Phones 4u was a large independent
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
retailer in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It was part of the 4u Group based in
Newcastle-under-Lyme,
Staffordshire. Opening in 1996, it expanded to over 600 stores. On 14 September 2014,
EE and
Vodafone
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vod ...
, the company's final remaining suppliers, ended their contracts.
The company entered administration on 15 September 2014 with
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...
appointed as administrators.
History
In 1987,
John Caudwell
John David Caudwell (born 7 October 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who founded the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a children ...
and his brother Brian founded ''Midlands Mobile Phones'', a wholesaler and distributor of mobile phones. The company became the
Caudwell Group
John David Caudwell (born 7 October 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who founded the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a children's ...
, whose high street retail arm was named Phones 4u.
On 26 September 2006, The Caudwell Group was sold for a sum of £1.47 billion to
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
firms
Providence Equity Partners and
Doughty Hanson & Co
Doughty Hanson & Co is a British private equity fund manager focused on leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions primarily of upper middle-market companies in Europe. The firm also invests opportunistically in European real estate and ...
. In February 2008, the group bought online retailer
Dialaphone in a deal worth an estimated £9 million.
In July 2010, Phones 4u partnered with electrical chain
Dixons to place 49 concessions inside
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
and
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
stores. This number increased to over one hundred. However, following a merger between
Dixons and rival phone shop,
Carphone Warehouse
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...
, it was announced that this partnership would not be renewed.
![Phones 4 U, Briggate (11th April 2011)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Phones_4_U%2C_Briggate_%2811th_April_2011%29.jpg)
The group was acquired by private equity group
BC Partners
BC Partners is a British international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across all ...
in March 2011. The deal, estimated to be worth in the region of £700 million, was agreed several months after talks with a United States private equity owner ended. In April 2012, Phones 4u's contract with provider Three was terminated. In January 2014, O2 ended their contract with Phones 4u.
On 15 September 2014, Phones 4u entered administration, after the two remaining suppliers EE and Vodafone terminated their contracts. Stores closed, and both the Phones 4u and Dial-A-Phone websites were taken offline, pending a decision by the administrators.
On 19 September 2014, Vodafone reached an agreement with the administrators of Phones 4u to take over and rebrand 140 stores. It was also revealed that 628 employees at the head office in
Newcastle-Under-Lyme would be laid off.
On 22 September 2014, EE reached an agreement with Phones 4u's administrators to take over and rebrand 58 stores, while
Dixons Carphone
Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphon ...
revealed that they would transfer 800 employees to its
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
and
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
stores.
On 23 September 2014, administrators
PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
announced that close to 1,700 jobs would be lost.
On 14 October 2014, EE announced that it would acquire
mobile virtual network operator Life Mobile from Phones 4u's administrators.
The 4u Group consisted of the following entities:
* Phones 4u Limited — high street and online retailer
* Life Mobile Limited — a mobile virtual network operator, running on
EE
*
Dial-a-Phone
Dialaphone (Dial-A-Phone, Dial A Phone) was an independent mobile phone retailer in the United Kingdom. It was established in February 1995 as a direct marketer and supplier of mobile phones and mobile phone accessories. The e-commerce website ...
— online retailer
* Policy Administration Services — mobile phone insurance provider
* 4u Wi-Fi Limited
* Jump 4u Limited
* MobileServ Limited
* Phosphorus Acquisition Limited
* Phones 4u Group Limited
* Phones 4u Finance plc
Products
Phones 4u operated both in store and online and sold
feature phone
A feature phone (also spelled featurephone) is a type or class of mobile phone that retains the form factor of earlier generations of mobile telephones, typically with press-button based inputs and a small non-touch display. They tend to use an ...
s and
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s from all major manufacturers on both
contract agreements and
pay as you go tariffs. Until September 2014, these were available on all major network providers in the United Kingdom, with the exception of
Three
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
, who ceased working with Phones 4u in April 2012.
Aside from handsets, Phones 4u stocked mobile phone accessories and
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...
devices. 'JUMP' (Just Update My Phone) and 4u Wifi were introduced to accompany the "mobile lifestyle" and support the core products.
Insurance was available on many of its products from the financial arm of the 4u Group, Policy Administration Services. In November 2012, Phones 4u changed their insurance policy from PremierPlan to Phones 4u Care, which offers customers an instant replacement in-store or similar alternative at the current handset value (not the purchase value); rather than waiting for their device to be repaired or replaced.
Sales and service
Before 2008, complaints surfaced about shoppers feeling pressured by hard sell tactics for phone insurance, negative service perceptions and high staff turnover.
The retailer retrained staff and eliminated some of its more aggressive practices, including ''street-fighting'', the practice of sales people standing in shop doorways to lure customers.
In November 2008,
Ofcom found Phones 4u guilty of misleading customers over network coverage, failing to swiftly provide refunds for faulty handsets and offering unfair terms on chequeback schemes. Phones 4u responded with a series of undertakings to prevent recurrences. The company said 80% of complaints were due to problems in its repair business, rather than sales, which the company was in the process of resolving.
After six months of scrutiny, the Ofcom investigation resulted in minor changes to terms and conditions. Phones 4u subsequently changed its repair provider.
Turnover for the mobile phone retailer grew 22% in 2010, rising from £746m to £911m. The group employed over 8,000 people worldwide and sold 26 phones every minute. In November 2011 it was reported that despite the company's turnover having increased, the rising cost of providing insurance with smartphones had contributed to a 25% loss of earnings.
Advertising and sponsorship
Phones 4u was noted for its effective
and controversial
[ advertising campaigns.
A shirt sponsorship deal was agreed with Birmingham City F.C. for two seasons, beginning in August 2001.
In 2004, the comedy duo ]Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...
featured in a television advert driving up and down Britain singing about the latest offers.
Phones 4u's campaign of 2006 starred a variety of eccentric characters, including "Jack" and "Scary Mary", who needed help with their mobile phones. The adverts were often set at the British seaside and featured the Phones 4u hand gesture for the first time, which would be revived for later campaigns.
In the summer of 2009, Phones 4u and communications agency Adam & Eve launched a new advertising campaign based around social networking, popularity called "Great Deals for Popular People". The theme around the campaign was that the customer needs to have 50 contacts on their phone to get Phones 4u's best deals. In one of the ads, a scout master
A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit.
Roles
There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on ...
was displayed with the caption "You may be good with knots, you may be good with children, but there's no way you've got 50 friends on your phone", along with a large "NO" sticker. The campaign met criticism from The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was form ...
, and the advert was pulled.
In May 2010, it launched the "It's What We Do" campaign. Television adverts showed Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
prison guards getting accustomed to a new handset.
In September 2011, the Advertising Standards Authority banned a Phones 4u advert depicting Buddy Christ
Buddy Christ is a parody religious icon created by filmmaker Kevin Smith, which first appeared in Smith's 1999 film ''Dogma''.
In the film, Buddy is part of a campaign ("Catholicism Wow!") to renew the image of (and interest in) the Catholic Chur ...
alongside a range of Android phones with the message "Miraculous deals on Samsung Galaxy Android phones".
The ASA said "although the ads were intended to be light hearted and humorous, their depiction of Jesus winking and holding a thumbs up sign, with the text 'miraculous' deals during Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
, the Christian Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
which celebrated Christ's resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
, gave the impression that they were mocking and belittling core Christian beliefs."
Later in October 2011, Phones 4u switched its advertising focus to a broader demographic, spending £5.2m on a horror themed price led promotion called "Missing Our Deals Will Haunt You". The campaign included two television advertisements: one taking inspiration from horror movies, featuring a young girl; with the other making a play on the classic zombie
A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...
genre.[
The former advertisement received the most complaints filed with the ASA for any advert in 2011,] however the complaints were rejected by the ASA who said "The programmes the advert was screened around were unlikely to be viewed by children."[
Phones 4u backed its advertising campaigns with television programme sponsorships, including '']Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...
'' and ''Harry Hill's TV Burp
''Harry Hill's TV Burp'' (also known as just ''TV Burp'') is a British television comedy programme broadcast between 2001 and 2012 on ITV. The show was produced by Avalon Television and was written and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. Each ep ...
''. On 31 July 2013, it was announced that Phones 4u had secured a five year sponsorship deal with the Manchester Arena
Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...
, renaming the arena as the Phones 4u Arena
Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. The arena has the ...
. In July 2014, it launched the "#FutureYou" campaign. Television adverts featured the DeLorean time machine
In the ''Back to the Future'' franchise, the DeLorean time machine is a time travel device made by retrofitting a DMC DeLorean vehicle with a flux capacitor. The car requires 1.21 gigawatts ("jigawatts/jigowatts") of power and needs to travel 8 ...
famous from the ''Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
'' films.
References
External links
*
{{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom
1996 establishments in the United Kingdom
British companies established in 1996
Retail companies established in 1996
Telecommunications companies established in 1996
Retail companies disestablished in 2014
British companies disestablished in 2014
Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom
Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Private equity portfolio companies