Cashback Guide for Dummies

mobilejunkie

The stampede to ban or at least castrate cashback deals is gathering momentum. I'm sure I'm not the most popular pundit at times on here BUT I practise what I preach. I follow the groundrules, I weigh and accept the risks AND I accept personal responsibilty for my decisions and actions. I rarely get caught out on cashback deals; the only time I have lost out was when I exposed myself (didn't get arrested) to a higher risk, smaller outfit offering the best possible deals. I followed them for about 18 months and only went with them once they seemed to pay up and I fully understood the way they worked. I was tempted to take out more deals with them but restricted myself to just two - at least until I'd got back most of my cashbacks. I only took ONE of my friends there - with their eyes wide open about them. I knew the day they went bust; I knew exactly what we could and could not do. Two weeks before I'd obtained three cashback cheques - two on time - because as soon as they hadn't paid the first claim on time I took clear action. Others waited months before taking action and ended up with zilch. I then waited until I was certain there would be no more cashbacks and immediately talked with the network. I had followed similar collapses in the months preceding this one and had a clear idea what the bottom line might be. Overall I ended up losing about £180 (could have sold the phones for £100 to mitigate that further) instead of about 3-4 times as much. Others weren't so lucky and some of that (but not all) WAS good fortune on my part. However, nasty as it was I never berated the dealer, approached the media, consumer bodies or politicians. This was MY fault and no-one elses. I didn't make the situation ANY worse and mitigated it to a very acceptable loss. By the time this happened I'd had or got about 30 deals and never lost anything (including deals for my friends and family). Immediately after I went out and got two more deals (and nearly a third).

HOWEVER... the great crusade, having commenced a few months previously when other dealers went to the wall, now secured a new army of disgruntled militants. Politicians started to take note and now there are high level gatherings hoping to cut off these deals once and for all. Just as I have warned people for months dealing with cpw is NOT the simple, reliable thing it WAS for them before and people shouldn't be complacent (quite the reverse), I now feel compelled to issue a BIGGER warning!! This is it:-

If you like and WANT 12 month free deals now is the time to start raising your voices. DON'T ASSUME that 12 month free deals have gone before and then come back. Whilst they might and I hope they do, should the nannies have their way they won't be ALLOWED by LAW. Like all those wonderful pensions we valued so much, they will become not just a highly endangered species but (as with final salary pensions but MUCH quicker) a distinct beast. THEN we will ALL be paying a LOT more. Not only that, but we will STILL be offered gimmicks, there will STILL be tricks and scams and there will STILL be disgruntled customers. It's just that the rest of us will be denied the CHOICE to make our OWN decisions.

I therefore ask those of you who accept responsibilty for their own actions, who value freedom of choice (that means the freedom to make your own judgements, accept your own risks and blame only yourselves if and when things go wrong) to speak up. Right now, there's a massive army of people who have an axe to grind and want to chop cashback deals into the wastebin of good intentions. It requires those of us who do NOT want to be moulded into a "safe" regulated and restricted environment that takes away the freedom and personal responsibilty to make OUR views known JUST as firmly as the opposing forces. Should we not, the people NOW already appearing on the threads and asking where all the 12 month free cashback deals have gone will turn (before too long) into a different set of people asking what the hell a cashback deal was....

exiled_taff

Hi all,

I've just skimmed through as I'm having trouble with CPW/E2Save.

I renewed a contract last year and during the call I was offered auto cashback, as I explicitly told the operator that I'm poor at claiming the chequeback.

In numerous corrspondences since CPW only refer to chequeback deals, although the user guide says they were moving to this auto cashback system. i.e. they pay the money directly into my bank account, and I didn't need to send off bills etc.

I've only touched the surface of the fora on here, but I can't see many people referring to the auto-cashback deals. Are you aware of others who haven't received what they were offered?

I've now asked for a copy of the original telephone conversation, as no correspondence received with the order i.e. invoice refer to the cashback/checkback deal, although it says 5 mths at 99p.

Would be good to hear sonme thoughts on success/failure of auto-cashback offers.

mobilejunkie

This was an "upgrade" at the end of an O2 cpw contract; it's an upfront credit into your account with no claims offer. Always dangerous to rely on anything any of that lot tell you without having it clearly in writing. Look up the threads on those on here - there's lots of relevant feedback on these too!

mobilejunkie

I've been getting writer's cramp and have needed to type at the speed of light to answer the numerous and repeated questions about these since I've spent less time on here. I therefore thought it an opportune moment to add to my little guide in the hope it may supply some answers to the standard queries about this. By the way - they no longer DO the so-called "price-match" deals. Instead they have reverted to what THEY would prefer (automatic upfront cashback worth far less) and their OLD t&c which are completely different. No doubt it will be a few months before people get to grips with that fact too!

1. E2save and Onestopphoneshop (sometimes referred to on here as OSPS) are the SAME company (weren't once but are now). Effectively (though not quite the same) The Phone Spot is also E2Save.

2. The t&c they are following are NOT the same as the legal ones people signed up to (see post number 5).

3. The actual price-match t&c were NOT sent out with the phones. Instead a misleading and sometimes totally inaccurate set of instructions were. It is therefore extremely wise for people to find, read, understand and copy the legal t&c if they didn't at the time - and MANY people were totally oblivious of them that alone copied them. The closest to the original ones people signed up to may currently be found here:-

http://www.e2save.com/helpdesk/?PHPSESSID=322ru1c1s3t9634b0or1h1q4i6

4. Bill numbers, payment dates and/or amounts and all else is totally irrelevant - no matter WHAT you may read in the information they send you.

5. SOMETIMES the individual on-line account for the deal will give accurate dates (accurate ONLY in terms of their own way of doing things and not at ALL consistent with the legal t&c), BUT sometimes they are totally WRONG by ANY t&c. IF they are consistent with post number 5 they are correct - but only to the extent of their way of doing things (as opposed to the legal t&c).

6. If all else fails AND you have followed the legal t&c (PROVIDED you even know what they are!!) send them a LBA (post 31) when they deny all your cashbacks. PROVIDED you can also prove that you have followed the legal t&c you should then sue. DON'T mess around re-sending, appealing, phoning or reasoning with them - the only reasoning they understand is how to play games with you.

Once more I urge anyone who doesn't REALLY know exactly what they're doing beforehand to avoid ANY cashback deals with ANY dealer. Read post number one and follow that 100% or steer clear!!

mobilejunkie

Just to update my report. Under the current t&c they are STILL misleading and confusing customers (fact!). The account dates are STILL one month too soon (in many cases!), there are TWO separate address to send claims to and it's essential people do things right. There is now increasing evidence (if any was needed) that this company under its various guises is deliberately attempting to mislead AND will seek out any opportunity to refuse claims. I am still using them, but am covering myself fully and am very aware of their tricks. Unless others do the same I repeat my advice to avoid them. Many haven't and are now having problems not of their own making! Get it right and they WILL pay. Slip up on a small thing and they won't. From day one undertsand the t&c and stick to them carefully, recording EVERYTHING at every stage STARTING with the point of ordering. Be prepared to enforce your rights using the courts if necessary and don't let them mess you around - or they will in many cases!

sammythesalmon

Can you post the correct adress to send E2SAVE cashbacks mobilejunky
cheers

mobilejunkie

Not so simple either; technically you should stick with the one at the time of your deal (although there is often more than one!). Things then seem now to get redirected to Loughborough. I've very recently grabbed another contract; the forms at the point of ordering gave one of the (2) Crewe addresses whilst the download welcome pack says Loughborough! I will probably send THIS lot of claims there - but if there's a problem can prove they provided conflicting information. Recently some people have sent price-match claims to the old Dunstable address (completely wrong for those deals!) and have now had claims rejected. Each contract has now to be judged on its own unique information I'm afraid!

chris_k

I have just had my third claim for a pricematch deal at onestopphoneshop rejected. The reason is they are taking the connection date as one day after my order date. They did not port the number in and the supplied SIM did not work. When the port was sorted on the 25th June this is the connection date that O2 used. O2 are sending me a letter to confirm that this is the connection date to O2.

Has anyone had a similar argument with onestopphoneshop/e2save/CPW? The T&C I printed off when I ordered the phone does not define connection date, but the word "connection" I feel should be when I O2 provided a service. I know that logic and onestopphoneshop does not hang together well.

mobilejunkie

Legally connection date means the date you were first connected - with the original sim they provided rather than the ported one. As for O2, you are not with O2 but with cpw O2 - there's an important difference! In addition (see post 5) Onestopphoneshop (actually now E2Save) ignore the connection date as far as the legal t&c are concerned, so it's quite likely you have complied with the t&c you signed up to in any case. The rest is up to you to enforce, if I am correct!

chris_k

Mobilejunkie thanks for your reply.

My terms state:

"Instalment 1 -Send us the claim form and original monthly bill showing your name, ....., that arrives showing you have been connected for 4 months, ie if you were connected on the 1st January, you need to send the bill that is dated around the 1st May. This is 120 days (4 months) after connection.

Instalment 2 - Send us the claim form.... dated 180 days (6 months) after connection.

Where a valid claim has not been received by us within one calendar month of the required bill, which is the closing date for your claim. You will not be entitled to any part of the casback offered."

I would be happy arguing on instalment 1 about dates as per post 5 but I think instalment 2 onwards may be harder to argue.

Even though osps are using the 2nd June, O2CPW show a part month on bill 1 of 25/6 to the 7/7. This correlates to O2CPW saying connection date was the 25/6.

Any further advice mobilejunkie?