The Mobile Outlet

boatman

I can't understand why the networks are being so difficult about this, they've had a good run of artificially high line rental tariffs, most people are well into their contract, why not be reasonable and people might actually stay with them.

Shelby, in answer to your comments about why people went with the Mobile Outlet. I took out a contract in June on the basis that I was confident that provided i kept to the t&c's i'd be ok, (have had cashback deals for 7 years and not missed a payment), but have not received any cashback even though both claims were acknowledged and chased up.

bangragal

Allan87 - I just said that the t&c stated I could change to a lower plan after 6 months and that because I would no longer be getting cashback I needed to change to a lower plan as couldn't afford the £35 any longer.

Hope that helps.

DJP41

Have Mobile Outlet/Mobile Matters really gone bust / liquidation or out of business> I have a£40 per month contract since June 07 and have not received a penny!!

Thanks

Lynsey

Not what you want to hear, but you probably won't receive "a penny" either, sorry.

Lynsey

lyndasharp

p5x wrote: »

Keep trying, I went through cancellations first and they said I could only downgrade one tariff at a time but I was then put through to the billing department in india to actually change the price plan, I told him the whole story about the cashback and he said he'd reduce it to £25 and then with a bit more gentle prodding I got my £35 contract downgraded to £20 a month. I only get about 130 ish minutes and about the same texts but that should be enough for me.

Only snag is that the discount will be active from my next billing date, which is in just under 28 days and I only have about 2 months left to go on my contract so it'll only be a saving of about £30 odd...better than nothing though

Thanks, I'll have another try at ringing them tomorrow. I've just moved somewhere with no orange coverage so I can only use my phone at work, I'm really not too happy about paying even £30 per month for a phone that I can't use at home....

DrSteph

Hi all,
I'd like to let people know the situation regarding Vodafone's attitude towards requests for downgrading your tariff based on the fact XYZ cashback company have gone bust. I called Customer services today and had a frank and civilised discussion with a nice Geordie bloke, who first of all gave me the usual "try Trading Standards" tack, but after I made it clear I was more informed that most, was not planning on pursuing the cashback company, was not hoping for any recompense from the administrators and and understood my own position regarding my contract, he was quite candid and honest. I also wasn;t there to rant at him personally, so maybe that helped! Basically, he said there had been a policy of providing some assistance while there were only a few cashback companies defaulting and going bust, but now that there were large numbers of customers in the same position, they had to draw the line somewhere and they would be starting now (i.e. past downgrades were good will only, and these good will gestures would now cease.) I was reasonable about this, as I understood my own position and requested that the company might want to offer me a tariff downgrade in order to keep my business after the contract period, rather than have me jump ship to another network. He again said that this would not be their policy from now on. I decided not to pursue it any further and thanked the guy personally for being honest while also expressing my dissatisfaction with Vodafone as a company.

The problem as I see it is this - we have no ammo in this situation. The good will gestures previously were just to keep a lid on things a bit longer, and there are now so many people losing out on cashback that loss of good will is now inevitable, so why try any longer than necessary, losing money in the process? We can threaten to jump ship after the end of the contract, but they will probably be comfortable with that. Why? Well, who would we jump to? The networks were all at it, so no-one is snowy white. There will be an inevitable re-shuffle of customers while the dust is settling on the cashback fiasco, and for a bit afterwards, but after it all evens out, there will still be the same number of customers distributed across the major networks in roughly the same proportions as before (e.g. I'll jump ship to Virgin probably, but there'll be another bloke ticked off at Virgin who'll probably jump to Vodafone!) So I think we're on a hiding to nothing, so I'm deciding to learn my lesson and move on with minimum cost, effort, stress and angst.

I knew the risks well enough, gambled that I'd be in the middle of the gradual ramp-up of customers getting savvy to the cashback modus operandi, and lost, albeit minimally given my free phone, moderate tariff, short contract and lack of expenses in trying to pursue TMO - sorry for those who lost out on higher tariffs for longer contracts, or through paying for MCOL, court fees, travel costs, bailiffs, etc. If you got greedy and got multiple contracts to flog the free phone whilst claiming cashback, you got burned - deal with it.

Everyone make sure they sign Martin's petition and do all you can to trigger an OfCom review of the networks' practices in this matter.

Cheers,
Steph

laticsforlife

Vodafone seem a bit harsh, even T-Mobile have now mellowed.

I'd try calling again and again until you get someone who is willing to allow some kind of bill reduction.

mobilejunkie

Up until now Vodafone have been excellent in most cases. They certainly won a lot of friends and people on other networks wished they had been on Vodafone. They're certainly not perfect, but it did differentiate them well from the rest and I don't believe it actually cost them very much to be generous in the short-term. I also don't rely on what one person says in any organisation - plausible as it may sound. If Vodafone are no longer going to help people it won't do their new, positive reputation any good at all. I now have more contracts with them than their rivals for the first time and they had become my network of first choice. DrSteph; I agree with 95% of what you say - and have lost out on a small scale with another dealer - but like you I accept full responsibility for my decisions and will never EVER sign ANY petition which encourages the heavy hand of the nanny state to interfere with my freedom of choice with regard to cashback deals. Since my loss I have got several more contracts and fully intend to get a lot more for as long as I can. It's my risk and my choice and if I get things wrong (including selecting an appalling dealer) I will pay the price (I would add in case people get the wrong impression that I can ill afford to!).

Lynsey

I agree about it needing a review.
I'm not blonde, but sometimes think blonde, but for me if the situation was that once a contract had been broken, ie: a cashback hadn't been paid according to the T&C's then the consumer should just be able to walk away and cancel the contract. There should not be two individual contracts, only one and one that both seller and buyer have to abide with or the contract is broken.

I'm probably wrong, but that's what I would like to see.


Lynsey

BegbiesTraynor

Further to my post last week can all customers who are owed cashback monies please contact The Administrators at the following address.

Begbies Traynor
Burley House
12 Clarendon Road
Leeds LS2 9NF.

Please e-mail [EMAIL="mark.pintar@begbies-traynor.com"]mark.pintar@begbies-traynor.com[/EMAIL]

Please do not e-mail Julian Pitts as he is not dealing with the claims, Mark Pintar is the point of contact regarding claims.

Begbies Traynor.