The Carphone Warehouse.

It’s been the strangest of years, so when a gentleman rang me in a posh voice, he introduced himself saying, “Hello Grace Jones, my name is Andrew I am calling you today from The Carphone Warehouse, you are due this month for an upgrade,” I was puzzled and said, “The Carphone Warehouse?” Andrew replied, “Yes”,  I said to him, “I’ve never had a phone call for them in my life,” Andrew went on to explain to me, “It is something new that has been set up this year, due to lockdown, the major mobile companies can’t cope with the volume of orders, so they have asked us to help them out.” He then went on to tell me, my address, which he knew and my mobile number.

Andrew said, “You are due this month for an upgrade, would you like to have a new phone, as I am able to offer you a great deal?” I still felt uneasy, and said, “I still can’t believe that you are ringing me from, The Carphone Warehouse, are you now in the Town shop?” He slipped up and said, “No I’m in London.” Now THAT was odd, for when my mobile rang, I noticed it was my local phone number, and that was why I’d answered it, for the last three months I have had lots of spam, pest phone calls, from all around the United Kingdom!

Andrew asked, “How much do you currently pay a month?” I said, “You should know, you rang me for you have my full name, address and phone number.” He seemed to have an answer for everything, and then I let slip which mobile company I was with, for he didn’t know. That DID annoy me.

Neither did he know if I had a phone contract or sim only. I wasn’t going to tell him. He was polite throughout the conversation. But he didn’t make me feel at ease, I didn’t trust him. I said, “I do not want to upgrade just before Christ mas,” He still persistent said, “Can I phone you again next month?” I said, “Sure,” For I already knew I wasn’t going to accept anything from him, ever! We said our goodbyes, I then rang my mobile company.

I was on the phone ages, and I said to my Husband, “I will give them 15 minutes, then I will put the phone down and not bother. On the dot of 15 minutes, Masie answered the phone, her fabulous Scottish accent was quite strong, but as it’s my favourite accent in the World, I didn’t mind a bit.

I said, “Hi I’ve just had a very strange phone call, it was from a man ringing me from, The Carphone Warehouse, telling me I was due for an upgrade, he wanted me to have a new mobile and said he would give me a great deal, he told me he was working on behalf of the major phone companies, as there had been such a high volume of requests for mobile phones in the lockdown.” Masie replied, “I am SO glad I answered the phone to you, for most in the company would not know what I’m about to tell you now.”

She went on, “It is a big scam, these People have no conscience, what they do is, they persuade people to take out a new phone contract, and they send it out to the customer, but when the new phones arrives, it is the wrong phone that is sent, so the customer rings up the phone company to let the know the mistake, the phone company apologies, and say, “We will send you out the correct mobile today.” Sadly, in that time, as they have their bank accounts details and the customer ends up with a contract, but even worse the mobile fake company, has the new contract mobile sent back to them and they sell it!

I told her, “I am disgusted with them,” And added, the number that showed up on my mobile showed a local number, but he told me he was talking to me from London,” Masie said, “They can do that, they can show the local number, so you think they are in the same Town as you and they can also show the mobile company you are with now and you would not know it was not them, they have fake address for the duped customers to send the new mobiles to and their own phone numbers for people to phone them on.” I was stunned as Masie went on, “They have fake Customer Services, and it is not just The Carphone Warehouse they use, they use MANY other phone companies too,” I said, “It is scary, has many people fallen for it?” Masie replied, “Yes thousands have.” I said to Masie, “I am very annoyed that I let slip my mobile company to him,” “She said, “Don’t worry, they have some information on people and they fish for the rest, but he didn’t get your bank details or trick you into setting up a mobile phone contract, it is good that you rang me, if you just ring us using only, our number, you will be fine.”

It really troubled me and I said to Maise, “So, if he had rung me and it had shown on my phone my current mobile phone provider, I could possibly, had been talking to a con person?” She said, but we already have you bank details, so there would be no need for you to give it again.”  I said, “Does everyone in your company know about all this?” She said, “No the majority just know about their own section, like lost phones, techs, etc, I know all about it, as I used to work in the fraud part of the company,” I asked, “So why don’t they let all the Assistants know?” Masie replied, “I don’t know.” But feeling relieved, I said, “I’m really glad I got to speak to you Masie.” I told her, “I will leave you a great feedback,” She said, “Thank You.” Then we said our goodbyes.

I was reeling after that phone call and let those in my phone contract know, so they would not fall for it. And now I have past on the information on to you. “Be careful out there, it’s a jungle.”