Virgin 6 month sim-only contract. £0 after cashback.

What’s the deal?

e2save (owned by the Carphone warehouse) is offering a 6 month pay monthly Virgin mobile deal, that includes 150 texts a month and 150 free cross network minutes (calls to all UK mobiles and landlines) for free.

Isn’t that too good to be true?

Yes! The specific deal is the Virgin £15 Sim only* deal. To get it you need to pay £15 a month by direct debit, and then reclaim it by sending in the right bills at the right times. Plus there’s no handset, just a Sim card (the card that goes in the back of your phone to give it its identity), but that’s not a problem; you can simply pop this in any phone after unlocking it (see the unlock phones for free article).

How to reclaim?

You need to post your third and sixth bill in by recorded delivery (so there is a £2 total cost) strictly within 30 days of the billed date (which should be listed on the bill). Of course you may not get the bill until a week after that date, so you effectively need to be on the ball and send it right away (full reclaim terms lower down).

It is quite deliberate that you have to jump through hoops, the companies make money by people forgetting to reclaim, – so if you’re not going to, and aren’t good at diarising, stop reading right now (and go to the normal Mobile Cost Cutting article instead).

How much does it cost?

Provided you don’t go over your allocation of free texts and minutes you won’t pay any other charges, otherwise you’ll be charged at Virgin’s normal rates; 10p/text, 15p/min to landlines and 35p/min to mobiles. If you don’t use up your minutes or texts in a month they will roll over to the next month (but only for one month). There's no cost for billing.

As this is just a Sim card deal, this is ideal, as it means you can pop this card in your phone, use up the free minutes and texts allocation, then put your normal card back in and carry on if you choose.

What happens after the six months

After the initial six month contract, if you do nothing you will continue to be charged £15/month for the 150 texts and 150 minutes; yet if you want to simply cancel the contract simply call up Virgin customer services anytime from the sixth month on.

Why’ve I highlighted this deal?

There are many cashback deals of a similar nature on the market. There are two reasons for picking this one.

• It’s a short contract. The contract is short, so there’s a much better chance of actually getting the cashback, and even in the worst case you’re not trapped in for too long.

• It should be a reputable company. e2Save is a trading name of the Carphone warehouse, rather than a small fly-by-night operator. This means it is wary of reputational damage, so should play more fairly. Yet that hasn't stopped a lot of bad feedback about its cashback deals (like virtually every operator) both here and elsewhere. However, most bad feedback is due to the fact cashback deals have VERY strict conditions and unless you meet them exactly you will not get the money.
  
  I've decided to include this particular deal (the first of many that have been available), in many ways as a trial with e2Save. It's been consistently lobbying that MoneySavers will save with its deals. And so I am including this, specifically from me, with its full knowledge and email confirmation that it'll do its best to look at any cashback failures individually.
  
  I've also deliberately done it as an 'affiliate' (see note at the bottom) to add extra weight. That means if it doesn't play fairly with people who have fulfilled its conditions, I've real ‘fight back’ power on this deal and can legitmately fight their corner and bring all the pressure I can to bear on getting it sorted. And as its looking to improve its reputation this should bear fruit.

Add more cashback to the deal.

For those who use cashback sites, cashback should be available from e2save meaning you'll be paid to get this deal, and of course using a cashback credit card adds to it further.


Terms and conditions on ensuring your correctly claim the cashback

I can’t reiterate how important it is to follow these instructions to the letter. If you miss the deadlines or don’t send the correct bill, the chances are it won’t pay you the cashback – so make sure you’re organised. Use the free Tart Alert, which will send you a text or e-mail 6 weeks after the date you enter, to remind you when the bills are due if you’re likely to forget.

• Send your 3rd and 6th monthly bills within 30 days of the date stated on the relevant airtime bill, to e2Save and it’ll credit you by cheque with £45.00 each time.
  
  This will save you £90.00 over the 6 month duration of the contract. In effect this means that your average line rental per month over the contract period is £0.00 per month.

• When sending in your claim, securely attach the appropriate chequeback voucher to the airtime bill (chequeback vouchers can be found in your Welcome Pack).

• Send each claim by RECORDED DELIVERY within 1 month of the date of each of your network airtime bills with a covering letter detailing your daytime contact numbers, to the following address:
  
  Redemptions, POBOX 4311, DUNSTABLE, LU6 9BJ
• Remember to:
  1. Enclose the appropriate airtime bill
  2. Enclose the appropriate chequeback voucher
  3. Enclose a covering letter with your contact numbers
  4. Send the claim via recorded delivery
  
  The due amounts will be sent to you via cheque within 28 days of receipt of your claim.

(Please note these cashback instructions are for this deal only).

Martin


* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via commercial price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or Find, which then pay this site per click. You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it is still recommended and still included. For the sake of transparency go to amazon.co.uk for an unaffiliated link. Click on the following link for more details on how this site’s financed.