TradeUp - Undervalue

[kylefaichney]

Afternoon, 

CAN ANYONE HELP!!!

we have upgraded our handsets and agreed to a trade up offer from Virgin.  The handsets were securely packaged up and sent off as requested. A few days later we get an email saying neither matched the descriptions and here is a much lower revised offer. In the email body it notes if you do not wish to accept email the following address virgintradeup.uk@likewize.com So i do, and i get a bounce back saying: The group virgintradeup.uk only accepts messages from people in its organization or on its allowed senders list, and your email address isn't on the list.

As you can imagine i think i'll try again later incase its an internal issue, again no luck after several attempts.  I then call virgin mobile, i'm as always directed to the Philippines who are very unhelpful and fob me off with a number for the tradeup team (0800 031 8389).  Turns out this is the number for Natwest mobile/device insurance, the guy tries to locate a team/number for me but can't. 

How do I resolve this, I want to understand why the value is less than the offer with supporting pics etc.. to allow me to make a decision or indeed choose not to tradeup and have my working, undamaged handsets returned to me. 

Any help would be great, as i cannot face another call with the call centre who are unable/unwilling to help......

Kyle.  

[Andrew-G]

I've marked for staff to advise.  I believe that VM's trade-in scheme is run by Brightstar, now trading as Likewize, who specialise in this sort of thing.  You could try calling them on 01270 412020, and may have some luck, but some online reviews report difficulty in contacting them and/or getting any sense out of them.

From what I've seen over the years, device trade in schemes are often a problem, and you get much prices selling privately on eBay or other private selling sites.  For some people the trade in deals are easier to use and the risk of lower valuation is acceptable, and occasionally the prices offered are decent.  But as a rule, these companies can't sell the phone at a higher price than you can, and their costs are higher, so actual trade in values have to be notably lower than the price you could sell for.  I'll let you decide whether any particular company might see commercial advantage in offering a better value and then mysteriously finding "faults" to reduce that trade in value. 

Good luck getting this sorted.

[Corey_C]

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for your post and for reaching out to the Community Forums. Sorry to hear of your trade up issues. Did the email or the team advise what was wrong with the handset specifically? The valuation of the handset is determined by the handset Trade-Up teams at Likewise/Brightstar, so they might be able to shed further light on this for you. I have tested the number and it is definitely Likewise/Brightstar but I can confirm the emails are generating that rejection message. I have forwarded this on to their teams for further investigation into why that is occurring.  But we would advise calling again. 0800 031 8389

Cheers,

Corey C

[Corey_C]

Hi Kyle,

I've sent you a private message to confirm your mobile account details. And also to get a copy of that email regarding your trade up

Cheers,

Corey C

[kylefaichney]

Corey, 

Ive replied to your DM. 

I tried the number again, and Brightstar/Likewize, again it went straight to the Natwest Team..... 

k.