Cashback/Cheque back -Who to trust & avoid?

boblevin

My deal with Phones2UDirect was 12 months free on a 12 month contract (after cash back). The T & C's state that I must send in my 6, 9 & 12 statements. In fact I must send in my 7, 19 & 13th Statments. I sent in my 6th statement and they have just written back to me rejecting my claim and saying that I must send in the seventh statement. although I sent in my 6th Statement five weeks ago, I received their letter dated 30 August on 8th September. This diid not give me enough time to send in the 7th statement to arrive by their deadline - subject to Royal Mail and the Weekend it will be at lease one day late. In my opinion this is all a deliberate strategy to avoud paying cash back. Interestingly, they use a mail franking system which is undated so I can't prove their date of posting. In my accopanying letter to them I have advised that if they fail to pay in full I will immediately resort to court proceedings.

So far as my final cash back is concerned, this becomes quite interesting as I only have a twelve month contract which I will give notice on at the end of the 11th month, so I have asked this question:

"Also please advise how I deal with the fact that my contract is for twelve months and so I will give notice to end this at the commencement of the twelfth month and will not, therefore receive a 13th statement. So is this in fact a thirteen months contract in order to qualify for 100% cash back. It has then of course been miss sold because I will not be able to claim back the 13th month line rental and it will not have been “12 month free on a 12 months contract”, it will effectively be 12 month free on a 13 month contract, or for a person who does not let their contract run on for an extra month, just 9 months free on a 12 month contract".

In my view there needs to be some sort of ruling or voluntary code of practice to which all the phone retailers agree to abide by.

Martin, are you up for supporting this via the web site?

boblevin

Hi wayneb7729. Good Luck with this! When did you send in your claim? Did you send it by recorded delivery? If you didn't they will probaby deny receipt. If you did, just in case you are not aware, you can obtain confirmation that they received it (even a copy of the signature) on the Royal Mail Web Site. Your next step, again if you havent yet done so, is to write to the MD of Phones2UDirect with all your evidence and give him/her 14 days to send you the money they owe you. This will make things much easier for you in Court, as you will be seen to have done everything in your power to obtain payment before bringing the matter before the Court. This may also help if you wish to add any costs to your claim.

I'm not a lawyer, have just trod this path a few times.

garrence

For info, the domain e2save.com is registered to The Carphone Warehouse Ltd. I've never heard of them before today.

I've used mobileshop.com a few times 6 or 7 years ago and had excellent service.

Definitely avoid ClubMobile - they're a complete shambles. They also engage in the dodgy business practice of sending unsolicited text messages written to fool you into thinking they're from the network provider trying to give you an upgrade.

MrsMondragon

IMHO the worst at paying cashback is Phones2Udirect. The only way they will pay is through the small claims court. Thats the way I got my money from them. They dont answer the telephone nor respond to emails. Avoid at all costs.

scrooge82

Dialaphone, e2save, and mobileshop.com are all excellent.

Dialaphone - Recieved every cashback within days or sending in my claim, interestingly my first two cashbacks (out of 4) were credited to my o2 account. Not a problem as it simply meant i didn't pay anything for a couple of months. Last two cashbacks were via cheque.

e2save - All cashback claims recieved no problem, i chased first one but relised i didn't need to. 2 payments, one credited to my bank account 1 via cheque.

Mobileshop - Great communication, but make sure you follow all T&C's. Recieved 2 out 4 cashback payments so far. Both were paid a few details later than they said they would. But have been paid!

I'd just say if a deal looks to good to be true then it probably is!

wayneb7729

Contract commenced 02/01/06.
180 days = 01/07/06
Cashback claimed 12/07/06 with O2 invoice dated 07/07/06 [after 180 days].
Cashback sent recorded and signed for delivery [yes you are right about the signature as I have it off the Royal Mail site].
Who is the MD of phones2udirect?
I have sent numerous emails to them requesting my payment but with no responses.

Thanks

WB

boblevin wrote:

Hi wayneb7729. Good Luck with this! When did you send in your claim? Did you send it by recorded delivery? If you didn't they will probaby deny receipt. If you did, just in case you are not aware, you can obtain confirmation that they received it (even a copy of the signature) on the Royal Mail Web Site. Your next step, again if you havent yet done so, is to write to the MD of Phones2UDirect with all your evidence and give him/her 14 days to send you the money they owe you. This will make things much easier for you in Court, as you will be seen to have done everything in your power to obtain payment before bringing the matter before the Court. This may also help if you wish to add any costs to your claim.

I'm not a lawyer, have just trod this path a few times.

the_tired_one

Well as I started the thread, I might as well reply to it:)

I plumped for phonebox.direct and they have been SUPERB with regards to cashbacks, even calculating the exact date that CB is due and letting me know which bill is required for submission.

I had a brief flirtation with PHONES2U.direct - if I could meet the guy who runs that, I'd......

W1zz

I'm currently in a process of attempting to get my 1st cashback claim sorted. I submitted the claim with correct statement (one immediatly after the 180 days connection period) on 29 June, My connection date was 22 December 2005, statement date 23 June 2006.

All email replies are automated and phone calls regarding cashback hang up on you after telling you to submit queires by email.

I managed to speak to someone after going through the Sales/Customer services number and they knew they had problems but were unable to access my cashback application as this was delt with by a different team.

His tone changed slightly after I voiced my concern and dropped in a some choice words re: Small Claims Court, to which he took my details and was going to forward the query through their internal email.

We shall see what, if anything happens next.

Whats the proceedure when claiming through small claims or do they normaly pay up after a written threat of court action?

boblevin

Hi Wayneb

I don't know the name of the MD but that doesn't matter. Somebody at p2ud will know who that is. All you need to be able to do is prove that you sent it and it was received.

Just to say, I have previously used E2save (part of CarPhone Warehouse) and they have been great, even when I made a late application because I did not receive a statement one month and so thought the 7th was the 6th (I number them as they arrive and put them in a folder). I explained this to them and they paid.

sm3006

I have just got a phone from phones 2 u direct and Im worried now. Im still in my 14 days right to cancel so I will. My contract is with 3 and I phoned them when I was unable to get through to p2ud and they advised me that I could cancel the contract through them. Not sure how it will work as you need a returns number!