[AlexD]

Hi,

Can anyone give me some free advice?

Dial-a-phone had an offer for a rent-free Vodafone which I got, along with two friends/family members.

The offer was stated as a 12 month contract.
At months 4, 8 and 12 you send your latest bill to Dial-a-phone who then instruct Vodafone to credit your account with 4 months line rental, so in effect you get the phone rent free for 12 months.

Great, we all thought.

Well, it turns out that you have to keep to keep your contract active to get a rebate added to your account, which can take up to three months from when you send your bill in to Dial-a-phone.

This means you have to have a 15 month contract, not 12 as stated in the offer.

I wrote to dial-a-phone who basically replied "Tough, we don't care".

Have dial-a-phone broken any trading laws?

At the very least it was extremely misleading.

[makavelianz]

i think you can cacel on the 11th month by phoninh you contacrt provider which ever the network that maybe this applies if it follows the rules of 30 day cacelation natice then you should be okay,, and send the 12th bill that you get to e2save

If the contract clearly states that you have to keep the phone connected upto and including the time you are sent the final rebate, then I don't think there has been any trading laws broken, especially if it also states that you may have to wait upto 3 months from submission to be provided with that rebate.

These cashback deals work on the basis that most customers will fail to follow the terms & conditions and so not receive a rebate. However, if you follow all the T&Cs to the letter, the retailer must supply the rebate.

[AlexD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawson

If the contract clearly states that you have to keep the phone connected upto and including the time you are sent the final rebate, then I don't think there has been any trading laws broken, especially if it also states that you may have to wait upto 3 months from submission to be provided with that rebate.

These cashback deals work on the basis that most customers will fail to follow the terms & conditions and so not receive a rebate. However, if you follow all the T&Cs to the letter, the retailer must supply the rebate.

The problem is that contract DID NOT clearly state "that you have to keep the phone connected upto and including the time you are sent the final rebate".

The terms and conditions stated that it was a 12 month contract - I read them thoroughly!

I think you need to distiguish between the contract with the network supplier and the T&Cs of the cashback promotion by P4U.

I guess the contract was a 12 month contract with the network supplier.

What were the terms & conditions of the cashback being offered by P4U? If there was nothing in there about remaining under contract to the network supplier, you could cancel the contract at any time (yes, even before 12 months) and still claim your cashback, so I am certain they would have a term covering this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexD

Well, it turns out that you have to keep to keep your contract active to get a rebate added to your account, which can take up to three months from when you send your bill in to Dial-a-phone.

Where did this term come from? P4U cannot make it up after the event; you must be told this before agreeing to the contract for it to be valid.

[coopermanyorks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexD

which can take up to three months from when you send your bill in to Dial-a-phone.

Dial a phone are very quick on processing refunds I have found, I have sent my wifes Three phone bill a week ago for her refund , I received an e mail (within 3 days of sending the bill )confirming the refund will be back in the bank within 14 days .


Are you not getting confused with the 3 months from bill date that you get to claim a refund on certain tariffs ?

For example my sons has a D500 on 02 through D .A .P and his refund voucher letter gives a specific date to claim his( 7th Dec bill ) refund but he only gets 30 days to claim it where my wife as a Three phone through D A P and her voucher refund says send it along with either the 3 , 6 , 9 , 12 month bill but she gets 3 months to present it to D A P from the bill date.

Its a case of reading the small print and then




















read it again

I notice that Vodafone is no longer mentioned on D A P's website as a supplier....

[AlexD]

Unfortunately Dial-a-phone did not mention anywhere you have to remain connected after 12 months to receive your cashback.

I have had three cashback phones with dialaphone prior to this one, and they have always refunded the cash into my bank account, so having to wait a few months wasn't a problem with cancelling the phone at month 12.

With this offer however the credit is made directly to the phone account through Vodafone.

This was not stated anywhere before I ordered.

Why did I think this thread was about P4U?
(probably because they are just as bad )


Anyway, you say you were not aware of DAP were going to credit your Vodafone account. What exactly did they originally offer? Cashback (usually by cheque)? If so that is what you are entitled to.

Offering to credit your Vodafone account is certainly not the same as rent-free, more like a BOGOF deal on rental.
If Vodafone are as bad as O2, getting hard cash back from an account in credit would be a nightmare.

Edit: Just looked at the DAP website re half price line rental deals. They don't do Vodafone now but looking at T-mobile offers they are refunded direct to your bank account.
However, looking at O2 offers, they are applied as a credit to the O2 airtime account.
(at least that seemed the case with the 2 separate deals I looked at)

[Simonuk]

I had alot of trouble with Dial a phone not coughing up. I had to claim at 3 months,6months and 12 months, So I sent all away at the 3rd month, a month later I asked where was my money. Oh we sent it to your bank account.. No you didn't.. Yes we did can you send us in a statement to prove you didnt receive. So I did. 1 month later still nothing, I phoned them again "Oh you were definately paid" "No I wasn't" "Well as far as we are concerned you got paid" By this stage my next claim was due so sent all away again,8 months into the contract still no money nor herd nothing from Dial a phone. Luckly there was a clause in 3's contract and I got out early but never again will I use them lieing prats at Dial a phone

[lalaland]

I've had troubles with DAP in the past and would advise anyone that I know not to use them.

This just seems like yet another issue...