The Mobile Outlet

James212

TenThirteen wrote: »

I then sent TWO recorded delivery letters following the whole Letter Before Action template, the last was sent on 5th September.

Response from MO to two emails, two phone calls and two recorded deliver Letter Before Action letters = silence, nothing, nada, zip.

So Money Claim Online it was and lo and behold faster than a speeding bullet, well for MO that is, I receive two letters from MO on 27th September saying "we have recently received a query regarding your cashback" It was recently like!! Which now says wheels are in motion to re-issue my cashback cheque. Really. Also was my copy of their _dispute_ of my claim. Unreal.

Hi,

I just wanted to highlight to others that this is similar to my experience, see below:
TMO rejected my 2nd (of 2) cash back claims. They said I had not complied with their T&Cs, which to me were ambiguous. Anyway, I got absolutely no response when I wrote them a complaint letter (via recorded delivery) asking them to review my cash back claim, until a few weeks later I took out the £30 action against them via MoneyClaim online, which I told them I was going to do in my letter. I think it was 48 hours after they were sent my claim against them, I received a letter, offering me 50% of my cash back claim "as a goodwill gesture"! Coincidence? I doubt it. In fact, by doing this they made me think even more that my claim would succeed and they were trying to limit their loss. Obviously, their letter stated that if I had accepted their offer I "would have no further claim against TMO under this contract", meaning I would've lost the other 50% of my cash back plus the £30 cost of the MoneyClaim fee, approximately £120.

What I am trying to say is that in my experience, TMO will not pay out if they can get away with it, and in practice this means you have to take out a claim against them to get what is owed, so don't delay claiming against them based on hope that they will pay you soon. Simply give them reasonable time to respond to letters, then perhaps even a courtesy phone call, then just take action against them. Remember, (assuming you win the case of course!) the defendant (TMO) is liable for the cost of the action, in my case this was not just the £30 cost of the initial claim, but the £55 cost of the warrant. Why TMO did not pay in the first place and saved themselves £85 is anyone's guess, as I told them at every stage exactly what I was going to do, but my point is they didn't. The fact that I had bothered to write to them complaining, threatening them with legal action, should've told them I was not a customer who was going to simply write off £200 because they told me my claim was rejected.

This is just my direct experience of TMO, and I'm sure they have paid up before to others without the need of legal action. I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if legal action was required in the majority, rather than the minority, of cases to ensure payment (for those who have had their initial cash back claim rejected), so don't be afraid if you think you have a good case.


James

TenThirteen

Thank you for the replies I guess what I'm concerned about is that I believe that I have given MO plenty of time to re-issue a cheque to me (they were first notified of their error on 4th August) and after six attempts to contact them about the duff cheque, using three different means they did not respond.

So I began a small claim against them (I mean they could have gone under for all I knew!) and apparently (because to date no replacement cheque has been received) they have woken up and a cheque is being sent.

So my concern is where does this leave my small claim application? Can I still persue it (if a cheque does indeed arrive) based upon their slow response and breech of contract for the time element? Or will the whole thing get thrown out of court - supposing that the replacement cheque is indeed issued to me? I just think it stinks that it's taken court letter to get them to respond to me! For the record I still think that I have a case based on the time element and the fact that they ignored my requests for a replacement cheque for six weeks and then they only woke up because of the claim letter!

TenThirteen

PS The national rate number bothered me mentally rather than financially because I rang from the office and they have a call package that covers the lot for a fixed rate so it didn't cost me anything to make the call. I am suprised TMO haven't got themselves a premium rate line yet!!

thesaint

TenThirteen, may I ask if you've read the 3 responses you've got today to your question?

Also, have you read this entire thread(especially post#7)?

silver44

It's taken me a while to figure out what should have been obvious really. A company can't offer 100% cashback without somehow getting a profit from somewhere. Tha MobileOutlet does this by holding on to your cashback until you wrestle it from them in an exhausting death grip that takes months off your life. I've nearly completed a year's contract with them during which I had to threaten legal action EVERY SINGLE time I sent them a claim. Got very bored with this process towards the end, but at least it made sure I will never never deal with them again - which is proabably exactly what they want as they didn't make any money from me. They rely on people who either don't follow their contract to the letter, or dont know how or aren't willing to fight.

By contrast, E2Save has been the opposite, in my experience. My daughter forgot to send a bill in on time for her phone, and I wrote to them saying 'sorry we're a few days late with this, we know we've broken the contract, but would you be willing to pay anyway?' They did. I've now got an 11 months free contract with them (effectively I pay £35 for the year) and have had no hassle.

If you're a fighter and have the time and energy then go with the MobileOutlet, but be warned - they are unscrupulous. If you do go with them, keep meticulous records and send EVERY communication via signed -for recorded post. I usually don't bother phoning unless they've gone right to the wire and I'm about to initiate legal action (then use the 'Sayno to 1870 website). Follow the process outlined in the Consumer Complaints website. Otherwise be prepared to pay a bit more for less hassle and go with E2Save.

I haven't tried any of the others so can't comment.

Hope this helps!

imsi

I'm using Money Claim Online against TMO to pursue a long standing claim for cashback on the basis that their terms and conditions are unfair and that copies of one of my bills are acceptable evidence.
I can't seem to fit all the information I want to within the maximum words allowed, especially if I include the recommended interest claim statement. I'm also finding it a bit difficult to work out the exact interest.
Are there any links to a similar claim out there or can anyone help?

James212

imsi wrote: »

I'm using Money Claim Online against TMO to pursue a longstanding claim for cashback on the basis that their terms and conditions are unfair and that copies of one of my bills are acceptable evidence.
I can't seem to fit all the information I want within the maximum words aloud, especially if I include the recommended interest claim statement. I'm also finding it a bit difficult to work out the exact interest.
Are there any links to a similar claim out there or can anyone help?

Hi Imsi,

I had this problem when pursuing TMO via MoneyClaim online. (I had to cut down my Particulars of Claim details to less than 50% of it's original size, and meant that I had to leave out (not unimportant) details such as "TMO took 80 days to pay my first cashback claim", although I guess this point was not directly relevant to my claim.

Anyway, just get the important points of your claim down. MoneyClaim online is just there to resolve the vast majority of claims against people/companies effeciently (I think 80-90% of claims via MoneyClaim online are not defended). If the claim is defended, my understanding is that it is taken 'out' of MoneyClaim online and is handled in the 'real world', i.e. via the County Court / Small Claims system, at which point I feel sure that you would be able to add as much detail to the claim as you wanted.

I never bothered to claim for interest in my case. Someone told me I should've, but I wasn't sure what rate of interest you could apply, 5%? 8%? :rolleyes:
My original cash back claim was around £185, and I had to wait less than 3 months for this (3 months based on if TMO had paid me within 28 days of my claim (as per my T&Cs I signed up to) and when they eventually sent me a cheque after I applied for a warrant).
Say 5% annual interest, would equal just £2.31 on £185 for 3 months. So I didn't bother to claim interest, as I thought the claim maybe scrutinised in more detail or open to defence, than if I left this off and kept it simple. Obviously, on my claim it didn't make much difference, although if it had been owed, for example, £420 and had been waiting 6 months (approximately £10 interest), I may've claimed for this.

In hindsight, I wish I'd claimed the £0.94 for the recorded delivery complaint letter I sent to TMO! This was the complaint letter they never directly responded to, only writing to me once I'd initiated legal action to offer me partial payment of my cash back.

James

TenThirteen

thesaint wrote: »

TenThirteen, may I ask if you've read the 3 responses you've got today to your question?

Yes you may ask and yes, I have read the responses but I'm obviously not being understood.

thesaint wrote: »

Also, have you read this entire thread(especially post#7)?

No, I have not read the entre thread although I have been following TMO threads since December 2006 when I was first considering the company. I'd say I'd read about 80% of TMO posts here but as far as I am aware no-one else here has experienced the cheque problem, hence me asking forum members about it. I have indeed read post #7 and it was that post that I followed to the letter when submitting my cashback claim, sending chasing emails etc.

James212's post seems to echo mine, nothing from TMO until a court letter arrives. I wouldn't be suprised if this cheque thing is being used as a delaying tactic on (many?) other customers, I mean not every TMO customer is a member here are they, so we're just getting a sample of the problems written about here. I bet Money Claim Online are sick to the back teeth of TMO!!

Imsy - this tool might be of use to you...
http://allworldphone.com/count-words-characters.htm ... let us know how your claim goes!!

James212

TenThirteen wrote: »

I wouldn't be suprised if this cheque thing is being used as a delaying tactic on (many?) other customers, I mean not every TMO customer is a member here are they, so we're just getting a sample of the problems written about here. I bet Money Claim Online are sick to the back teeth of TMO!!

Hi,

I wouldn't be surprised either. I admit I wouldn't know what do in your situation. I would hazard a guess that it was a geniune mistake (that they wrote out the cheque out incorrectly), but I certainly wouldn't put it past TMO, in this situation, to subsequently ignore that fact and then claim that they they have paid up when challenged, as a means of not paying/delaying payment of cashback.

I would hope that the onus is on TMO to ensure that you receive a replacement cheque in a reasonable period of time. Not sure what would be classed as reasonable, but surely no longer that 28 days. After all, it's not like the cheque has been lost in the post is it (I used to work for a company that would not reissue cheques that were lost in the post until 4 weeks after the date of the cheque, due to the amount of cheques that turn up after getting lost in the postal system).

So carry on with your claim via MoneyClaim online, it is outstanding claim against them so they still need to send you another cheque. I'd be tempted to enfore the judgement with a warrant as it sounds like they're giving you the run-around.

When they settled my claim, the cheque was mysteriously predated 2 weeks before I received it, and I think, tellingly, 2 days before I requested a warrant, and did not include the £55 cost of the warrant (which I'm still pursuing via the Bailiff's office). So I'm not sure if they think they can weasel out of paying me the £55 by predating their cheque, but if they do they won't get away with it.

James212

TenThirteen wrote: »

So today I receive a notice from the small claims asking if I accept the claimants response that the claim has been settled... erm, no it hasn't! Yet MO state that they settled the amount owed before the claim was issued... yet they ignored all my correspondance until a claim landed on their doorstep!! And to repeat myself (sorry) I still haven't received any (bankable) cheque from these muppets!!

Just to clarify what I would do, obviously tell MoneyClaim that you do not accept the defendant's response, the amount is still outstanding, and take it from there. You may have to request a warrant to get a response from TMO, but the cost of this will just be added to your total claim. Just so long as you have given them ample opportunity to cancel and reissue the previous cheque(s), (I would suggest 28 days?), then I would assume that any longer than this demonstrates that the defendant is deliberately withholding payment from you and I would think a court would agree.