Are "Affordable Mobiles" a reliable retailer?

sb12

Have been looking around at different deals and opted out of mobiles.co.uk from all the feedback on the forum.

Anyone had dealings with Affordable Mobiles? Any feedback?

Oscar_The_Grouch

They seem to be one of the "post recession" start-up companies that are buying their way into market share. What are you after with them? Do you have a particular handset in mind?

mobilejunkie

The minimum or research on here will immediately show up that this company is to be avoided. Despite that I have recently taken out a cashback contract with them, this is merely because I know exactly what I am doing, the risk involved and am prepared to take any appropriate action without hesitation as and when required. I have already posted on the relevant thread which anyone interested should have found and read on here. My advice is also to avoid them like the plague. If you do not follow every ground rule in the book you will be left high and dry. Never before I have been in a situation where I am considering suing within a day of receiving the phone. That is apart from the obvious danger of dealing with a company which is relatively small compared with CPW and Phones4U. You have been warned.

sb12

After the HTC Wildfire (as I can't stretch to the Desire).

Seen a nice deal with T-Mobile at £15 a month with unlimited internet. Comes with the option of cashback or line rental offers. Want to know if they're hassle free offers as I've seen some horror stories on the forum about certain retailers.

Also, not sure if you can help me here, but I've read that 3rd party sellers don't have the same ulimited internet offers that you get direct from T-Mobile - is this true? If so, is there a way of amending this?

sb12

mobilejunkie wrote: »

The minimum or research on here will immediately show up that this company is to be avoided. Despite that I have recently taken out a cashback contract with them, this is merely because I know exactly what I am doing, the risk involved and am prepared to take any appropriate action without hesitation as and when required. I have already posted on the relevant thread which anyone interested should have found and read on here. My advice is also to avoid them like the plague. If you do not follow every ground rule in the book you will be left high and dry. Never before I have been in a situation where I am considering suing within a day of receiving the phone. That is apart from the obvious danger of dealing with a company which is relatively small compared with CPW and Phones4U. You have been warned.

I have read a couple of your posts detailing the need to be thorough with the research, and I appreciate what your saying. I just identified this retailer as they offered such cheap line rental to begin with. At £15 a month for the HTC Wildfire I can't find anyone who can match this. So the cashback deal was merely a 'bonus', and just tweaked the overall cost per month to make it very attractive. They have a cashback deal of £31 or 12 months half price line rental - are these both to be avoided or is there any 'preferred' option in terms of ease of use?

Oscar_The_Grouch

I wouldn't buy a Wildfire from them; you're looking at a mid-range Android handset that, by the very nature of its complex internals, could develop problems down the line. You want to know that your phone and contract have been provided by a firm that will still be in business in 6 months time.

Avoid anything to do with cashback, unless it's upfront and in your hand before you walk out of a physical shop with no strings attached. There are so may pitfalls to the "free gift" and "by redemtion" deals offered on the internet that the general consensus is if you can't afford to lose it, don't go for it in the first place (or in other words, go direct to the network rather than through a third party).

mobilejunkie

Definately avoid any cashback deal. As for reduced line rental I am unsure how it works. It all depends on the terms and conditions and on who is actually paying for the reduced time rental. If this is the dealer you are exposed to their fullfilling their contract to you as well as their continued existance. The minimum reasearch on this dealer (apart from my own limited experience with them) suggests that a) you may end up with something rather different than you ordered, and b) you may find it difficult to extract the promised payment. Do not be fooled by things which glitter from a tarnished source.

sb12

A mid-range Android handset is all I can afford when it comes to smartphones.

If someone could point me in the direction of a reliable retailer for a Free HTC Wildfire (or equivalent), that has a reasonable amount of internet usage and only costs me £15 a month, then I'd be most grateful....

gt94sss2

sb12 wrote: »

If someone could point me in the direction of a reliable retailer for a Free HTC Wildfire (or equivalent), that has a reasonable amount of internet usage and only costs me £15 a month, then I'd be most grateful....

Cashback deals but have you seen this and this ?

Its worth noting that mobiles.co.uk (and other stores like e2save) are owne by Carphone Warehous, while Dial a phone is owned by Phones4u

Regards
Sunil

sb12

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Cashback deals but have you seen this and this ?

Its worth noting that mobiles.co.uk (and other stores like e2save) are owne by Carphone Warehous, while Dial a phone is owned by Phones4u

Regards
Sunil

I appreciate that there are other deals which, after cashback deals, do work out cheaper per month. But I also take on board what those above me have said in relation to the fine details and working of these cashback deals.

So I'm just looking at what is the best deal before cashback/offers come into effect so that I can cover myself should any of those deals not work out.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Here are two deals, both including the "unlimited" internet.

If you can stretch your budget to £20 each month, Virgin have the phone for free (clicky) on a 24 month contract.

T-Mobile will charge you £35 for the handset and £15 per month (clicky). You only get 100 mins and texts but you do get their "flexible booster" so you can switch on a monthly basis between unlimited texts, T-mobile calls or landline calls until you get the right balance.

Have you heard of cashback sites? Quidco will offer you cashback on both the above deals if you go via their site. They charge you the first £5 of your cashback each year, but the rest goes to you. MSE have an article about them (clicky) and it's the only type of cashback I'd trust.