Phones2U Direct (cashback rating)

Unfair_Terms_Regs_Rule_OK

District Judge Christopher Lethem ruled today in Tunbridge Wells County Court that part of Phones 2U Direct's Terms And Conditions are in breach of The Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. I would have considered this to be a hugely significant victory for the consumer even without the bonus of Phones 2U's representative telling the court that it could have an effect on many hundreds of other claims and that he wanted permission to appeal. This was refused of course by the formidable and impressive District Judge Lethem whose ruling took 42 minutes to deliver and contained a thorough analysis of the law in this area. Congratulations also to the brave claimant who took on the big boys at Phones2U Direct and won- She had no legal training and relied on her honesty and integrity. The District Judge described her evidence as "highly impressive" and he had no reason to doubt her contention that the appropriate documentation had been sent to Phones2U Direct.
District Judge Lethem relied on UTICCR '99 Regulation 5:

Unfair Terms
5. - (1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.

and Schedule 2 (n)

INDICATIVE AND NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF TERMS WHICH MAY BE REGARDED AS UNFAIR

1. Terms which have the object or effect of-


(n) limiting the seller's or supplier's obligation to respect commitments undertaken by his agents or making his commitments subject to compliance with a particular formality;

During oral argument he told the Phones2U Direct representative:
" You created a scheme whereby the consumer cannot retreive the situation and cannot even check within the designated period whether you have received the documentation. I am not comfortable with that"

and in his judgment, the District Judge ruled:

"The difficulty I have with this clause [in Phones 2U direct's T + Cs regarding the onus being placed on the consumer to post it but without the means to verify whether it has been done] is the rigour and the inflexibility of the requirements...There is no opportunity for a customer to provide duplicated authenticated documentation from the provider. If the letter is lost or destroyed, the consumer has lost any chance of rectifying the situation"

The clause was struck down and declared unlawful and the consumer obtained her whole 12 months' Cashback plus costs.

One final word on this matter-The District Judge refused to hear any evidence regarding postings on this or other sites. Imagine how damning his judgment would have been if he knew just how unprincipled and devious Phones2U Direct are when dealing with complaints. I shall be contacting the OFT to provide them with copies of the juudgment and my transcript of the hearing. I think Martin Lewis, our mentor and hero, should make it clear that judges can rely on the authenticity of those posting here. Martin is scrupulous in removing those messages that he considers to be defamatory. It is worthy of note that Phones2U Direct has never taken legal action against Martin or those posting here. It is to be assumed that they know the complaints are genuine and wholly justified.

JPR

Through no fault of my own I've lost some/all of my cashback

Congratulations to the plaintiff here. I had postings on this website removed after, I assume, pressure from Phones2U but went on to win all 12 mo0nth's cashback in the District Court (my case involved a Port to O2). Again, Mr Bunce, was their representative and my local court is within an hour of their offices.

goshdarnit

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unfair Terms Regs Rule OK
the consumer obtained her whole 12 months' Cashback plus costs.

One final word on this matter-The District Judge refused to hear any evidence regarding postings on this or other sites...........

How much were the costs?

He was right in that respect. Its almost impossible to authenticate posts on a web-site, so no way should they be taken as gospel.

Does this create a legal precedence? (this is a cut and paste cos its late)

County court judges are not obliged to follow this case. A county court judgment is not binding on other county courts, or on higher courts such as the Court of Appeal.
However, county court judges may follow the decision of a fellow county court judge if they think that the facts in the case are the same as those in the earlier judgment, and they agree with the other judge’s interpretation of the law.

However, you'll be suing in small claims court, not county court, so I think phones2u will now be very worried.

Lynsey

Excellent news, it will encourage others to follow suit with other mobile phone companies. I would imagine it will only take a threat of sueing now.
Well done to plaintiff and judge. It might be the end of these 12 month free deals if these companies can't "shaft" customers anymore.

Lynsey

michaels

I've received all cashbacks due with some (non-legal) pressure applied

Glad p2ud don't owe me any money, if their business model is screwd then bancruptcy follows...making any order for payment rather redundant

ansab

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

we had 3 accounts. First one was paid ok. The other 2 accounts have needed legal action via small claims court to get the 2nd & 3rd payments. If ur not getting any results, issue a small claims & ask for interest. Payment was received in 4 days.

FedUpwithSCAMMERS_3

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

I’ve had a 12 month deal with this disreputable company since September 2006. They have not paid the 6 month and 9 month cash back and probably won’t pay the 12 month one as well. Looks like I will have to go to small claims at £30 a pop. Does anybody know if I can process all three small claims together or recover the £30 small claims fee from them.

andrewlato

After waiting 120days for my second cashback and sending 2 remainders i decided to file a court case at 25punds costs. today i received notice of acknowledgment from p2ud and they asked court for 28days to defend case. see what they will come up with as all my claims were send by recorded delivery, got all signatures and paperwork complete. name of their representative on court docs is Alex Bounce phone 01732765404 email [EMAIL="alex.bounce@securephonesales.com"]alex.bounce@securephonesales.com[/EMAIL], fax 08704446384. I will keep you posted as soon as things move forward.DO NOT GIVE UP FIGHTING!!!THESE CONS CONNED SO MANY PEOPLE OUT OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS-JUST READ ALL THE POSTS AND YOU WILL GET IDEA OF HOW BIG THE SCAM IS. DONT WAIT-FILE THEM A CASE ONLINE - ONLY THEN YOU GET YOUR MONEY!!! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYBODY FOLLOWING ADVICE ON MARTIN'S WEBSITE. HE'S TOP MAN!:money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money: :money:

Rushabh

Hi,

I have read almost all the threads but my cast seems a bit different.
As usual, Phones2udirect refused to pay me my first claim.
I send them original O2 bill and Original invoice which had all my details (i.e name, address, Imei number, etc...). I assumed this will be OK as a covering letter and infact I did wrote them an email but got no answer.
Now they rejected saying that you have not send any covering letter!!!
I used country court services after paying 30 pounds and Phones2udirect have said that they will dispute the claim in full!!!
So now I have to complete a questionare by 27th october and then the court will give us a date.
Just mention, Phones2udirect did accept to fight back and have not agreed to pay the claim.
It can be clearly seen that they have just found an escuse of not paying me.
Also, when applying to the country court, I did mention about their poor customer service.

Now my question, Can I win the case on this ground that I assumed the invoice as the covering letter as it had all the required information and when I emailed/called them, they did not reply!!!!

any advice is much appreciated. my email Id is rushabhjvora at yahoo dot co dot in.

Thanks

Rushabh

jameskent_2

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

THE COMPANY DIRECTOR

Penman & Sommerlad 06/09/2007

There's no sign outside the building to show it's the head office of Phones 2U Direct.
That might be because it has notched up swathes of complaints over cashback deals and one outraged customer went online suggesting "a protest outside the company".
Within the past year it has been successfully sued 11 times, most recently by XXXXXX. When he didn't get his £540 cashback he took Phones 2U to court and won an order for the full sum plus £65 costs. Sunit Badiani is worse off. He's got four contracts with them and after being refused the first cashback payment on two of them, due after six months, he's lost the chance to claim cashback due after nine and 12 months.
"Their terms and conditions are so cryptic," he told us.

//'); //]]>Phones 2U is based in Kemsing, Kent, where we met director David Ellis as he arrived for work in his BMW M3 - but he wouldn't answer our questions.