The Apple iPhone is one of the most popular handsets on the market and the week-long period between Apple launching new iPhone pre-orders and the handset going on sale is one of the busiest for mobile networks and retailers. Last year, thousands of people ordered the iPhone 6 through Phones 4u only for the retailer to go into administration five days before the handset launched.
Today, administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed that customers who lost money after the retailer collapsed, will be refunded but before you get your hopes up, the amount is pitiful at best. For a customer who ordered the Apple iPhone 6 16GB SIM free at a cost of £539.99, the refund amount is just 0.4 pence for each pound spent, which equates to a total refund of £2.16. Yep, barely the cost of travelling to a Phones 4u store to place the order.
Now, the iPhone 6 16GB is the base model and consider that there are multiple storage options and the popular iPhone 6 Plus is even more expensive, a lot of people lost a lot of money thanks to mismanagement.
Alongside the customers, thousands of Phones 4u employees are also waiting for millions of pounds in outstanding salary payments but PwC did confirm that these employees will eventually get their money. The firm said that outstanding claims for payments up to £800 for salary, pension or holiday pay were being treated favourably and added that a time frame had been set in place to make all the payments:
"Significant progress has been made in reducing the arrears and we expect to pay the remainder over the next 6-9 months."
The good news is that Phones 4u rival Carphone Warehouse refunded anyone who bought the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus SIM free and lost money when the retailer went bust, so hopefully not too many people ended up out of pocket.
Via Mobile Today