Big mistake on Carphone Warehouse chequeback

quidsinquentin

I got my chequeback from Carphone Warehouse today.

The amount I recieved - £66.04 - was substantially under what I expected.

My contract is for 18 months. The deal was for £5.99 per month (500 minutes/100 texts) for the 18 months ACTUALLY PAID OUT by me. The contract started out at around £15 per month for the first 6 months then goes up to £30 per month for the remaining 12. I get CB's on 6, 12 and 18 months.

My first CB was for £66.04. My next one - I estimated - should have been for around £140 - but I only got £66.04. :eek:

I've contacted CW redemptions, and they couldn't work it out either. They've had to move it up the management chain to find out what should be happening and what amounts I should be getting.

It appears from first comments that there may be a misprint in the contract, OR SOMETHING (I don't like that comment as it may mean I'm about to get stiffed - or something). :eek:

I'm not clear on how their calculations have gone so pear-shaped, as the amounts are clearly not right - to my mind anyway. The call centre person I spoke to was trying to work out how the printed total contract amount of CB - £180 - was so different. He failed. :rolleyes:

To be fair to CW, they appear to be taking it seriously, and have asked me to contact them in a few days when they should have some answers for me (not only me, as my OH took out the deal as well, as it was so good at the time!). :cool:

If you have a contract similar to this, you may want to check the details and amounts. I'll let you know what happens.

quidsinquentin

Well, now I am concerned.

I was asked by CPW to call back in a few days, which I did. I spoke to the redemptions call centre who were supposed to be dealing with the issue, but who had no record of it. Nor was anyone aware of 'it being dealt with'.

I got the same line as previously from the call centre which was the operator just repeating what amount I would receive back. When I pointed out that the amounts didn't add up, and asked to speak to a supervisor or manager she promptly told me to call back in a couple weeks.

I've gone through my contract carefully and I can't find anything to explain the amount differences. The figures are:

18 month line contract @ £5.99 per month. (18 X 5.99 = 107.82)

cheque-back charges (what I pay out each month)

First six months = £15.00 per month (6 X 15 = 90)
Next twelve months = £30.00 per month (12 X 30 = 360)
Total of £450 (90 + 360 = 450)

What I work out the figures to be (450 - 107.82 = 342.18)

What CPW say I should be paid back = £198.12 (3 X 66.04 = 198.12)

The difference = £342.18 - £198.12 = £144.06

I've now written to both redemptions and CPW head office asking for an explanantion of these figures, partly because these differ to what I was told by CPW staff in the shop when I took out the deal.

I'm even more slightly concerned as we've just started the process to move to CPW's phone and broadband deal.

If anyone can shed any light on this issue, I'd appreciate it.

MoneyWastingMe

carphone warehouse are terrible, they dont stick to it and they change cashback terms. go via small claims court for breach of the agreement. its easy quick and you'll get your money. im fed up of large companies treating its customers like !!!!!!.

quidsinquentin

MoneyWastingMe wrote:

carphone warehouse are terrible, they dont stick to it and they change cashback terms. go via small claims court for breach of the agreement. its easy quick and you'll get your money. im fed up of large companies treating its customers like !!!!!!.

Wow, I'd previously heard really good things - also on MSE - about CPW. Is that really your experience?

quidsinquentin

Well, here we are again.

My experience of Carphonewarehouse is not improving. Their communications & customer service leave a lot to be desired.

I've had no reply to my letters, but I have contacted their call centre (redemptions) again, 2X, who eventually told me to go to the shop were I bought it. They also said that they do not 'deal with letters', only phone calls.

As that was the first place I went, (and they said to contact redemptions) I asked for a supervisor to confirm this, which they did. So off I went to the shop...

The shop used various tactics:

"You need to take it back to the shop where you bought it."

I have, this is it. Look at the shop code on the contract.

"The member of staff who sold you this has left - and he never worked here."

What?? So what? The contract is with the shop/company.

"You need to contact redemptions."

I did. They said come here.

"The contract was for £5.99 for the first six months only."

It doesn't say that on the contract. It says 18 months."

"It's unfair to penalise the shop/manager for a former employees mistakes."

What??

Eventually, the shop staff seeing that I wasn't going to walk out, spoke to the manager, and then contacted the redemptions call centre. They agreed that the contract was in fact wrong, and that I would be out of pocket by about £150.00 (and so would my OH). They said that the former employee had (possibly deliberately) set up the wrong contract, and that the shop would be penalised for it. But, that my letters had arrived at redemptions, and it was being looked into (they showed me this on the pc screen - redemptions had earlier told me they had not received my letter!). The letter would be replied to in 14 days.

For those who do not know, the shops/branches appear to be a franchise of some kind, as I was told that the mistake in my contract would have to be paid out of shop finances, which they thought was unfair as it was 90% new staff and manager in the shop. They were going to be penalised for former staff. How, I don't understand.

That's all for now folks...watch this space!

coal32

I looked at deals on carphonewarehouse over the past year and many 18 month contract deals only offer discounted line rental for the first 12 months. i believe the cpw think that this is the contract you've taken.
the calculations explain this:-

Offer - 18 month contract with line rental for the first 12 months at 5.99.

so £15x6 = £90 (discount given by the network provider)
then £30x6 = £180
total = £270
line rental 5.99 x12 = £71.88
cashback to be given =£198.12 /3 = £66.04 at each claim.

bottom line they think it's 5.99 for 12 months on a 18 month contract, you say discount is for the entire duration of the contract - 18 months. if your contract clearly states 5.99 for 18 months then they can't argue and should pay up.

btw - i've just looked at their june/july 2005 offers and couldn't find any 18 month deal that offer the full 18 months discounted.

good luck

quidsinquentin

coal32 wrote:

I looked at deals on carphonewarehouse over the past year and many 18 month contract deals only offer discounted line rental for the first 12 months. i believe the cpw think that this is the contract you've taken.
the calculations explain this:-

Offer - 18 month contract with line rental for the first 12 months at 5.99.

so £15x6 = £90 (discount given by the network provider)
then £30x6 = £180
total = £270
line rental 5.99 x12 = £71.88
cashback to be given =£198.12 /3 = £66.04 at each claim.

bottom line they think it's 5.99 for 12 months on a 18 month contract, you say discount is for the entire duration of the contract - 18 months. if your contract clearly states 5.99 for 18 months then they can't argue and should pay up.

btw - i've just looked at their june/july 2005 offers and couldn't find any 18 month deal that offer the full 18 months discounted.

good luck

Thanks - the contract clearly states that the contracted £5.99 is for 18 months. We were given the option of 12/18 at the time of purchase. There is no other information on it stating any changes to the £5.99.

I was also very unsure about entering into a checkback contract and really quizzed the salesman about it, ensuring - I thought - that I knew what was going to happen.

The guy in the shop was implying that the saleman who sold it to us - and has now left cpw - had it in for cpw, and screwed up deliberately to get back at them. What he didn't know was that we also got the same phone/deal/contract from a different cpw shop. So that theory doesn't really hold water.

quidsinquentin

Hello again!

My OH took her contract back to CPW today, and I can only describe CPW as at best 'duplicitous'.

What CPW don't know is that there are several of us - family/friends - with these phones/contracts. The feedback I am getting, and seeing first hand, is that there are different stories emanating from each CPW store.

The reasons that I was given for the mistake/discrepancies in my contract at one CPW store are different to the ones that were given to us at a different CPW store today, over my OH's contract. Those two are different to the reasons given to a family friend when he went back on my advice to query his contract.

At one point today, a salesman pointed to a figure on the contract that (and I'm looking at it here and now) shows £198.12. He then said to us, "oh, that 12 (in the £198.12) means a 12 month contract".

What???!!!

The only thing there is in common, is that all three stores have turned over (90% in my stores case) their staff since the contracts were originally taken out it appears. And none of the original sales staff that gave us our contracts work at CPW any more. We were told that the store would have to query the issue with the appropriate member of staff to determine what we were originally told. But they can't - they've either left or been sacked.

Finally, we were again told today that the figures on our contracts relate only to a 12 month contract. But it clearly states - twice - that the contract is an 18 month one! And there is nothing - not even in the small print - to contradict this.

As my old mother used to say, "if something stinks it's usually because it's rotten!"

gromituk

Don't fall for ANY excuses about staff leaving - it is irrelevant. You make your contract with CPW, not with a member of staff there. Just tell them that if they start on that line again.

If you have the paperwork stating what you agreed to then they have no leg to stand on. Demand that they correct the problem on the spot. Preferably in a loud voice on a busy Saturday. Even better if you bring some small claims court paperwork with you and slowly fill it in while monopolising the salesman's time.

Micky

cdunstone@cpw.co.uk

My dear Charles ...etc

There's a man who saw an opportunity and still sees them. Me? Jealous? Never! Huh.

g33za

im acutally going through a long process with cpw about one of the cashbacks one one of my wife's lines, and it seems redemptions team is not doing its job properly (only looking at first page of bill!). Anyway to cut long story short, i've got the paperwork all ready and will now next stage will be to write to their legal department offering them 14 days to send the cheque before I respond with a small claims court proceedings.

I'd suggest that if your paperwork is in order and stipulates all the details you were advised and works out you should write to their legal team before starting a claim on moneyclaim.gov