Mobiles.co.uk cashback problems

Guys_Dad

MobileJunkie -
Well, since they give such "crap deals", are dishonest, send on a rep to lie, don't answer their phone, won't deal with your points to your satisfaction, have too small a window to claim, don't open for mail on Saturdays etc etc you won't be using them again, will you?

OneADay

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Well, since they give such "crap deals", are dishonest, send on a rep to lie, don't answer their phone, won't deal with your points to your satisfaction, have too small a window to claim, don't open for mail on Saturdays etc etc you won't be using them again, will you?

True to say I have been careful of where I get a phone on cashback deal - I would not recommend cashback for everyone - you (as the consumer) have to keep your timings and on top of things.

I send my forms in within days of the date quoted to wait until - so the Saturday issue is not a concern for me but in general the rule should be Saturday is a working (since Royal Mail do deliveries on Saturdays, companies should accept it as a working day regardless if their offices are open or not or whatever).

I might use CPW if they did better deals than phones4u which in the range of phones I like, has not been the case for a few years. And yes - reading about other people's experiences has put me off as well.

[Deleted User]

Is it true that these companies who offer cashback depend on a large percentage of people forgetting to claim their cashaback? Otherwise, they'd go bust?

Quentin

We all got more savvy about remembering to claim, so the cashback companies moved on from that and made their ts + cs unreasonable, so that many inadvertently fell foul.

Ofcom has been trying to remove the unfair conditions for years.

But in the meantime, thanks to us becoming more savvy about claiming, pursuing claims via the county courts etc, catch 22 has happened and many of them have already gone bust, thereby still getting out of paying the cashbacks.

OneADay

[quote=[Deleted User];24153709]Is it true that these companies who offer cashback depend on a large percentage of people forgetting to claim their cashaback? Otherwise, they'd go bust?[/QUOTE]

Must be - thats the only way they could make any money, let alone profit.

Prior to the downturn in retail sales, there were far more cashback deals and its since declined with smaller number of people failing to claim cashbacks. No doubt when things pick up, the deals will return.

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative

It's more complicated than that, I looked for a guide or explanation online but couldn't find one that was actually truthful/accurate, and I don't have time to write one unfortunately.

A certain percentage of people don't claim, and the unclaimed money is paid out to the ones who claim the whole amount. Combined you have a workable scheme. Think of it as the reverse of insurance, or AA cover or whatever. Some people get £1000 for a £30 premium, the majority pay £30 and don't need anything in return.

The percentage of people who don't claim is very closely monitored, and deals worked out in response to this to make sure it's all viable.

mobilejunkie

Except that cpw decided to play dirty and dishonestly refuse perfectly valid claims on a selective basis - thus the large numbers who had to resort to the legal route and my warnings about companies (especially cpw ones) appearing in sheeps clothing. One thing above all else I have found time and again is just HOW dishonest other cpw companies have been - and unscrupulous. That isn't put right with fatuous claims by representatives from the same group. The fact I use these companies does not mean people should go blindly in as so many have before; I use them because I follow my own guide (which IS truthful and fairly comprehensive) and ALWAYS prepare to sue from the point of ordering. That is (for example) why I copy out the ACTUAL T&C AT THE POINT OF SALE and avoid falling foul of yet another of cpw's scams - changing the t&c later and ignoring the original ones anyway - smehting this part of cpw is already overtly doing.

Most people simply don't follow the groundrules and are lured by the hype without doing the necessary legwork. It's quite simple when dealing with this company; be prepared (in every sense of the word), ready and well able to sue if required by them - or else stay away!

Quentin

[quote=[Deleted User];24145975]Fair does to them. Cant say fairer than that...[/QUOTE]

Your comment comes in relation to this quote from them (which you put in your post #39):

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative wrote: »

a) I made no such claim as to my position within the company and b) I would never boast, it's not very appealing

The points a) & b) were directed at me.

a) The rep denied making the claim about his "senior manager" role in the company, and claimed he would never boast.

I replied to these points, but got no response (or apology for the insinuation I had posted falsely) from the rep.

I quoted directly what the rep had actually put in his profile (ie that he was a "Senior Manager" at the company), (which he has denied making "such a claim as to his position").

Although he made no reply/apology, we now see he has cynically edited his profile to no longer say "Senior Manager". It now says "Official Representative"! (All in keeping with their culture of fairness and the way they are seen to change their online ts + cs!)

b) The rep's retort to being accused of boasting was to say "I would never boast". The boast comment came as a result of the rep's claim "we are the fairest online mobile phone retailer you'll find"

I'm sure the rep will be delighted to see you consider all this to be something "you can't say fairer than that to".

Elsewhere he accuses me of calling him rude (I didn't, protested about the false accusation, but again got no retraction/apology).

Hopefully some will be able to see through what is going on here!

Also note the swing (when push comes to shove regarding the ofcom unfair condition regarding the 30 day window allowed by mobiles to get our claims in):

Originally the dismissive:

As for the 30 day claim window, we feel this is a fair amount of time to put a bill in an envelope and post it off

To this different new approach, after just 4 days and more flak concerning unfair cashback conditions (again, just posted with no reference to the previous company hard line (unique amongst cpw companies) which caused some "discussion" regarding their perceived "fairness"):

A managed move to 60 days is occurring, but is not yet ready to be implemented

simon_says_3

I say dont waste your time posting out your bill/s for cashback. I believe you can email your bill to them and your cashback claim will be processed. This is what I've done for the past year. No problems!

Email it to [EMAIL="customer.services@mobiles.co.uk"]customer.services@mobiles.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative

mobilejunkie wrote: »

It's amazing to me that a dealer can claim to be leading the industry (absolute rubbish) and innovative (it is merely following what others have done long ago)

Hi MJ,

This isn't promotion, but a rebuttal; an example perhaps of why I don't take the time to address all of your claims;

• First online mobile phone dealer (uk.telecom.mobile!)
• First online Orange dealer (Nokia 1611!)
• First online 3 dealer (e606!)
• First online O2 dealer (Startac!)
• First online T-Mobile dealer (1-2-1!)
• First dealer to offer free gifts with contract phones (Communicams!)
• First dealer to despatch these at the same time as the phone (and still one of the few who does)
• First dealer to offer automatic chequebacks, with no claim needed as an option instead of redemption cashback (now up to £350)
• First dealer to offer instantly available credit check results (since discontinued)

These are only the ones I can think of, top of my head, I'm sure there's others.

Regards,