No confirmation of receipt of my trade-in handset

[Kezzah]

I recently upgraded to the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and returned my old Galaxy S10 to Brightstar as part of the trade-in upgrade process.

Handset shipped on a Special Delivery service with Royal Mail on Feb 16th, delivered and signed for by Brightstar on Feb 17th.

Received threatening email from EE on Feb 22nd saying they will charge me £440 for my upgrade if I don't return my handset which Brightstar have already received.

Brightstar don't answer the phone, I have been on hold for HOURS. Brightstar don't answer emails, EE customer support tell me it's my responsibility to speak to them even though it's THEIR service provider.

With the looming threat from EE I'm really not sure what to do. I don't have £440 just laying around in case someone decides to rip me off like this.

[JohnnyC]

I had his the other week. Phone 360 and go to upgrades they will check ur tracking number against the Royal Mail website and then hopefully that will be the end of it(It was for me).

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Kezzah

Thanks for coming to the community. 

You have done the right thing by emailing Brightstar they will get back to you as soon as possible. 

Did the email say what date the charge would be applied to your account? 

Thanks. 

Leanne.

[Kezzah]

Hi Leanne,

EE have given February25th as the deadline, but sent the email yesterday.
Brightstar have had my old handset since February 17th though and no reply
from them yet

Regards,
Kerry

[Leanne_T]

I see @Kezzah

If you give them a call on 0208 732 3798, they will be able to get this looked into further for you. 

Leanne.

[Kezzah]

Tried calling them twice already, I've spent almost 2 hours listening to
hold music with no answer. I can only call on my lunch breaks and they're
only open during standard office hours. It's simply not possible for me to
chase them all day and I shouldn't have to. They're not my service
provider, they're EE's service provider, unless I'm being paid to do their
work I don't understand why I am the one being told to.

Regards,

[James_B]

Hi @Kezzah,

Have you tried speaking to our upgrades team as suggested by @JohnnyC?

James

[Kezzah]

Hi James,

I'm at work right now, I can't just pick up the phone and start chasing
personal calls

[James_B]

No problem @Kezzah

Our contact centres are open until 9pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 8pm on weekends.

James

[Kezzah]

Thanks @James_B 

I tried @JohnnyC suggestion once I got home from work and called 360, selecting the upgrade option and spoke to a really commendable member of the team there, she was incredibly helpful and friendly! While she was not able to resolve the issue she said she would monitor the situation and booked to call me back at the end of the week before I start work if things had not already been resolved, which was highly reassuring.

Whether it was coincidence or not, I do not know, but I then got a reply from my email to Brightstar confirming my handset had been received and processed. This was followed quickly by a text from EE confirming all was complete, which was a genuine relief to end the day on.

On a side note...I realise it's a "generic system generated email" as I have been told this many times now but....

"EE Trade In Final reminder"

"By now you will have already received several reminder SMS’s to send back your trade in device.

This is a final reminder to send back your Samsung Galaxy xxx by February 25, 2021, otherwise any trade in discount applied will expire and a charge of £xxx will be added onto your next bill."

This hardly seems like appropriate language to use. 90% of the stress caused by this whole situation stemmed from this email I received from EE. It doesn't exactly scream "honest, valued customer", more "thieving, dishonest, in debt to us and probably not actually doing what was asked".

I genuinely found it pretty offensive after spending to send the handset on a Special Delivery service at my expense, to ensure it arrived early. And even using my own packaging as the flimsy paper envelope EE supply definitely was not sufficient to return a high value mobile handset in.

Anyway, the matter appears to be resolved so that's something. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Kerry