Talkmobile - Don't Bother

ShaunC193

Recently a deal on the website HotUKDeals received lots of heat. That was for the Samsung Galaxy S, £18 per month contract for 24 months. No standalone payment for the phone itself. It seemed like a great deal. However, I'm not the only one who has been experiencing issues with the website. There are many others. It wouldn't process my order. I was told my address was invalid, and that my bank details were also invalid—the same details I've used on potentially over one hundred other websites with no issues whatsoever.

On the 30th I requested a callback. However, I also got in touch with them directly. As is the case with call centres, they were clueless—merely droids following automated instructions. They could not help me. The first guy without asking, transferred me to the Carphone Warehouse, which is the company they liaise with. However, since Talkmobile has its own independent deals, they connected me to Talkmobile. I was running in circles.

Finally, one of them said other people have reported website problems, and that they could personally order me the contract over the phone. My issue with this is that it was reported that I'd get £50 cashback through Top CashBack or Quidco. They told me I could not get cashback if I ordered over the phone, which is understandable, but that didn't rectify the situation. Their response was the typical, "Oh, well, the computer says no, so you'll need to try again and see if we've fixed it tomorrow."

After trying again, being rejected, and being told the exact same thing read off the screen on the phone, I decided to give up. It's amazing how this company has no doubt been informed that their payment system isn't working properly, yet they seem to completely ignore this fact which is probably resulting in a lot of lost revenue as customers wouldn't even be arsed going as far as I have.

Today, I finally received the callback that I requested on the 30th. It was a gobby woman who, when I tried to express the frustration I've experienced over the past two days, responded with, "Don't you get rude with me." :rotfl: To add insult to injury, she told me that my trying to claim cashback was causing the order issues as I'm "ordering through a third party". When I tried to explain how the Quidco technology works and that it doesn't affect the transaction in any way, and that the site issue is a matter of their own, she told me: "I work here, I think I know what I'm talking about. We don't even do cashback." (Er, Talkmobile is on both Quidco and Top CashBack?)" Our site is in perfect working order." She then hung up on me.

Talkmobile, great at talking BS. :T I'm glad the transaction didn't even go through now. I'm clearly dealing with a bunch of bureaucratic monkeys, and if I were you, if you come across this company I really wouldn't bother. Since they completely disregarded what I had to say (the customer is certainly right in this case as I couldn't give them my money, and they argued with me :think:), I figured I'd share my story here, since quite frankly I'm very ticked off with them.

Thanks for reading my rant. :j

OneADay

To be honest, Talkmobile are not responsible for Quidco or Topcashback. If the site is not working when you use Quidco or Topcashback - it could be a problem on either end but customer services at Talkmobile will not be able to deal with it. Its down to Quidco or Talkmobile to resolve.

Normal process when you get a declined or non tracking transaction is to chase it up with Quidco or Topcashback to resolve. That is the risk you take if you decide to go through their sites.

And just comparing Quidco and topcashback for Talkmobile shows some differences, maybe Quidco have not updated their site with the right cashback information.

ShaunC193

The problem wasn't to do with Quidco/TCB not tracking though. It was to do with their payment system failing. I'm a computer science student and I can say with 95% certainty that this is a problem on their end. Would you accept losing out on £50 due to their problem? I hope you can sympathise. In any case, I'm leaving these slowpokes behind and going for the Galaxy S2 with Phones4u. Thanks for helping me make the right decision, Talkmobile.

OneADay

Whilst you might be a computer science student, it makes no difference to the functionality of their site works. Its most likely picking up the fact you are using Quidco or Topcashback (one or the other), there might be a problem with the cashback offer and for that reason the site could fail to process your order.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work - you could try using a different browser and go to talkmobile site without going through cashback site - it might work but you don't want to do that as you will definitively not get any cashback. So only solution is to talk to Quidco or Topcashback and see if there is a problem.

From looking at the two offerings for Talkmobile cashback on Quidco and Topcashback - I would suggest one of them is not right because normally their offers are very close or identical to each other.

PS - Saying all that - I just read the 3 reviews for Talkmobile on Topcashback - and two of them suggest the problem you are experiencing - so you might be right there is a problem but nothing you can do.

namakemono

My quidco has tracked- I've ordered the same deal. Just waiting for order/dispatch confirmation now, getting worried though it was bank holiday on monday so I'll be patient!

ShaunC193

Well, lucky you! Maybe it's just a problem for Lloyds customers. Regardless, this isn't an issue for me anymore as I went for the S2 deal from Phones4U. But good luck with your order.

OneADay: I did try using a different browser. Even a different IP address. (Yes, one that's safe, not a proxy!) I'm fairly sure it's a problem with certain banks or something. Regardless, their problem and no longer my concern. The customer service still sucks regardless so I'm still not willing to sugarcoat my remarks about them. :P

CrimeWave

HAHA, I wish you better luck with the phones4U deal. Let me know if you get anywhere.

richardvc

I had a problem with talkmobile that wasn't far away from your own experience - I even started a thread about it !

Toe-Jam

Use quidco and e2save.com. Same thing, might even get a better deal.

flashg67

Have to say my Talkmobile order tracked perfectly with Topcashback, phone arrived in 48 hours - and I'm not even a computer science student

angela110660

ShaunC193 wrote: »

Well, lucky you! Maybe it's just a problem for Lloyds customers.. :P

Am wondering the same thing today as trying to purchase on Quidco from Talkmobile and getting to the verification page at end of details and being denied the purchase. What is occuring? Even tried phoning the help number on right of page and that no longer exists and wants to refer you to another number! Very strange and very annoying. Checked cookies etc but not an issue as far as I could see.
Rang Talkmobile directly and woman reckoned she did not know about offer on Quidco and did I want to spend half an hour doing an order on the phone? Did I heck!