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Ovivo
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stoke1
Posts: 1 Newbie
Saw Martin on breakfast show saying that Ovivo was a no brainer for pay as you go plus free cinema ticket. Sounded too good to be true but signed up for £20. Just went to activate and the company has gone bust. What a scam! Does anyone actually check out the financials of these companies before recommending:mad:
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I also joined Ovivo last week and just found out they closed down. What a disgrace0
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Was Martin duped by the company knowing they were going to shut. Many of us must have paid up in the past week. Someone must have made a packet!0
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Perhaps Martin will back up his recommendations by refunding those caught by his bad advice?0
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This is what Martin & the team included in their weekly email on 26 Feb 2014
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/26-02-2014/We've never seen owt like this. Pay a one-off £20 for an Ovivo Sim (via Vodafone's network), then EVERY month get 250mins, 300 texts, 500MB data. Plus a one-off £15 credit & 'free' cinema ticket. The catch?
Well there is an old adage that goes:
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
But I would have hoped the powers that be at MSE would have looked deeper into this obvious Ponzi scheme that was doomed to failure from the start.
The tariff offered was probably worth about £30 a month (£360 a year) based on comparative retail prices elsewhere.
How could anyone envisage a few adverts on a mobile would return that in revenue from adverts?
How much extra would the user have to be paying to the retailers to justify an advertising spend of £360 per Ovivo customer per year?
These deals always had a big upfront charge (unlike most mobile companies who do not or maybe 50p-£1). It started at £5 and grew and grew up to £20. Desperation came in when they then started offering cashback (upto about £5), but that clearly wasn't enough to attract enough new customers to pay this month's bill Ovivo had to pay for mobile services it was re-selling and now this ponzi scheme has gone bust ... as all ponzi schemes eventually do once the people at the start have made a small fortune.
To suggest you've "never seen owt like this" was either very wrong, or very naive.
Is there now going to be an MSE guide to reclaiming this money users have wasted on what appears perhaps the worst case of mis-selling in history?
I've already contacted my bank, and whilst they will attempt a chargeback for me, they say there probably is no money in the pot at Ovivo for such a chargeback to be successful
(S.75 does not apply as the amount involved is too low)0 -
I have suggested a different course of action on another thread. A few MSEers have said I am a troll?
Not saying it will be easy but important to stop the flow of risky deals offered to the public on morning TV.0 -
A tenner a month will get you a much better tariff from many places.
Any other tariff from any other mobile provider is better than this ponzi scheme that was doomed to failure from the outset.
Now it seems the organisers have disappeared without trace and no one is able to contact them.
Good luck to those hoping to obtain a PAC to transfer their number.
A great example of an attempt at journalistic damage limitation in this MSE article
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2014/03/sim-only-provider-ovivo-shuts-down-know-your-rights0
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