Cashback/Cheque back -Who to trust & avoid?

don9999

Why have all the threads relating to themobileoutlet been closed?

Who closed them?

Personally I have had some problems - e-mails ignored, casback deadlines passed etc.

However, I HAVE had a payment of £180 for 6 months cashback. Albeit, late.

May have been the threat of court action......

However, just wanted to re-assure people that cashbacks from themobileoulet ARE attainable.

Cheers,
Don

savvychick_2

Guys, DON'T trust OneCompare to give you what they have advertised! I have been very badly stung here - don't let the same happen to you. I have pasted below my letter to them and their reply. Unfortunately I can't attach the appendices to this Email, but basically they advertised the wrong thing - and won’t take any responsibility for it.




Antony Ball
Director
Onecompare.com
STL Innovations
Wolverhampton House
Church Street
St Helens
WA10 1AJ


20 February 2007


Dear Mr Ball

Complaint
OneCompare Reference number: XXXXXXX
Buymobilephones.net order number: XXXXXXX

I placed an order through your website on 13/02/2007, after seeing the Canary £40 deal offered through Orange, as indicated on Appendix 1. According to the offer advertised on your website, I could get a free Samsung D900 at a line rental of £40 per month – and OneCompare would pay me £350 cash back.

Once I clicked on the advertisement, I was routed to the BuyMobilePhones website (see Appendix 2), where it said that I would also get a Satellite Navigation system for free. So I went ahead and placed the order, 1) not knowing that I had to CHOOSE between the Satellite Navigation and the cashback, and 2) believing that the £350 cashback would be sent to me from OneCompare in due course. There was nowhere on either site that suggested otherwise.

When I received my mobile phone, I received the Satellite Navigation system, together with your Claim Voucher – for £35 instead of £350! I called your office and spoke to a lady called Vicky Ball, who explained that there had been an error on the website (which has apparently now been corrected) and that I was only meant to get £35 cash back. I asked Ms Ball if, considering that there was an error on your website, I could return the Satellite Navigation system (although I have now already opened the box) and arrange for the £350 cash back instead. Of course I would rather select the £350 cashback, if I can get the exact same Satellite Navigation system on Ebay for £130. She said that OneCompare would not be able to do this.

I have just had a look at the eleventh edition of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing on the website of the Advertising Standards Authority and I believe that I have been missold this contract due to an error in your advertising. I would expect you to honour what you offered to consumers in your advertisement.

I was referred to your website by the MoneySavingExpert.com site, where I have always received reliable referrals from. However, should this not be resolved in a fair manner, I will report this matter to the Advertising Standards Authority and will also have to warn other consumers on the MoneySavingExpert.com forum of this scam.

I am not asking for special treatment – simply for you to be fair to your consumers, as it was not my fault that you made an error on your website and I do not feel that I should have to bear any financial burden for that.

In the mean time, I will not be returning my Orange contract or proofs of address, until this complaint has been resolved. Should you have any queries regarding this, please call me on xxxx xxx xxxx.

Yours faithfully










THE REPLY FROM ONECOMPARE:


20 February 2007

Dear Yolande,

Thank you for your letter, I am sorry to hear that the deal you have purchased was not what you originally thought it was. At Onecompare we compare several online retailers mobile phone deals so that you can find the best deal for you.

The retailers on Onecompare send through product feeds for the deals that are available on their website, in the case of the deal you have purchased the product feed from the retailer was incorrectly showing £350 cashback when the deal only contained £35 cashback and a free satellite navigation system, this is why it was displaying incorrectly on Onecompare. This deal has now been corrected.

It is the retailer (BuyMobilePhones.net) that offers you cashback not Onecompare.com, we are simply a mobile phone comparison website. You will claim your gift and your cashback directly from BuyMobilephones. Please see Appendix 1 for Onecompares terms and conditions which indicate that although we take as much care as possible, very occasionally deals can be displayed incorrectly on Onecompare.com .
When you are redirected to the retailers website, your Onecompare reference number is displayed along with our customer service telephone number should you have any queries regarding the deal you are interested in. Once you are on the retailer's website your selected deal is displayed again with informational boxes that contain more details. The deal you agreed to through BuyMobilePhones stated that your free gift was Navman F20 Sat Nav + £35 cash.

If you are not happy with the deal you have purchased and would like to return your order to BuyMobilePhones, we can search for alternative deals available on the Samsung D900 that contain cashback only. I would also refund your postage for returning your order to BuyMobilePhones.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you, if our customer service staff can help any further please contact Onecompare on 01744 28644.

Kind Regards
Anthony Ball
Director

Czarina

Definitely avoid Mobile Rainbow. Communication is extremely poor. It took them two months to give me my first cash back. And for my second one which I sent last Dec 06, they are refusing to pay bec I didn't send them ALL the bills but my Cash back Policy that they sent specifies to send them only the 9th Bill. I sent them e-mails and tried calling them but I couldn't get thru. I e-mailed OFCom if they can help, but according to them they can't.
This is a part of their email - "As part of our enquiry, we are not able to look at the actions of retailers given our powers do not extend to the actual retailers who would not fall within the definition of 'providers of electronic communications services or networks' as defined by the Communications Act 2003. "

So, Shall I go to small court claims? Please advise.

Thanks a lot.
Czarina

Count_Dante

Phonebox Direct have been sound, a bit tardy with the cheques but they arrive without prompting and provide an email stating they have received the claim.

speedtwin

oopsie wrote:

I have used Dialaphone Simply3G E2Save in the past with absoloutely no problems. I followed terms and conditions to the letter and recieved cashback as per the contract.So from my own experience I can heartily recommend all of these companies.



I use carphone warehouse and have got all cashbacks with no probs at all, would recommend them as well.

hotchokl8

just had a bacd experience with a company called mobile addict/mobile solutions. unfortunately the company has since gone bankrupt and we are now unable to claim back any of the cashback promised. the contract was for 12months, £35/per month with £147 to be paid as cashback at the end of each 6month period. spoke to consumer direct who say that if the company was listed as a 'limited' company then we have no power to claim anything as the major creditors would take priority.

howver, on a more positive note, have used dial a phone for several years now, as long as you get your claims to them on time they pay up just fine.

remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Steve_xx

I'm having a spot of bother with The Link. My third and final cashback was due late December. I phoned them today asking them where my cash was and told them that they had received my docs as the letter containing them was signed for.

They want me to fax them all again, which I can do cos I have copies of them. But I'm not amused that I have to do this since I have proof that the original was delivered and, the number I have to fax all the docs to is an 0870 number and it is not operational during the off-peak period. If when I fax them later on today I find that their fax machine runs at very slow transmission speeds I'll be even more annoyed. Why don't they have a facility to receive via email, I wonder? And, if they don't agree to cough up after I've sent this lot again then they will be receiving a County Court summons without further ado.

I find this sort of thing nauseating and it is high time that the OFT took action against these companies who are doing no more than seeking to avoid paying legitimate claims. It is scandalous.

victory_horse

Dear all,

I have used the following companies over the past few years, and am glad to report that I have NEVER PAID LINE RENTAL since I first acquired a mobile phone 5 years ago - yes, 5 years of no line rental at all! And that goes for both myself and my wife, whom I pay for!

The onus is on you to read and understand the terms and conditions of the offer prior to ordering - naturally, they are out to make money and so they rely on those of us who forget or breach the terms and conditions. But as I've evidenced, it is possible to have a completely free phone over many years - I have previously been with e2save, dialaphone, CPW and currently buymobilephones.net. All have honoured their cashback deals.

My advice is to not only send bills back via Royal Mail registered post, but also to have them insured for CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS (this usually costs me £1 extra), such that if the mobile phone company doesn't receive them due to a fault on the part of Royal Mail, they (Royal Mail) should refund you the monies that you are no longer eligible for.

I'm currently at the end of my time with buymobilephones.net, and am looking at themobileoutlet.com - but of course, I will read the T & C's very very carefully!

Good luck!

Victory Horse

Steve_xx

victory_horse wrote: »

Dear all,

I have used the following companies over the past few years, and am glad to report that I have NEVER PAID LINE RENTAL since I first acquired a mobile phone 5 years ago - yes, 5 years of no line rental at all! And that goes for both myself and my wife, whom I pay for!

The onus is on you to read and understand the terms and conditions of the offer prior to ordering - naturally, they are out to make money and so they rely on those of us who forget or breach the terms and conditions. But as I've evidenced, it is possible to have a completely free phone over many years - I have previously been with e2save, dialaphone, CPW and currently buymobilephones.net. All have honoured their cashback deals.

My advice is to not only send bills back via Royal Mail registered post, but also to have them insured for CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS (this usually costs me £1 extra), such that if the mobile phone company doesn't receive them due to a fault on the part of Royal Mail, they (Royal Mail) should refund you the monies that you are no longer eligible for.

I'm currently at the end of my time with buymobilephones.net, and am looking at themobileoutlet.com - but of course, I will read the T & C's very very carefully!

Of course the onus is on an individual to read and understand the terms and conditions within the contract. However, it has to be said that there is often ambiguity or at least lack of clarity in some contracts that seem to me to be clearly designed by the issuer with retention of the cashback in mind. One is left wondering why the claim for cashbacks have to be so complex?

In my earlier post I mentioned my third and final claim to The Link for cashback. I sent the documents as I ought to have done and I have proof that they were signed for. Yet this company denies it has them. It hasn't said that it wont payout, but what it has said is that the onus falls to me to resend by fax, to an 0870 number, all of the details again. It seems now that the details which had to be sent by post in the first place might now be acceptable by fax. When I phoned them I asked if I could email the documents because that is easy for me to do since copies are on my pc. No, came the answer, and one wonders if this refusal is due to the fact that email is not tariffed at 0870 rates.

I'm well angry with this company and the fact that despite my sending the docs by fax that they have not responded. As I said earlier, I will not hesitate to issue proceeding in order to recover it.

deess

Steve,

i had a similar issue with Thelink where i waited for over a month and no cashback, so i decided to call them (very difficult to get through, they cut you off after 2.5mins of you waiting on the line!). when i finally got through they told me they did not receive the relevant forms (even though it was signed for, recorded). They advised to send by fax, which i did so. i call them up a few days after and they confirmed the fax was received and has been processed. They said i had to wait until the end of the month to get my cashback as they do their accounts on the last week of the month, which i was fine with.

received cheque few weeks later (end of jan)

Thelink peeps wont call you. just to be on the safe side give them a qick call to confirm.