Mobile Cashback Deal Advice

Rodamit

Hi Guys,


So I'm new to all this forum business but have read a fair few threads on here and I can see some of you experienced money savers can offer some valuable advice - so I thought I'd seek some myself.


I've been successfully doing cashback deals since 2005 and did my first few with e2save and then for some reason my customer account was moved to the carphone warehouse + they've dealt with me since. My current contract is now coming to an end but the carphone warehouse aren't being very competitive @ all this time, so I'm armed with my PAC code + I'm leaving


I have been looking @ a deal for the HTC Desire S on mobiles.co.uk and e2save. I feel far more comfortable with e2save as I've dealt with them before but the deal on mobiles.co.uk is cheaper. I've looked at reviews for both sites online + they're both terrible but my sister is currently with e2save so I'm comfortable we know what we're doing. I know they're both sister sites of the carphone warehouse but from reading on here, I get the impression they're run very differently with e2save being favourite? or do I just go with the cheaper deal on mobiles.co.uk?


Anyone had any recent experiences with either? Are there any other sites offering cashback deals I should consider? (I've read on here that the phones4u sites currently have dodgy t+c so I should steer clear)


Any help would be greatly appreciated

Guys_Dad

I am definitely NOT the cashback king. However, E2save,mobiles.co.uk and CPW are all the same group.

Tarred by same brush, so to speak.

If you are confident with your own ability to run a cashback - and you have 5 years' experience, read the t&c, know when to claim, and are prepared to go to the wire - or MCOL - then go for the best deal through Topcashback for additional cashback.

Remember that all cashback resellers need a number of claims to failin order to remain in business.

OneADay

You could have a look at dialaphone.
mobiles dot co - my deals with them have gone ok so far - submit claims early (very early) online and been paid promptly. Better experience than I have had previously with cpw a few years back.

mobilejunkie

Currently (since you're experienced) I would avoid Dialaphone and (ideally) use E2Save -as long as you cover all the groundrules from the start. However, though they are (in quite recent times) much improved on what they ended up becoming, if the deal is better with Mobiles.co and you prefer not to use stamps (unless they require you to enforce the t&c naturally) then I'd go with them. DO make sure you cover yourself though - and keep a close eye on obtaining confirmations of claims being not only received but accepted in good time.

nick88

My advice would be to go for neither of them, and instead grab this deal - there's no redemptions to deal with, and it actually works out a lot cheaper than both of those sites! Don't forget to go through TopCashback to get an extra £101 cashback (automatically!)

grumbler

Personally, I wouldn't call this a good deal and 'grab' it. Yes, the price is good and you pay it in instalments, but the total price is just a little lower than the market price for a sim-free phone. Airtime is pretty much useless.

Desire for £125 via redemption was a good deal a few months ago and still is a good deal IMHO.

Personally, I am a fan of good redemption deals.
My son's recent experience with e2s was very good so far. I am currently (first time) with mobiles.co.uk and d-a-p.

nick88

grumbler wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't call this a good deal and 'grab' it. Yes, the price is good and you pay it in instalments, but the total price is just a little lower than the market price for a sim-free phone. Airtime is pretty much useless.

Desire for £125 via redemption was a good deal a few months ago and still is a good deal IMHO.

Personally, I am a fan of good redemption deals.
My son's recent experience with e2s was very good so far. I am currently (first time) with mobiles.co.uk a d-a-p.

I'm also a fan of redemption cashback deals, but in this case, it really does seem to be a better deal to go direct in this instance. I did the maths on buying the phone direct, and they seem to work out better than the redemption deals: according to my figures, the O2 deal works out to £9.50 a month after TopCashback ((13.5*24+4.99-101)/24), versus the mobiles.co.uk deal of £15.66 after taking into account both TopCashback and the redemption.

The O2 deal comes with a small amount of minutes, but you can always take out another contract with a higher amount of minutes - there's even some where you can potentially make a profit after cashback: the E2S deal for a Alcatel Ot209 on T-Mobile seem like a good pairing, and you'll make £15.59 profit over the 2 years of the contract (on Web300, one or two pounds less for higher tarrifs), with a free spare phone to boot. You also need to consider that O2 will unlock their phones for free, which allows you to use other network sim cards in their phones.

Whatever you do, remember to claim - set reminders in Google Calendar if you need to.

Rodamit

Hi all!

Thank you very much for all the useful tips!! :T

I had a look at the deal that nick88 recommended + whilst it looks like a great deal unfortunately it didn't have enough mins, txts + internet.

As E2save seems to be preferred to mobiles.co.uk I gave them a ring to ask if they would match the better mobiles.co.uk deal + they have so I decided to go with them. I never believe it until it's all arrived so we'll see...

Rodamit

UPDATE: So the phone arrived the next day as they said it would. I've checked the deal details and it does match the mobiles.co.uk deal correctly. I've ported my number from O2 to T-Mobile without a problem and cancelled the Technical Support and Insurance they automatically sign you up to (yet to receive confirmation) so all seems to have gone well. E2save have been very efficient - lets hope they are when it comes to the cashbacks

Surreystarlet

Your post is reassuring Rodamit. I to started a cashback contract with e2save about 3 years ago, which was then moved to CPW. I have also just cancelled my o2 contract which them as they offered me rubbish deals!!

Have found a good contract with mobiles co uk and I know a couple of people who have had no trouble claiming their auto cashback from them, but like you I might see if e2 save will match their deal!

Just one perhaps stupid questions - my current contract finishes on the 26th - if I order a new phone/contract when does it start? Is it when I actually put the sim in the phone - in which case I could order now and put the sim in 2 weeks time?

mobilejunkie

Usually starts when they send it regardless of when you insert the sim.