[3GScottishUser]

Mobile Dealer chatterbox.co.uk has been struggling to honour cashback deals that they claim 3 UK advised them to offer. 3 gave advice on how to set conditions and terms that would mean the dealer only had to honour 40% of cashback deals. It turns out that after taking the advice 80% met the terms and chatterbox claim 3 UK have made no effort to assist them to honour the deals they encouraged.

Moral of the story is to avoid cashbacks I suppose.

Watchdog appeared on BBC1 17th October 2007

[Hands0n]

Two things spring to mind about this ....

Firstly, Chatterbox deserves all that they got if they really believed that they would only have to honour 40% of the cashback deals. That was just plain ordinary greed and it is so very refreshing to see such a firm get caught out.

Secondly, what on earth were 3 thinking of by making such a suggestion? It was either opportunistic, downright dishonest or a subtle blend of both. Either way, 3 should hang their heads in shame at being implicated like this. Another nail in the reputation of the 3 brand.

It is very sage advice, "Avoid Cashbacks". I have never been a fan of these and have talked people out of these at every opportunity. Of course some have scored well out of it, but plenty more have fared much worse. Cashbacks are like trading on the financial markets - for every winner there is a huge swathe of losers - 40/60 sounds about right.

[3GScottishUser]

Obviously 3 UK had advance knowledge of this report and one can only assume that is why they have recently been proactive in trying to prevent dealers offering cashbacks.

[getti]

I can see this from both sides but must ask... £1.99 a month for a contract?, its the company (chatterbox) who are providing the contract with the deal you get it for this price. The network charges the standard going rate and its the company offering cashback where the problem is.

if they cant afford to offer a cashback service, dont!.

I did think it was funny when the guy showed a letter talking about 3 but had a vodafone k800 on the paper.

My personal opinion is if you want a £15 contract at £1.99 via cashback then the money you get back is the problem and job of the selling company and not the network. if you want to pay the normal price and get the service then its the store/network you can go to

[3GScottishUser]

The letter shown had 3's logo on it and one could clearly see what the text was about.

3 appear to have been caught red handed educating dealers with advice on how to offer cashback schemes that make it difficult for consumers to get their promised money back from.

The Watchdog report was quite specific about the allegations and provided a dealer and his correspondence as evidence. If what they said was wrong I expect to see 3 UK making a complaint and/or taking legal action against the BBC.

[getti]

Just to make it clear to everyone cashback is not ONLY on 3 and Watchdog were talking about ALL the 3rd parties who provide these deals

Watchdog criticises networks
11:50AM Wed 17 October 2007
BBC show Watchdog is expected to weigh into the debate of whether the network or the retailer is responsible for the cashback problems.

The programme airs this evening and the BBC said the show would 'look into why so many mobile phone cashback schemes don't end up being value for money'.

Birmingham Trading Standard's Chris Neville, who will appear on the show, said the investigation would focus most of the blame onto the networks.

He said: 'They know what a cashback deal is and how one is constructed, they know what the business model is, and they know they're not safe. So it's difficult for the networks to say “we're quite happy for you to sell contracts for us on these cashback deals, but when it all goes wrong none of it is our responsibility”.'

Faisal Sheikh of mobile repairs company Fonedoctors said: 'I detest [cashback], but there are dealers who do it fairly and would be penalised if there were a blanket ban.'

[Ben]

Indeed, all the networks are guilty of permitting cashbacks. There's current political movement to try and ban cashbacks, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a dispicable practice.

[gorilla]

I'm not surprised about this. I think 3 have been naive if they were educating chatterbox on how to sell cashback deals. I often wonder if the retailers and the networks would not be better placed to offer better sales packages, which offer better value to the consumer without having to jump through hoops to get cashback.
Those companies who offer cashback need to examine their business model. I mean, honestly, how long can these companies survive?