I bought a “new condition” iPhone 5 from BecexTech in October 2015. Given it has been my worst shopping experience ever I won’t ever be buying anything ever again from BecexTech. Here is why.

1. Apple subsequently told me my “new condition” phone was in fact 2 and a half years old when it was sold to me. It was never in ‘new condition’ when supplied to me. This was a refurbished phone – not an ex-demo phone or a phone returned by a customer soon after purchase.

2. BecexTech did not adhere to Australian consumer law. While they have an Australian website and have an Australian office, they sell through an offshore company and so disregard Australian consumer law. This means that if you are supplied with a faulty product (as I was) any refund is at their discretion. And they don’t supply a phone contact number – only an email address - which makes it very difficult to negotiate a solution.

3. My phone never worked properly after the first week. It would not charge. I had to return the phone four times with postage and packing expense about $17 each time. At one stage I was even charged a $55 admin fee to get my phone back because they could not replicate the fault I found. Eventually after the phone was returned a fourth time I was able to get a refund of 2 postage payments and the admin fee.

4. Repairs take 2 to 4 weeks each time. I was left without a phone for so long and so often I had to buy another phone while BecexTech had my phone – obviously the other phone I bought was not purchased from BecexTech.

5. Eventually after 9 months and the fourth return I was also able to negotiate a partial refund BUT BecexTech based the partial refund on their current selling price for an iPhone 5 which was significantly lower than my original purchase price. This is a breach of Australian consumer law.

I am now in the market to buy an additional phone for a family member. If BecexTech had acted honourably I would have bought the additional phone from them – but that won’t be happening given my experience with BecexTech.