mobiles.co.uk cashback

Eildor

I recently took out a 12 month contract through mobiles.co.uk involving cashback... but I'm not entirely sure what months bills I'm supposed to send. There is a cashback chart on the website, however I'm not sure as to which one applies to me. As it's a 12 month contract at £36 a month, and 9 months free, I'm guessing I have to claim in month 6, 8, 10, 12... but then the page which shows the chart goes on to say "The month you purchased your handset will be month 'Zero'. Month 'One' is your first full billed month. So for example, if you ordered your handset in January and need to claim in month 6, we will need your July bill." Uhm... confused? If you purchased your handset in January, wouldn't July be the 7th bill? And if that's true then when they want my bill in the 12th month doesn't that mean the 13th month? Which would be when my contract would be over (unless I continue)?

I've taken out a contract with dialaphone (about 4 months left with them) and they made is very easy, when they shipped the handset they included a piece of paper detailing what months you're supposed to send. e2save have all the cashback listed on the web account... whereas mobiles.co.uk haven't really made it clear at all :S

mobilejunkie

The real question is, why take out a cashback contract when you don't understand exactly what is/will be required?

What matters are the t&c you signed up for at the time. As for Dialaphone; when I took out a deal with them not too long ago their t&c were very unclear and if followed literally would have made the final cashback claim impossible. When challenged they said the "piece of paper" was wrong and changed the claims accordingly.

Follow your terms and conditions to the letter and you can force them to pay up should they refuse or make it impossible to actually claim.

As for the (new) t&c for Mobiles.co; I recently warned people (who were saying they hadn't changed and were simple) that they were now contradictory and no longer clear. If followed to the letter they could mean that month "0" is the same as month "1" AND make it impossible to make a final claim - it all depends on the statement date for each contract. Either way the dealer is slippery and seems to have made an effort to trip people up. That seems to be (predictably) working. The previous t&c couldn't be clearer and were completely unambiguous - which, no doubt, is why they have been changed!

Eildor

I'm assuming they want month 6, 8, 10, 12 as it states -- as in my last bill, the bill 2 months before that, the bill 2 months before that, and the bill 2 months before that ... not sure what else they could be asking for, but I just want to confirm.

Lynsey

You beat me to it mj. In theory you could have month "zero" and month one in the same month.
I looked at this and decided to take out a contract at the very beginning of the month knowing I would get billed in the same month by T-Mobile and this has been confirmed (ported number obviously not showing on 1st bill, just original given number).
So I have month "zero" and month one in the same month, but if ordered ordered say 30th Aug and billed in Sept. there would be an overlap - hence buying 1st Sept. My bill shows 1 day part month and also the full month (billing from 2nd sept.). They could argue it's not a full month but actually more than a month, :rotfl:but the bill shows the full month from the 2nd AND the part month (it shows both in two individual transactions)

I think any judge would laugh their head off at month "zero" - no such thing in my opinion. Imagine Mobiles.co.uk trying to explain that. :rotfl:I'll claim my 1st cashback in March 2012, June, Sept, Dec and finally in March 2013.

There is the possibility that someone could claim in the wrong month, easily possible - I wonder if this is what they are after.

Lynsey

Eildor

Lynsey wrote: »

You beat me to it mj. In theory you could have month "zero" and month one in the same month.
I looked at this and decided to take out a contract at the very beginning of the month knowing I would get billed in the same month by T-Mobile and this has been confirmed (ported number obviously not showing on 1st bill, just original given number).
So I have month "zero" and month one in the same month, but if ordered ordered say 30th Aug and billed in Sept. there would be an overlap - hence buying 1st Sept. My bill shows 1 day part month and also the full month (billing from 2nd sept.). They could argue it's not a full month but actually more than a month, :rotfl:but the bill shows the full month from the 2nd AND the part month (it shows both in two individual transactions)

I think any judge would laugh their head off at month "zero" - no such thing in my opinion. Imagine Mobiles.co.uk trying to explain that. :rotfl:I'll claim my 1st cashback in March 2012, June, Sept, Dec and finally in March 2013.

There is the possibility that someone could claim in the wrong month, easily possible - I wonder if this is what they are after.

Lynsey

Even if you were to get the months mixed up by 1 month, since you have 60 days to send the bill I imagine it would be ok (so long as they let you know you've sent the wrong bill... or you'd know when you don't get your cheque).

Lynsey

Eildor wrote: »

Even if you were to get the months mixed up by 1 month, since you have 60 days to send the bill I imagine it would be ok (so long as they let you know you've sent the wrong bill... or you'd know when you don't get your cheque).

The BIGGEE.
If you claimed too early then you would have time, but imagine a month late (already 30+ days) and not finding out until too late..............bye, bye cashback for that month.
You could email them and ask what bill they want, keep any answer as evidence.

Lynsey

Bangton

I took out a contract in January...used July's bill as my 6 month so September will be 8 months..once you have figured out your 6th month its easy enough. If you send the wrong one they tend you tell you and at the end of the day your either going to send 1 month too early (in which case they will tell you your error) or one month too late (within mobiles timescales you should easily be able to resend)

If you do it all by email using online billing its a cynch!

Eildor

Lynsey wrote: »

The BIGGEE.
If you claimed too early then you would have time, but imagine a month late (already 30+ days) and not finding out until too late..............bye, bye cashback for that month.
You could email them and ask what bill they want, keep any answer as evidence.

Lynsey

Weeell I think they're supposed to send your cheque within 10 days (don't quote me on that) so you do have some time I suppose... I'll be e-mailing my bills anyway, so don't see why they shouldn't confirm receipt of the bills within a day or two.

Anyway, I have e-mailed them and I'm waiting for a response

Eildor

Bangton wrote: »

I took out a contract in January...used July's bill as my 6 month so September will be 8 months..once you have figured out your 6th month its easy enough. If you send the wrong one they tend you tell you and at the end of the day your either going to send 1 month too early (in which case they will tell you your error) or one month too late (within mobiles timescales you should easily be able to resend)

If you do it all by email using online billing its a cynch!

Yup, that's partly why I wanted to go with mobiles.co.uk, e2save don't let you e-mail bills unfortunately.

Lynsey

Eildor wrote: »

Weeell I think they're supposed to send your cheque within 10 days (don't quote me on that) so you do have some time I suppose... I'll be e-mailing my bills anyway, so don't see why they shouldn't confirm receipt of the bills within a day or two.

Anyway, I have e-mailed them and I'm waiting for a response

Sorry to quote you , but it's up to 28 days AFTER claim being accepted (usually within 10-14 days though). Just had a claim accepted this week and:

Dear Customer,

This is to confirm that your claim for your line rental has been processed and a cheque has been issued. Your cheque can take up to 28 days to arrive. This allows for printing and postage time.

The email stating acceptance would be suffice to know your claim has been accepted. I always send off my bill ASAP (within a day or two unless on hols). I've started using the online ststem for submitting bills and the above quote was recieved 4 days after submitting. Remember, it's just getting your 1st redemption date correct (as above poster states) which is important, easy after that.

Regarding the new T&C's - they are slightly different now to what they were in January when Bangton took out their contract and look a little confusing with the term month "zero", but this is not a bad thing to have confusing T&C's as:

T&C's provide the rules of the contractual relationship between you and your customer. Failing to have clear T&C's leave the contract open to dispute and, in turn, you run the risk of the T&C's becoming unenforceable.

The new T&C's are confusing for a reason - they don't want to pay the redemption cash (well at least made it possible to mess up the 1st one).

For my 1st claim in March 2012, I'll send it by post including a letter informing them that my first full month billing was September (from 2nd) and will also include an email copy stating that my account has been updated with my new ported number. Once paid on my ported number, then back to submitting online again for the next 4 claims.

If confused, it's not a bad thing asking them exactly which bill they require and saving any such response.................though a better option could be to use e2save or Onestopphoneshop (same CPW group), with better claim months (especially for cancelling as you get the last bill needed a month earlier than Mobiles.co.uk).

Too early...................coffee time. :coffee:

Lynsey

mobilejunkie

Onestopphoneshop is actually not just CPW but E2save.

The idea that "they will let you know" is a highly dangerous and simplistic idea. One of the people I look after had the received email and then nothing - for weeks. Naturally we picked it up and it's now ok - but after E2Save's pure dishonesty in past times and some of the things this dealer has claimed in the past I would never entirely trust them again - no matter how smoothly things appear to be running at any given time. Deliberately muddying the waters with inconsistent and ambiguous t&c is one of cpw's past tricks and should immediately flag a warning sign. Complacency is also never an option with any cashback dealer - unless you don't mind losing your cashback.

I also think those who think these t&c are fine are missing a vital point; in some instances it will make it impossible to claim the final cashback IF Mobiles try to stick with the "example" rather than their own definition of month "1". You have been warned - again!