Cashback schemes

Hi,

I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.

What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.

Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.

Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?

Cheers,

Paul

---

› See More: Cashback schemes

"Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
> Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
> totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
> seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>
> What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
> trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
> myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>
> Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>
> Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
>

Have had two with e2save on Three.

No problems with my cashback, and appart from the Three call center
offering me upgrades etc if I don't cancel, no problems also.

Some people wrote a letter of cancelation to the phone company which avoids
all the sales and retention stuff.

On Mon, 08 May 2006 10:14:57 GMT, "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>
>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
>myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>
>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>
>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul
>

I've only heard of one company going under and folk not getting paid out .I have
just had a deal ended with Dialaphone and they paid out very promptly

Stuart

On Mon, 08 May 2006 10:14:57 GMT, "Mr. Polzek"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>
>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
>myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>
>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>
>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul
>
I also have 2 contracts running - one with O2 (through Mobileshop)
and one with '3' (through Onestopphoneshop).
Onestopphoneshop failed to pay even the promised payment of £35 into
my bank account after 1 month (still hadn't appeared 4 months after)
so I cancelled the direct debit. Received a threatening letter from
'3' and they disconnected the number eventually but have heard no more
from them since.
I am still waiting for my first cashback from Mobileshop, which should
be anytime now ('we aim to process all cashback payment with 45 days
from expiry date of voucher').
All in all, I wouldn't touch cashback deals again.

Maris

"Maris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 08 May 2006 10:14:57 GMT, "Mr. Polzek"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>
>>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
>>myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>>
>>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>
>>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Paul
>>
> I also have 2 contracts running - one with O2 (through Mobileshop)
> and one with '3' (through Onestopphoneshop).
> Onestopphoneshop failed to pay even the promised payment of £35 into
> my bank account after 1 month (still hadn't appeared 4 months after)
> so I cancelled the direct debit.

Really bad move. Your cashback deal/contract is with OSPS, but your airtime
contract is with 3.

> Received a threatening letter from
> '3' and they disconnected the number eventually but have heard no more
> from them since.

You will, and if you ignore that, they'll pass it on to a debt collection
agency and mark your credit record with a default.

> I am still waiting for my first cashback from Mobileshop, which should
> be anytime now ('we aim to process all cashback payment with 45 days
> from expiry date of voucher').
> All in all, I wouldn't touch cashback deals again.

Cashback deals are always a calculated risk. In your case I would have
recommended continuing to pay 3 (after all, they have provided the service
and aren't in breach) and pursued OSPS for any monies owing.

--
<<< Unlock Your Phone's Potential >>>
<<< www.uselessinfo.org.uk >>>
<<< www.thephonelocker.co.uk >>>
<<< www.gsm-solutions.co.uk >>>

Maris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I also have 2 contracts running - one with O2 (through Mobileshop)
> and one with '3' (through Onestopphoneshop).
> Onestopphoneshop failed to pay even the promised payment of £35 into
> my bank account after 1 month (still hadn't appeared 4 months after)
> so I cancelled the direct debit. Received a threatening letter from
> '3' and they disconnected the number eventually but have heard no more
> from them since.
> I am still waiting for my first cashback from Mobileshop, which should
> be anytime now ('we aim to process all cashback payment with 45 days
> from expiry date of voucher').
> All in all, I wouldn't touch cashback deals again.
>
> Maris

Did you send the bill evidence, etc, recorded delivery?

On Mon, 08 May 2006 11:31:31 GMT, "Richard Colton"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Maris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On Mon, 08 May 2006 10:14:57 GMT, "Mr. Polzek"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>>
>>>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
>>>myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>>>
>>>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>>
>>>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>Paul
>>>
>> I also have 2 contracts running - one with O2 (through Mobileshop)
>> and one with '3' (through Onestopphoneshop).
>> Onestopphoneshop failed to pay even the promised payment of £35 into
>> my bank account after 1 month (still hadn't appeared 4 months after)
>> so I cancelled the direct debit.
>
>Really bad move. Your cashback deal/contract is with OSPS, but your airtime
>contract is with 3.
>
>> Received a threatening letter from
>> '3' and they disconnected the number eventually but have heard no more
>> from them since.
>
>You will, and if you ignore that, they'll pass it on to a debt collection
>agency and mark your credit record with a default.
>
>> I am still waiting for my first cashback from Mobileshop, which should
>> be anytime now ('we aim to process all cashback payment with 45 days
>> from expiry date of voucher').
>> All in all, I wouldn't touch cashback deals again.
>
>Cashback deals are always a calculated risk. In your case I would have
>recommended continuing to pay 3 (after all, they have provided the service
>and aren't in breach) and pursued OSPS for any monies owing.
OSPS don't have a good 'press' on this NG. Thus I wouldn't deal with
them. E2save also wasn't so good at one time but it seems people are
getting a better experience now. It can't be in the interests of these
companies to upset customers but some companies just haven't got the
nouse to realise that.
I have had one of my two cashbacks from mobileshop. I will shortly be
looking for a new deal.
Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.

On Mon, 08 May 2006 11:52:42 GMT, "Taylor"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Maris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I also have 2 contracts running - one with O2 (through Mobileshop)
>> and one with '3' (through Onestopphoneshop).
>> Onestopphoneshop failed to pay even the promised payment of £35 into
>> my bank account after 1 month (still hadn't appeared 4 months after)
>> so I cancelled the direct debit. Received a threatening letter from
>> '3' and they disconnected the number eventually but have heard no more
>> from them since.
>> I am still waiting for my first cashback from Mobileshop, which should
>> be anytime now ('we aim to process all cashback payment with 45 days
>> from expiry date of voucher').
>> All in all, I wouldn't touch cashback deals again.
>>
>> Maris
>
>Did you send the bill evidence, etc, recorded delivery?
>
Yes.
The Onestopphoneshop payment was a one-off prior to the cashback
payments. Wrote to them twice complaining and twice received replies
making excuses and that the money would be paid but never was.

Maris

Mr. Polzek wrote:
> Hi,
> ............

> What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
> trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
> myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>
> Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>
> Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul

I must have used about 7 or 8 cashback deals since 6-7 years ago. I
have had a real problem with only one of them in 2001 ('Odyssey' I
think, it was called) going bankrupt, so I didn't get any money. Right
now I have 3 cashback deals at the same time. Two with MobileShop.com
and the other with CarphoneWarehouse. They are both very
professional and I have had No problems at all (all payments so far on
time without any reminders). In fact I would highly recommend them.

(I would only trust MobileShop.com, CarphoneWarehouse and Dialaphone -
for cashback deals)

Malkovitch

"Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
> Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
> totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
> seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>
> What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
> trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
> myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>
> Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>
> Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?

I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
any cashback.

C. Señor wrote:
> "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>
>>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can find
>>myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money back.
>>
>>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>
>>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>
>
> I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
> original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
> goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
> any cashback.
>
>

I would go one step further than that...I believe that cashback schemes
LOSE money unless a certain percentage of customers fail to claim their
money.

Basically, the more stringent the set of terms and conditions, the
higher the percentage of customers that the retailer needs to fail for
their sums to add up.

The biggest gotchas to watch out for are:

(1) short claims windows

(2) claims dependencies (lose one claim and you automatically lose all
subsequent ones as well)

(3) original bills required - if this set "goes missing" in the postal
system you'll have your work cut out for you obtaining replacements from
the network in time.

(4) vouchers required to be submitted along with your claims but the
retailer "forgets" to include them with your handset - many retailer
only give you 7-14 days to notify them of this omission. After this time
they will simply refuse to reissue the vouchers.

The cynic in me suspects that some retailers use the voucher scheme to
manage their failure rates - basically, if they aren't meeting their
failure targets for a particular month they simply increase the number
of purchases where they "forget" to include the necessary vouchers in
the knowledge that a certain percentage of those customers don't realise
until it is too late.

To be perfectly honest, I would dearly love to see retailers move
towards a more honest approach to cashback where the cashback is paid
out automatically after, say, 6 months (the delay being necessary to
allow for the risk of commission clawback from the network to be removed
from the equation). Of course, this would result in a higher overall
cost to the customer as the sums would have to be able to add up on the
basis of a zero failure rate.

cheers,
RM
--
www.reestitmutton.co.uk

Bringing you the best-value mobile phone contract deals in the UK
Presented the way it should be...in plain English

"Reestit Mutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> C. Señor wrote:
>> "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>>
>>>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can
>>>find myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money
>>>back.
>>>
>>>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>>
>>>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>
>>
>> I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
>> original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
>> goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
>> any cashback.
>>
>>
>
> I would go one step further than that...I believe that cashback schemes
> LOSE money unless a certain percentage of customers fail to claim their
> money.
>
> Basically, the more stringent the set of terms and conditions, the higher
> the percentage of customers that the retailer needs to fail for their sums
> to add up.
>
> The biggest gotchas to watch out for are:
>
> (1) short claims windows
>
> (2) claims dependencies (lose one claim and you automatically lose all
> subsequent ones as well)
>
> (3) original bills required - if this set "goes missing" in the postal
> system you'll have your work cut out for you obtaining replacements from
> the network in time.
>
> (4) vouchers required to be submitted along with your claims but the
> retailer "forgets" to include them with your handset - many retailer only
> give you 7-14 days to notify them of this omission. After this time they
> will simply refuse to reissue the vouchers.
>
> The cynic in me suspects that some retailers use the voucher scheme to
> manage their failure rates - basically, if they aren't meeting their
> failure targets for a particular month they simply increase the number of
> purchases where they "forget" to include the necessary vouchers in the
> knowledge that a certain percentage of those customers don't realise until
> it is too late.


Well, as for the first offer they (Mobile Rainbow) say:
16.1 Gifts of cashback and line rental refunds have specific claim periods.

16.2 Line rental refunds, text pack/bundle refunds and cash backs will be
paid in three equal parts; on month four, month eight and month twelve of
your contract. Each claim is initiated by sending us your first four bills
within 28 days of the date of the fourth bill and the next four bills within
28 days of the date of your eighth bill and last four bills within 28 days
of the bill date of the twelfth bill . Acceptance of claims for the second
and third instalment will depend on acceptance of all previous claims. Bills
received after the period specified will not qualify for line rental refunds
or cash backs. Bills must show no outstanding money from previous bills and
also show no tariff changes. Only Original copies of your bills will be
accepted. Please take copies before you send these bills to us as we will
not be able to return them. We strongly advise you to send your bills by
recorded delivery.



so no vouchers needed.

As for the other one (Buy Mobile Phones) , they said in the middle of
February they'd send vouchers in the next 30 days. Nothing received so far.
Just dropped them an email.

We'll see what happens.

Have anyone got any experience with these shops?



Cheers,



Paul

I would check up to see if either of these companies have any tie-up
with Carphonewarehouse. If so, start worrying.

Maris


On Tue, 09 May 2006 15:25:30 GMT, "Mr. Polzek"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Reestit Mutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> C. Señor wrote:
>>> "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi,
>>>>
>>>>I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>>>Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>>>totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>>>seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>>>
>>>>What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>>>trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can
>>>>find myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money
>>>>back.
>>>>
>>>>Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>>>
>>>>Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>>
>>>
>>> I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
>>> original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
>>> goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
>>> any cashback.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I would go one step further than that...I believe that cashback schemes
>> LOSE money unless a certain percentage of customers fail to claim their
>> money.
>>
>> Basically, the more stringent the set of terms and conditions, the higher
>> the percentage of customers that the retailer needs to fail for their sums
>> to add up.
>>
>> The biggest gotchas to watch out for are:
>>
>> (1) short claims windows
>>
>> (2) claims dependencies (lose one claim and you automatically lose all
>> subsequent ones as well)
>>
>> (3) original bills required - if this set "goes missing" in the postal
>> system you'll have your work cut out for you obtaining replacements from
>> the network in time.
>>
>> (4) vouchers required to be submitted along with your claims but the
>> retailer "forgets" to include them with your handset - many retailer only
>> give you 7-14 days to notify them of this omission. After this time they
>> will simply refuse to reissue the vouchers.
>>
>> The cynic in me suspects that some retailers use the voucher scheme to
>> manage their failure rates - basically, if they aren't meeting their
>> failure targets for a particular month they simply increase the number of
>> purchases where they "forget" to include the necessary vouchers in the
>> knowledge that a certain percentage of those customers don't realise until
>> it is too late.
>
>
>Well, as for the first offer they (Mobile Rainbow) say:
>16.1 Gifts of cashback and line rental refunds have specific claim periods.
>
>16.2 Line rental refunds, text pack/bundle refunds and cash backs will be
>paid in three equal parts; on month four, month eight and month twelve of
>your contract. Each claim is initiated by sending us your first four bills
>within 28 days of the date of the fourth bill and the next four bills within
>28 days of the date of your eighth bill and last four bills within 28 days
>of the bill date of the twelfth bill . Acceptance of claims for the second
>and third instalment will depend on acceptance of all previous claims. Bills
>received after the period specified will not qualify for line rental refunds
>or cash backs. Bills must show no outstanding money from previous bills and
>also show no tariff changes. Only Original copies of your bills will be
>accepted. Please take copies before you send these bills to us as we will
>not be able to return them. We strongly advise you to send your bills by
>recorded delivery.
>
>
>
>so no vouchers needed.
>
>As for the other one (Buy Mobile Phones) , they said in the middle of
>February they'd send vouchers in the next 30 days. Nothing received so far.
>Just dropped them an email.
>
>We'll see what happens.
>
>Have anyone got any experience with these shops?
>
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
>Paul
>
>
>

Mr. Polzek wrote:
> "Reestit Mutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> C. Señor wrote:
>>> "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>>> Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>>> totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>>> seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>>>
>>>> What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>>> trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can
>>>> find myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money
>>>> back.
>>>>
>>>> Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>>>
>>>> Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>>
>>> I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
>>> original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
>>> goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
>>> any cashback.
>>>
>>>
>> I would go one step further than that...I believe that cashback schemes
>> LOSE money unless a certain percentage of customers fail to claim their
>> money.
>>
>> Basically, the more stringent the set of terms and conditions, the higher
>> the percentage of customers that the retailer needs to fail for their sums
>> to add up.
>>
>> The biggest gotchas to watch out for are:
>>
>> (1) short claims windows
>>
>> (2) claims dependencies (lose one claim and you automatically lose all
>> subsequent ones as well)
>>
>> (3) original bills required - if this set "goes missing" in the postal
>> system you'll have your work cut out for you obtaining replacements from
>> the network in time.
>>
>> (4) vouchers required to be submitted along with your claims but the
>> retailer "forgets" to include them with your handset - many retailer only
>> give you 7-14 days to notify them of this omission. After this time they
>> will simply refuse to reissue the vouchers.
>>
>> The cynic in me suspects that some retailers use the voucher scheme to
>> manage their failure rates - basically, if they aren't meeting their
>> failure targets for a particular month they simply increase the number of
>> purchases where they "forget" to include the necessary vouchers in the
>> knowledge that a certain percentage of those customers don't realise until
>> it is too late.
>
>
> Well, as for the first offer they (Mobile Rainbow) say:
> 16.1 Gifts of cashback and line rental refunds have specific claim periods.
>
> 16.2 Line rental refunds, text pack/bundle refunds and cash backs will be
> paid in three equal parts; on month four, month eight and month twelve of
> your contract. Each claim is initiated by sending us your first four bills
> within 28 days of the date of the fourth bill and the next four bills within
> 28 days of the date of your eighth bill and last four bills within 28 days
> of the bill date of the twelfth bill . Acceptance of claims for the second
> and third instalment will depend on acceptance of all previous claims. Bills
> received after the period specified will not qualify for line rental refunds
> or cash backs. Bills must show no outstanding money from previous bills and
> also show no tariff changes. Only Original copies of your bills will be
> accepted. Please take copies before you send these bills to us as we will
> not be able to return them. We strongly advise you to send your bills by
> recorded delivery.
>
>
>
> so no vouchers needed.

And they require original phone bills which they will never return (not
good for making expense claims for work, or even tax returns). Plus,
they can then lose the paperwork and refuse to honour the claim when you
send your copy in later. Then, once they've refused your first claim at
4 months, they automatically refuse all subsequent claims at 8 and 12
months.

With these conditions, I'd certainly not use them.

D

On Wed, 10 May 2006 11:15:56 +0100, David Hearn <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Mr. Polzek wrote:
>> "Reestit Mutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> C. Señor wrote:
>>>> "Mr. Polzek" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have recently bought two mobiles on contract, one from O2 and one from
>>>>> Three. Both contracts are offered with a cashback scheme, the first one
>>>>> totaling £0 per one year line rental, and the other one £45. Everything
>>>>> seems fine, I will send the 4th invoice for cashback in a month.
>>>>>
>>>>> What worries me is that sombody said, actually a pushy telesales person
>>>>> trying to sell me more phones, obviously with worse offers than I can
>>>>> find myself, that cashback schemes are a hoax and I won't get any money
>>>>> back.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is that true? This cashbacks are offered not by networks, but by shops.
>>>>>
>>>>> Did anyone of you have problems with cashbacks?
>>>>
>>>> I think Cashback schemes make money on careless people. If you lose your
>>>> original receipt, lose a bill, lose the vouchers, etc. they can wave
>>>> goodbye to their cashback and the phone company will refuse to give you
>>>> any cashback.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I would go one step further than that...I believe that cashback schemes
>>> LOSE money unless a certain percentage of customers fail to claim their
>>> money.
>>>
>>> Basically, the more stringent the set of terms and conditions, the higher
>>> the percentage of customers that the retailer needs to fail for their sums
>>> to add up.
>>>
>>> The biggest gotchas to watch out for are:
>>>
>>> (1) short claims windows
>>>
>>> (2) claims dependencies (lose one claim and you automatically lose all
>>> subsequent ones as well)
>>>
>>> (3) original bills required - if this set "goes missing" in the postal
>>> system you'll have your work cut out for you obtaining replacements from
>>> the network in time.
>>>
>>> (4) vouchers required to be submitted along with your claims but the
>>> retailer "forgets" to include them with your handset - many retailer only
>>> give you 7-14 days to notify them of this omission. After this time they
>>> will simply refuse to reissue the vouchers.
>>>
>>> The cynic in me suspects that some retailers use the voucher scheme to
>>> manage their failure rates - basically, if they aren't meeting their
>>> failure targets for a particular month they simply increase the number of
>>> purchases where they "forget" to include the necessary vouchers in the
>>> knowledge that a certain percentage of those customers don't realise until
>>> it is too late.
>>
>>
>> Well, as for the first offer they (Mobile Rainbow) say:
>> 16.1 Gifts of cashback and line rental refunds have specific claim periods.
>>
>> 16.2 Line rental refunds, text pack/bundle refunds and cash backs will be
>> paid in three equal parts; on month four, month eight and month twelve of
>> your contract. Each claim is initiated by sending us your first four bills
>> within 28 days of the date of the fourth bill and the next four bills within
>> 28 days of the date of your eighth bill and last four bills within 28 days
>> of the bill date of the twelfth bill . Acceptance of claims for the second
>> and third instalment will depend on acceptance of all previous claims. Bills
>> received after the period specified will not qualify for line rental refunds
>> or cash backs. Bills must show no outstanding money from previous bills and
>> also show no tariff changes. Only Original copies of your bills will be
>> accepted. Please take copies before you send these bills to us as we will
>> not be able to return them. We strongly advise you to send your bills by
>> recorded delivery.
>>
>>
>>
>> so no vouchers needed.
>
>And they require original phone bills which they will never return (not
>good for making expense claims for work, or even tax returns). Plus,
>they can then lose the paperwork and refuse to honour the claim when you
>send your copy in later. Then, once they've refused your first claim at
>4 months, they automatically refuse all subsequent claims at 8 and 12
>months.
>
>With these conditions, I'd certainly not use them.
>
>D

I'm not sure if you are referring to a specific company but Mobileshop.com only
want copies of bills and not originals .

Stuart