New policy for claiming cashback on THREE. Please Read.

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The THREE network, quite correctly have anounced a new policy for rectifying Cashback disputes that you may have with any company that are refusing to pay your claim, and could help weed out a lot of dodgy terms and conditions, and bring back some credibility to the network.

So if you have any queries and have not received satisfaction from the company you have purchased from call THREE customer services and after a month or so, you should get your money direct from them.

We have also been told that the money will be clawed back from the dealers distirbutor first, so it is in their interests that the dealer is abiding by THREE's terms and conditions, and not their own made up non-approved terms and conditions.

Hope this helps you.

Below is a report in our trade Magazine dated 18th June 07.

Dealers selling 3 who do not resolve cashback issues within two weeks of a customer's complaint will receive a clawback on the commission from the network.

The network has introduced a new system for cashback, which sees 3 paying the customer their cashback directly.

The network will gather together cashback complaints each week and review them every Monday. The 3 Cashback Resolution department will call each retailer involved and provide them with details of any complaints and give them two weeks to resolve outstanding matters with their customers.

The new procedure states: 'If the cashback issue is not resolved by the retailer within the two-week period and 3 claws back the commission, 3 will then pay the customer their cashback directly. For this reason, following the clawback by 3, no commission will be repaid. It is the retailer's responsibility to respond to 3 on their individual queries.'

Dealers must provide details of the amount of the cashback paid to each customer and the date of each transaction. 3 will then review the information.

It is possible to dispute the customer's cashback claims with 3; however, the network may not accept the reason. If 3 finds the dealer's reasons to be unacceptable, it will automatically clawback the full commission.

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I spoke to my Dealer Manager a couple of weeks ago, and she said that if a company offers a cashback deal, as long as the customer has paid up to date on their airtime bills there should be no reason not to get your cashback.

You should be given 90 days to claim your cashback, and this should be paid withing 14 days.

I will get there guidelines tomorrow and post them on here.

Therefore whatever the dealers T's & C's are, they have to be within THREE's guidlines, otherwise THREE will pay the cashback and claim back from the Dealer/Distributor.

That is one of the arguments we have at the moment, as companies such as the larger retailers, mail order companies still advertise terms and conditions that are not within these guidelines and seem to get away with it.

If you purchase a phone connected to THREE, print off a copy of the offer, Keep all paperwork in a folder, and pay your bills. You should get your money back one way or another.

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Unfortunately this does take out a lot of creativity the dealer channel could enjoy (when not creating fake cashback offers). 3UK's initiative is pretty good, but with indy dealers being controlled in this way - and the fact T-Mobile is going down the route of only offering connections directly, the marketplace is going to suffer.

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THREE's Cashback Guidlines dated: October 2006


Cashback Minimum Business Standards – 13 October 2006

Due to the increasing amount of customer queries into the contact centre and non-compliance with the previous minimum standards issued in relation to cashback schemes, we have revised our minimum business standards for all sales channels running customer “cashback” offers.

We have also now determined that some 3Sellers are imposing restrictions that we consider would result in a breach of the Consumer Protection Act. We will consider attempts to enforce the “Prohibited Terms” below as a breach of the law and also a breach of your agreement with H3G. In most cases, cashback offers claim that customers will receive a benefit of half price line rental (or some other benefit) but then impose unreasonably onerous conditions which have the result of denying customers the benefit advertised. This is a breach of the law and a breach of your agreement with H3G.

The minimum business standards below are terms we consider appropriate to ensure customers can legitimately claim their entitlement to advertised cashback offers and compliance will be monitored on a regular basis

Prohibited Terms

H3G considers the following terms of a cashback offer to be unduly onerous and contrary to the claims made by 3Sellers when advertising cashback offers

1. A term stating that a cashback payment will not be made if the customer has an outstanding balance on their account. However, it is not prohibited to withhold a cashback payment if the customer account has at the time of redemption gone into payment default or “collections”.

2. A term that requires a customer to send original bills. Customers are entitled to retain their original bills and copies of bills should be acceptable proof

3. A term that charges a fee to a customer for processing a cashback claim

4. An unreasonably short period (e.g. 28 days) from receipt of the relevant bill in which the customer may make a claim. Customers should be given a reasonable period of time in which to redeem the advertised offer and we consider 90 days is the shortest period that would be reasonable

Such terms must no longer be enforced against 3’s customers and must immediately be removed from cashback terms and conditions. Use or enforcement of these terms will be considered a breach of consumer law and a breach of your agreement with H3G.[/

Minimum Business Standards Required

All sales channels running cashback offers

1. MUST ensure that all advertising and marketing materials containing a cashback offer make the following CLEAR to customer in the body of that advertisement (not in the super

a. differentiates between the offer from 3 and the 3Seller’s own cashback offer. This means that the cashback offer and any half price line rental offer from 3 must be advertised as two separate offers and not combined into one half price line rental offer; and

b. the offer is by way of cashback redemption; and

c. the offer is from the 3Seller and is NOT an offer from or made on behalf of 3; and 2. MUST, before they process the order/sale, inform the customer of: (a) points 1(b) and (c) above; and (b)that the offer is a cashback redemption offer and credits will not appear on their bill but must be claimed back from the 3Seller in accordance with the terms of the cashback redemption offer. In addition, if the sale/order is taken via telephone, the 3Seller MUST also verbally inform the customer of the key details of the cashback redemption criteria before they proceed with the order/sale; and 3. MUST provide customers with full details of the cashback redemption criteria before they proceed with the order/sale through at least one of the following media§ In-store collateral

• • • Leaflet,
    • Welcome Pack
    • WebsiteE-mail.

The 3Seller shall, upon request by H3G, provide copies to H3G of the cashback redemption criteria which they supply to customers; and 4. MUST provide customers with a customer care telephone number.

• • • This number MUST be active, and This line should be open and available (and adequately staffed) to receive calls from Monday-Friday: 10am -5pm
    • This number must be made available to H3G upon request; and

5. MUST provide details of lead times for processing cash back claims to customers in at least one of the media listed in paragraph 3 above. The lead times MUST not exceed 5 working days from receipt of the claim; and 6. MUST publish details (to be made available to customers in at least one of the media listed in paragraph 3 above) of the escalation path for complaints and queries with regards to cash back claims and must provide a copy of the escalation path to H3G; and 7. MUST ensure that they comply with all their legal obligations (including those relating to advertising & marketing to customers, sales to customers, customer collateral (including the media listed in paragraph 3 above), sale of goods and, where applicable, distance selling or doorstep selling legal obligations). If the 3Seller is in any doubt about what its legal obligations are, it should seek independent legal advice or contact its local trading standards department or, for information on consumer rights, refer to www.consumerdirect.gov.uk. In addition the Department of Trade and Industry publishes a guide for business on the Distance Selling Regulations which is available at Welcome to the Department of Trade & Industry Website.[/font]