They can't exactly refuse a refund; on what grounds would they justify refusal? They've offered me it if I choose it.

It seems that the (ex) Argos employee's opinion of Argos is somewhat parallel to that of those who shop there... I deeply sympathise with anyone valuing their life SO little as to seek employment at boxshifter.com

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Argos-team-leaders-Reviews-EI_IE12847.0,5_KH6,18.htm

giffgaff has refurbished and new iphone 5s, i wonder what state their refurbished ones are

Picked one up yesterday and not even bothering to try it out the case was badly dented and looks a little grubby, these are not refurbished they are pre owned. I got a 4s last year and it was great but this is shocking.

yes, fast track email is the receipt

Also woman never give me a receipt when I picked it up? As I paid for it online for fast track she said that would be my receipt. Literally just handed me the phone and that's it? Is that right?

Great thanks for your help guys :smiley:

Amazon refunds as soon as the return barcode is scanned at post office. I have returned many used products even some games and have been fine... Argos though..

Full refund should be fine with the reciept, should offer some gift card too for the inconvenience

I picked 64gb one up from the Stratford store and seems to be fine apart from tiny marking on edging. I got the stupid Japanese version though. Are they even allowed to sell these? As surely by what the site says it's supposed to be a U.K. Model? What are by chances having used the product in returning for a full refund? As the battery seems to be going fast too. Any help appreciated:)

Can't believe this from Argos, didn't know this at the time of posting.

Actually, Argos are the FIRST place I'd expect to have to go to find abysmal customer service. I go there because I do my research and then reserve for collection and I can't bear the absolute bore of having to engage ill informed members of shop staff attempting to give me the up-sell schtick like I was born last night. I use them as a repository for my informed purchases and enjoy the fact that their returns policy is far better than in days gone by.

I digress; I don't hold them in high esteem, they're just convenient.

Thankyou glossywhite1 your post helped me avoid getting upset, angry and going mad.

Argos is the last place you would expect this kind of rubbish service.
They are clearly doing wrong by selling goods that are supposed to be as new but having seen the iPhone 5s it was more like a grade b-c.

The service you are receiving should be an eye opener for all the customers of argos.

I will not be buying anything refurbished from them ever and can't wait to get my money back.

Whoops, Argos showing their clueless side again. Were this Apple staff going on the record and writing in plain text that "Accessories are included", whether or not the staff member was wrong (unlikely with Apple) they would stick by that and honour it and send you what was said, even in error. Apple even had the kindness and decency to go above and beyond for this whole 5S fiasco and send me:

~ 5W U.K. Mains charger
~ EarPods with remote & mic
~ 1M lightning to USB cable

... as a gift, and it wasn't even Apple's responsibility to do that, but they said to account for my disappointing experience with Argos.

Of course, Argos are too much of a tin pot outfit to even know about gold standard levels of CS like that.

Just a very quick update. After I showed my disappointment and asked for a refund, they did apologise, the delivery cost is covered with a £10 gift card. When I mentioned that I would tell the forum, it does help a bit.

After a long conversation with the Argos' staff, they referred me to ask Apple for a charger. (Can you believe it?!?!) I took the screenshots of their responses in Q&A (Genuine Apple refurbished product/ Come with all necessaries) and made a formal complaint and this is their formal reply:

Dear Sir / Madam

Thank you for your email regarding your Argos order. I have had a look into this for you and I'm sorry to say that the replies you saw on the Q&A
where wrong and the staff members had been misinformed. This does only come with the phone and a charging cable. It is still covered by our
1 year warranty though. I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

Please visit us at http://www.argos.co.uk/help where you will find answers to many frequently asked questions, product information and all of our full contact details.

Regards,

Argos E-Commerce Customer Service Team

Just a word: Misinformed. I am quite disappointed in their customer handling skills as well. I hope that they will refund for my delivery cost.

What is UTTERLY incredulous about this whole fiasco with Argos re. 5s, is this - a certain manager arranged to send me £40 in gift cards as a token apology for Argos completely stiffing me (and countless others!) on this "refurbished" iPhone.

I have audio recordings (consent given) for ALL correspondence with this person (they don't want to email me - supposedly "Last time I gave out my email address I received lots of spam" - perhaps someone might tell them that they would use a CORPORATE ARGOS email address with filtering software, to contact me regarding my issue, NOT "[email protected]" **facepalm**) - anyway, the long and short of it is that they agreed to send me this gift card to the value of £40, in the post, and send me a gift card... BUT WAIT... the saga continues.. here is a verbatim transcription of the letter they sent me with the gift card:

Dear Mr (my name)

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me.

Please find enclosed a gift card for £40.00 <---** #1 as promised which I am sending to you as a gesture of goodwill.

On behalf of Argos Ltd, I am sorry for the problems you have encountered and if I can be of any further assistance in the future then please do not hesitate to contact me"

Yours sincerely,

Argos Bloke (name changed)
Team Leader.

Enc. Gift card £30.00 <---** #2


Spot the anomaly, anyone? I tried to use the gift card, and yes, there's a £10 shortfall on the agreed amount.

Incompetent to the end, Argos.

I didn't pick my fast track order, the store showed stock available so asked to view one. The one I was shown had damage to the casing, scratches on the back, the screen was dirty.

I am happy I read the posts here. The casing had damage the plastic was missing so if you ran your finger over it you would feel it like ridges.

I hope Apple do something about this, you get better quality phones from cex or even the markets.

Your setting me up to say "t*ts?" but I wont.

Seriously though, if my comment(s) offended or upset you then I apologise.

Very clever humour. You could be a sit down comic - that would be the first request of the crowd. :wink:

All sorts of wildlife. If you've any more lowest common denominator obvious humour to get out of your system, please, go ahead and do it so we can get on.

I totally agree. I'm not happy about it, I'm just fortunate that so far it's the only issue I've had.

Birds ?? :wink:

That's rather a large issue if you're someone who regularly shoots wildlife photos as I do.

Argos have had their share of chances to put this right - deceptive and cheap - I shall inform as and when Apple corp relations update me.

I'm very fortunate so far it seems. Touch ID works fine, battery seems to be holding out very well (gone from 90% to 44% from 8am this morning with moderate usage, so 14 hours in total).

Mine is a Japanese model too, so annoyingly can't turn off the shutter sound. Aart from that I'm happy so far. Not sure if it'll stay that way, but we'll see.

i commented earlier to say that although the phone was Japanese it was immaculate and I was happy. However, i have now set it up it has 2 issues: Touch id sensor doesn't work and battery dropped 60% in 7 hours overnight without being touched. Returned today and received refund no quibble. Voted cold.

Currently on the phone to Apple corporate relations at #1 Inifinite Loop, Cali. Apple HQ. Argos gonna wish they never done this.

Thanks for taking the time to write a very informative post its good to know that you know Apple products and people within Apple.

I have not had text for 64gb gold 5s maybe they might cancel and I hope they do. I don't want to take chance not with 200 pounds.

Any company that lies deserves all bad press etc I trusted argos otherwise the local market guy sells phone too.

I have contacts in Apple corporate, they are taking this issue of deception very seriously. Wouldn't want to be Argos, Apple's might could slam their tin pot outfit shut in the blink of an eye.

That was a long post and it's making me feel very uncomfortable to know all this. Argos should tell the truth and give refund or big discounts to all who have purchased

Nope. Argos lies.

No, Apple NEVER supply refurbished to anyone outside Apple - they have gigantic stocks of their internally refurbished (read: BRAND NEW and RE-warranteed) stock which they use to fulfil warranty claims and to fulfil replacements, absolutely NO ONE can access, and if they say they can, they're talking... erm... piffle.

To say these Argos units are "refurbished" is not a stretching of the truth, it's just an outright LIE.

SPOT ON! See my somewhat long-winded expanded, pedantic version of your observations at (or near) the end of this thread. This "deal" should be colder than liquid nitrogen!

You might like some information pertinent to this item, from someone who bought one last Friday and has had hassle and has been fobbed off by Argos ever since:

Item code 631/6310, "refurbished" (NOT!) gold 5S, 32GB.

~1 ~~~ THIS ITEM IS *NOT* WARRANTEED BY APPLE - IT IS WARRANTEED WITH "BRIGHTSTAR" (some contractor for Apple who receives inward their "trade in programme" handsets.) Argos are misleading and deceptive on multiple levels - I contacted THREE Argos agents and ALL THREE told me the 5S "refurbished" was GENUINE Apple refurb shipped to Argos by Apple and sold though, this is NOT the case. I have worked with Apple on myriad cases for over 10 years with all manner of devices, I know them inside out and back to front.



Apple refurbs are:

Refurbished, tested, sealed, packed and issued by AppleCare - ONLY APPLE issue their OWN (indistinguishable from BRAND NEW) refurbished stock with ALL accessories supplied. These devices Apple ship to warranty claimants are returns which are re-manufactured, have any cosmetically inferior and/or faulty parts REMOVED AND REPLACED with working, brand new ones, then the devices are soak tested, given a BRAND NEW serial number which tells Apple it is a refurb unit, attributed a full one year warranty with AppleCare, just like a new one, sealed and shipped out.

Argos's product support page says "Your Free Warranty" on a link, which then directs you to Apple's warranty check page where you enter your serial... and guess what? MINE IS OUT OF WARRANTY! My "refurbished" iPhone comes from some place Apple contract with to provide a "trade in" for old devices - "Bright Star" - IE, this company don't PROPERLY refurb things, they just sell them on to Argos for mug punters to buy... -_-

Example of this misleading link by way of Argos' "support" page for an iPhone 6:
http://www.argos-support.co.uk/4396985

As an example of this utter deception and incompetence in practice, I invite you to visit the "support" page Argos offer for "refurb" (pah!) iPhone 6 they sell... and at the bottom-right you find a link stating "Your Free Waranty" - which then directs you to Apple's warranty status checker... OOPS!

My 5s came with empty promises, an Apple warranty that expired 610 days ago, a FILTHY lightning port with poor connections to my GENUINE, NEW AND SHIPPED FROM APPLE lightning cable and charger, ****863**** charge cycles (read: the battery is FUBAR, end of life and dies all the time, turns itself off at random intervals with HIGH battery % remaining... supposedly) and a green residue trapped in the gap between the top of the LCD and the aluminium chassis... ugh!

Oh, and it had NO charger, NO EarPods with remote & mic and a cheap "iFrogz" generic, crappy lightning cable, all tossed with wild abandon into a crappy, generic white cardboard box... they couldn't even bother themselves to peel off and apply a transit screen/chassis protector (the film you peel off when you unbox a smartphone.)

Here's the final chapter:

I chatted to my friends at AppleCare online, who did a remote diagnostic and confirmed my battery was spent and FUBAR, read the logs and told me I'd been duped, in not so many words. FURTHER, they were extremely kind and helpful for almost 2 hours, but clearly it is not their fault Argos are deceiving people. BUT... the AppleCare guy was so sympathetic that he said he would (and HAS) ship(ped) me EarPods with remote & Mic, a standard 5W Apple UK charger and a 1M lightning to USB cable... and it's NOT EVEN APPLE'S FAULT!! Argos, meanwhile, spent over 3 hours nitpicking and arguing the toss with me on the phone over a measly token gesture they were willing to offer (£30) in exchange for all this nonsense and piffle.

FINALLY... AppleCare man told me... *gasp* - he took longer to source my replacement accessories since................................. my 5S originates from and was first bought IN JAPAN

Japanese iPhones cannot have the camera shutter sound muted EVER, due to public privacy paranoia...


Ahhhhh... Argos, you amateur fools.

Argos are panicking as the guy at AppleCare has submitted a complaint that they are purporting to sell "Apple Refurbished" iPhones, which is untrue... and Apple aren't too happy, and Argos staff sounded somewhat alarmed and a little nervous when I spoke to them recently... OOPS!

Anyway, I'll hopefully give you a status update when I know the outcome, suffice it to say ARGOS are outright amateur box shifters, and I think they may have a shock in store if Apple pursue them over misleading (or false) claims as to the source of their stock.

Whhhoops!

Thanks for your reply appreciate it, will get them to open in store.

Mine (64GB silver) has a few very tiny blemishes on the bezel, and the tiniest scratch on the back near the bottom. Apart from that it might as well be new. Certainly nothing to moan about from me!

Has anyone collected or received one that was like new? I don't feel like collecting after reading the posts of fellow hotukdealers

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to buy the 64gb as a gift. In their website, it says its refurbished by apple. They are clearly lying/bending the truth it seems as many people here has had issues (they don't specifically say its refurbished by Apple, just that its an apple product).

returned mine today as it looked like it had been kicked down the street. took about 20mins in the shop not the easiest experience, but to be fair money was back in my PayPal account within 5 mins of leaving. I'm just gonna go the O2 route for brand new one

You can pick up a used MB for around £600 & use it to connect to your used iPhones 5s. :sunglasses::stuck_out_tongue:

I'd buy one but I can't plug it into my new £1,000 Apple Macbook as it doesn't have any of the right sockets.

Do you I need a PC?

just an update, phone unlocked this afternoon by o2 no issues at all, just over 24 hours to do it, they take the £15 from account credit. This is the second one we have had from o2 first was on refresh and no real issues second was the PAYG one. Only real issue was the refresh one was £96 the PAYG much dearer but wasn't for me.

probably I would try O2 pay and go or O2 refresh

I just went to argos to collect the item... there are scratches on the phone and left it

If bought on PAYG, if bought on Refresh you can unlock as soon as it is registered on their network (a couple of calls or texts - maybe setting up the O2 Priority app as that is the only time you need the sim :smile:).

I bought one of these yesterday and it is awful. The iPhone was dirty, the screen was chipped and it comes with a fake charging cable (no plug, headphones or box) the manager or supervisor in Connswater Belfast asked me what I expected of a second hand iPhone. There was no option to exchange it. These should not be labelled as refurbished, it is just second hand and has not been refurbished by Apple. The phones come from Brightstar, a mobile recycling company. Avoid if you are buying as a gift as it has clearly just been taken as a trade in and is very obviously used.

Picked up my 64gb this morning as others said plain white box with a 3rd party cable screen and back unmarked but a few marks in the side

forget what i said just got home put my sim in it and it won't recognise it going back now....

OOS

I think you will have to pay for it before opening it, it's still sealed in the generic box, I had to break it open. 3 days for a refund, which i'm not too impressed about. :disappointed:

Thanks for the info. I will see the handset before paying it.

I will add it also it comes in a plain white box and has a 3rd party lightning cable.

I have just been to pick up the handset I bought for my dad, I opened it at the counter and the screen was marked, so I got an immediate refund, it's a bit of a lottery, so i'm gonna go the brand new route, once I find a decent priced one.

​yes you can return... I went to my nearest store and hold it to click and collect in different store. I will see the handset before buying it.

You can only unlock the O2 phone for £15 after you have had it for 12 months

You can only unlock the O2 phone for £15 after you have had it for 12 months

Great price, sadly seems to be OOS around most places

I have ordered a 16g to be collected tomorrow.
Do you know if I can return if unhappy with the condition? ( I paid online )

​will it have been apple that refurbished these and handed back to argos?

is it refurbished by apple? like they reseal them etc

is this refurbished by apple?

O2 unlock it for free. You buy it on refresh, make 2 chargeable calls. Download my o2 app, sign on and click unlock my iPhone on top right. 72 hours later phone will be unlocked free of charge. Now Pay off the refresh £144. Cancel air time. Contract ends.

O2 deal you can get brand new 5S for same price. Just need to cancel airtime once its delivered. See previous post on here 2 days ago.

Huaewi P9 Lite or this? For my 13 year old son, mainly to play Pokemon Go and watch You Tube videos.
Not bothered about it being iOS or Android, as he is familiar with both.

Ask on webchat they will tell you it can be done immediately. In the process of doing one now about 12 hours on to 72 hours to have it complete. Keeping the chat email just in case to send to CEO team and still have time to send it back if it all goes pear shape. But just looks like the webpage is out of date. That link and the one you actually do the unlocking through on your account do say different things.

​in the settings there is a model number that begins with A and has four numbers eg A14** or A15** - the model number identifies which market the phone is made for, apparently there are 5 variants of an iphone 5S. As above mine is missing one band, but im using it on Three which is fully supported so im happy with it. Can only speak for mine the others may be European models, but 180 for an immaculate 32gb is good so i'm happy :smiley:

I'd be concerned about battery life on a refurb

these are NOT apple refurbs - provided by company called Brightstar according to the box

O2 is used one I think, this is refurbished
Edit: Yes and also showing 179.99

Just ordered 2 64g versions for £399

Get a SE instead, much faster and better than the 5s in every way

£149 at o2 on PAYG costs £15 to unlock at any time though I suspect you need to put credit on the phone. Probably the big difference is they come. With Apple warranty which could be up to the full year. You might get lucky and get a non activated on so a 3 sim put in first makes it no lock after that. 3 sims are free.

I got the 149 one from o2. Giff gaff sim fitted but they told me they can't unlock it for 12 months if it needed unlocking. That was o2 shop staff where I clicked and collected. Surely not right??

I'm sure for those who can get credit passed on o2 it's much cheaper on o2 refresh, heat tho because if credit is not a option this is as cheap you can get from a mainline retailer!

I'm trying to think of a way to diplomatically say F U Argos, but cant think of it right now, so I'll leave it

i got one yesterday from argos, i got the one with more memory. its got 12 months warranty and unlocked and its perfect looks brand new. when iphones get refurbished they get new cases and often new screens and are basically rebuilt so are just like a new phone. the only downside is the box says preowned and you don't get the adaptor plug or earphones but if you look on ebay you can buy an empty iphone box very cheaply

I picked one up today - disappointed. few chips round the edges, light scratches on screen. it's going straight back

Is the 5s goos?

brand new ones on ebay this morning for same pric

Info that might help - i have got one perfect condition however it is the USA Sprint/Japanese variant. Been reading up, its missing 4G band 7 so would be perfect for Three or o2, on Voda or EE it might revert back to 3G where band 7 is used for 4G, which apparently is cities.

confused whether to take from o2 or argos. pretty much both are same.
02 is 150 plus 15 for unlocking
argos is 160 unlocked.

any advice please

No stock for miles around ❄️❄️❄️

Taken from the Q&A section of the 64GB Silver model:

any problems within 12mths take back to argos for repair or refund - was told that when I bought a iphone 4s refurb for my sister about a year ago

having previously ordered the iphone 4s refurb through argos, have no hesitation in ordering again, just got a 64gb 5s. previously i had used giffgaff for a refurbed iphone and it was shocking, never even switched on - went straight back.

Thanks for the info, have you checked the serials for Apple Warranty?

Has anyone go one of these yet?

If so can you confirm if its an official Apple refurb (like the 6 and 5 Argos have stocked in the past) or reboxed Argos return?

just collected a 5S 32gb Gold. Its in a 'pre owned' white box with a branded cable 'ifrogz' but no plug. However, the phone itself is perfect without any mark or scratch like brand new. battery low so not sure if it works though lol.

Just order two gold ones for delivery later today. I have a refurbished iPhone 4 which I had from Argos last Christmas (£99.95) it was just like new & has been an excellent phone. Hopefully these two will be the same quality.

Has anyone go one of these yet?

If so can you confirm if its an official Apple refurb (like the 6 and 5 Argos have stocked in the past) or reboxed Argos return?

Has anyone go one of these yet?

If so can you confirm if its an official Apple refurb (like the 6 and 5 Argos have stocked in the past) or reboxed Argos return?

Has anyone go one of these yet?

If so can you confirm if its an official Apple refurb (like the 6 and 5 Argos have stocked in the past) or reboxed Argos return?

I skimmed through expecting warranty info to be on its own, thanks for that. :smiley:

can't see anything about warranty on Argos website, will this come with full warranty?

just ordered one for Xmas present. hoping its in new condition!!

Just have a look at the photos that show giffgaff examples of what they call refurb units - good, very good or excellent! The 'good' is £149 but the example photos look completely battered and damaged outer cases!

Gifgaff brand new £199 unlocked though as a comparison.

Tempting
This one or new one from Giffgaff?

Tempted