) The manager got involved. I spoke to him at great length by my frustration of not get my new mobile. He said, that the shop was at a loss to explain why my new purchase could not be located at the shop. He said, they would carry out a check next day, to find out where the mobile was within the system. I said that I could not come back to the shop again as I couldn't travel again such a long distance. I gave him three options
-To give me refund immediately, since the goods I came to pick up weren't there.
-To give me the new purchase immediately (another spare A70 which might be stock)
-To send the mobile once recovered to my local store in Chelmsford.

8) The store manager refused to give me a refund and promised that my issue would be investigated ASAP. After a great deal of discussion, I left the shop empty handed to return home. The sales assistant took my mobile number down and said they would get in touch with me the following day which is 13th Mar.

9) I did not receive any phone call from the shop on the 13th Mar. I waited until 11:30 am. I then phoned up customer services FREEPHONE telephone number *******250 to complain that I had not received my phone when I want up to the shop and that I wanted my refund back. They told me that because the mobile was to be collected on a Click and Collect basis, the shop would be responsible for arranging a refund OR give me my new mobile. They told me to go into the shop again. I said I could not do so for practical reasons as I would have to travel from Chelmsford, it would take me 1.5 hours and cost me £21.50 again. I told them I had already had a wasted journey.
They could not do anything to help. I asked them for the shop phone number *******1680)

10) I phoned up the shop half a dozen times on the 13th Mar afternoon, but always got a busy message and request to phone back later. I then visited the my local Chelmsford High Street Carphone warehouse shop on the 14th Mar. I explained the above to them. They tried speaking to the retail call centre on my behalf explaining the situation. But they were adviced that Chelmsford Carphone warehouse could not do anything for me, and that as a customer I had to re-visit 94 Oxford Street to try and get the issue resolved.

THIS WHOLE EPISODE HAS A LEFT ME COMPLETELY FRUSTRUATED AND SHOCKED AT THE TREATMENT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE UNSYMPHATETIC CUSTOMER SERVICES AND 94 OXFORD STREET CARPHONE WAREHOUSE SHOP. ALL I NOW WANT IS MY MONEY BACK ASAP AND AN APOLOGY FROM CARPHONE WAREHOUSE AT THE TREATMENT I HAVE RECEIVED. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT IF THE MOBILE IS NOT COLLECTED BY THE 14TH DAY, THEN BY DEFAULT THE ORDER GETS CANCELLED AND THAT MY MONIES WILL BE REFUNDED. BUT THIS COULD THEN TAKE A FURTHER MONTH (30 DAYS!). THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I WANT MY MONEY BACK NOW! I ORDERED THE PHONE IN GOOD FAITH, BUT AS A CUSTOMER I AM GETTING PENALISED WITH ALL THE HASSLE OF TRYING TO GET MY PHONE AT A GREAT DEAL OF EXPENSE, TIME AND FRUSTRUATION THROUGH NO FAULT OF MY OWN. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WILL NEVER EVER SHOP AT CARPHONE WAREHOUSE AGAIN OR ITS CONNECTED COMPANIES. I TRUST AMAZON ANYTIME COMPARED TO YOU ROGUES. I WILL ENCOURAGE ALL MY FAMILY, FRIENDS AND WHOEVER I COME IN CONTACT WITH, TO NOT PURCHASE GOODS FROM A COWBOY COMPANY LIKE CAREPHONE WAREHOUSE!

Absolutely rubbish! Poor poor poor customer service! Grrrrrrrrr