Mobiles.co.uk no auto cashback as advertised

SouthernGuy

Grrr,

I ordered a new phone at the end of the year from mobiles.co.uk and part of the incentive was that supposedly I’d get auto cashback sent to me within three months.

Well, annoyingly nothing arrived so I emailed them and got this response:

“Thanks for your recent email.

I am very sorry and concerned to learn of the issues that you have detailed in your email regarding your cash back. Please accept my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience that may have been caused as a result of this.

I had a look into this for you and can confirm that, as per your account there is no automatic cash back attached to your order.”

It then went on to say any other questions please email or phone.

As you can imagine this has annoyed me greatly and I have of course replied asking them to look into it further.

Has anyone else experienced them claiming you have no auto cashback linked to your account and therefore not received the promised cashback?

Thanks
SouthernGuy

grumbler

I'd expect to see information on the cashback in the order confirmation e-mail and would contact them straight away of cancel the order if there wasn't such information.

mobilejunkie

No, but I have threatened and/or sued a few times for non-payment of manual cashback claims. Hadn't used them for a few years (literally ordered hundreds of contracts from them before that for myself and many other people) until October, but already come close to issuing on the first two claims and they are now very slow to acknowledge the third.

You may have committed the first cashback sin - not printing off a copy of the deal at the point of sale. If you did you shouldn't put up with the procrastication, fobbing off and downright lies you will encounter; the moment they are late (i.e. the day after) send a LBA giving them 7 days to pay or suffer legal proceedings (plus court fees, statutory interest and incidental costs). That usually does the trick - though expect "allow 28 days for another cheque to be issued", at which point I warn them that I will only wait my original 7 days since they are already in breach of contract.

It's quite normal with CPW; but if you embark on any deal over the internet (especially cashback of any kind) you MUST follow the groundrules - or end up where you are.

My normal approach with CPW is give them an immediate email warning that I expect immediate payment as they are now in breach of contract, followed within 2-3 days with a LBA. I shrug off the usual rubbish they respond with. I came within a day of issuing last claim and am quite prepared to take immmediate action next (this) time, since it now seems that they try it on with every manual claim (never used to). I warned them after the first claim that I would issue immediately for future claims, although on my second claim I did send a LBA off the first day they were late. Next step if the money doesn't arrive (in my timescale then, not theirs) is to issue.

They still employ one of their ancient tricks - specifiy a payment period on the website, then double it when it comes to paying (that's a no-no and should also be ignored).