Phones2u Direct.com

Pagan98

double0 wrote: »

So would there be any point in chasing them despite having sent in a claim a month early on the grounds that they are just completely unwilling to communicate with their customers, to the point of ignoring them?

I doubt it. They'll argue that you had the T&Cs in writing and it was up to you to comply. I think your only possible angle is the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, arguing that their T&Cs are constructed to be intentionally confusing and are therefore unfair. Its a long shot, depends on whether you can afford the punt on the court fee and how likely you feel they are to defend.

double0 wrote: »

If my initial communication to them was regarding the terms and conditions about making a claim and they then do not reply and consequently my claim is rejected, do I have a case? And their delay at telling people their claim is rejected (i.e. past the point at which they could send in the correct bill) is blatently so they don't have to pay out. It all smacks of very poor business practice and they should be pulled up by someone official.

Unfortunately there is no law requiring a company to be nice or helpful. Their whole business model is based on you failing to successfully claim the cashback.

double0

Another question then. Anyone who has had their cashback denied, have you ever received your original invoices back? They should technically be of no use to Phones2Udirect seeing as they were unable to claim cashback with them. Surely legally they are your property as you have not been 'paid' for them by Phone2Udirect?

anpictum

Impatient wrote: »

Just about to submit my Money Claim online (what a top system). Any other advice before I press submit?

My case is a bit different - I did not send the whole invoice as the second page contained no info different to the front page apart from the dialled number records, which are clearly private and P2UD cannot use. They have done the standard 'it is not our fault if you can't read the T&Cs', but they are missing the point that I am saying their T&Cs are unreasonable. English Contract law requires companies to specifically highlight conditions that are peculiar, as this requirement to provide nugatory paperwork clearly is. P2UD has admitted in writing that they do not use any of the information on subsequent sheets; hence they don't need them. Well, that is what I and my lawyer chum think anyway.

Any thoughts?

klb wrote: »

Submitted my first claim and it has been rejected.

"Unfortunately we will be unable to process your claim for the following reason;

1) The bill dated march 2007 is incomplete."

The March bill was sent with Page 1 "Your Bill" and Page 2 "Your Bill Summary".
The only sheets that weren't sent were the itemised calls. Surely they weren't expecting to get them as well.

I thought I would post on here before responding to the letter, so if anyone has had the same experience or has a suggestion what to do next, please help.

Thanks,
KLB

Hi Guys,

Been reading posts on this thread with interest after I got a similar letter for not sending the itemised calls with the "Bill" and "Bill Summary" from 3. I called 3 who said that all the information needed for cashbacks is contained in those sections and the "Itemised Billing" is provided free of charge (by 3) for customers own information. Remember that Phones2udirect offer these free deals with networks who charge for Itemised Billing as an optional extra so if you are with one of these companies and don't opt for it then you can't possibly send those details! This is 100% certain to be another way of Phones2udirect avoiding paying out a cashback. I believe they contravene the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (see below) and will definitely pursue them in the courts if they fail to send my cashback cheque.

Will anyone who has successfully sued this company please post and let other forum members know.

Thanks.



Taken from http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

Unfair terms in contracts - what is an unfair term?


An unfair term in a contract covered by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations (UTCCRs) is not binding on you.
Test of fairness

A term is unfair if:

• Contrary to the requirement of good faith it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers.

'Good faith' means that traders must deal fairly and openly with you.
Although standard terms may be drafted to protect commercial needs, they must also take account of your interests and rights by going no further than is necessary to protect those legitimate commercial interests.


The plain language requirement


According to the UTCCRs, a standard term must be expressed in plain and intelligible language. A term is open to challenge if it could put you at a disadvantage because you are not clear about its meaning - even if its meaning could be worked out by a lawyer. If there is doubt as to what a term means, the meaning most favourable to the consumer will apply.

double0

So if I was querying two points of their terms and conditions before sending them my claim and they subsequently didn't reply to those queries, does this piece of regulation mean I have any sort of case? The big problem I can see is that they never even acknowledge me sending them an email so they'll just say they never got any of them in the first place!

Brick wall, head, banging - all words that come to mind when thinking about Phones2Udirect!!! Those, and a few choice others I can't really mention here!

anpictum

double0 wrote: »

So if I was querying two points of their terms and conditions before sending them my claim and they subsequently didn't reply to those queries, does this piece of regulation mean I have any sort of case? The big problem I can see is that they never even acknowledge me sending them an email so they'll just say they never got any of them in the first place!

Brick wall, head, banging - all words that come to mind when thinking about Phones2Udirect!!! Those, and a few choice others I can't really mention here!

Unfortunately, e-mails can always be ignored/denied. I send stuff by Special Delivery and pay the extra quid for consequential loss just in case it is lost in the post.

Another point about this whole "100% free by cashback" idea is this. I very much doubt whether any mobile network will give a company like Phones2udirect commission to the value of 100% of the contract cost and a free phone. Noticeably, larger companies like Carfonewarehouse and The Link no longer offer 100% free deals although they do offer some partial “cashback by redemption” deals. My guess is that with the larger overheads these companies face they cannot make a profit as more and more people take advantage of the deals AND comply with their fair and easy to follow T&C’s. Practically speaking, the only way you can fail with these two companies is to forget to claim completely! The fact that they have established reputations to maintain and shareholders to satisfy means that they would never stoop to the levels this company does to avoid honouring claims. Obviously, more and more people are becoming savvy about how to successfully get a “100% free” contract so the only way companies like Phones2udirect can make a decent profit is to deliberately thwart every single move you make to claim your cashback hoping in the end you will just give up the ghost. Let’s face it; you have to have a certain amount of life experience and to know how and where to find the relevant info to tackle this kind of problem. Most of their customers won’t even know about the laws which govern the business world.
As for my case I intend to do everything in my power to bring to the attention of as many people as possible what I think is akin to pyramid selling. If, somewhere, there isn’t a law against running a business that RELIES on its customers failing to dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s” then I’ll campaign for one.

Once again, I’d like to stress the importance of any forum members notifying others if they have success in suing this company over any of the deliberately unreasonable terms in their T&C’s.

double0

I've sent letters to them recorded delivery as well but still no reply.

woburnx

I have suffered at the hands of this company as well. I am really furious at their behaviour.

I managed to get my first 2 cashbacks. For the second cashback, I had to send them various letters asking for the cashback which were ignored. I then made a small claims against them and miracoulously two days later the cheque arrived. They refused to pay the £30 claims cost claiming the sent the cheque before they received the small claims summons. I let the £30 go on the basis that I had received the 2nd cashback payment.

For the third claim, I sent them a bill a month early, and the following month I sent them a the wrong page of the bill ( according to them) and by the time they replied with this information, it was too late to reply and comply with their terms and conditions.

What annoys me is that they have blatantly broken their own terms and conditions for the time in which they promised to pay the cashbacks and yet they hypocritically claim that the customer has not met their T & C's.

I still mad at losing my last cash back and I am thinking of pursuing them through the small claims court on the basis of that their T & C's are in disrepute as they don't follow them so how can they enforce them against the customers.

The premise of the deal was 100% cashback and I don't see why anyone should settle for anything less if they have made an effort to claim correctly and have kept up with their contract with the mobile company.

This company needs to be brought down to earth.

double0

I sent an email to both Alex Bunce ("customer services" manager) and David Ellis (managing director) of Phones2Udirect on Wednesday. As yet, still haven't had a reply (why does that not surprise me). Actually, I did get a reply but it was only an out of office one from Alex Bunce as, rather conveniently, he is on leave.

double0

http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-55169.html

Just found this whilst doing a search on Google - quite funny when you read Dave Ellis's comments

Baz02

Another victim....

I took out contract with Phones2Udirect, and last month I sent them the 6th bill to claim cash-back. Now I realiased that I should've sent the 7th bill, but its too late for me, as 21 days submission window is over..... I am loosing out £140....fine I accept that as my mistake....

Now, what should I do with subsequent claims, as they have mentioned in their t & c that subsequent claims depends on acceptance of previous claims.... .... as it looks like I will incure loss for further £280... which is too much for me....someone please advice

thanks