Help with choosing cashback deal

mleonard79

Hi everyone,
Basically my mum is a low user who was on PAYG for a long time but got a contract with orange last year with 120 minutes and 30 texts for £15 a month. This seemed pretty good and she rarely even uses all her minutes and hardly ever texts so she doesn't need to get a higher usage contact. However now the year is up and they've offered her an upgrade phone. As she's not very up to speed dealing with these things I phoned up for her. I thought it was worth a try even though I was pretty sure they wouldn't be pulling out the stops to keep such a low user and I was right. In fact they told me that she would have to go onto a higher contract as the £15 one is no longer in operation and she would get switched to a £25 in October when it ends anyway so they tried to talk me into taking more minutes etc. I explained this was useless as she doesn't need any more than she already has and I found it quite outrageous that they were just going to do this. So I'm looking for some advice on a new contract for her instead as there's no point staying with orange and paying that. As money's tight for her at the mo it would be great if I could get her on one of the 12 months free cashback deals but was just wondering which companies are the best at paying out and if anyone's seen any good deals out there at the mo for her kind of usage or I guess any as it won't matter how many minutes there are if its 12 months free! The phone doesn't matter as she has a samsung she's happy with and will just carry on using that anyway. However I was wondering whether it might be better to try to get one with a better phone and sell the phone?? Whatever saves the most money really. Any ideas gratefully received! Thanks a lot.

Michelle

Reestit_Mutton

When it comes to dealing with one's parents I believe that it's best to keep things as simple as possible. For this reason, I wouldn't recommend any cashback deal. Think about it...as well as having to remember to send off the claims for them you will also have to make sure that they don't lose or throw away the relevant bills. You will also have to be on top of things for them when it comes to bills that don't arrive when they should (or, in some cases, at all).

Anyway, you say that she is a very low user and is happy to continue to use her current handset so why not go for a SIM-Only contract (with a minimum term of 1 month)? A very good one for her needs would seem to be the TMobile one - 50 xnet anytime minutes/month for £7.50/month:

click HERE for more details

HtH
RM

mleonard79

Hi RM,
I understand what you're saying about it being difficult to get the bills etc but this doesn't apply in my case as I live with my mum and would be dealing with the bills and the cashback myself so all she would be doing is using the phone! I'm pretty organised so I don't see a problem in claiming on time etc. The sim only deal from T-Mobile looks good but 50 minutes isn't enough and it seems that's all they offer. Although she is a low user (by my standards as I use 400 mins a month!) and some months she doesn't use her full 120 minutes she does need at least 100 minutes as when she was on PAYG she was regularly spending £20 a month hence why I switched her to the contract last year. If anyone knows of any good cashback deals or even sim only deals that have a bit more in them I'd be grateful or at least which sites are most reliable to check out. Thanks again.

Michelle

Reestit_Mutton

The next cheapest in the SIM-Only department is £25/month for 200-250 mins + 1000 texts.

O2
http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/o2uk/jsp/tariffs/selectSimOnlyTariff.do?menu=y

Vodafone
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPayMonthlySims

As these are only available via the networks' websites you won't find any cashback with these SIM-Only deals.

On the subject of cashback deals, here is a selection of good ones from a range of retailers:

V3i on Orange OVP O2 200 (12 months), NIL min term cost: Phones2U

Motorola PEBL U6 on Orange OVP O2 200 (12 months), £30 min term cost: Phone Box Direct

Nokia 7360 on O2 200 + 100 texts (12 months), NIL min term cost: Cool New mobile

Refurbished Sony Ericsson W550i on O2 200 + 100 texts (12 months), £60 min term cost: The Link

There are also a couple of similar packages on Orange with the SE W550i where the cost after cashback is FREE (Cool New Mobile and The Mobile Outlet) but I wanted to provide a choice of retailers here and The Link is one of the safer retailers to deal with.

Sony Ericsson K750i on Orange OVP O2 200 (12 months), £1.99 min term cost: The Mobile Outlet

Sony Ericsson Z530i on O2 200 + 100 texts (12 months), NIL min term cost: Phones2U

There are plenty more examples where these came from - it's a bit of a crazy time for free or nearly free contracts (after cashback is taken into account).

HtH
RM

Dipak

Reestit_Mutton wrote:

When it comes to dealing with one's parents I believe that it's best to keep things as simple as possible. For this reason, I wouldn't recommend any cashback deal. Think about it...as well as having to remember to send off the claims for them you will also have to make sure that they don't lose or throw away the relevant bills. You will also have to be on top of things for them when it comes to bills that don't arrive when they should (or, in some cases, at all).

Anyway, you say that she is a very low user and is happy to continue to use her current handset so why not go for a SIM-Only contract (with a minimum term of 1 month)? A very good one for her needs would seem to be the TMobile one - 50 xnet anytime minutes/month for £7.50/month:

click HERE for more details

HtH
RM

Hi RM,

My contact is up and i have been on a cashback deal with orange which i dont want anymore. I've gone off cashback and its never as simple as it seems. I am therefore looking for approx 100 xnet mins with very few text. Not fussed on a new fone as i got a 6230 and happy with that. What do you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Dipak

mleonard79

Hi again RM,
Thanks a lot for all your help. Those links were excellent and helped me decide upon a deal. I would like to go for the 12 months free contract for 200 mins and 50 tcts with orange with a Motorola v3i - both Cool New Mobile and The Mobile Outlet do this deal but I'm not too sure about either of these companies. I've searched the forum and found a few good and also a few bad posts on both companies which leaves me no further forward as to which is the best to go with?? If you or anyone else has any preference let me know. I have submitted a pricematch request for this deal to the CPW site as if they did it I would feel more confident on getting the cashback with it being such a household name company. I know I would still have to be very careful to adhere strictly to the t&cs but I feel more confident dealing with them. However I would have to forfeit £30 cashback from quidco for this - if they get back to me with a yes is it worth it for the peace of mind or should I try one of the other two and get the extra cashback? Any opinions welcome. Thanks.

Michelle

*!*HIBS*!*

Between CNM and MO I would say CNM in my opinion. I think there are better reviews of CNM than MO on here and on the net in general as people are not going to take the plunge with the MO (generally with little or no good feedback of that company). With Quidco, you get £5 extra with CNM than MO.

I got my first cashback cheque for my 1st claim from them about 2 weeks ago.

mleonard79

Hi Dipak,
Outside of perhaps a SIM Free deal like the one RM mentioned (only 50 mins mind you) the only other way I can think of that you could get a very cheap contract without involving cashback would be to get a high end phone and sell it on ebay as you don't need the phone anyway. For example you could take the orange online price plan that gives you 100 minutes and 100 texts for £20 a month (you also get to choose an added benefit such as 50 extra evening and weekend calls or 50 extra fixed line mins or 50 extra texts) and take the brand new Sony Ericsson W810i which is currently selling on ebay for over £200. Thus if you sell the phone for at least £200 and the contract works out at £240 for the year you would end up with an almost free deal (if not completely free if the phone sells for more than £200.) I know its a complicated way to get a cheap deal but if you want to avoid cashback its an idea. Hope you find something suitable.

Michelle

John_3:16

Virgin stores are doing good deals at the moment. £25 for 300Mins + 300 text. Also free phone every year or drop the tarrif.

They also do £15 contract with free phone. Only in store I think

Reestit_Mutton

Dipak wrote:

Hi RM,

My contact is up and i have been on a cashback deal with orange which i dont want anymore. I've gone off cashback and its never as simple as it seems. I am therefore looking for approx 100 xnet mins with very few text. Not fussed on a new fone as i got a 6230 and happy with that. What do you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Dipak

Hi Dipak,

Sorry I didn't respond sooner - I've been very busy developing my site (and now that I've spent some time improving the site I have to perform a large amount of data revalidation that's been building up in the meantime - there's no rest for the wicked!)

Anyway...as the OP has mentioned, two ways to significantly avoid cashback are

(a) SIM-Only contract (most networks offer a range of these these days)

(b) packages including an expensive handset for free, which you sell on

There is also a third way that the OP didn't touch on, but it depends on your current monthly spend being high enough (£30/month upwards). Basically, you hardball the network for a decent renewal deal with a discounted line rental and a decent handset thrown in. Again, you can sell on the handset to further reduce the cost, assuming you are happy to continue to use your current handset.

As an example, I can tell you that I recently negotiated 400 anytime crossnet minutes + 50 texts (12 month minimum term) from Vodafone for only £19/month and also got a free SE W900i from them. I was able to sell the handset for a shade above £200, thus reducing my forward commitment to a little more than zero.

One thing I will say is that I don't generally agree with people taking contracts purely for the profit that may be in them as that generally implies that they intend to sell the handset for far more than it's really worth, hence ripping off someone else along the way. That is at odds with the ethos of this site.

However, as long as you are reasonable with the price you attach to your handset then someone else can also benefit from the bargain. As they say...always leave something in it for the next guy.

HtH
RM

Reestit_Mutton

mleonard79 wrote:

Hi again RM,
Thanks a lot for all your help. Those links were excellent and helped me decide upon a deal. I would like to go for the 12 months free contract for 200 mins and 50 tcts with orange with a Motorola v3i - both Cool New Mobile and The Mobile Outlet do this deal but I'm not too sure about either of these companies. I've searched the forum and found a few good and also a few bad posts on both companies which leaves me no further forward as to which is the best to go with?? If you or anyone else has any preference let me know. I have submitted a pricematch request for this deal to the CPW site as if they did it I would feel more confident on getting the cashback with it being such a household name company. I know I would still have to be very careful to adhere strictly to the t&cs but I feel more confident dealing with them. However I would have to forfeit £30 cashback from quidco for this - if they get back to me with a yes is it worth it for the peace of mind or should I try one of the other two and get the extra cashback? Any opinions welcome. Thanks.

Michelle

Hi mleonard79,

Unfortunately, I don't like to make recommendations of one retailer over another as that would imply that I have first-hand experience of the companies in question as a cash-claiming customer. All my personal experience is with the larger companies so to make a pronouncement on either of the companies mentioned would be misleading.

All I can say is that I haven't had to field any complaints against either of the companies mentioned relating to cashback claims. However, to be perfectly honest, that doesn't really mean a lot as my website (in its current form) hasn't been around long enough for a significant number of my readers to have made any cashback claims against these companies yet.

At this point, it's worth mentioning that I intend to address the issue of trust in the near future by implementing a detailed customer feedback mechanism on my site. The idea would be that any deal can then be rated according to the quoted reliability of the company behind it. However, like all things on my site, it's currently a work-in-progress with no specific release date.

HtH
RM