Chatterbox.com problems

hayder_maha

i have a BIG problem, and i'm lost, can someone please advise me of what i should do?
I signed a contract with chatterbox.com over the internet and obtained 2 mobile phones, in august 2004. the deal was that I pay 25 pounds of line rental for each phone per month, and after 6 months, I send them all my phone bills, and will get cash back, to make the value of each phone roughly 8 pounds per month. I had 2 months from the end of the six month period to claim my cash back. I have collected ALL the bills that I was sent, as instructed in the terms and conditions. The problem arose, when I called chatterbox.com by phone, on more than one occasion, the last of which being over 4 weeks ago, and was instructed by their customer services operator to send in my bills with a ‘voucher’ , in order for me to claim the cash back. I have now been waiting for over 4 weeks, and no vouchers have arrived. I called them yesterday (Friday 29 April) and was told that 1) there are NO vouchers regarding my contract, the vouchers only relate to NEW contracts, and 2) I have now passed the 2 months deadline for claiming my cash back (by a few days!), and thus they will not give me ANY of the money back. I feel this is very unfair, especially since I was acting on their instructions over the telephone. I have asked them to check their telephone records to confirm my story. I have collected ALL their bills that they asked for, and have NO reason to delay the application for the cash back other than the instruction which they provided me over the telephone. I feel robed and I’m very angry, as money is tight as it is, and feel that chatterbox is looking for ANY excuse to keep the money. I have sent them a letter to say that I may take them to the small claims court and have told them i will contact trading standards. Can you please help me. many thanks for your help.

Poppy9

I bought two phones from Chatterbox back in May 2004. Before taking out the contract I did ask them via email exactly how I claimed the money back. I particulary asked them to clarify whether I sent the 6th or 7th invoice as I had heard others had run into trouble by sending in bills too early. They confirmed that for a 6 month cashback deal you sent in your 7th bill. No mention was made of vouchers. The minute the 7th invoice was in I photocopied them all and sent the originals via special delivery (about £4 postage) to Chatterbox with the slip of paper giving my reference number that was in the packaging with the phones. 4 days later over £450 hit my bank account.

Sadly in your case unless you can prove they told you to wait for a voucher you are going to be out of luck

punamulta

i had the same trouble with Dialaphone , they said they sent the voucher i didn't receive it. I got no joy from Dialaphone cutomer service so contacted my local trading standards officer at the town hall. they sorted it in no time.

gtz101

In the first instance, speak to your local trading standards. If chatterbox made no mention of the voucher during time of registration, they they are at fault and you can argue this and also show all the documents you have including terms and conditions laid out on paper that they sent you then. Take it to trading standards and they will sort it out. Also, smnall claims should be ok as well. Clearly chatterbox are messing around.

In future, dont deal with these small mobile phone shops. They can be rip-offs and many of them dont last for long.

littlemisscheap

I have a BIG problem with these cashback deals that rely on profit if you are not able to claim back cash for one reason or another.

Its one thing having terms & conditions - its another not helping someone to comply by not sending out a voucher so that you can not claim in the first place.

In my case, its the bill that is not arriving: (money getting to them just fine!)

Month1 arrived
Month2 arrived
Month3 never arrived
Month4 never arrived
Month5 never arrived
Month6 never arrived
Month7 ? - "I'll go 50/50 please Chris Tarrant"

How on earth is one meant to claim cashback??? Or maybe you are really not not meant to? How are these terms/conditions classed as fair to the consumer?

Customer Service for 3 is yep- In Bombay, India!
These Indian robots are programmed to just say "sorry we can't help you"

Today I insisted on more than this and asked to speak to management (equally robotic) but went something like this:-

Robot1: Richard - "Customer Service Operator/Billing Department"
"sorry we cannot send you your bill out again regardless of whether you have received it or not"

Robot2: Allwyn Saldanha - "CS Supervisor/Billing Department"
"sorry we cannot send you your bill out again regardless of whether you have received it or not"

Robot3: Anthony Almida - "Manager/Billing Department"
"sorry we cannot send you your bill out again regardless of whether you have received it or not"

Referred to Robot4: Chetan Nandani - "Team Operations Manager/Billing Dept"
"sorry we cannot send you your bill out again regardless of whether you have received it or not" and "If you want to take the matter further, please write in to CS at Hemel Hempsted - address is on your (missing) bill!"

So now what? Lose out on c£150 cash back, I guess!

Anyone work for 3 and can send me some 3 headed/perforated paper??? I'll "blue peter" one together if I have to!

gtz101

ok, in this such case, I would do the following:

Contact 3's CEO via e-mail. I have his e-mail address but I'm not sure if I can give it here but I can PM it you you. His name is Bob Fuller.

You should receive a reply from him within 1/2 days and believe me he will make sure that 3 do their work properly. I experienced such problem and he gave his staff a right ********* and dealt with my case swifty.

In any case, even i fyou dont contact Bob himself the executive office will as Bob will direct your enquiry to the executive office (based in UK) who will give your case a top priority.

Trust me, dont bother with the India CS, just make your enquiry directly to the executive office and they deal with it much better.

andy88_2

The voucher was probably in the paperwork at the beginning, not something that would be sent out later on request. Check the original documents and if there is nothing there, then you have a complaint.