The Mobile Outlet: any good? (merged)

mbamick

chironicle wrote:

mbamick, you have gone through this for youself and a friend, with different outcomes. What would be the best approach?

Hi Chironicle. I noticed that The Mobile Outlet has just posted a message in this forum. I tend to play life with a straight bat, and take the view that any business that doesn't do the same will generally go to the wall quite quickly. Could I suggest that your first action is to contact the MO Team using the email address that they provided?

Given the expected volume of emails about to hit their in-box, I think that a reasonable person could expect a response within 10 working days. If I were unhappy with the response, I'd immediately log onto the small claims court website, and progress my claim.

The Small Claims Court issued Judgement in my friends favour on 02 Oct 06, and he still hasn't received payment from the MO - so I'll be using the email address to ask for an update before moving to the next stage - which is calling in the bailiffs to recover the monies owed.

chironicle wrote:

You know, I'm surprised how angry I feel at being duped.

I'm not surprised. Everyone in this forum appears angry - and quite rightly too. How many people have you and others warned to stay away from the MO as a consequence of this alleged oversight on their part? I'm not sold of the apologetic & helpful post issued by the MO - but as I say, I play life openly & honestly, and expect the same from others.

I look forward to seeing feedback from those that use the MO forum email address.

chironicle wrote:

.....I'm an older user with a new ID, as someone pointed out to me that my old one gave away a bit too much.

I'm intrigued....!!

mbamick

jeremygiles wrote:

I fully intend to file a claim using moneyclaim online this weekend, as I have been more than reasonable in the time I have given MO to respond.

Hi JeremyG, and welcome.
Give the MO forum email a try before going through the Small Claims Court.
It can only delay your claim by a week; and if you have no joy, simply strengthens your case for acting "reasonably" if/when you request Judgement.

Mick

mbamick

The_Mobile_Outlet wrote:

......Customer feedback is very important and will be used constructively to improve our service levels over the coming months and years.

Thank you, Team, for taking the time to contribute to the forum. I'm cheered by your positive approach to tackling your business problems, and am happy to offer constructive feedback.

Firstly, thank you for offering the new email address. I'll be using it in a few moments, just to confirm the reference number of my friend's Judgement, issued against The Mobile Outlet on 02-Oct-06. It won't be a long email - I only need to ask you whether we need to invite the Court to issue a Warrant to recover the cashback & court costs already owed.

Your post leads one to ask some general questions, which I hope you won't mind me posing?

The_Mobile_Outlet wrote:

....It has become apparent that there was a period of time where mobile phones were dispatched with incorrect terms and conditions.

Could you confirm what the time period was, so that those reading this forum will know whether they may have been affected?

The_Mobile_Outlet wrote:

.......If any customer has had this experience we can only apologise and we will rectify the situation for you. We have set up an email address for this query and any others which are raised by any forum member.

My friend does not own a PC, and wouldn't know how to proceed with his cashback rejection even if he did. I suspect that he is NOT in the minority. The setting-up of an email address strikes me as being a knee-jerk reaction [albeit a positive one] to this problem. I'd have adopted a more proactive approach, by contacting EVERY customer that received an order during this faulty dispatch period - not just those that are members of moneysavingexpert. I'd also be revisiting all of the Rejection Letters issued by your Cashback Team, to try and address any injustice.

Can you confirm what other plans you have in place to ensure fairness to existing [and future] customers?

The_Mobile_Outlet wrote:

......this was a genuine error which has obviously caused customers to experience a service level which is totally unacceptable.

Sure, your cashback rejections are causing stress to existing customers, who feel they have a legitimate claim. And I'm happy to accept that this was a genuine error, which you are trying resolve. But, IMHO, the delay in answering telephone calls, emails and letters is equally unacceptable.

Can you confirm how you intend to improve this business area?

lufupa

Hi

i am another person in the same boat. the t&c i was sent with the order does not mention the despatch note. i sent the bills & they confirmed receipt & i have now received the letter that mentions the despatch note. On the letter they sent the opening line says:

part of the conditions given to you at the time of your purchase with the Mobile outlet ... etc

I have a copy of those conditions and i said above there is no reference to the despatch note. Does this "cement" my case for getting the cash back?

Poppy9

1. Is the dispatch note the Vanilla Invoice I received with the bill?
2. Do I have to send original bills or photo copies?

mbamick

lufupa wrote:

Does this "cement" my case for getting the cash back?

Welcome lufupa.
Could I suggest that you use the MObile Outlet email address, which is included at Post number 119?
Then come back to the forum if your problem hasn't been resolved.
Mick

mbamick

Poppy9 wrote:

1. Is the dispatch note the Vanilla Invoice I received with the bill?
2. Do I have to send original bills or photo copies?

Hi again Poppy.
I'm not sure about the answer to Question 1; which is why I've strongly suggested in several posts that individuals email The Mobile Outlet DURING THE INITIAL 14-DAY COOLING OFF PERIOD - to specify what they believe is the correct cashback procedure, and to invite TMO to confirm that process.

My T&Cs clearly state that I needed to submit ORIGINAL BILLS. There's been some discussion about whether you need to send the covering sheet of the bill, or the entire bill. I opted for the latter - simply so that there could be no redress by the Company.

Mick

mbamick

I think we all need to appreciate that there is no substitute for carefully reading your own Contractual Terms & Conditions (T&Cs). Whilst I am very disappointed with TMO's recent rejection of what appear to be legitimate cashback claims, I think that it is reasonable for them to reject claims if customers have failed to adhere to the T&Cs agreed by both parties at the point of sale.

After all, if the CUSTOMER wants a "level playing field", we should expect it to be "level" for the SUPPLIER too.

So.....READ YOUR T&Cs CAREFULLY, and
........INVITE THE SUPPLIER TO CONFIRM THE CASHBACK
PROCESS(ES), IF YOU FEEL THAT YOUR T&Cs AREN'T CLEAR.

chironicle

mbamick wrote:

Could I suggest that your first action is to contact the MO Team using the email address that they provided?

Hello mbamick. Your post in reply to The Mobile Outlet yesterday made many excellent points. I'm looking forward to reading their response. Please let us know how your friend's claim progresses.

I did indeed email the provided email address yesterday. I received a very speedy reply, with the result that the cashback owed is apparently now on its way to my account. It should be there in 3 working days, so it's by BACS, I assume. I'll let you all know when / if it arrives.

I wonder what it was that lit the fire under their bums?

I'm not surprised. Everyone in this forum appears angry - and quite rightly too. How many people have you and others warned to stay away from the MO as a consequence of this alleged oversight on their part? I'm not sold of the apologetic & helpful post issued by the MO - but as I say, I play life openly & honestly, and expect the same from others.

Absolutely. Very few of my family are Internet aware, and the one sister who is is sadly more likely to pick up the nearest, sleekest, shiniest, bleepiest phone in a shop than look for a cashback deal, so I don't know anyone directly to warn. I did email quidco yesterday, before MO posted here, with my reservations about them having MO on their site, and I pointed them in the direction of this thread. Haven't heard anything. I'll post on TMF as well, in case anyone could benefit from this thread and the email address.

I'm intrigued....!!

Ha! No mystery, really. It's just that my user name linked to my website, and I realised that anyone looking up the website registration details could see my full name and address. Although 99.5% of the people here would be welcome to pop round for a cuppa, there's always 0.5% who would help themselves to the last hobnob.

shays_mum

QUOTE : I wonder what it was that lit the fire under their bums?

I think i may have helped a bit

I told my sis who had a mobile with them, why i would never deal with the mobileoutlet. I cancelled my order within the 14 day cooling off period, still got charged the £1.99 admin charge though . I was livid, explained how crap they were, she spoke to them, apparantly they did'nt know about the probs eveyone has been facing here, yer right!!

She asked me for the link for this forum, she emailed it to their customer services, hence their response here i think! HTH goodluck y'all!!