“Offered 1000 for my devices online then offered 400 for both so I sent proof of purchase but because it was through Apple they offered 400 then said the price moves up and down daily, refused so they offered 500 then refused and offered 630. Don’t use as the price they quote regardless if you phone meets the criteria for excellent they still under cut you massively. No one answers the phone aswell.”
“DONT BOTHER! Bought a £600 phonethat was "in as new" condition. When it arrived it had one big chip and numerous other marks. Managed to get hold of some one that said email pictures and I'll ring you back. Despite numerouse calls and emails, still no contact. Glad I purchased with my credit card. Look at the pictures if that's 'As New Condition' then stay clear of this firm”
“I ordered a refurbished iPhone on 10th June with a suggested delivery date of 15th. I am still waiting for a date for delivery and I have had a ‘very sorry we have experienced a high volume of orders response’. I’ve now asked for a refund or delivery asap. I will wait and see if I get a response.”
“I purchased an Apple iPhone 15 Pro (256 GB), Black Titanium, Unlocked, in Pristine Condition on 22 April. The following day, I received an email advising that despatch was expected within 2 working days; however, the phone was not delivered until 2 weeks later.
When I tried to charge the device, it would not charge at all. I contacted Smart Cellular to arrange a return and request a refund. They received the handset on 15 May, and as of 9 June I am still waiting for my refund.
Overall, I am disappointed with both the product condition and the length of time taken to process the refund.”
“The pricing team downgraded my condition to "poor", which is fine, but then offered me a price £200 lower than the advertised price for a poor condition phone.”
“Very poor service received from Smart Cellular. Ordered a phone online as the website clearly stated delivery within 2 business days. The very next day I received an email saying due to the busy summer period my order may not arrive until the end of the week or even next week.
Tried calling several times but nobody answers the phone and there is no proper customer support available. Left voicemail messages and sent emails but still received no response despite them claiming a 24-hour response time.
Customers should be aware before ordering. Misleading delivery promises and extremely poor communication. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Avoid at all costs.”
“Very stressful ongoing experience. Ordered a refurbished Pixel 9 on May 7th 2026. Delivery advised as 2 days. Not received by 9th May so contacted the online chat who told me to email sales and I did. They said they would look in to it. Called on 11th and was advised my phone was in dispatch and I would receive a tracking number within 24hrs which i didn't. Tried calling over 50 times to a message saying i was on hold then after a minute asked to leave a message for a call back which i did several times and have never received a reply. Friday 15th no delivery, tried calling again for the same experience. Emailed sales again and told they are looking into it in a timely manner and would update me which they haven't. Emailed sales again 18th May and 19th May. Same response
" I apologize for the ongoing delay with your order. Once it is dispatched, you will receive a tracking number. I appreciate your patience, and I will prioritize this matter to provide you with an update as soon as possible ".
It's an ongoing saga with no end in sight. I have asked for my money back several times only to receive the same above message.
Save yourself the stress and anxiety and shop elsewhere. There is no evidence to prove thus isn't just a scam. Read the reviews on trust pilot and Google before you consider buying from this company.”
“I am extremely disappointed with the service I have received. I was initially told that I would receive a good price for my phone when I agreed to sell it through your company. However, after you received my device, I was informed that you could not offer the price that was originally stated.
Despite this, I respectfully requested the return of my phone. It has now been over a month, and I still have not received my device back. I have repeatedly been told that the delivery is still in transit, which is unacceptable. It should not take over a month for a returned device to arrive.
Now, after several weeks and more than a month of delays, I am being informed that a claim process is being started, which may take even more months to resolve. This entire experience has been extremely time-consuming, stressful, and unprofessional.
This is by far the worst service I have ever experienced. I will never sell or buy a device from your website again, and I would not recommend your service to others.”
“I ordered 3 phones on the 26th April.
Contacted chat on the 30th when there was no dispatch (said 48 hour delivery) and they said "Kindly note that we are having a slight delay with the handset due to the high volumes of orders received by our team.
We are doing our utmost best to have the order dispatched as soon as possible."
On the 1st of May I then got an email saying "Due to the busy summer season and the upcoming bank holiday, we are currently experiencing a slight delay in processing and dispatching orders. Please note that your parcel is now expected to arrive early next week."
I then got an email on the 6th of May saying my order had shipped. Package arrived on the 7th of May and only one device in it, not the 3 I had ordered and paid for. Contacted chat and was told email sales. I emailed on the 7th and got a reply on the 8th saying
"I apologize for the confusion with the shipment.
I will investigate the issue and determine the status of the remaining two phones. Your attached video is helpful for our review.
I will get back to you with an update as soon as possible."
And now nothing, oh and don't try phoning them, that never results in a call going through, always just cuts you off as no one is available. I look forward to getting the reply below asking me to email sales, which I have done 3 times, and still no phones!
Note they are still selling the devices I ordered on their site with a stated 48 hour delivery date!
Update 11/05 17:17
received email which said
"Your order show delivered on 7th may.
Please advise"
This is after they acknowledged they had received the video and would look in to the other phones being missing”
“Refurbished phone in very poor state and not pristine as advertised.
The refurbished iphone 15 Pro Max that I received was in a very poor state and certainly not 'pristine' as advertised. All of the 4 corners were seriously scratched/damaged as was the whole of the left side of the phone. Terrible communication from company. I tried calling and emailing Smart Cellular for a few days before I received a response by email. You can never speak to anybody. I have been informed that the return label that they are providing will only insure the item for £150 and not the £510 that I paid.
I will update this review when I eventually receive the refund and see how long this process takes for order no. 000121555.
Do NOT use this company. Instead I would recommend Backmarket for refurbished phones who sent me a device in excellent condition very quickly.”
“Decent prices but zero customer support when trying to send phones to them. Royal Mail website is down and they never answer the phones. Will be cancelling my sale to them.”
“A very disappointing experience. I ordered an iPhone 13 from Smart Cellular for my son’s birthday with the expectation it would be delivered in 4 days as advertised. Other than an order confirmation email, I did not receive any further updates. Being a little concerned as we were now on day 3, I checked my order status within my account only for it show that there was no order there...?? I managed to find a number to call and the person who I spoke to said he'd contact the warehouse and get back to me in 30mins. No one phoned me back and that was the last time I spoke to someone as every time I called my calls went unanswered. They even couldn't even be bothered to reply to voice messages. Emails were answered in a satisfactory time frame, however I cancelled the order as it was clear it was going to take far too long to arrive. In the end I went with a more reliable 'household' name and received my phone the very next day. To add insult to injury my refund took 5 WEEKS!! to be processed. Avoid this company like the plague.”
“Very disappointing experience with Smart Cellular.
I sent my device on 7 April, and it was received on 8 April. After that, instead of a smooth process, I was met with repeated attempts to lower the agreed value through constant back-and-forth offers.
Once I finally agreed a price and provided my bank details, payment was still delayed far beyond the promised timeframe. I had to chase multiple times by email and phone, with poor communication and calls going unanswered.
Payment was only made after persistent follow-up and pressure.
If you are considering using this company, be prepared for delays, renegotiation tactics, and a stressful process. I would not use them again.”
“I bought an iPhone from this Smart Cellular on 3rd Feb 2026. It didn't work (wouldn't connect to internet) and so I returned it for a refund, but due to lack of internet connection couldn't prepare it properly for return, eg it was still passcode locked. They requested the code which I emailed to them twice. And they confirmed receipt of it twice. They sent no other communication, saying there was any problem but they kept asking for the code. We kept saying they had it. Then they returned the phone to me. I can see that many people are happy with this company but it seems to me that if there is a problem they don't sort it out. I have tried phoning them but the "Sales and Customer Services" telephone number given says "you are in a queue" and then "no one is available to answer your call, please leave a message". Avoid this company.”
“Sent in iPad that I was offered £109 for on receiving offer reduced to £9. This I declined and requested my iPad returned, even with follow up email this has not yet been resolved and no response to my email. Absolutely disgusting service.”
“I would strongly advise caution when dealing with Smart Cellular. Should be 0-Stars!
I was offered £505 for my phone, sent the device promptly, and then received a revised offer of £250, later increased to £350 after I challenged it.
The justification given was that the phone was “likely bought under contract” and that they needed to purchase “additional insurance”, both of which are irrelevant to the value of a fully owned device. The phone was purchased via Apple finance and has been fully settled.
Even more concerning, I was told I would need to pay for insured return postage to get my own device back if I declined their reduced offer.
This feels like a clear bait-and-switch tactic:
• High initial quote to secure the device
• Significant price reduction after receipt
• Added friction and cost to recover your own property
I am currently disputing this and will be escalating further if required.
Proceed with extreme caution!!!!”
“I recently attempted to sell my phone through this company and the entire experience was awful. Their online valuation offered me a sum that was noticeably higher than other companies, so I completed the sale and posted my device. It arrived with them the next day and I then received an email offering me a dramatically lower amount.
They confirmed that my phone was in perfect condition and exactly as described during the online valuation. Despite this they gave weak excuses such as prices going down or their insurance costs being high. None of these explanations justify such a large drop in value in the space of one day. To check their claim I went back onto their website and ran the valuation again. It still offered me the same original amount, which makes it clear that the advertised price is used simply to draw customers in with no intention of honouring it.
I refused the reduced offer immediately and asked for my phone to be returned. They then began a series of delaying tactics including offering tiny increases in small steps and repeatedly asking for the same information such as my delivery address. At this point I was genuinely worried that I would never see my device again. After around a week of back and forth they finally agreed to return it but only after I paid an additional fee for postage.
Overall this was a horrible experience. The business model appears to rely on people giving up and accepting a much lower price because it is too much trouble to challenge the process. In my view this behaviour is completely unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue. I strongly advise others to avoid this company and spare themselves the stress and frustration that I went through.”
