I am a customer who has been affected by the cashback problems and think it is time to take action into our own hands. I recon we should put pressure on Ofcom and the operators by organising a protest outside their offices. Hopefully we might get some media coverage and someone to speak to us. I think this should be done before christmas to enable us to get our cashback as soon as possible. 

By the number of viewings already there must be some interest. I will come back with details shortly, but was thinking in the 1st 2 weeks of December!

Please let me know if you would be willing to take part!

Useless - sorry - protests about going to war in Iraq made no difference so how much notice do you think that the OFCOM quango will take in this campaign? OFCOM couldn't give a turkey. It is up to all of us to boycott high street resellers of mobile 'phone equipment. That is the only way you will stop this iniquitous trade once and for all. Stop buying from the High Street and buy directly from the network - end of problem and end of useless contracts that simply don't work.

SHARK! 

---

For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

That is what the network at trying to do, by putting the retailers out of business and increasing their margins so you will be helping them get what they want. I just think the negative publisity that the newtorks would get from the protest may forse them to sort out the problem with the retailers.

 It was the network who encouraged the cashback model done by some of the retailer. One retailer I spoke to said he was encouraged to use a 40% by 3. When it went wrong 3 just said its not their problem.

 The publicity would be very bad for their brand. I have 1 or 2 journalists following this story.

Your arguments are falling apart. Cashbacks are RESELLER marketing issues and have NOTHING to do with the networks. The networks are only interested in selling airtime, how that is done is up to the reseller so how '3' could encourage such action is a little laughable to say the least.

What is needed is for the networks to take control over their sales channels and to take responsibility for the sales tactics that are adopted. CASHBACK is a useless discount system that can only work if less than half of the cashback sales actually are successful in getting their cashback claims. This is basically fraudulent selling and as such is the total responsibility of the reseller, NOT the network. As such, your protest would be better placed outside the Office of Fair Trading or Trading Standards. OFCOM will simply say that the networks have not done anything wrong - after all, how many NETWORKS are selling cashback schemes? Answer: NONE.

Publicity has been given time and time again, but you have to go to the very top to see why nothing ever gets done. If HMRC can get away with loosing 25 million private records that could cost BILLIONS, then you can see how much attention the suckers who got roped into cashback deals will get. We've been campaigning on this forum for nearly a year and still we get thread after thread after thread about people who get suckered in each time. Good luck, but you need to plan this more thorougly and not get 1 or 2 journalists but get the main papers involved and that takes a lot of media heavyweights to persuade. Bear in mind that the fuel protests are also gaining ground and that affects EVERYONE and as such will be more likely to command media attention.

SHARK! 

---

For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

You should read the mirror article by Nic Summerlad (in the mirror under investigates) and see that the networks have promoted this model, and this was also shown on watchdog.

Also why do you think that an MP called for a meeting with all the operators on Tuesday if  they aren't to blame!

You knew you were taking a gamble. You knew it was dodgy. Yet you went ahead with it. You lost and got burned. Tough. If you can't stand the heat...

(If by any chance you genuinely did not know this was a corrupt scheme, then you have cause for complaint. But your complaint is with the Health Service for letting a naif back in to the community too early.)

shiverkitten and landshark

why are you trying to derail the process. are you employed by these operators or do you own their shares.

or are you good at the keyboard and naive about the world of business.

andrew has very valid points.

these resellers were in fact agents for the networks. the networks are under an obligation to fulfill their(agents) contracts.

andrew also think along the lines of making the operators responsible for the action of the chain. this way all the muck will be weeded out and there will be responsibility.

I am not saying that the resellers and networks are not to blame. What I am saying is that the customers are not not to blame either. All three parties are thieves and crooks. Any adult who takes out a cashback offer is knowingly and willingly participating in an attempt to steal (or at least scam) money from subsequent customers. They must know this. You can not seriously suggest that they do not understand that simple fact?

I want to condemn all three parties in this sharp practice. Andrew and sb, you are trying to single out only two of the guilty parties.

shiverkitten,

just say you don't know what you are talking about. if i were the judge or the arbitrator, i would honestly either throw you out of court or strike your illogical tripe.

how were we to know that we were party to a scam. the words in the offer and contract were in black and white. where did you get the grey from.

also in this trio which you are now trying to suggest 2 are experts and professionals and corporates, the losers are the laymen/women who know nothing about the world of mobile business.

hey hang on you are exploring lines of possibilities for your masters.

sb,

What utter rot. You are obfuscating criminal* responsibility with a general civil* duty of behaving in an honest fashion. Yes, the customers are not criminally* legally liable if they sign up to a dodgy scheme. That does not mean they do not have a moral duty to behave in a decent manner. If you saw the contract in black and white you knew it was impossible. You knew the business would go bankrupt if they honoured the claims. You deliberately hoped you could pocket some filthy money grubbed from other greedy mugs who signed up to the fraud after you. It turns out you are one of the subsequent mugs. Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Diddums.


*(Since you made some irrelevant comments about judges and court, I should point out I am writing in English, not legalese. No silly retorts about incorrect jurisdiction permitted.)

shiver,

how did i know it was impossible. am i privy to their contract(airtimer and provider). see don't confuse yourself.

anyways there is someone who has more brain cells than you do, obviously, read on. this is from another board.

 

The following press release has just been made by MP Roger Godsiff, with regard to his meeting with the networks last Tuesday, and his recomendations.. This has just been sent to the founder of the Independant Mobile Phone Dealers Association, and he has given me permission to post this.


Roger Godsiff has pledged to continue the fight on behalf of the victims of Dial a Mobile cashback deals following a meeting with the 'Big Five' airtime providers.

Dial a Mobile, the Bordesley Green retailer, went into administration recently owing £12million in cashbacks. Many of its customers affected, estimated to be about 90,000, live in Birmingham. Another retailer also went into administration recently, with estimated debts of between £4million and £10million.

Speaking after the meeting with the airtime providers- Orange, 3, 02, Vodafone and T-Mobile - Roger said "The airtime providers, whatever they might say, are complicit in the collapse of Dial a Mobile and there is mounting proof that in order to get a steady stream of new connections they were prepared to tolerate retailers operating unsustainable cashback schemes which would lead to insolvency if more than 40% of customers applied for their cashbacks. Ofcom, the industry regulator, must outlaw these cashback schemes because they are nothing more than 'scams' and when the retailer goes bust and cannot pay the cash back the airtime providers are still sitting on highly lucrative contacts and are pursuing customers through the Courts to pay-up the contracts!"

"I believe that, providing customers return the phones they were given, the airtime providers should tear up the contracts because many people were misled into signing them and were promised cashback money which they have never received."End.PS. not pursuing the airtime providers to pay the cashbacks to the customers is what politics is all about. they can just walk away with cancelled contracts.

Dear shiverkitten

 

It is very sad to witness someone who gives every sign of being very unhappy with her lot in life trying to seek partial redress by posting frequently venomous and inaccurate threads on this Forum which are on many occasions personal attacks as well. On this posting the main thrust of your contributions is nonsensical.

Re: sb's P.S.

Why (morally, not legally) should honest, sensible customers who sign up to transparent sustainable deals have to pay you your cashback?