Mobileshop - Cashback claim refusal

[Roadrally]

Hi everyone,

Just sent my claim to Mobilephoneshop on the last minute. They stick a ridiculously short expiry time on them. True to form with these companies I got a curt e-mail back from them that said;

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>
Dear Roadrally,
>
> Unfortunately we are unable to accept your claim of voucher: XXXXX
>
> This voucher expired on: 07/08/2006. At this date we had not received
> your claim.
>
> We value your order. However the terms and conditions that you agreed
> to when ordering, have not been met. Regrettably we are unable to
> accept your claim.
>
> Please accept our apologies.
>
> --
>
> Regards
> Claims Department

Of course what they don't say is that they hide this from you until all the stuff arrives with the phone and even then it's in the small print. So a quick read at the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations and bingo, they look to me like they written to cover this sort of crap.

So I sent them this;

I refer to your e-mail.

This time limited claim mechanism is a wholly unfair term in the contract as it requires that the consumer submit a claim inside a very narrow time window. This is not made clear until after the contract has been concluded and as such falls inside the scope of the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

I expect you to honour the claim as the subsidy on the line rental formed a major consideration when deciding to place the phone order with you. If you choose not to honour the claim I shall issue proceedings in the County Court to recover the sum owed to me under the terms of the contract.

Please respond in writing within 14 days of this e-mail, either by
conventional mail or by e-mail.

Yours faithfully,


Roadrally

Lo and behold - not ten minutes later, an e-mail reply, they are going to pass this to the cashback manager. Fine, he/she can do the proper thing or it's letter before action time and I'll risk my time and Court fee and take them on.

It's not the amount of money involved that bothers me it's the principle. They offer these deals then set ridiculous conditions with them. If I were claiming six months late that would be one thing but 24 hours? Naturally I shall be telling everyone I know that Mobileshop suck.

[blacksheep1979]

Loads of people have been complaining about these deals - they're a real pain to deal with

[Roadrally]

Well, I'll give them their due, they replied with a standard bog off response today so I've sent them the letter before action. 14 days, or less if they reply as promtly and it's moneyclaim online time.

I reckon refusal to pay out for the sake of a day amounts to no more than a penalty imposed in just as arbitrary way as Bank Charges and is just as unlawful.

So I'll put it to the test. In any case it'll cost them more to deal with than the cashback claim and maybe then they won't treat customers in such a high handed fashion.

[blacksheep1979]

don't think you stand much chance and they could just put in for summary judgement which won't really cost them anything

[Roadrally]

Blacksheep, can you enlighten me a little more on that then? Does anybody have any idea if 3 will recover from them if I migrate my tariff down to something a bit more suitable. I am using Skype more than the phone and am loath to let them get away with this.

[barbarav]

Generally i would've ignored the comments, but i purposely registered JUST to be able to say that i disagree with you entirely!

I've got in front of me my 12month bill and the cashback voucher that i need to send with that bill. The bill arrived today 24th August 06 and the expiry date of the voucher is the 14th October 06. If you think that's a small time window; think again (don't mean to be rude, just very surprised!).

I was very worried when i first ordered from Mobileshop because the cashback vouchers are just a printed piece of paper. But i've received all of my claims back and they've kept me informed throughout the whole process of when they received each of my vouchers and when my money refunds were due.
I think they're one of the best online phone companies i've dealt with.

I have to change my contract very soon (because my 12month is now due and offer won't apply anymore) and i'm just gonna stick with their offers because they're the best so far (only Phones2udirect gives better offers but a 21day time window for cashback and don't trust them since all the reviews of people who've dealt with them say they're scum).

[Bonghi-bo]

Hi. I have ordered from MobileShop (Misterton, Doncaster DN10 4ER to make sure we are talking about the same company) for 2 years now and I have never had any problems with them. My husband has also ordered from them for 2 years and we recommended a friend who ordered from them once (and then renewed their contract with the network), who have also never had any problems. They answer all emails and are very friendly if you need to ring them.

In this last year, claims are made by sending a copy of the network's invoice within 30 days of billing date and they are then paid within 60 days of the claim being received. At the moment they have had a technical problem with payment of cashbacks claims, which has been rectified, but are now manually processing payments to ensure that the problem does not still exist. We have not yet had a cashback claim refused. Also they seem to be the only company who do not say "all cashback claims are void" as soon as something incorrect is done, but I've found it easy to comply, so not tested.

I am now looking for a new provider as I am on the O2 network and the deals I am looking at are all on the O2 network and I wish to port over my number, so not allowed on same networks. Shame because O2 have been a great network. I am looking at the Vodaphone network, but many companies are not porting to O2 or Vodaphone. My choice is therefore limited and the companies I am looking at either do not answer emails, the telephone, or are very helpful when I do get through!

Do I go for it, but at the end of the day I end up getting the phone I want with a better deal than that quoted by my network or Mobileshop (although a new network, but I hear Vodaphone are good)?

Ahhhhhhh!

[abo999]

My experience with Vodafone so far: I've often had to call them twice to get something done e.g. take off the insurance that I never asked for in the first place, and the network has been cack to be honest; having to try seven or eight times to get through to my wife on *many* occasions, just silence when ringing out from my phone, poor handover from 3G to 2G when on a call, refusal of the phone to hand over to 2G despite the 3G coverage dropping out etc. etc. My wife's phone is just the same, as is my mother and father in law's phones (different model and manufacturer). Just bad, I wish I'd never moved off Orange to be honest; I only really did that because Orange laid me off lol

[MrShed]

Have no knowledge of this specific retailer, but most cashback deals are fairly explicit and open IN ADVANCE with regards the time windows - would be very surprised if this was not the case here, therefore you probably have no real claim on this. However, the unfair penalty angle is an interesting and potentially valid one - I would like to see them argue that the day late has cost them the entire cost of the cashback - and for that matter future cashbacks, as most of these deals as soon as you miss one you can no longer claim subsequent ones!

[Bonghi-bo]

Thanks abo99 afor the info on the Vodaphone network. I think I will go with phoneboxdirect on TMobile. They give a 28 day limit to claim cashback and if it all goes pear shaped I will still be paying the same as O2 offered, but on a better tariff. The only downside is that I've had no problems with O2. However, I am not a big mobile phone user, so fingers crossed.....

[cjp26]

I have a cashbask deal with Mobileshop.com and have kept to all terms and conditions of the Cashback rules.

My first cashback payment is now overdue by one month. I phoned mobileshop and got a recorded message saying that due to a technical problem payments to bank accounts could not be made.

Payments were being processed manually which would cause delays - but I could get retail vouchers immediately as an alternative. No date for payments has been given and I'm left wondering if I'll ever get my money back.

My emails to them have not been returned and when I phone the line goes dead part way through the call before I get to speak to anyone.

On the positive side, I’ve contacted O2 who say there is no known issue with the company.

However looking at forum posts back as far as May this year, I notice that a 'technical problem' reason was being used then - how long can a fix take?

This is my first cashback deal and with this experience will also be my last. I think I'll go back to dealing direct with the phone compaines who mostly don't play the Cashback claim game. I may not get the best deal but at least I won't have to waste time chasing for what was promised.

Luckily my total cashback due for the year isn't huge so I won't lose too much sleep if they don't pay up.

At the moment I'm not too concerned as I've dealt with MobileShop on and off for a number of years and they've always seemed one of the better ones.

Fingers crossed that the cashback arrives soon!

**I'd be interested to know if anyone has got their money since April this year - without having to threaten legal action.**

You can also make a complaint to OFCOM (on their web-site). They don't deal with individual compaints but if they get enough people contacting them they should investigate and persuade MobileShop into acting more professionally and quickly.

[skswindon]

I made my first cashback claim on Mobileshop on 20 February. By June I had not received the money although I had been informed that if I accepted Argos vouchers I could have them straight away (strange - it was taking a long, long time to manually verify the claim but I could have vouchers worth 10% more straightaway).I emailed in June stating stating:- I have waited more than long enough for you to resolve your “technical problems”. Please take this as formal notice that if I do not receive the cashback due to me by Saturday 23 June I shall:-a) Cancel the contract b) Take action against you, joining Orange, in the small claims court to recover the money owing to me together with any associated costs Bingo - 5 days later an email arrived stating my claim had been processed. After a further week the cash back arrived.Mobileshop have broken their contract. If I cancel the contract because of this breech, Orange would have to sue them for their losses - not me. That was my theory, anyway, and the threat seemed to work. I've just submitted my next claim and I see that the Mobileshop site still states they have technical problems and there will be delays. Wonder if the technical problem is cash flow?

[joepublic]

Try this on for size, all claims submitted on time as required by T&Cs. Supposed to be processed by Mobileshop with 45 days and paid with 60 days:

Claim 1 Month 5 - Submitted 27 Dec 06 - Paid 16 Mar 07 (80 days)

Claim 2 Month 7 - Submitted 21 Feb 07 - Still unpaid 'due to backlog' (156 days)

Claim 3 Month 9 - Submitted 30 Apr 07 - Still unpaid 'due to backlog' (88 days)

Claim 4 Month 12 - Posted 26 Jul 07 - Who knows?

Sent in 4 emails of complaint and all I get is standard reply:



Why is it that they will issue me an Argos Gift Card within 7 working days but I have to wait over 5 months for the cash? It's an absolute fiddle, the claim has to be processed by somebody either way!

[mootuk]

Worse still. My claim was accepted by mobileshop. Payment due within 60 days @15/02/07. I am still waiting to be paid. My second claim has also been accepted but still waiting. Any advise would be appreciated.

[yellowplum]

I had ordered a phone from Mobileshop.com previously on o2 with the usual 12 months free line rental.

All went well, faxed to that lovely premium rate number that they use to get my bill off and keep the copy that I sent, first payment was sent on the 59th Day (fine still within time) second payment also arrived within the time frame they quote.

Third payment they alleged they had 'technical difficulties' I let the 60 days lapse, contacted them online via the chat window, gave them a further 14 days, still nothing, did the same again and threatened them suddenly the payment was in my account within four days.

The last payment has just been acknowledged.

I have to disagree though with ROADRALLY, it clearly states the time frame you must return the bills within.

I accidently sent the wrong bill once; they called me to tell me that I had sent the wrong bill and to fax the correct one again.

Compare this with OneStop(CRA*)PhoneShop (part of Carphone Warehouse) who never paid out even though they received it on time - but that’s another story that was dealt with differently - The terms are also clearly stated on there site, you need nothing but your order number to claim your cash back, unlike some who demand no end of paperwork.

Personally I just phoned O2 at the end of my contract fobbed them a little and got 12 month deal for £20 with 600mins and 600txts and a W580i, at least its cheaper and I don't have to deal with Cash back.

But I would definitely say to anyone who has had the usual 'technical difficulties' from them to push a little harder (use the chat window online) and you will get it back, plus if its your 1-3 claim out of 4 just threaten them with breach of contract and say you will claim the entire amount in court

[Soggy_T_Bag]

I have had the exact same problem with getting my cashback from mobileshop.com. I am owed 3 lots of cashback dating back to December and am yet to recieve any of it! I have now changed my contract and am still chasing the £150+ that they owe me. over the last few months I have sent countless emails asking what they are doing and they keep sending me the same reply:

'We’d like to give you a further update on our progress concerning our cashback payments.

Although we have now rectified the technical problem with our cash back payment system, we need to verify all payments manually to ensure the integrity of the data in our system. We need to do this to prevent the wrong amount of cash back being paid and also prevent the funds going into the wrong account. Unfortunately there is a backlog of thousands of claims in the system and it will take considerable time to process them all.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may be causing. Please be assured that we are processing payments as quickly as we can and that your claim will be dealt with as soon as possible.

As a gesture of goodwill we would like to offer you an Argos/Homebase gift card for 110% of the value of your cash back claim, as an alternative, for customers who currently have an overdue payment.
These gift cards are ready for immediate use and can be used at any Argos or Homebase store and will be issued within 7 days working days.'



The other day I sent 3 emails in one day to which they replied to each one with the same statement above. In the last email I sent to them I just wrote 'you have just sent me the same email again and no I do not want any f***ing argos vouchers' -and yet again they replied with the same statement, suggesting that they didnt even bother to read it! I have ran out of patience with this company! I do believe that they are just trying to prevent people getting their cashback, I mean how can they offer argos vouchers and not cash if they have to process all the claims manually as they say. I will now try threatening with legal action as yellowplum suggests and see what that does.

[cjp26]

Hi All,
** I NOW BELIEVE I WILL NEVER GET MY CASH BACK OWED TO ME - I'M GOING DOWN THE ARGOS VOUCHERS ROUTE TO SEE IF THEY WILL PAY OUT ANYTHING **[/font]

Just thought I'd do a quick update to my post 6 weeks ago. Guess what - I've still not got had any cashback paid. I was told on the phone that my case would be put to the top of the list because it was so overdue. This was just to fob me off for a while.

I doubt that Mobileshop is breaking the law even though it appears that they have no intention of paying out. Someone inside the company needs to blow the whistle or someone outside must prove that they are intentionally withholding funds (very difficult). A long as they pay out the occasional cash back when threatened with legal action they will technically be able carry on with thier excuse.

All I can hope is that anyone thinking of dealing with MobileShop googles 'MobileShop Cashback Complaint' and gets to this forum before signing up.

Chris