When to cancel - cashback payment due on 12th month bill

comdw

I'm on a cashback deal with mobiles.co.uk. The contact is 12 months and the last cashback cheque is payable when I send in my 12th month bill.

When can I safely give my 30 day notice to cancel without affecting the bill I receive from Orange to send to mobiles.co.uk?

My phone was connected 20th July 2008 and the bill I need to send will be produced on 25th July 2009.

hotkee

That's an odd one - 12th bill.
Normally you pay a bill a month ahead - Orange must do it different. Are you sure you are counting it right.

Its a bit much for people to expect to count and hold bills for 12 months. Normally its the latest bill at a given date.

If your contract started 20th July 2008, the 12 months are up on 19th July 2008.

I would check exact wording of the casback deal but I would (based on the above dates) give notice on 19th June 2008, written or whatever other method Orange accept.

You might for caution wait till 25th June to give the notice - 30 days priot to the last bill.

Tell them that you want the contract to run to its end for 12 months, and after 12 months you want the phone on pay and go.

That way you have not switched your tariff within 12 months which is what mobiles.co.uk will want to see - you not changing tariff during contract.

PS - just ring Orange find out the end date of the contract and ask when they need 30 day notice from you.

comdw

Well mobiles.co.uk count define the cashback dates as 6m, 8m, 10m and 12m and the bill you send has to be the first one that arrives after the phone has been connected for that amount of time.

In the past I've found that they give you a PAC code almost straight away when you give notice to cancel, but in this case I'd obviously need to avoid using it until after the final bill date.

hotkee

Well you dont need to ask for PAC code, just ask that they switch you to pay and go after the 12 months are up (thats the 30 day notice). Once its on pay and go - ask for pac code.

PS - Glad I am not with mobiles.co.uk - that would confuse me. Phones4u do it with dates, so you have a reference date to remind yourself. Dialaphone (part of phones4u) are even clearer as they give you all dates at the start of the contract.

mobilejunkie

You can give notice up to two months before the end of the 12 months; do so. It won't affect your claim. Your claim will probably be using the 13th bill, but since you will have been connected for the full twelve months it won't affect your claim. It is a classic and long-standing mistake to count bill NUMERS. Count the months. The July bill should show a credit - Orange charges in advance.

As for Phones4u - they are indeed a much better company for such deals. However, in THEIR t&c it implies (unlike Mobiles.co.uk) that you should be connected when MAKING the claim - even though this is not required and a red herring.

One last thing - and I have been spouting on about this for years now - no-one should enter into any cashback deal with any company unless they know precisely how it all works in in that particular instance BEFOREHAND and cover themselves accordingly.

erlendoye

mobilejunkie wrote: »

As for Phones4u - they are indeed a much better company for such deals. However, in THEIR t&c it implies (unlike Mobiles.co.uk) that you should be connected when MAKING the claim - even though this is not required and a red herring.

Thanks for that info. I'm with Phones4u and coming to the point where I should be writing to Vodafone to cancel my 12 month contract (ie end of next week will be one month before 12 months). My cashback claim date is 25th October only a few days before the termination date I will be requesting - do you think Phones4u will accept this or am I risking my final cheque by doing this and maybe need to carry on to a 13th month.

Help much appreciated!

mobilejunkie

No problem. Don't wait; write to Vodafone and give notice to end the contract on the 365th day. The right bill will still arrive and there will be no problem with the final claim. This is not a cpw dealer!