Mobile Cashback problems - T Mobile

Elizcol55

I have managed to drop my rental down to £10 a month instead of £35 the catch as many of you have mentioned less minutes 50 anytime with 25 text took a full day and several calls and a demanding that a manager call me back which got me the final £5 reduction have received my first new bill they have kept there word if not allready done so beg plead say you cannot manage the payments the extra £5 was an unexpected bonus.

Just hope my husbands new deal he has just taken out before this happened with another company lasts. We had three free years so am trying to justify the loss by this, should have smelt a rat when the payments became so behind. goodluck to anybody in the same situation even the calls to T. mobile were free so did not run up a huge phone bill.

studentj_2

I have just rung up tmobile and they say I can only have a £5 reduction off my £35 12mth contract due to the cashback fiasco. I asked if I could reduce the tariff as I am a poor student(!) though they refused and the only option was to cancel the contract and pay a fee of over £235 or sell the contract to someone else (I barely use the allowances given, thinking I could get the full amounts back after 12mths, but they still wouldnt budge).
Will they only downgrade tariffs after 6mths (I started mine in September 07), and does it have to specifically state it on your bill that it is 6mths?

anokhi

T-Mobile wouldn't offer me any kind of reduction at all! I tried calling customer services several times and went into a shop - but to no avail! In the end, the best I could get out of them is that I'll continue to pay £35 a month, but they'll upgrade me to Flext 40 - so at least I'll get more allowance for my money. I now get £115 worth of allowance rather than £90. Good luck! :-) Must say, I think T-Mobile's attitude is very short-sighted. I for one will be cancelling my contract as soon as the 12months are up and would never use them again.

storeyboy10

Can someone give me some hints on how best to approach TMob?

I did call them this morning, and didnt get anywhere - I am 4 months into a £35 a month 12 month contract, and the woman wouldnt budge an inch, saying it was nothing to do with TMobile, it was for me to sort out! She also ignored the statement posted by TMobile, saying they only dealt with people from dialaphone (I think.)

What approach should I take to try and reduce my contract, even by a little? I am frustrated by what has happened, especially when I am seeing people around me (on this forum) getting reductions on their rental!

Many thanks.

Kabeer_2

storeyboy10 wrote: »

Can someone give me some hints on how best to approach TMob?

I did call them this morning, and didnt get anywhere - I am 4 months into a £35 a month 12 month contract, and the woman wouldnt budge an inch, saying it was nothing to do with TMobile, it was for me to sort out! She also ignored the statement posted by TMobile, saying they only dealt with people from dialaphone (I think.)

What approach should I take to try and reduce my contract, even by a little? I am frustrated by what has happened, especially when I am seeing people around me (on this forum) getting reductions on their rental!

Many thanks.

Try contacting the Customer Relations department and making your entire case: [SIZE=-1]Cust.Rel@t-mobile.co.uk

They seem to be the relavant section.
[/SIZE]

Haroldstotle

Looks like Mobile Outlet is on the way out too. There are many people, me included, who have not received cashbacks since August. There is a huge thread on this and many people are resorting to the small claims court, but they are likely to go belly up before I get any joy.

I called T-mobile and spoke to 2 people, Nicola 753 (who was rude) and Robert 753. They accepted that they were selling a product through an unsustainable commercial model, and had taken action to fix this by stopping dealing with them. They have acknowledged that the situation is unacceptable, but offer no support to existing customers. I quoted some of the deals above, but apparently, their policy changed in December. I also quoted the back of my current bill which states I can change price plan after 6 months, but Robert 753 tells me that this was a 'typo'. Amazing. He said that there is nothing he can do.

I suggest that all T-mobile customers note their support, and move to a PAYG phone using tesco or similar in the future.

greyster

T-Mobile are legally not responsible in any way for your "cashback" offers. If you fail to get cashback for whatever reason including the "cashback company" disappearing, T-Mobile do not need to reimburse you or compensate you in any way.

You have to remember they are a business trying to make money and they are not responsible for these cashback companies. They themselves do not do cashback schemes.

However if you complain either by email or letter, your complaint will be handled - no need to chase or worry its not going to be read. The best you can expect is a goodwill gesture of £5 off per month. The complaints department is not your usual customer services agent on 150. Phone them for the address or email address.

As a person who also complains to companies and expect a lot back when things go wrong I can symphase. However the purpose of this post is realisticly tell you what the outcome is going to be if you spend hours and hours trying to get T-Mobile to move.

They have a legal team and thats what they've told all customer service agents. Like all companies, customer agents on the phone can only do so much and that does not include giving you a discount (when not at end of contract)... except downgrading your tariff when you are eligible.

This is not just T-Mobile, this is the generally what ALL networks do. I can see their logic, why should they forfeit the bill for dumb !!! cashback companies. It's not their problem and my advise is to avoid cashback offers in the future.

Infact if you buy direct from networks either online or from their OWN stores... you make them more profit and when it comes to renewal they are more likely to offer you better deals. There is nothing stopping you use quidco.

Just a heads up.

Kabeer_2

Someone posted that all t0mobile PBD CNW customers can cancel thier contracts here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8139081#post8139081

Is this real?

greyster

Even if they did I doubt they will now.

See my post above yours.

mikewogden

Gave up on the standard customer support number.

All I was offered was the option to reduce my tariff to a cheaper plan, no discount no sympathy.

I emailed the customer relations on [EMAIL="cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk"]cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk[/EMAIL] on lunchtime and by teatime had a phone call back with a little more sympathy for my situation.

I then requested and was offered to downgrade to the Flext 30 tariff (450mins or 900 text) on the discounted rate of £25/month. No new contract and the offer of a personal call when the contract is due for renewal in June.


Extract from email as follows:

The contract procured through your agent was the Flext 35 Tariff (600mins or 1200 text).
I submitted my valid claim in December in accordance with Phone2Udirect Terms and conditions.
This claim was subsequently rejected by Phones2Udirect in mid February for non-valid reasons.
I was preparing to submit a claim for the outstanding money via the small claims procedure when I discovered Phones2Udirect had gone into administration and so any further attempts to recover any outstanding money would be frivolous.
I have since contacted one of your customer support operators to request if I can reduce my monthly tariff whilst retaining a reasonable amount of airtime allowance. Initially I was told I could not reduce my payment plan as I was only 11 months into my contract, this time limit was reduced to 6 months when I pointed out this was the lock-in period on the reverse of my bill.
I asked if my contract could be down-graded to the Flext 25 plan, but at the current promotional rate of £20/month.
I was told that this discounted option was only available for new or upgraded customers.
Whilst T-Mobile do not have a legal obligation to offer me this promotional price, I do feel they have a moral obligation as I have been forced into this situation by one of its dealers (agents) failing to meet its contractual obligation.
I have included T-Mobile’s statement on failing cash-back dealers below.
As the dealer is in administration, could the commission that is currently being paid to them be used to reduce my monthly tariff.
I also note that in January T-Mobile made a statement to the Mobile Phone Trade Press that it was prepared to release customers trapped in previous Cash-Back agreements that have gone into administration. (Extracts included).
I would request that T-Mobile afford me the same opportunity to obtain a revised phone contract affordable to her.
The whole situation does leave a nasty taste in the mouth and the current T-Mobile stance does leave me disinclined to use them for future contracts.
I also included a copy of the T-Mobile Statement.

Regards

Mike



Full Statement from T Mobile
"T-Mobile takes this issue seriously and recognises the difficulty consumers may face when independent dealers cease trading and fail to honour cash-back agreements. We do not support or encourage cash-back deals which are agreements between dealers and customers. T-Mobile is concerned that customers may be unsure as to how cash-back or redemption offers work and how they relate to their obligations under their service agreement with T-Mobile. Our view is these arrangements have the potential to mislead and, ultimately, may not be in the best interests of consumers.
T-Mobile appreciates the difficult situation some customers face. While we are not responsible for dealers failing to meet their commitments, we do assist customers on an individual basis. Typically, we offer adjustments to customers’ accounts, including the opportunity to switch to cheaper contracts.
T-Mobile is not party to these agreements and typically only becomes aware once unsatisfied customers contact us about non-payment of cash-backs. However, we recognise this activity has become common place in the market. This is why we and other mobile operators worked proactively with Ofcom to enforce the code of practice for the sales and marketing of subscriptions to mobile services. The main objective of the code is to protect customers. It includes specific provisions concerning sales incentives and our contracts with dealers require compliance with the code.
There have been some recent high-profile incidents where channel partners have been unable to meet their obligations under cash-back or other redemption offers. Consequently, T-Mobile has issued additional guidance to its network of independent dealers, reiterating what we consider to be acceptable practices. As a safeguard, T-Mobile recommends that any channel partner who enters into cash-back offers only does so in circumstances where the dealer’s liability to meet the cash-back obligation is underwritten by insurance.
In circumstances where dealers are found to be non-compliant with the code of practice, T-Mobile takes stringent action and may exercise the ultimate sanction of terminating the trading agreement.
As a responsible company, T-Mobile is committed to protecting customers from being confused or misled during the sales process."