TheMobs.com

lovemystudentloan

I replied to someone on this thread advising them to avoid 3 on the back of this

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3928400#post3928400

only to have someone called Mobile Mole say

"They (3) can't be expected to absorb the losses that customers have made by choosing to buy from an unreliable dealer"

so there you go folks, it's all our own fault. Sorted.

grayme-m

lovemystudentloan wrote:

I replied to someone on this thread advising them to avoid 3 on the back of this

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3928400#post3928400

only to have someone called Mobile Mole say

"They (3) can't be expected to absorb the losses that customers have made by choosing to buy from an unreliable dealer"

so there you go folks, it's all our own fault. Sorted.

In 1998 we bought a Candy Dishwasher from Powerhouse and spent £140 on extra warranty that we'd get back if we didn't claim.

We didn't claim but neither did the thieves at Powerhouse give us our money and soon after they went into liquidation.

My point? Should Candy be held responsible for selling their goods via a dodgy outfit?

Shiggaddi

grayme-m wrote:

In 1998 we bought a Candy Dishwasher from Powerhouse and spent £140 on extra warranty that we'd get back if we didn't claim.

We didn't claim but neither did the thieves at Powerhouse give us our money and soon after they went into liquidation.

My point? Should Candy be held responsible for selling their goods via a dodgy outfit?

A fairly valid point, and with some warranties, you do get the money back, and like with mobile cashback claims, they rely on people forgetting to send it back to make money.

But with your dishwasher, you bought the dishwasher and that was the end of the transaction. You then decided to buy the warranty, and that did not affect the sale price of the dishwasher.

The whole basis for entering into cashback mobile deals, is entirely down to receiving the cashback. I would not have entered into a £35 a month contract with "3" without the cashback which I'm now not going to get.

With the dishwasher, you could have refused this extra insurance, and still paid the normal price for the dishwasher. Also (unless buying on HP) you would have bought the dishwasher, and that is the end of it. With the mobile, I now have to still pay for another 7 months line rental, and hand over more money, knowing I won't get it back, because of the contract I'm tied into.

And with mobile sales, compared to dishwasher sales, fewer people buy a dishwasher purely on the basis of free insurance. The mobile cashback is very much a deciding factor to take out a new mobile, and is the reason "3" have a customer who would never be with them otherwise.

grayme-m

Shiggaddi wrote:

A fairly valid point, and with some warranties, you do get the money back, and like with mobile cashback claims, they rely on people forgetting to send it back to make money.

But with your dishwasher, you bought the dishwasher and that was the end of the transaction. You then decided to buy the warranty, and that did not affect the sale price of the dishwasher.

The whole basis for entering into cashback mobile deals, is entirely down to receiving the cashback. I would not have entered into a £35 a month contract with "3" without the cashback which I'm now not going to get.

With the dishwasher, you could have refused this extra insurance, and still paid the normal price for the dishwasher. Also (unless buying on HP) you would have bought the dishwasher, and that is the end of it. With the mobile, I now have to still pay for another 7 months line rental, and hand over more money, knowing I won't get it back, because of the contract I'm tied into.

And with mobile sales, compared to dishwasher sales, fewer people buy a dishwasher purely on the basis of free insurance. The mobile cashback is very much a deciding factor to take out a new mobile, and is the reason "3" have a customer who would never be with them otherwise.

I buy your point that yes the non-cashback warranty wasn't why I bought that or in fact any dishwasher so the analogy is not perfect.

However, seeing as how you in effect have two contracts (one with themobs for cashback and one with 3 for provision of phone services, like with my dishwasher), the question is should either supplier be liable for the breaking of terms by the other?

I'm certainly not saying 'it's your fault' but I don't see that 3 should be paying up for themobs? I've got a couple of cashback deals with two companies on O2 (O2 themselves don't appear to even understand the concept when they offer me 'unbeatable' deals at £15pm at termination), but if either of these companies go under I wouldn't chase O2.

Seeing the threads on here with what appear to be smaller companies I am very wary in finding a couple of contracts for my parents (my preferred mobileshop appear to be stopping them), though of course big companies can go under too. It's a harsh lesson to learn if it's your cashback that doesn't come back.

lovemystudentloan

corkie1965 wrote:

I for one will now be writing to 3 to lodge a complaint as I now suspect that they will then lodge a claim with the administrator on my behalf in respect of clawback. In doing so I maybe able to obtain some sort of credit as a gesture of goodwill. Worth a try anyway.

Have you had any joy corkie1965? Good luck, and let us know if there's any hope for the rest of us.

Has anyone simply cancelled their direct debit to minimise their losses? I don't want to ruin my credit and I do not advise anyone else to, but i don't want to pay for a contract I don't want. What's 3s reaction to customers doing this?

"The whole basis for entering into cashback mobile deals, is entirely down to receiving the cashback. I would not have entered into a £35 a month contract with "3" without the cashback which I'm now not going to get."

Thanks Shiggaddi. I hope grayme-ms contracts don't go the same way as ours.

"I'm certainly not saying 'it's your fault' but I don't see that 3 should be paying up for themobs? I've got a couple of cashback deals with two companies on O2 (O2 themselves don't appear to even understand the concept when they offer me 'unbeatable' deals at £15pm at termination), but if either of these companies go under I wouldn't chase O2".

3 are cashing in on this grayme-m. Not only do we lose hundreds on our contracts, we're being charged £25 to downgrade as of 14th December and we can only downgrade one price level at a time.

Shiggaddi

Interesting point about cancelling the direct debit.

Unfortunately, the mobile networks have covered their backs well on this issue, and will ask debt collectors to chase people for the amount owed, and the remainder of their contract.

When I was on my previous contract with Three, they made an error and cancelled my direct debit mandate on the same date my contract ended, even though there was the final bill to pay. A few months later, I got a letter from three asking for this money. I promptly paid it up, and they made a mistake of allocating it to someone else's account!! They then called in Wescot debt recovery to chase this up. Luckily, I was able to prove it had been paid, but if I were to go down the route of knowingly not pay for the remainder of the contract, then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

They will also argue that it's a 12 month contract that we signed etc, and it will stand up in court. The only money that won't get collected would be people who fall into arrears and simply can't pay, and a few people who would risk a CCJ and bailiff calls on a matter of principle even if they could afford to pay. For everyone else, if three say we have to pay £35 for the next 6 months, then we have to pay it, and if they don't want to offer any gesture of goodwill, then there's nothing forcing them to do so. In the same way as after the 12 months are up, then we are free to take our business elsewhere without penalty.

It is also a coincidence that they introduced the fee for downgrading just as the mobs went bankrupt. The mobs said in their T&Cs that you must stay on the tariff you connect to, or higher otherwise you forfeit the cashback. Since they are now bust, then we've forfeited the cashback anyway, and just before they get lots of calls from customers who want to downgrade to lessen the losses, they change their T&Cs so they can keep us all connected on the same tariff.

You might argue that the mobs doesn't have enough market share compared to people like the Link or Carphone Warehouse, but during their last few months of trading, they pushed out lots of deals on three and probably did have a good enough market share to make three sit up and think about how they should handle the situation. Even if the mobs had a 5% market share on new connections on three, they now have 5% of their customer base thinking about downgrading for whatever remains of their original 12 month contract.

I will be in touch with three, and even if they don't want to help, the worse that can happen is their Indian call centre staff have to spend time dealing with a complaint in which they say they won't help, and someone in head office will have to read a letter of complaint, in which someone will have to spend time to compose a reply.

Contractor_2

Shiggaddi wrote:

I will be in touch with three, and even if they don't want to help, the worse that can happen is their Indian call centre staff have to spend time dealing with a complaint in which they say they won't help, and someone in head office will have to read a letter of complaint, in which someone will have to spend time to compose a reply.

I'd be surprised if Three even bother to send you a reply Shiggaddi. Good luck anyway.

looneyonthegrass

Having read that there are many people who have been swindled by themobs.com I have decided to contact watchdog on the bbc. It returns on the 14th of March 2007. I would suggest that everybody else does the same. I have also contacted my trading standards office via email. I also think that 3 have some responsibilty here but they seem to be blocking it all. They would have known that there was a problem sometime ago but still allowed themobs.com to sell deals for them. If I can't do anything about it I will be out over £400 for a really cheap LG refurbed phone. This is not the deal I signed up to.

Saeed

Have you read the posts in this thread :rotfl:

Caramelapplebetty wrote:

Received an offer from Mobs.com of phone for £2.99 a month package includes 400 mins plus 250 texts. It is one of these pay £35 a month and then claim the money back. Does anyone have any experience of this company - particularly have you got your money back?

Sorry if this is in the wrong place - never started a thread before!

dollytinsle

looneyonthegrass wrote:

Having read that there are many people who have been swindled by themobs.com I have decided to contact watchdog on the bbc. It returns on the 14th of March 2007. I would suggest that everybody else does the same. I have also contacted my trading standards office via email. I also think that 3 have some responsibilty here but they seem to be blocking it all. They would have known that there was a problem sometime ago but still allowed themobs.com to sell deals for them. If I can't do anything about it I will be out over £400 for a really cheap LG refurbed phone. This is not the deal I signed up to.

Watchdog actually did an item on The Mobs - shortly after they went into liquidation. Cant see them doing another!