Heard of a company called Fonic?

AtreuS · 9 Nov 2006 at 13:32

Warning: Scam company called Fonic

Ive just been conned into a replacement handset from these scammers. Im up for renewal with o2 ( been with them about 6 years now ) and the past few weeks ive been getting calls from these people who say they are official O2 upgrade people.

I fobbed off the first 4 or 5 calls as i wasnt decided on what i was doing. The current phone i have is fine for my use and the tarrif suits me prefectly. Anyway on tuesday the guy phoned again and said he would give me a BRAND NEW pink razor flip phone if i stayed with o2 for another 12 months. The gf really wants one of these so i agreed.

This morning a phone arrives. A silver Motorola L6!!.... in an aweful condition. Certainly not NEW and certainly not what we asked for. I phoned O2 to see what the situation was and they denied all knowledge of this "Fonic" company and informed me that the phone upgrade had been ordered via the web on thier systems.

Ive just phoned Fonic and had a bit of a rant at them... i hate being lied to and when i told them that O2 had denied all knowlodge of them being "offical partners" they just laughed. Ive been told that they dont send out new phones ( so i was lied to ) and they dont do the razor anymore ( another lie ) and that they would send out a bag for me to return the phone and that they would cancel the upgrade.

If they dont cancel the upgrade what can i do? im worried now that ill send this phone back and when i phone o2 to see if they can do me an upgrade they are going to say "sorry you have already upgraded".

Anyway beware this company... they lie to get you to agree and claim to be official O2 partners... they arent!

AtreuS · 10 Nov 2006 at 12:35

Update: What a suprise... the "return package materials" have failed to be delievered with the rest of the post. I was assured that i would get it today so i could post it back asap. Another lie it seems. :rolleyes:

I just phoned them up again to find that they didnt know i wanted to cancel!!

Spamalot · 10 Nov 2006 at 13:15

Your best bet would be to send the phone back via RMSD and enclose a cover letter explaining the situation. Then call you bank and stop any Direct debets. Also call O2 and explain the situation and what you have done. You should then be covered on all areas.

AtreuS · 10 Nov 2006 at 13:26

Spamalot said:
Your best bet would be to send the phone back via RMSD and enclose a cover letter explaining the situation. Then call you bank and stop any Direct debets. Also call O2 and explain the situation and what you have done. You should then be covered on all areas.

They say that unless i use their postage materials then they dont accept things back. Also im already with o2 so im not cancelling my payments, and O2 say that im already upgraded and that Fonik have to cancel it. Bah i should never have answered the phone!

v0n · 10 Nov 2006 at 14:37

Was the upgrade organized over the phone? Have you signed anything? If you didn't call O2 and tell them your upgrade was organized by some scammers under false pretenses and cancel it. If Fonic want their old L6 back they will have to pick it up or organize return.

Spamalot · 10 Nov 2006 at 17:30

v0n said:
Was the upgrade organized over the phone? Have you signed anything? If you didn't call O2 and tell them your upgrade was organized by some scammers under false pretenses and cancel it. If Fonic want their old L6 back they will have to pick it up or organize return.

Nice idea my even a verbal contract is a contract. Also they would most proally record the calls, so that would be a silly move.

v0n · 10 Nov 2006 at 17:47

Recording without actually informing him would be breach of law. Recording would prove they lied. Recording would only serve as evidence of scam. I say - if they recorded it would only serve as evidence.

AtreuS · 10 Nov 2006 at 17:51

The thing i dont understand is that i didnt give these guys ANY info about myself. I believed them to be part of O2 ( as they said they were ) and they also didnt aks for any info.. not my address or anything. They asked for my date of birth to confirm that i was the person who had the contract.

So how did they get the info in the first place?.... and more importantly how the hell can someone just upgrade my contract with O2 online without my say so? cant be any safeguards in place surely as they should ask for my o2 password ( which i have never given out apart from when i phone o2 direct). if you upgrade in a shop you fill out a form and sign it... ive signed nothing and there is nothing that they can say to O2 that proves i have given them my blessing is there? without my password it could be anyone who happens to know my address and date of birth!

v0n · 10 Nov 2006 at 18:17

There is typically two types of upgrade cold calling performed at the moment - the most popular one is the random "you have won a brand new <here a name of most popular phone of the month>" type of call, where they just pick a number out of blue sky and shove their bull down your throat, but they don't even know your name or have your details, as the number is basically preselected for operator in some forgotten call centre by a computer.
The second kind is much worse - the people who are actually using details from original contract providers. Your details are not neccessarily handed over by O2, but by the company that originally got you to sign up to the tarrif you are on now. High street shop, website of some kind etc. The loophole is based on the fact no one ever reads small prints - you either forgot to tick [] a box somewhere last year or didn't know that answering "Yes" to "Can I get someone to contact you next year, come upgrade time?" is basically just like letting the middleman hand over your details to third party companies.
The guys you are dealing with now are probably small distributors that get comission from network for keeping you on existing contract. Another thing these guys will often do is offer you "reconditioned" phone and pocket a new upgrade phone from the network for later sale. Network operators often make it very easy for those small cold callers and allow this because it's convenient for them to keep you on the same tarrif rather that you hunting for better offer and leaving them.

Get it fixed as quick as pos. Or it will be too late. There is a way out of it, but you'd loose your number.

AtreuS · 11 Nov 2006 at 16:40

Got the packaging today and it all seems paid for so ill send it back monday and see what happens.

DavidQ · 13 Nov 2006 at 01:23

I've had calls like this, thanks for the heads up m8

z0mbi3 · 5 Dec 2006 at 15:08

I get a call like this once or twice around the same time every year.

Sometimes I just say staff phone, and end the call other times I stretch it out and tell them how I don't pay anything for unlimited talk time and free upgrades, eventually they cave in and say I have the better deal

. Depends how bored I am really.

I'm sure at some stage in signing up with your original contract you can specify how o2 use your data. Under data protection you can dictate how your data is used to a certain extent.