Mobile Rainbow (cashback rating)

clapham_2

This is my first Mobile Rainbow contract and I've not yet reached the first cashback point

I wish that I'd looked into Mobile Rainbow (Msols Ltd) before signing up to an 18 month contract with a promise of half of my monthly payments back as cashback. I printed out the FAQs at the time of the contract but didn't notice in the small print of the T&Cs that as well as 7 months of bills for 3 customers, they also wanted my despatch note. (What does having my despatch note prove? They know that I received my phone as that was confirmed by a phone call shortly after the delivery!) Anyway, I have sent it to them. They have everything that I should have sent but are not replying to any of my emails. I have reported them to Watchdog - I think we should all do this - someone needs to stop them. I have also told them I will be submitting an application for my claim through county court if I hear nothing within a fortnight. This looks like it is straightforward - google 'small claims court'. None of this hassle would be so bad if I was connected to a decent network. My contract is with 3 mobile - who claim to have amazing coverage. I have a 45 minute journey to work each day but I can only get a signal for a maximum of 15 minutes of that journey (if the winds blowing the right way and there are no trees in the way!!!!!!!!!)

ska_mna

I had to issue legal proceedings to receive some/all of my cashback

clapham,

(What does having my despatch note prove? They know that I received my phone as that was confirmed by a phone call shortly after the delivery!)

Just more hoops to jump through. Their entire business model is based on trying to stop as many cashbacks going through as possible. And as you can see from this forum, even when you do comply with their T&Cs, you're still lucky to see your money. They're not the only company doing this either, and I think the whole Cashback issue is getting some attention from government bodies having spoken to my MP and local Trading Standards. Not that they can help us as individuals.

have also told them I will be submitting an application for my claim through county court if I hear nothing within a fortnight. This looks like it is straightforward - google 'small claims court'.

It is simple to do and I think it's still better than doing nothing. However, go into with your eyes open to the fact that a lot of us who have taken the company to court and got our CCJs against them are now powerless to enforce the judgements as the company has a Virtual Office address to which Court Bailiffs cannot recover debts. They don't seem bothered by the CCJs at all.

In the meantime, if you can be bothered, then do write to everyone you can think of and then perhaps the least we can all do is have this and all other Cashback companies closed down so that others consumers don't fall into this trap, and the law changed so that the Networks have to take responsibility for their agents. And perhaps we can have the directors banned from being company directors again for the rest of their lives.

Whether any of us will see the monies that are owed to us, then we shall wait and see...

mobilejunkie

If you chose such a terrible dealer in the first place you end up with this result. That doesn't mean you should stop others exercising their own judgement at their own risk. Those who make the right decisions can make cashback deals work very well indeed for them. A free lunch always requires care and consideration and a lot of research. Otherwise eat it but don't stop others attending the banquet simply because you get indigestion.

ska_mna

I had to issue legal proceedings to receive some/all of my cashback

mobilejunkie, thanks for the comments and I understand that we are all grown adults and shouldn't expect to be pampered by the state and over regulation.

BUT I don't agree that it's our own judgements that have got us into this mess with Msols. Or the judgement of any of the customers of other Cashback scam companies. From the outside these companies look perfectly reputable - it's not like they're obvious 419ers. Why should we doubt their own T&Cs? OK, if you now Google "Mobile Rainbow", you get this forum and so you'd find out the truth. But for goodness sake, you can't blame customers for being customers.

Ergo, these companies should all be closed down to stop from others falling into the same trap, and the networks should be made to take responsibility for their agents to stop new Cashback companies taking their place. Otherwise it will go on and on and on with thousands more people being innocently conned into these deals.

mobilejunkie

I could have taken out contracts with this lot 2 years ago. I didn;t; I did my careful research and easily established they were very small, very unreliable (to say the least) ADN had t&c which were completely unreasonable (e.g. only 14 days from teh statement date to make a claim). Meanwhile I've had dozens of totally free deal elsewhere and got dozens more for other people. I've actually made a profit own each and every one bar two (slight loss) and the people I look after have also been very successful with their claims. The contracts I lost a little on were with high risk dealers and I have never complained since (again) I knew the risks and accepted them. I have saved a fortune on my land line (only use my mobiles to make calls) and had numerous other worthwhile benefits. People are gullible and lazy and don't do their homework, grabbing things which will obvioulsy drive a dealer into bankruptcy if everyone successfully claims without ensuring they aren't the ones to lose out. People must be free to make such decisions and I don;t like it when others try to prevent my choices becAuse they themselves didn't do such a careful job. The people I look after would also be unhappy if all "companies" were "closed down". Do you also want to ban all cars because many people drive without insurance and vehicle tax? If someone offered you £1,000 if you send them £1,500 first would you go blindly ahead or research it properly, knowing there's a catch? In this case the catch is most people lose out. However, the ones who don't generally don't for a reason!

Quentin

What difference does it make to the retailer or anyone else if one customer buys 100 or 100 customers buy 1 each?

Perhaps you could explain,and help us to understand what you are mad about?

ska_mna

I had to issue legal proceedings to receive some/all of my cashback

mobilejunkie wrote: »

I could have taken out contracts with this lot 2 years ago. I didn;t; I did my careful research and easily established they were very small, very unreliable (to say the least) ADN had t&c which were completely unreasonable (e.g. only 14 days from teh statement date to make a claim). Meanwhile I've had dozens of totally free deal elsewhere and got dozens more for other people. I've actually made a profit own each and every one bar two (slight loss) and the people I look after have also been very successful with their claims. The contracts I lost a little on were with high risk dealers and I have never complained since (again) I knew the risks and accepted them. I have saved a fortune on my land line (only use my mobiles to make calls) and had numerous other worthwhile benefits. People are gullible and lazy and don't do their homework, grabbing things which will obvioulsy drive a dealer into bankruptcy if everyone successfully claims without ensuring they aren't the ones to lose out. People must be free to make such decisions and I don;t like it when others try to prevent my choices becAuse they themselves didn't do such a careful job. The people I look after would also be unhappy if all "companies" were "closed down". Do you also want to ban all cars because many people drive without insurance and vehicle tax? If someone offered you £1,000 if you send them £1,500 first would you go blindly ahead or research it properly, knowing there's a catch? In this case the catch is most people lose out. However, the ones who don't generally don't for a reason!

To address two of the points you raise;

1) That my assertion that Cashback companies should be closed down is too wide reaching and would affect people such as yourself who successfully save money through these schemes. OK, perhaps closing down all Cashback companies would be too harsh and reactionary. Perhaps there are some reputable dealers - if there are, perhaps you could share a few names here? In which case I'll change my assertion to closing down all disreputable Cashback companies.

2) Your claim that the people who have got into the mess with Msols have done so because they are "gullible and lazy and don't do their homework". Well I can't speak for the others on this forum, but I went into the Msols deal knowing full well what the T&Cs were. I could see that they were making customers stick to a strict set of terms and my guess was that their business model was based on an assumption that the vast majority of customers wouldn't read them properly and miss a hoop. I thought to myself, "well, it'll be fine if I'm careful and don't give them any excuse". This is what I did - fulfilled to the letter - and still they don't pay out. The fact is the company is run on a basis close to fraud, I'm not "gullible and lazy."

Anyway, can see your point about not closing companies down, but surely you'll agree that there is a problem here if it's happening to so many people? In which case perhaps some sort of responsibility being taken by the Networks for who sells their contracts?

mobilejunkie

I agree there is a problem. However, it is not merely the t&c of this company which put me off; it was that combined with their size. Cpw is (or was until a couple of weeks ago) a ftse company and therefore most unlikely to go bust. They also used to be "reputable" - but certainly aren't nowadays. However, rule number one; always be prepared to sue if needbe - and the company has to survive for you to do that. I now regard Phones4u as reputable; this time last year I did not. Things do change constantly, but one thing is clear; you must be prepared to sue and ensure you will succeed should that be necessary. Although to date I have avoided actually suing I am always ready to and on one occasion the immediate threat was sufficient to save me a few hundred pounds just before the riskier dealer I used went bust. I always brief and advise the people I order for to ensure they are quite aware that this is not risk-free. Life is a risk. No-one is forced to take out these deals and anyone believing dealers simply give away vast amounts of money together with very good new phones with inpunity needs their head testing. I studied these deals AND the dealers just about every day for well over a year before I ventured into my first deal. I then expanded my participation and the number of people I look after over time. If I lose out because a dealer goes bust (and one of mine did) I don't complain about them and rush around as is the norm demanding ALL cashback deals are stopped. Indeed, I had ordered my next deal soon after that dealer went bust and simply mitigated my losses. I also spoke out at the time against a similar stampede on the relevant thread - even though I was a "victim" too. In my case I went in with my eyes wide open and was concerned only with reducing my loss - not in accusing the dealer of living it up with millions of pounds as most other customers were wont to do. If I blame anyone I blame myself. However, it has not put me off taking out lots of deals since and I generally avoid most of the pitfalls. I believe a "wealth warning" on cashback deals, in bold, is warranted and quite sufficient. The rest is up to the people who grab them.

ska_mna

I had to issue legal proceedings to receive some/all of my cashback

Thanks for the further comments mobilejunkie.

However, rule number one; always be prepared to sue if needbe

In this particular company case, the problem is that most of us have now sued, including myself. The company seemingly isn't bothered by them and the directors are sitting safely behind a Ltd company and Virtual Office address.

Regarding the size of Msols, no they're not the biggest company in the world, but they do have a turnover of around £2million and some decent returns as well - over £200k in shareholders funds as of the last accounts filed. And when I took a contract out, they had a decent Credit Rating too (now much lower due to the 121 CCJs they have against them now).

You've obviously done a lot of Cashback deals and as they say, you learn from your mistakes. So have I - I personally won't risk another Cashback deal again. There will be thousands more people who will go into Cashback deals in the future too who won't have done them before and will probably get taken for a ride. Whether you care about them or not is a matter of personal opinion. But I personally think letting people like the directors of Msols get away with it, and the directors of 'the next Msols' get away with it too, is just morally wrong.

And yes I do blame myself for going into the deal in the first place to a certain extent. But I had a little faith in the courts system before this episode, so thought I would also hold a trump card if it came to a Court Proceeding. Has it bankrupted me? No. Do I just fell morally wronged? Yes. Will I just write it off as an experience? Eventually, yes.

wawka

None of the above (post details of your situation in the thread)

I think mobilejunkie owns shares in the company or something - seriously how unproductive and condescending does he want his input to be.

I have come to the conclusion that nothing will be achieved following the legal route as they are now just staying a float to get as much as possible before going into administration/liquidation.

If anyone cares to join me I will be in Watford on friday to beat some names and an address out of who ever it is that collects the post - I will be satisfied once I've caused damages to themselves or their property equal to the amount I am owed.