Customers who preordered Apple’s iPhone 6 through Phones 4u before it collapsed have been told they will not receive a refund.

The announcement, by adminstrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), means that customers could lose up to £700 on orders which cannot be fulfilled because the retailer was shut before the phones could be issued. At least 130 Phones 4u customers have been affected.

Phones 4u went into administration on 15 September, four days before the iPhone 6 and its larger version, the iPhone 6 Plus, went on sale. The retailer had allowed people to preorder the devices on its site until it was forced to close after mobile phone networks withdrew their businessfrom the company.

Initially PwC had said customers who had preordered the phones would be entitled to cancel their order and receive a full refund. But now PwC says that because Apple did not supply any iPhones to Phones 4u, it cannot honour orders. Instead, those who ordered through the company will be treated as unsecured creditors.

PwC has advised those who paid for the preorder with a credit card to contact their card issuer, which can be liable to make a refund under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. “Unfortunately we do not have any iPhone 6s. Therefore customers who have preordered an iPhone 6 through Phones 4U will not receive their purchase,” it said. PwC did not respond to questions about how many people would be affected.

Phones 4u shut after the mobile network EE became the last to withdraw support from the nationwide550-store network, threatening nearly 5,600 jobs. However, Vodafone, EE and electricals retailer Dixons Carphone bought more than 350 outlets, safeguarding more than 2,000 jobs.

A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson said: “We understand Phones 4u customers have been told they won’t receive a refund on iPhone 6 pre-orders. We don’t think that’s fair, so we are offering to reimburse Phones 4u customers for any money paid upfront when they buy their new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus from us. All they have to do is come into our stores with printed evidence of their pre-order.”