Selling your iPhone? Know who you're dealing with
If you're counting on getting cash for your smartphone from a website offering what appears to be a good price, do your homework before you ship your device.
Consider what it has been like to deal with Cash4iPhones (run by Laptop & Desktop Repair), an operation that has generated nearly 1,900 complaints in the past year just with the Better Business Bureau. As a general rule, only a fraction of consumers who have issues with a company actually complain, and only a fraction of those complain to a third party.
A glance at the complaints (which earn the company an "F" rating) shows a disturbing pattern: Consumers say they received an offer for their phones online, but after sending their phones they get another offer for a fraction of the first number. When they try to reject the second offer, they say they can't get through and end up getting $20 or less for phones they were led to believe would bring them $50, $100, $200 or more.
One consumer asked "The Haggler" columnist at The New York Times to intervene after the $75 offer for his iPhone dropped to $8. A lawyer for Laptop & Desktop Repair told the paper that the company was under investigation by the attorney general's office in its home state of Nevada, but that it had been working to improve the process that consumers are complaining about.
The response to nearly every BBB complain alludes to that and reads something like this: "We are working to improve our process, and we will take Mr. ******'s complaints into account in order to improve the experience of our customers."
Here's the BBB's official take on the company:
"BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints from consumers alleging the business obtains their interest by offering a high quote online but pays on average less than 15% of the initial quote upon the business's receipt of the electronic device. Consumers also allege difficulty reaching the business by telephone to resolve their complaint.
"On October 27, 2014, BBB met with a representative of the business to address concerns regarding the pattern of complaints. BBB remains concerned that the business has yet to respond to concerns regarding the pattern."