Cashback went to wrong customer

TinyPomegranate

I recently bought a new phone on contract supplied by a major electrical retailer via the network provider. The deal was, £150 cashback minimum when I trade in an old phone. I sent off my old phone following all the T&Cs (yes, even the tiniest of small print) and my phone was accepted. I was quoted £0 for my actual phone (very old and worthless), plus £150 under the £150 minimum guarantee, giving a total of £150. This was all confirmed and fine.

Fast forward a little bit and I'm yet to receive my money. I've been in a long drawn out online conversation with the network provider. Initially several customers hadn't received their money, there was some issue and I assumed I was in that group of customers as my issue was the same, so I added my name to the list of people requesting investigation and waited instructions. Bit by bit, all the other customers said yes great they've received their money now. I'm still waiting for mine.

Further messages to the network provider (this is an online customer support forum, some of it public some of it private message) revealed the retailer has already made the cashback payment relating to my phone. I said no, they haven't. They came back at me with the last 4 digits of an account number that doesn't resemble any bank account I have, so it's unlikely to be a typo on my part. However they are adamant the payment has been made so they consider the matter closed.

I do not consider the matter closed. What can I do to recoup this money? I do not believe I made a mistake in providing account details. I believe they've made a mistake and are trying to cover it up/make it go away.

Key points: The phone is on contract, initial purchase and monthly billing goes to the network. The phone is physically supplied by the retailer, however I've asked the network for the contact details for the right people at the retailer and they say I have to deal with them because that's who I shopped with, not with the retailer direct. Which is true in that sense, but then they're doing nothing to escalate it and get my money for me. I factored in the cashback when working out the price of the phone.

DCFC79

You can name the retailer and network provider.

Just a guess but was it Currys ?

Who had the cashback offer ?
Retailer or network ?

 

TinyPomegranate

Thanks for the response. Lol yeah Currys... who else lol.

It's a bit more complicated. Technically, Samsung had the trade in offer. But it was advertised by and administrated by the network (idmobile) when I bought the phone. It was all over their website and I tok pains to ensure I was buying something that adhered to their deal - which I think is demonstrated by their statement that they have paid out. They sent me a Currys trade in bag but all my online transactions were through idmobile (Carphone Warehouse, Currys, are they still PC World?, I don't know who else they trade as any more). You could trade in via Samsung direct, but it would've taken longer and I'd had to buy the phone first before getting confirmation from a separate company of the guaranteed cashback, whereas this was all done in one transaction, so I kept it together. As it stands, I'm paying idmobile for the phone. I'm talking to idmobile who are talking to Currys on my behalf. And idmobile are refusing to give me details of the right person at Currys to talk to. They're also refusing to give me full details of the bank account they've paid the money to, so I don't know the sort code or anything, I just know the last 4 numbers and they say "it's a Barclays account".

Aylesbury_Duck

You need to establish which company runs the cashback scheme and pursue them.  If it was all part of one deal, you can presumably unwind it if they haven't supplied what they were contracted to supply.  The trouble is, I suspect they're not linked.

Money_Grabber13579

TinyPomegranate said:

Thanks for the response. Lol yeah Currys... who else lol.

It's a bit more complicated. Technically, Samsung had the trade in offer. But it was advertised by and administrated by the network (idmobile) when I bought the phone. It was all over their website and I tok pains to ensure I was buying something that adhered to their deal - which I think is demonstrated by their statement that they have paid out. They sent me a Currys trade in bag but all my online transactions were through idmobile (Carphone Warehouse, Currys, are they still PC World?, I don't know who else they trade as any more). You could trade in via Samsung direct, but it would've taken longer and I'd had to buy the phone first before getting confirmation from a separate company of the guaranteed cashback, whereas this was all done in one transaction, so I kept it together. As it stands, I'm paying idmobile for the phone. I'm talking to idmobile who are talking to Currys on my behalf. And idmobile are refusing to give me details of the right person at Currys to talk to. They're also refusing to give me full details of the bank account they've paid the money to, so I don't know the sort code or anything, I just know the last 4 numbers and they say "it's a Barclays account".

Is your account a Barclays account? If it’s not, then the sort code is also wrong. I’d have thought that on the balance of probabilities, the chances of you giving an incorrect sort code and account number would be pretty slim…

TinyPomegranate

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Is your account a Barclays account? If it’s not, then the sort code is also wrong. I’d have thought that on the balance of probabilities, the chances of you giving an incorrect sort code and account number would be pretty slim…

I do have a Barclays account but it's rarely used and I wouldn't have given it to them to pay cashback in to. This is why I've asked for at least the sort code of the account they have but they won't supply it. Unfortunately I don't have a screenshot of the precise screen where I entered the paying details. I would've thought that an incorrect sort code and account number would be rejected as invalid if it was full of typos? So it must be a complete, correct set of account information for someone's account albeit not mine?

Aylesbury_Duck said:

You need to establish which company runs the cashback scheme and pursue them.  If it was all part of one deal, you can presumably unwind it if they haven't supplied what they were contracted to supply.  The trouble is, I suspect they're not linked.

It's a Samsung scheme, but it's paid out by Currys and handled by idmobile. As far as I'm aware, I'm a customer of idmobile and no-one else. So should I be pursuing Currys or Samsung, or take it further with idmobile? And how should I escalate it?

Thanks everyone for your advice.

CardinalWolsey

ID Mobile is part of the Currys group. I would suggest contacting the Currys Group CEO - Alex Baldock. That will get the query through to a team that should look more thoroughly into the issue.

TinyPomegranate

Jut a little update.

I have always said to idmobile that I don't recall entering any bank account info on the trade in website, and I thought it would just be paid into the account that pays for the phone. However the 2 reps communicating with me about this were always adamant I must have given bank info because that's how their system works, so I assumed I must have just done so and not remembered. I did think it was odd though that I didn't remember specifically which account I had chosen to have the funds paid into.

One of the reps' parting shot was to say, "go to the trade in website yourself and have a look, you'll see where you entered your own bank account, we didn't make the typo, you did". So I did exactly this. And it turns out that the webform only asks for bank details if there is money to be paid, i.e. if the phone is worth anything. Otherwise they just ask for your address to send the trade-in bag to.

As my phone was worth exactly £0 (before the minimum £150 guarantee was applied on top), I was never asked for bank account details and they have paid my money to someone else. And I have 2 pages of (screenshotted) customer service messages confirming it all.

Currently awaiting their response as I reasonably give them another chance to address this new piece of information, but otherwise I will be escalating it as advised by you lovely helpful people.