Cell phones forum: Selling your cell phone to CashForLaptops - BAD IDEA

Not sure if others have had the same issues that I have experienced with the process of selling my iPhone to CashForLaptops but felt that my experience was so misleading and negative that I needed to share and alert others of what they may expect.

I had recently decided to upgrade to the iPhone 4S from my iPhone 4, mainly because I needed a larger phone since I was running out of space on the iPhone 4 which was 16 GB. So when I got the new iPhone, I explored several avenues for recouping my expenses by selling my iPhone 4.

I had previously sold my iPhone 3 on eBay with better than expected results but the process of selling on eBay has its pitfalls which I have experienced when selling other items. Sometimes you don't get the same value as you expected, etc.

So I decided on recommendations from CNet, that I give CashForiPhone a try. CashForiPhone is part oft he CashForLaptop family which buy various used tech equipement. Of all the sites similar to CashForLaptop that buy tech, they gave me the highest quote. So I decided to use them (BIG MISTAKE!)

My iPhone was less than two months old and had only a few scuffs from the case that could easily be polished out, so I was expecting top dollar for the condition and quality of the phone. The phone had recently been replaced under warranty from Apple so it was basically new.

At first the process with CashForIphone was going quite smoothly, they were very responsive throughout the process of getting me the quote and even provided the shipping materials to send the phone. I sent the phone, along with all the original packaging and charger, minus the SIM card to them promptly.

They received my package about a week later and then called back with an explanation that the scuffs (which could be removed), lowered the estimate from the orignal amount of 185 to 89 dollars.

Needless to say, I was furious. I had provided them with a nearly new phone, with scuffs from the cases that could be removed, and they valued it at 89 dollars. I felt this was very misleading and downright deceptive of them.

I demanded my phone to be returned and would pay the shipping costs myself, I wasn't going to accept that offer. I communicated to them that what they did amounted to deception all while holding my phone hostage since I;ve already shipped it to them. Finally after some heated discussion, they came back with a secondary offer of 120 dollars.

Since I was just fed up at this point for the time that they wasted (frankly it would have been better to see what eBay would have brought me), I decided to accept that offer and be done with them.

I WILL NOT DEAL WITH CASH FOR IPHONE NOR CASH FOR LAPTOP EVERY AGAIN, and do not recommend that anyone else deal with them.

Furthermore, I think that CNet should not be recommending this site in particular since their quoting process is misleading and doesn't reflect near the true value of what they are actually willing to pay for slightly used but completely working and operation technology.

Other sites that buy back older tech take into account the quality and condition of the phone up front before providing a quote on line. I have dealt with these other sites in the past and the actual final offers usually match or are within 10% of the quoted value. However, CashForLaptops does not operate in this manner and their practices are deceptive, dishonet, and simply not good business practices.

James Pou
Baltimore, MD