FREE T-Mobile contract - what's the catch??

bmxsummoner

Hi guys,

Needed to ask about this...I used OneCompare.com to find best mobile contract deal and stumbled across a £20 T-Mobile 18 month contract through buymobilephones that after cashback means that you end up paying nothing at all!?!?

It seems a tad too good to be true and I'm therefore somewhat reluctant to go ahead with it. Has anyone had any experience with this contract?? Is there a catch? I'd be grateful for any feedback.

The link is as follows:

http://www.onecompare.com/buy-a-mobile-phone/best-mobile-phone-deals.asp?tariffid=3242&SearchID=1422038&MinUsePerDay=0&TxtUsePerDay=0&MinUsePerMonth=0&TxtUsePerMonth=0

Thanks so much in advance.

mobilejunkie

It's a cash-back deal. Either do a LOT of research (thousands of pages on such deals across many companies on here - including this one) so you understand what that means and who you are dealing with or avoid. This is old hat and only for people who don't need to ask such questions, understand the risks and know exactly what they're doing - unless you want to risk being burned.

nickmack

bmxsummoner wrote: »

Needed to ask about this...I used OneCompare.com to find best mobile contract deal and stumbled across a £20 T-Mobile 18 month contract through buymobilephones that after cashback means that you end up paying nothing at all!?!?

It seems a tad too good to be true and I'm therefore somewhat reluctant to go ahead with it. Has anyone had any experience with this contract?? Is there a catch? I'd be grateful for any feedback.

The link is as follows:

Your link is broken because it relies on a search ID that looks to have expired, but I found the deal you were referring to.

Like most of the redemption cashback deals, they rely on you not fulfilling the conditions or forgetting to claim. Read the terms carefully and you should be fine. Here is an extract of the T&C's regarding redemption for 18 month contracts:

Line rental refunds for 18 month contracts, text pack/bundle refunds and cash backs will be paid in five equal amounts on timely redemption of each of the five claim vouchers (supplied with your mobile phone), with the appropriate network bills.

Make your claim by sending in:
- your first four airtime bills (where your first bill is the first correspondence from your network requesting ANY payment) and your first claim voucher within 60 days of the date on your 4th airtime bill;
- your 5th, 6th 7th and 8th airtime bills and your second claim voucher within 60 days of the date on your 8th airtime bill;
- your 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th airtime bills and your third claim voucher within 60 days of the date on your 12th airtime bill;
- your 13th, 14th and 15th airtime bills and your fourth claim voucher within 60 days of the date on your 15th airtime bill;
- your 16th, 17th and 18th airtime bills and your fifth claim voucher within 60 days of the date on your 18th airtime bill.

All claims should be received within the time period set out on each voucher. Bills received after the period specified will not qualify for line rental refunds or cash backs. Each bill must show that your tariff has not changed since the time of connection.

From:

http://www.buymobilephones.net/info_terms.php?id=12

mobilejunkie

Not advice I would ever agree with. Thousands upon thousands of people have thought that and lost a fortune for all sorts of other reasons. Embark on a cashback deal with such simplistic "knowledge" at your peril.

OneADay

Sounds like good advice to me but hey what do I know. I took out the 12 month deal with buymobilephones in November. Taken copy of the t&c conditions for buymobilephones and for t-mobile. Fingers and legs crossed.

Never had a contract with them before but thought give it a whirl - but would recommend people to do your research first on any company before entering a contract.