Cashback Guide for Dummies

Silk

abchrvis wrote: »

It's a plan. I'll (politely) follow up with T-Mobile. I dropped the phrase 'small claims court' into my dealings with the cashback firm and got met by...no reply.

You have to understand what happens here first.

When you place the order with the cashback company they go through a referral company who in turn go through to T-Mobile.

When the order is validated it goes back the same way in reverse. The referral company checks the contract against the order receives payment from T-Mobile and passes it on to the cashback company who in turn pass it on to you.

If there is no valid contract against the original order then it won't track and you don't get paid.

What needs to happen is that T-Mobile need to put the original order number from when purchase was made against the current contract and it will sort itself out.

If you received an order number when it was purchased it will help the situation

grumbler

Silk wrote: »

When you place the order with the cashback company they go through a referral company who in turn go through to T-Mobile....

This is correct for cashback, but when saying 'cashback' the OP possibly meant 'redemption'.

Silk

grumbler wrote: »

This is correct for cashback, but when saying 'cashback' the OP possibly meant 'redemption'.

I agree but when the OP said "The cashback company now won't pay out anything" I assumed it was Quidco or TC rather than a 3rd party retailer

abchrvis

grumbler wrote: »

This is correct for cashback, but when saying 'cashback' the OP possibly meant 'redemption'.

Yes, I ought to have said 'redemption' not 'cashback' -- it's the firm that sold me the mobile contract I'm talking about, not quidco etc.

hotjam

Hi. I am looking for a decent upgrade and found a good deal on e2save involving autocashback. Is this safer than redemption (assuming the t&c's are read and understood)? Also, if upgrading online why do you still need to fill in employment details etc that are used for a credit check?

grumbler

hotjam wrote: »

Hi. I am looking for a decent upgrade and found a good deal on e2save involving autocashback. Is this safer than redemption (assuming the t&c's are read and understood)?

Yes.

Also, if upgrading online why do you still need to fill in employment details etc that are used for a credit check?

Don't know, but I wouldn't ignore deals for new customers, that can be better than upgrades.

mobilejunkie

(for those who are interested).

E2Save

A couple of the people I watch over have encountered problems of late. Lack of claim acknowledgements (that alone acceptance), not responding to follow-ups and generally being left in the dark as to the state of their claims. Not a huge problem IF you follow all the groundrules and act promptly - but people going in blindly and thinking all they have to do is submit the bills and wait for the cheques are dicing with disappointment.

Mobiles.co

Rather unsurprisingly since they are appear to be using the same administration to process claims, they are also not generally sending out acceptances although acknowledgements are forthcoming and it is somewhat easier to communicate with them. However, during the last 12 months they have started doing something new - sending cheques out for the wrong amounts. I put this down to utter incompetence, but it's been going on for far too long and so not only should you watch them like a hawk (i.e. follow ALL the groundrules) but take prompt action if things start to go awry. Also make sure the payments are for the correct amounts.

Buymobilephones

Their owners have apparently now acquired Affordablemobiles (don't even go there!). This dealer has been around for as long as I've been following cashback companies (i.e. 12 months before I even DID a cashback contract - in fact, I've also never had any other type of mobile phone contract - why would I?!). I have always regarded them as high risk and (in the early days) extremely devious/dishonest (they originally ONLY allowed 14 days to claim - all by post as now - after the date on the bill BUT didn't mention that until AFTER you'd bought the contract). I have used them a fair amount since those days but maintain their highER risk status (due to their comparative size and amateur claim forms among other things). During the last 12 months - 18 months they have (at least three times) paid claims late - despite allowing themselves a convenient age to pay claims in the first place!. The latest example is within the last month - and was a full week later than it was supposed to be. I'll let you make up your own minds based on that.

mobilejunkie

There seem to be just two main players in the cashback arena at present. CPW and A1Comms Group. The latter has bought out a few internet dealers, including mobileshop.com and Affordable Mobiles. Mobileshop has (according to their website) been trading since 1997. In fact, they were one of the companies which eventually left cashback customers high and dry and (I had thought) disappeared a few years ago. Affordable Mobiles were quite dodgy before being taken over (and I did use them twice, unlike mobileshop). They now have the same cashback procedures as Buymobiles (formerly buymobilephones), who I haveused and am using a fair amount (and have taken some of my people there after expressing my opinion that they are higher risk because of their size).

I/we mainly use CPW - Mobiles.co in particular. Lately, we have been finding it harder to get acknowledgments and acceptances on claims. One of my lot has recently resorted to using Royal Mail recorded delivery (a bit premature but he has had similar problems with making claims using the on-line account before Mobiles.co actually forced people to make claims that way). The on-line accounts are often incorrect (in terms of listings for claim status among other things, as has always been the case as long as I've been using them) so I generally don't take any notice of what they say (unless it's in your favour at some point in any dispute!). There have also now been instances of the cashback claim page appearing as:-

Cashback details are not currently available for this order.

thus making it impossible to claim in the only proper way they allow (short of using snail-mail and incurring postage - now way!). There are other ways around it, but only by circumventing the "system" they are now using. Generally, when a CPW company changes either its t&c or claim methods problems occur. If I'm being generous I can put it down to complete incompetence; given my long history and experience with them, there have definitely been times when it was plainly a deliberate ploy. If it is incompetence it can have - er - certain advantages, which I won't advertise here. If not, it's unacceptable.

As always with any cashback dealer you MUST keep on your toes and make sure you claim promptly AND take action if you don't get written confirmation of receipt and acceptance of each claim. 60 days provides plenty of leeway but some people claim late, forget after the claim or simply sit and wait to see what happens (generally an absolute no-no).

In conclusion, be as aware as ever and don't assume that since you've had (perhaps) much success in the past with any particular dealer things will continue in that vein. The only thing which surprises me a little is why there haven't been a few people coming on here to say they've had various problems.

xeena

Are you still finding decent cashback offers now? I had 4 running concurrently but they're all coming to an end now, and I haven't seen a decent deal for ages I'm now having to pay for my mobile phones & usage for the first time in about 15yrs!

mobilejunkie

I've had two fantastic deals in the last 6 weeks. One was free after cashback and the phone fetched about £120 (one of my people got £170 for theirs) and another which cost just over £1 per month after cashback saw the phone fetch over £160 (both plus postage before selling costs). We both wanted to repeat the deals but network limits in one case and dealer limits in the other prevented that.

Such deals are extremely rare and I order instantly when they appear, letting my other people know urgently. Broadcasting them on here is completely self-defeating and harms our own interests. Besides, if I invest my time in watching out for them so can anyone else.

I've also grabbed other deals for myself over the last year (currently am back up to 8 contracts) and although most have small bundles I still never have to pay for calls, texts or internet and make a profit on all of them. However, I've had to order deals which actually cost money for some of my lot because they wanted better phones and/or contracts at a particular time (I always grab the best deals when they appear, not when I need them - sounds like you might be doing that too). Also, I am having to use (and take others to) a slightly higher risk (in my view - which I explain to them when I do) dealer, since the likes of CPW and Phones4u (long time in their case) rarely offer worthwhile deals at present.

Still a great game though and I can still survive without paying for anything for at least another 10 months or so (one small profitable contract has nearly two years to run but only has 100 minutes).