The Mobile Outlet: any good? (merged)

ptecn

Galstonian wrote:

The T&C are not entirely clear, the implication is that you have to send your 11th bill within 28 days of receiving it then send your 12th within 28 days of that one as well. i.e. do not wait for your 12th bill as it will be too late to send the 11th.

Deliberately confusing? I couldn't possibly say.

11th bill within 21 days and 12th bill within 21 days not 28 days

Ms-Money-Penny

Well credit where credits due, i sent my first cashback last week and included a copy of the terms and conditons sent with the phone regarding the bills required.

Today i;ve received two emails from them, the first stating they've received my cashback claim and a second to say that my cashback claim had been accepted and i could expect a bacs payment within 28 days.:j
Well done:T

willgoat

I have exactly the same problem as nytram91, having been previous customer of onestopphoneshop and coolnewmobile (the latter charges me 20 pounds for sending in cashback claims on the earlier month :mad: ).Having thought i am wiser now in the interpretation of the T&C of online mobile phone company, i was confident that i was correct in waiting for the end of six month before sending in my claims to the MO. I couldn't be more wrong, another fiasco. THis time round, i stand to lose 360 quid because they say i claimed too late!! All these company seems to collectively try to confuse the hell out of their customer. Seeing how nytram91 have exactly the same issue and was resolved, i send and email to the stated address (copied below).

Lets see how this goes.

---

RE: Declined (Bills 1-6 Over 21 Days) - Ref: 16532567
Dear sir,

I have written to the customer service via (customerservice@themobileoutlet.co.uk) yesterday regarding this matter and today i have received letter in the post with contents similar to the email you sent below. I have yet to hear the reply from the customer service regarding this issue. Although seven invoices were sent, the first was the one that come when the connection starts. And to repeat what i mentioned in my previous email, I then waited for my fullfilment of six month of contract and the invoice that arrived at the end of six months of connection, proving that i had stay in the contract for the required period. That is my understanding of the terms and conditions.

Today, after the frustration of receiving letter in the post and no reply for yourselves i noticed how other people appears to also have the same problem and was misleaded with the requirement of your T&C. In particular in this forum, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=130782&page=10 the user nytram91 highlighted remarkably, the same issue that i have. I also understand from this user that you guys servicing this email address can deal with this promptly and efficiently and I am hoping for the same level of attention here.

I am looking forward to hear from you.

Thank you

Best regards,

steve237

OK guys, I'm new to this topic and have just received my 6 month invoice. I thought there may be problems with claiming cashback and came on here to see if any topics were floating about...and found this.

I've read through the full 15 pages and was pleased to read the following post (#179) by 'The Mobile Outlet'

Hi,

Orders placed before 3rd July require your first 6 bills to be sent within 21 days of the issue date on your 6th bill. Customers who ordered on the 3rd July or after will need to forward your first 4 bills within 21 days of the date on bill number 4. Dispatch notes are only required for orders placed 3rd July onwards.

The address to send your bills is Cashback Department, The Mobile Outlet, 3-4 Riverdale House, Dockfield Road, Shipley, BD17 7AD.

Hope this information helps.

Regards,
Forum Query Team

So to confirm this, I called 01274 714115 and got straight through to a girl called Emma Lynch - so far so good!

Before I go on, let me just say that I am an extremely friendly bloke with a lot of patience but never in my life have I experienced such blatant unwillingness to help from a company as I did in this phone call...

I explained that I was at my 6 months mark and wanted to confirm the above statements on this forum. I asked her if she was aware of the topic and she responded "yes, but I don't really care" (!!) - I asked her why and she informed me that she wasn't interested as she is sick of people going on about it and it's all she ever hears. Marvellous....

...So I cut to the chase and asked her to confirm the forum comments by The Mobile Outlet, that I abide by the old terms which were active when I took the phone deal (June 06) and that I did not need to send a dispatch note. She informed me that I do need to send a dispatch note and that it's my own fault for not keeping it as it is in the T&C's. I explained that I have a copy of the old T&C's and it is not mentioned - she said it was mentioned on the dispatch note itself and I should have read that. I explained that this is ridiculous as I am following the T&C's and they do not state it - she said that's why they have been changed. She impolitely informed me that I would just have to send in a letter explaining. I said I wasn't happy to do this as it was likely to be rejected and that would be the end of it. She said "yeah probably but it's your own fault for not keeping the dispatch note"

She tells me that the person posting on this forum isn't even from The Mobile Outlet and it's nothing to do with them.

I asked to speak to her manager but she said that wouldn't be possible as they don't take calls of this nature.

I asked her what her name is and asked her outright how she felt she could have such a terrible attitude with a customer who is simply making a simple enquiry and following the rules? She didn't seem capable of a response. This is the point I asked her for her name and told her I'd try the forum approach.

I am not happy. I am emailing forumqueries@themobileoutlet.co.uk with a copy of this post in an attempt to clarify exactly what I need to do with my claim.

pesky2

We haven't heard about our claim yet neither, we weren't sent a dispatch note or anything with the phone just the phone and simcard etc, sent first 4 bills and not heard a thing will give them afew more days then will chase the matter further.

steve237

Just to update you further to my post above..

Within an hour of my post and email to forumqueries@themobileoutlet.co.uk I was surprised to have received 2 emails; one telling me that I DO NOT require a dispatch note and that my cashback request would be honoured, and another asking me for my contact number as one of the managers would like to speak to me regarding this girls conduct when I spoke with customer support.

When the manager called me (moments later) he seemed genuinely concerned with how my enquiry had been dealt with and apologised on behalf of the company. She is being spoken to by the management, and apparently she gave completely incorrect information and he said the way she spoke to my was wholly unacceptable.

I have been told to print off the email and send this along with the 6 front page invoices (the page with the amount invoiced), recorded or special delivery, and I've been told to expect my cashback credit and a bluetooth headset as a goodwill gesture.

I've sent it Special Delivery tonight and will let you know the outcome. Great comeback from the management at The Mobile Outlet though, goes someway towards the reception I got from the girl when I called 01274 714115.

Tyler_Du

I ordered 2 phones (both cashback deals) from MO last week, they have now arrived but no cashback vouchers where included with the paperwork. All other cashback deals I've had have always had vouchers to be sent off to claim the cashback. Are MO different in that I just need to send the bills in based upon the schedule as detailed in the Ts&Cs. The cashback on each phone is £200+

russfj

A lot of people on this forum ask whether the MO is to be trusted or not when it comes to cashback, so I thought I would take this opportunity to relay my experience of this company, and you can make your own mind up from there. Below I present my full blown experience. At the bottom of my rant, you will find my tips for dealing with this company:

My wife and I currently both have phone deals with the MO; I took these out because at the time, MO was by far the cheapest, in that it had the best cashback deals on the market - I soon found out why!

When it came time to send off the first cashback claims (roughly similar timeframe for both phones) it became apparent that there were some subtle difference in our terms and conditions. As an example, within my wife's terms and conditions, she is required to send off her 10th, 11th and 12th bills to clam cashback within 21 days of the receipt of her 12th bill. I would be required to send my 11th and 12th bills within 21 days of the receipt of each bill i.e. send them in seperately. Speaking to a friend who also had a phone deal with MO showed that her conditions were different again - it would appear that MO continually changes its T&C for reasons best known to it...if I were a cynical man I would suggest it is trying to catch people out, and avoid the payment of cashback, but of course I am not a cynical man!

Anyway, off went the cashback claims as per the respective T&Cs, and then a few weeks later, envelopes from MO arrived. I expected these to be the relevant cheques, but no, there were letters rejecting both claims, because 'dispatch notes' were not send with either claim. Well, there was nothing in either of our T&C to state a requirement to send these notes, but I did find a one line entry buried in my original introduction note, stating this requirement. Either way, this did not form any part of either mine or my wifes T&C, so I wrote straights back, pointing this fact out.

My wife's cashback was then paid, however, the MO continually refused to pay mine, despite several letters and e-mails. Eventually, I lost patience and took them to court, through Moneyclaim Online. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and named them as 'mobileoutlet' in my claim, which is not their registered name, so they completely ignored my claim (no communication at all). Eventually, I swallowed my pride and re-issued the claim using the correct name of Mobile Matters (UK) Ltd. On this occasion, within days, a cheque had arrived, but there was still a problem! Claims made over Moneyclaim Online cost £30, which is chargable to the defendant if the claim is proved against them/settled by them. They did not include the fees in the cheque they sent me, so I have had to write to them again and I still await my £30! This brings me on to my experience of their customer services.

Every time I have e-mailed them over the last year I have go the same 'we are suffering technical problems..there may be a delay in replying' mesage. Again, if I were a cynical man (which I of course am not) I would sugest that there are no technical problems, and they just dont have enough staff to deal with the level of customer needs (complaints). They have also consistently failed to meet their deadlines i.e 'we will get back to you within 48hrs' seems to be MO code for a 'few weeks'.

Oh and forget ringing them - 20 mins plus waiting every time before giving up, and they will refuse to talk about cashback over the phone anyway.

So in summary:

a. From my experience (and I stress this is only my experience - others may have had a better time), extreme caution should be exercised before taking out a contract with MO. If my experience is a typical one, they will do whatever they can to avoid payment of entitled cashback. I was previously with onestophoneshop for 2 years, and they were fantastic - I am heading back there as soon as my contract is up.

b. If you do take out a contract with them, follow your terms and conditions to the letter. If they then refuse to pay the cashback, but you have fully complied with the terms and conditions, tell them you will take them to court. The only terms and conditions that matter when it comes to cashback are the ones issued to you, not the ones on their website. So dont panic if they refuse to pay the cashback, but you know you are in compliance.

c. If they continue to refuse payout, take them to court, using 'Moneyclaim online' https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp. Name them as 'Mobile Matters (UK) Limited' on your claim, at their usual address

d. Above all, if you have complied with your terms and conditions, be patient, persistent and dont give up, regardless of whatever delays they try to present you with!

The_Mobile_Outlet

Hi russfj,

We have documented the issue with the dispatch note in previous notes, but you should have been sent an email or called regarding this problem to have your cash back reinstated.

We have had issues with incorrect t's and c's being issued which has led to confususion for some customers claiming their cash back. If you PM us your contact details we can have a look over your account to ensure that nothing remains outstanding. The mistakes with the T's and C's and dispatch note were genuine and not an attempt to prevent cash back being paid.

We would like to take this oppurtuntiy to apologise about the problems you have had and hope that we can restore some faith by improving the level of service we offer you in the final few months of your contract. Since joining this forum we have tried to ensure we improve our level of service and steps have been taken to improve communication between us and the customer (especially re: cash back applications as we know there is a lot of money at stake for each customer). If you do have any outstanding issues or thoughts please email the forum query team.

Kind Regards
Forum Query Team
forumqueries@themobileoutlet.co.uk

ayrwave

Good advice ther from russfj. I have still had no contact from MO, short of saying they would phone me, which they never did. I've sent private messages and emails to the forumquery addres but they don't even reply.

Just going to check out this moneyclaim online