Mobiles.co.uk - deliberately misleading advert?

-overkill-

The thing is, regardless of the misleading website, my order also says £20/month. I'm in the right here ! infact as posted above I could ask for the discount on the Dolphin 40 @ £20 !

Will that rep guy come back ? or will I just keep emailing the Customer service people ?

Guys_Dad

Quentin wrote: »

True.

I'll put the question to the rep this way then - how much good would it do for business for the problem to be solved now via this thread to the customer's satisfaction?

Exactly the point. If wording can be misleading, then 2 things need to happen

(a) put it right - and I believe that mobiles.co.uk have done that in the past.

(b) give customers the benefit of the misleading wording and in that way, they stay a customer rather than a protagonist.

What do you say, Ben?

Guys_Dad

-overkill- wrote: »

The thing is, regardless of the misleading website, my order also says £20/month. I'm in the right here ! infact as posted above I could ask for the discount on the Dolphin 40 @ £20 !

Will that rep guy come back ? or will I just keep emailing the Customer service people ?

If you get it for £20 per month, then you have got a right result! Don't hold your breath, though.

You need to think whether or not you want a sustained battle or if you can get a better deal elsewhere and return the phone, if they agree to that.

Quentin

-overkill- wrote: »

Will that rep guy come back ? or will I just keep emailing the Customer service people ?

Don't email. Put this in writing to them, ask them to honour the deal or let you cancel it, keep a copy (for future use if needed), and send it recorded delivery.

If they phone you about it, make it clear you would like their response confirmed in writing.

-overkill-

Quentin wrote: »

Don't email. Put this in writing to them, ask them to honour the deal or let you cancel it, keep a copy (for future use if needed), and send it recorded delivery.

If they phone you about it, make it clear you would like their response confirmed in writing.

Thanks for the advice, I'll type something out, I was hoping the Rep Ben could have helped with it ? kind of thought it would be in his remit on here !

Quentin

Definitely quote him here pointing out you can cancel within 14 days, and make sure you are asking for this within the 14 days.

-overkill-

FAO : Ben (Mobiles.co.uk Rep)

Hi Ben I know you read through this thread yesterday but disappeared after I posted the info you asked me to look at (from my order confirmation) anyway, I hope you can now have a look at this and consider the facts.

1. I bought this contract on the strength of your misleading advert (you have admitted that is misleading and are taking steps to correct it)

“HTC Hero on Orange – FREE
Dolphin 40 (24 Months)
With 1200 mins & Unlimited texts + 500MB data per month
Your monthly line rental will be £20.00 per month after redemption
Gadget Phone Support- first month FREE, cancel at any time, £2.99/month.
PhoneCare Insurance- first month FREE, cancel at any time, £7.99/month.”


2. You then stated that even though I had been mislead I would have seen in subsequent paperwork that the deal was different? I showed you yesterday (and please see it here again) my order confirmation sent to me by you, it clearly says Dolphin 40 @ £20/month for 24 months ! There is nothing misleading about that, you sold me and confirmed a £20/month contract.

“Below are the details of your online order, submitted from a computer with an IP address of ########## on Friday 18 September 2009 at 21:02.

Items Ordered (Order #########)

---

Order summary:

==========================================================================
HTC Hero on Orange 1 £0.00
Orange Dolphin 40 @ £20.00/month
24-month contract
Gadget Phone Support - £2.99/month 1
PhoneCare Insurance - Band B - £7.99 1
14 months half price rental 1 £0.00

---

Royal Mail Special Delivery - Despatched Tomo £0.00
==========================================================================
Total £0.00
==========================================================================”

3. I could also see nothing on your website or in the order process to suggest anything else . . . in fact the contrary.


In my opinion and the opinion of everyone who contributed to this thread (and probably the other 400 people/potential customers who have also read it) You have either sold me this contract for £20 or miss sold me a contact for which you are trying to charge me £28.33/month.

As I see it there are a couple of options

1. You honour your side of the contract you sold me. £20/month
2. You cancel the whole contact even though the phone/sim are used regardless of your 14 day policy, due to you miss selling.
3. You switch me onto the other “best deal” contract on that page, “Dolphin 30” with has the same bundle but “appears” to be actually £20/month, I still have the phone so wouldn’t need to buy/pay for the new one and you wouldn’t have to arrange uplift of the one I have.

If these options are unacceptable please feel free to advise me on what you are willing offer me. I’m hopeful you can do your best to resolve this for me and show the company you represent in a good light and save me the indignity of recorded letters to your main office and involving trading standards and Orange themselves etc.

Best Regards

OneADay

I would be tempted to phone Orange and explain the situation. They do not have to do anything but tell them you have been to a specific internet forum discussing this with a representive of mobiles.co.uk as well. They might listen then.

I think the honorable thing would be to give you Dolphin 40 at £20 a month plus the 14 month half price as per the wording of your paperwork.

Dropping to Dolphin 30 means a compromise from both parties but if you are happy then they could do that - at least that deal is not a cashback deal and you wont have to send in cashback claims later.

Additionally speak to consumer direct http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ - get the ball rolling because this could drag out longer unless you get some legal backing.

Guys_Dad

I must confess to being a bit disappointed in the lack of replies from the mobiles.co.uk rep to the points put to him by -overkill-.

I think - as I suspect a few others do as well - that OP has asked for a reasonable request to modify his contract due to the misleading words on the web, the latter being something you conceded.

Now you reappeared on the forum yesterday afternoon after a few days absence with general points, but when specifically asked for a resolution, you are strangely silent.

Insrtead of aiding your company's profile, the lack of a reply is actually being detrimental. I am happy in my own mind that you did not seek to deliberately mislead anyone, but it has clearly happened in this case -overkill- does not seem to be a chancer and his responses have been pretty moderate.

But the 14 day window is evaporating rapidly and you should really post a reply. I am sure you don't want another "Silk" saga.

That's as I see it, for what it is worth.

OneADay

The Orange rep seems to be on the board - maybe they could look into this.

Thinking a bit more - if overkill and mobiles.co.uk agree to downgrade to Dolphin 30, would there be extra cost of £89.99 for the handset. Mind boggles trying to unravel a problem made by the retailer and through no fault of the consumer.