3 Cracks Down on Dealers that fail to deliver Cashback Offers.

mobilegossip

"3 is cracking down on sellers that fail to live up to cashback offers by demanding that dealers raise their game.

A high level of customer complaints to 3's contact centre prompted the move. The network said some 3 sellers have been imposing restrictions on customers that make it unreasonably difficult for them to claim their cashback. These include not paying cashback if the customer has an outstanding balance on their account, forcing customers to send original bills as proof, charging a fee to claim cashback and giving customers an unreasonably short period (28 days) to make a claim.

3 has banned the use of these terms and set out further minimum business standards for sales channels running cashback offers. Sellers must provide customers with an active customer care number that is available Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm and the number must be made available to 3.

Any cashback advertising and marketing must clearly differentiate between 3's offers and the seller's own cashback offer. Furthermore, sellers must verbally inform customers before they put through a sale that the offer is from them, not from 3. Other minimum business standards include providing customers with media giving full details of the redemption prior to the sale. "


http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/14971.asp?men=0&sub=1

redux

hmmm, mention no names ...

Good

orlwaysbroke

Trouble is ( and this is not condoning their actions at all ) if the free 12mth cashback merchants find it harder to make their money ( by whatever means ) , then fewer deals and less competition will be available.

Reestit_Mutton

orlwaysbroke wrote:

Trouble is ( and this is not condoning their actions at all ) if the free 12mth cashback merchants find it harder to make their money ( by whatever means ) , then fewer deals and less competition will be available.

No...the same competition will exist, but at a higher price point than currently exists. Personally, I applaud 3 for taking this stance. For a long while now I have advocated higher prices for everyone in return for more certainty for the cashback.

There may be some (or possibly many) who disagree but that wouldn't be consistent with the MSE ethic - afterall, why should retailers continue to get away with what amounts to misleading advertising when their 12 months free offers are subject to a crazy level of conditions?

I hate to say this but it had reached a point where continually having to chase the retailer for the cashback was beginning to look like the norm...now that can't be right, surely?

Simplicity is the way forward - it was only a matter of time.

Reestit Mutton

weemee

I used the Carphone warehouse for cashback. Paid up quickly and even text me to let me know they had received all the bits through

mulerider

This is the reason I am porting 2 contracts to Orange, I have taken a dodgy 3 dealer to court (I'm not going to mention which dealer) but they are based in Birmingham! They paid my first 2 claims before my case went to court. The 3 network have had it too good for too long as far as I'm concerned, they are happy enough to take your money each month but will just blame the third party dealer and say it Isn't anything to do with them.

What a joke, they did nothing for me and just logged it on my account. If anything they are in a position to contact a dealer. I don't expect them to mention any individual cases but they should at least advise the dealer that they may restrict their trading if the complaints continue.

Reestit_Mutton

mulerider wrote:

This is the reason I am porting 2 contracts to Orange, I have taken a dodgy 3 dealer to court (I'm not going to mention which dealer) but they are based in Birmingham! They paid my first 2 claims before my case went to court. The 3 network have had it too good for too long as far as I'm concerned, they are happy enough to take your money each month but will just blame the third party dealer and say it Isn't anything to do with them.

What a joke, they did nothing for me and just logged it on my account. If anything they are in a position to contact a dealer. I don't expect them to mention any individual cases but they should at least advise the dealer that they may restrict their trading if the complaints continue.

I would say that it's unfair to lay the blame at 3's door any more than any other network. FWIW, no other network has taken such a firm stance on the issue of their dealer base's cashback terms and conditions.

Reestit Mutton

the_tired_one

mulerider wrote:

This is the reason I am porting 2 contracts to Orange, I have taken a dodgy 3 dealer to court (I'm not going to mention which dealer) but they are based in Birmingham! They paid my first 2 claims before my case went to court. The 3 network have had it too good for too long as far as I'm concerned, they are happy enough to take your money each month but will just blame the third party dealer and say it Isn't anything to do with them.

What a joke, they did nothing for me and just logged it on my account. If anything they are in a position to contact a dealer. I don't expect them to mention any individual cases but they should at least advise the dealer that they may restrict their trading if the complaints continue.

I'm not sure how you can lay that at 3's door. Surely the dealer is to to blame???

mulerider

What I'm trying to say is that 3 as a network can prevent a dodgy retailer selling any further connections. So if you were in my position would you be happy? The company is still trading but not taking any further orders. How would you feel if you bought a new phone from a dodgy retailer to later find out that the network had received a number of complaints but did nothing to prevent other people ending up in the same position?
It's easy enough to say it's nothing to do with 3 but unless you've been in a similar situation I'm sure you'd think differently.

The fact that 3 have introduced these guidelines confirms that they are aware of the problem, the dodgy dealer went on to trade at least another 4 months after my complaint. I'm pretty certain that 3 received a number of complaints but failed to do anything until now!

skip2mylou

i too applaud three's new approach towards rogue dealers. currently, there are numerous dealers whose cashback T&Cs are almost impossible to adhere to. And the conscientious customers who manage to do so are then not even guaranteed punctual payment, some having to wait beyond the time frame quoted by the dealer for their claims, others not receiving a single penny at all.

And apparently, 3's new policy seems to have an immediate effect already....a quick look at Mobile Rainbow's T&Cs reveal an updated version (wef 13/10/2006) whereby Three Network customers are entitled upto 3 months to send their claims in, and photocopied bills are now allowed as well. Good news for us consumers i'd say!

Reestit_Mutton

skip2mylou wrote:

i too applaud three's new approach towards rogue dealers. currently, there are numerous dealers whose cashback T&Cs are almost impossible to adhere to. And the conscientious customers who manage to do so are then not even guaranteed punctual payment, some having to wait beyond the time frame quoted by the dealer for their claims, others not receiving a single penny at all.

And apparently, 3's new policy seems to have an immediate effect already....a quick look at Mobile Rainbow's T&Cs reveal an updated version (wef 13/10/2006) whereby Three Network customers are entitled upto 3 months to send their claims in, and photocopied bills are now allowed as well. Good news for us consumers i'd say!

Hi skip2mylou,

Looking at the example you've provided it only makes me more sceptical about Mobile Rainbow - if they can acknowledge the 3 requirements then they should be good enough for ALL customers.

At least they can now be used as an example to show to other networks what can be achieved if they all take a stand.

RM