The Mobile Outlet

sabelu

Sent LBA and they have agreed as a 'gesture of goodwill' to pay cashback.

mikrt

Hi forum, just had my letter from TMO saying my claim is void due to



Incomplete Bills
You have neglected to send us complete monthly invoices for the cashback period in question (excluding billing pages). As stipulated; we are unable to accept incomplete documentation without prior verification. Due to this contractual violation, you application for cashback has been declined.


I couldn't figure out if this meant it was declined because I had excuded some billing pages, or, because that was written in brackets, that they were excluded from the reason, and it was because I had sent with a month missing.

If it was for not sending itemised bills, their T&C now state to send complete bills, but, the T&C I have from when I purchased state to send only Bills, not mentioning complete bills.

Any help would be very much appreciated,

Mike

richardse6

Well I've just had my last two of five cashback claims paid for my 12 month contract which ended in August, so I thought I'd post a successful outcome and thanks to the posters on here who have been a great help and also the forum queries team on TMO who have promptly answered the two emails I've sent then over the year and arranged for payments to be chased up.

It can be done! For the record while I've had some long waits for payment I've only ever used RD to send in bills, never threatened with court action, and twice chased up payments which were getting very late. At the end of the day I've had a free mobile and free calls for a year on an expensive tariff, and Orange have given me a half price tariff and another free phone to continue for next year which I'd rather pay than have the worry of whether cashbacks are going to work for next year.

I feel very sorry for customers with rejected claims, but at the end of the day it's the way the system works. If it was easy no-one in the country would be paying for a mobile phone. My best advice is be very quick off the mark to send in bills. If in doubt send in the full bill rather than the summary, and check on the Post Office website that it's been signed for within a few days of posting. A cash back claim is only suited to the well organised who can afford to wait for payment - if that isn't you steer well clear!

I'm probably going to miss the daily summary I've signed up for on here when I cancel it, but at the end of the day if you spend more time reading about cash back claims than you do making calls I think it rather defeats the object.

Best of luck everyone, and thanks to TMO for coming good in the end.

Richard

Quentin

richardse6 wrote: »

A cash back claim is only suited to the well organised who can afford to wait for payment

There is no reason why only those who can afford to wait for their payments should go for a cashback deal.

There is plenty of evidence that pursuing a MCOL as soon as they are one day late with payment brings results - often without the need to actually issue the summons, as the LBA brings results.

James212

sabelu wrote: »

Sent LBA and they have agreed as a 'gesture of goodwill' to pay cashback.

Hi Sabelu,

Good result with regards to the cash back!
I hope as TMO have said this is a "gesture of goodwill" that you will not have any problems with (any) subsequent cash back claims. I have heard from others that TMO quote these previous "gestures of goodwill" when trying to wriggle out of paying subsequent claims (i.e. they try to say that as a previous cash back claim was rejected, and they only paid as a gesture of goodwill, that all subsequent claim(s) are forfeited).
Was that your last cash back claim under your contract?

James212

mikrt wrote: »

Hi forum, just had my letter from TMO saying my claim is void due to

Incomplete Bills
You have neglected to send us complete monthly invoices for the cashback period in question (excluding billing pages). As stipulated; we are unable to accept incomplete documentation without prior verification. Due to this contractual violation, you application for cashback has been declined.

I couldn't figure out if this meant it was declined because I had excuded some billing pages, or, because that was written in brackets, that they were excluded from the reason, and it was because I had sent with a month missing.

If it was for not sending itemised bills, their T&C now state to send complete bills, but, the T&C I have from when I purchased state to send only Bills, not mentioning complete bills.

Any help would be very much appreciated,

Mike

Hi Mike,

From reading the above quote from TMO in your post, my interpretation would be that they mean:

"Your cash back claim has been rejected as you have failed to send in the complete monthly invoices i.e. phone bills for the cash back period in question, that is to say you have not sent in the itemised billing pages from your bill."

By using the brackets "(excluding billing pages)", I believe the author of this letter is trying to say, albeit in a lazy way, that you needed to send in the billing (itemised?) pages of your bill.

If your T&Cs state "bills" (and not "complete bills"), you may have a way out of this i.e. a claim against them. Search this thread for any similar claims based on this ambiguity.

Personally, and unless explicitly stated otherwise in the T&Cs, I would've sent the whole bill in, just to be sure. But I would think that you have a good claim/argument against TMO as I would think it reasonable for you (as the customer) to assume that they only required the front page of the bill (unless this is explicitly stated in the T&C that you need to send the complete bill).

If you've sent in the bills with a whole month's bill missing, sounds like TMO haven't noticed that fact??!!! I wouldn't draw their attention to this as this is a clear breach of their T&Cs - keep quiet!!

Good luck!!

Reading this again Mike, (the quote from TMO) I have realised that TMO may have a standard reply that is applicable not just for those later claimants who have not sent in the itemised pages of the bill, but also those who have not sent in the correct bills, or maybe missed sending one or more bills in (as you have). So they may've realised that you have omitted to send in one of your bills.
However, based on the quote, I would still read this as being rejected for the reason in the brackets.

James212

Hi all,

Well it’s been a long time coming, and unfortunately, I did only discover this excellent forum after I’d chosen to initiate a claim, via MoneyClaimOnline (MCOL) against TMO, for my remaining 6 months cash back (£213 including costs). Yes, you can read my whole story at: http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=10718996!

Following my successful claim against TMO, I needed to enforce this with a warrant (costing a further £55). TMO paid up within 2 weeks (on 24th August), but only paid £213, and with a rather oddly dated cheque – coincidentally dated 2 weeks prior to my receipt, the very date before the date of the warrant. I’ve been left waiting for the remaining £55 ever since!

I’m glad to say after speaking to the bailiff at Bradford County Court on several occasions since, they were able to recover the outstanding £55 last week. I believe that the delay in recovering the money was caused by two main reasons:

(a) My letter to the bailiff, stating I had received £213, and to proceed to recover the remaining £55, went missing in the post. I did not discover this for 2 weeks, upon which I faxed a copy of the letter.
(b) TMO changed their address, which meant the bailiff had to reissue the warrant for the correct address.

For those that are interested in the process (and perhaps have similar claims outstanding), when the bailiff recovers money owed on your behalf and receives a cheque, the bailiff cashes this cheque and waits 2 weeks for the money to clear, before sending a cheque out to you (the claimant).

Although my story is virtually at an end, I’ll still monitor these forums for a while yet (not least because I’m 4 months into a similar cash back contract with Phones2Udirect!!), and try to help others where possible, in making similar claims. It’s an entertaining distraction from work!

I hope that TMO wish they had just paid up when I originally claimed back in June, and saved themselves £85 in costs. With this £85, plus the loss of the original 12 month cash back offer, I wonder how much this has cost them (i.e. how much would the incentive be worth to TMO from "3" mobile, for signing me up on a contract worth £370 over 12 months?)

Thanks for all the helpful members and their posts on this forum, and good luck to those who still have cash back or MCOL claims outstanding.

James

amitahuja

Hi All,

Has anyone tried complaining to OFT?

mikrt

Thanks James212 for your reply, Please find below a copy of letter I've sent recorded delivery to TMO

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dear Meredith Walker[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yesterday I received a letter from you stating that my cashback claim had been rejected due to the fact that I had not sent in complete bills as stated in your terms and conditions, I telephoned your cashback team, and they confirmed this.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I would like to inform you that the terms and conditions which are applicable state that I only need to include the ‘bills’, and does not state that I need to include ‘complete bills’. I have read your present terms and conditions online and indeed they do state the need to send in ‘complete bills’, but both you and I are bound by the terms and conditions in place when the purchase was completed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have also telephoned TMobile, and they inform me that the term ‘bill’ only infers to the first page of their documentation, and the other pages are ‘charges summary’ [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I enclose a copy of the original terms and conditions for your convenience and I have highlighted the relevant line. I have also included the complete bills (charges summary) as one of your cashback team suggested yesterday.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely[/FONT]



So fingers crossed to a positive result. My next course of action I guess being a claimm via MCOL,



regards, Mike:money:




[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

kltpzyxm

amitahuja wrote: »

Hi All,

Has anyone tried complaining to OFT?

If you have a contract with TMO, it may be worth you reading the whole thread......