Cash4phones goes bust leaving hundreds out of pocket
How to claim compensation if you're been affected by the Cash4phones.co.uk liquidation.
The website Cash4phones.co.uk, which offered cash in return for old mobile phones, has filed for insolvency.
This has potentially left hundreds of customers, who had sent off their phones but not yet received cash for them, out of pocket.
The website has now been removed, the phone line for the company has stopped working and insolvency company Capital Books has taken over.
Troubled history
When you upgrade your mobile phone, there are lots of ways to make cash from your old one and sending it off to a website such as Cash4phones is one of them.
It would pay out a sum of money in exchange for an old phone, but only after the phone had been sent to the company. The problem with Cash4phones was that often customers were paid a lower amount than the sum originally quoted and sometimes not at all, leading to a deluge of complaints towards it.
Little information has been given about what will happen to the company but a creditors' meeting took place on Monday.
What to do if you’re affected
The company is no longer contactable so the best thing to do is get in touch with Capital Books, which is now handling the liquidation process.
If you’re waiting for a phone to be returned, or for cash to be paid, get in touch and ask about getting your money and/or phone back. You can either call the company directly on 01622 754 927 or email them at: mail@capital-books.co.uk.
Action Fraud and Citizens Advice are also worth contacting and will be able to give advice on how to claim back your money or phone.
Where to sell your mobile phone
The internet is flooded with places to sell your old mobile but the prices can vary dramatically. The price of an old iPhone 4S, for example, ranges from £123 at fonebank to £141 at Moneyforyourphone.com.
Therefore it’s worth doing some research and checking several different websites before you decide on one.
Always read the reviews for the website and customer ratings before parting with your phone and check there is nothing dodgy about it by entering the company name into a search engine. Not only will this potentially save you money, it could also give you some security against losing everything.
Websites such as eBay and Gumtree can be used for selling your old phone. If you’re going down the online auction route make sure you check out the associated fees as these could knock quite a bit off the final amount you pocket.
Read Get the most cash from recycling your old mobile for more tips.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu
More on mobile phones:
How to make the most money from your old iPhone
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Cheques to become payable by smartphone photos
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MVNO: cut your mobile phone bill by ditching the big networks
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Comments
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We've always sold our old phones on eBay and obtained 4 to 5 times more than what the recycling companies offer.
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I always managed to sell my old mobile phones to the persons I knew and I received a very decent money in return. They were functional and the people trusted me. When there was some error, like it sometimes froze, I told the friend straight away and gave him a choice. He wanted it for his young daughter, so it was not a big issue. Again, I got a decent price for it as it was not completely old model at that time. For now I keep all the previous devices (get upgrades very rarely though) and use them from time to time. They are useful when having different sim-cards for calling abroad and in case that the phone broke or was stolen (knock knock on the wood), I will not be left phone-less and waiting for another one as I have read in some stories... I never trusted these companies and their prices never impressed me.
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I would have thought that under contractual law, the phone remains your property until they have paid you for it, so if anyone is waiting for their cash, they can demand the phone returned, as it is still their property.
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17 January 2014