mobiles.co.uk cashback scam -- small claims? trading standards? watchdog?

Daddy · 19 April 2011 at 4:01PM

My wife bought a phone from mobiles.co.uk 18 months ago.
The deal was particularly good as it had a cashback deal, where you had to submit 5 bills at specific times over the contract period with 30 days of receiving the bills.

We did this each time within 2 weeks of receiving each bill. We have copies of all our emails in our sent box. We also had an automatic response each time from mobiles.co.uk saying they had received our email - stupidly it seems I didn't keep these automated receipt emails. Although normally why would you?!

Now the contract is up we have queried when we will receive the cashback.

Their first response said that they had not received any emails. We replied stating we had sent emails and had receipts.
The second response we received stated that they had emails but no attachments, and can we send the attachments. As requested, we sent the attachments.
Then we just got a reply from them saying that they had never received any emails from me at all and were not eligable for any cashback! Make your mind up mobiles.co.uk!

I'm gobsmacked - they are taking me for a ride. They definately have copies of our emails - I work in I.T. and am SURE they received all the emails - the receipts they sent are good enough proof (if i had kept them it would have helped of course!)

Has anyone had eny experience with this company. And what course of action should I persue to reclaim whats due to me.

Thanks all

grumbler · 19 April 2011 at 4:07PM

You should have done some research before taking this deal: Cashback Guide for Dummies

Also, the T&C on the website say clearly: "You must send all items by recorded delivery".

They do accept the claims via internal e-mails, but in the Help section they say:

We will send an email confirming receipt of your bill then another once your claim has been successfully approved. At this point your cheque will be processed and we will send a final email once payment has been issued.

You had enough time to query and resubmit if necessary each claim, but for some mysterious reason you decided to wait until the end of the contract.

Also, I don't see anything on the website about sending claims by a regular e-mail instead of an internal e-mail. By doing this you definitely were looking for a trouble.

Silk · 19 April 2011 at 4:15PM

Daddy wrote: »

Has anyone had eny experience with this company. And what course of action should I persue to reclaim whats due to me.

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative · 19 April 2011 at 4:16PM

Hi Daddy,

We're sorry to hear that you're now having trouble with our cash back system. So that we can clarify the situation for you could you please e-mail your order number to facebook@mobiles.co.uk and we'll investigate the situation fully for you.

Thank you.

Silk · 19 April 2011 at 4:20PM

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Daddy,

We're sorry to hear that you're now having trouble with our cash back system. So that we can clarify the situation for you could you please e-mail your order number to [EMAIL="facebook@mobiles.co.uk"]facebook@mobiles.co.uk[/EMAIL] and we'll investigate the situation fully for you.

Thank you.

Hi Ben,
i see your google alert is still working well then

Daddy · 19 April 2011 at 4:39PM

You had enough time to query and resubmit if necessary each claim, but for some mysterious reason you decided to wait until the end of the contract.

Also, I don't see anything on the website about sending claims by a regular e-mail instead of an internal e-mail. By doing this you definitely were looking for a trouble.

Very presuming of you to know my full business, but here's a copy of an email we had from mobiles.co.uk on 18th Sep 2009:

Hello,
To claim your discounted line rental, we will need to receive the following bills within 30 days of each of their bill dates, we need to receive the pages which show your name, address, mobile number and tariff:

February 2010
May 2010
August 2010
November 2010
February 2011

The bills can be e-mailed to: [EMAIL="cashback@mobiles.co.uk"]cashback@mobiles.co.uk[/EMAIL]
Or posted to:

Cashback Dept
Mobiles.co.uk
6 Greenhill Crescent
Watford Business Park
Watford
WD18 8QU

Now call me old fashioned but I assume that emailing them copies of my bills and receiving an automated reply stating my emails had been received I assumed all was ok. I'm only querying it now the contract is up. You're not making much sense? Surely I had to wait till the end of the contract to get the cashback?!

grumbler · 19 April 2011 at 4:45PM

Daddy wrote: »

...Surely I had to wait till the end of the contract to get the cashback?!

Now you are making presumptions.

At least my presumptions don't cost me anything.

It's a dangerous business to rely on some brief e-mail instead of the full T&C (+FAQ preferably).

http://www. mobiles.co.uk/cashback.html

Once your claim has been approved your cheque will be despatched within 28 days.

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative · 19 April 2011 at 4:54PM

Thank you for your e-mail Daddy, it's being investigated now for you.

Silk · 19 April 2011 at 5:13PM

Mobiles.co.uk_company_representative wrote: »

Thank you for your e-mail Daddy, it's being investigated now for you.

I can feel a GOGW payment coming here, don't you Ben ???
It is a public forum and you are trying to rebuild the shoddy reputation mobiles.co.uk has !!

After all, trying to claim you didn't get one email is bad enough but trying to claim 5 not recd. is stretching the imagination even for your lot

And conflicting excuses doesn't help either does it ???

mobilejunkie · 19 April 2011 at 6:03PM

A classic case of someone NOT doing ANY research on either cashback contracts OR the dealer. In all my time of warning and helping people I've rarely come across anyone who actually waited until the end of the contract before thinking something's not quite right.

CPW (and this IS CPW) have a LONG history of sending email instructions which are not merely misleading but actually contradict the t&c signed up to at the point of sale - which are plainly available to anyone who actually cares about getting their money.

I think most of the basic (and they ARE basic) errors in this case can be found in my guide - for those who would prefer knowing what they're getting into BEFORE they get into it. I would add in this case though that I have emailed claims externally many times to this dealer - but stopped a few months back when they moved the goalposts again. Those who also keep an eye on the dealers will also know that even further back the on-line system failed to work and tripped a lot of customers up as well. None of these things really matter IF you actually know what you're doing (and you can't possibly do that without knowing the FULL t&c BEFOREHAND and in detail). That's because there would have been plenty of time to act when acting would have produced results. It would also be perfectly clear that waiting beyond a few weeks before acting on the assumption that all was well is really asking for it.

Now, I'm sure that many of you will be fully aware of my liking (:A) for cpw... how can I dislike them since I've made a VERY good return out of them (:rotfl:) - but even I can't really criticise Mobiles.co under these cirmcumstances. Otherwise they might as well give customers an envelope full of money (to the virtual value of the contract cost) upfront and go bust because its customers get more out of them they they pay to them. I don't mind doing that myself (as a customer) but I'd be annoyed if they went bust because people always got paid even if they had no regard for the t&c.

As for the thought of suing them with virtually zero knowledge (or copy) of the relevant t&c, proof of compliance with the unknown t&c and not even a basic understanding of how a cashback contract works - well, I suppose having thrown away one lot of dosh it's possible to acquire a taste for it...

Guys_Dad · 19 April 2011 at 6:46PM

I, too, am amazed that you entered into a cashback deal without knowing when you should be receiving the payments.

For all their faults, they do tend to tell you when you receive the stage payments.

Can I just check one thing, though? You sent in your claims on time, but, as you write "The second response we received stated that they had emails but no attachments, and can we send the attachments. As requested, we sent the attachments." that suggest to me that you may not have sent copies of the bills with the previous 4 claims.

Did you, in fact, send copies or originals of the bills along with your email claims? You say you have copies of the emails you sent them. Is that how you made your original claims? Presumably the emails still have the attachments that you sent so you are in a position to prove that you actually sent the documents?

mobiles.co.uk cashback scam -- small claims? trading standards? watchdog?

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