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I discovered a couple of years ago (when my phone, er, met with a nasty firmware accident) that you cannot buy a phone in the UK over the counter without also b
by jrabone 13y ago
I discovered a couple of years ago (when my phone, er, met with a nasty firmware accident) that you cannot buy a phone in the UK over the counter without also buying a Pay-As-You-Go SIM with a traceable means of payment (ie. card). They simply refused to sell the phone to me unless I forked over £10 for a SIM I didn't want. Apparently the French are to blame for this little piece of legislation.
I politely told them that the only reason I was in their shop was because it was an emergency, and I hoped that they enjoyed their future career packing boxes for internet retail, at least until they were replaced by robots. Harsh, but I never said I was a nice person.
- sigzero 13y ago> but I never said I was a nice person No, apparently you're a dick.
- quasque 13y agoThis is not the case in all situations, I think you were just unlucky with the policy of that company. Last phone I bought was paid for in cash, no questions asked. It wasn't from one of the large phone retailers, but not from anywhere dodgy, either [edit: it was from the Internet café here http://goo.gl/maps/DkMa2 http://goo.gl/maps/DkMa2]. The SIM card was also purchased in cash from a newsagent without having to provide any identifying details. I wasn't even going out of my way to avoid being traced - like you, I just needed a phone in an emergency, as my screen had broken on the old one.