Just to add my own experiences in defence of Carphone Warehouse and e2save: my wife took out chequeback contracts with both companies last year to get phones for our daughters. She sent copies of the requested bills by recorded delivery to the relevant company on the day that the bills were received; in every case, she received a text message within 8 days confirming receipt of the claim and the cheque arrived within 3 weeks each time. The net result was 2 completely free phones and all the calls and texts for the kids free for a year; I don't think you can get deals like that off the high street. The small amount of organisation and effort is definitely worth it.

My wife received paperwork with each of the phones which made it quite clear which bills were required and there was never a problem with receiving the cheques. If you are having problems, check carefully with your paperwork that you are sending the correct bill within the correct timeframe; if you are still not sure, phone the company well beforehand eg as soon as you receive your first bill, quote the date on it and confirm the bills they will require in the future. They will be able to confirm well in advance, for example "your bills dated 9 Jun, 9 Oct and 9 Feb", so you can definitely send in the correct ones when they arrive. From talking to friends, those in the minority who have had problems with cashback have, on closer investigation, failed to return the correct bill or returned it far too late. I think you will find that if you read your paperwork and do everything correctly, then you shouldn't have any problems - at least with CPW and e2save.

Incidentally, if you need to call these companies and you are on an all-inclusive package with your landline provider, don't waste money calling the 0845 or 0870 number they give you; go to www.saynoto0870.com (the last four digits are zero 8 7 zero, not "ohs"). Here you can enter the 0845 or 0870 number or the company name and get a normal geographical number which you can then call for free from your landline. It's a great site and you can get geographical numbers for most companies that give out 0845/0870 numbers.

Have a good one.

Hi there



Did you have any luck with the court judgement. I too have had trouble we sent a letter recorded delivery and in the meantime they moved addresses. When we sent in all the proof they just ignored our letter. So I am intrigued to fine out how you have faired.

Regards

Shelly

Hi Fila,

My mother got the same problem with phonebox direct, they cancelled her submitted claim and also automatically cancelled her remaining claims( total amount of £420-00).Nothing is clear in there terms and conditions and also nothing is mentioned about the cancellation of whole claim process specially. Anyway we contacted our local trading standards organisation and they suggested us to send them a formal letter with a notice of 14 days time period after that we are eligible to take the company into small claims court.There is still 10 days left.

So, its better to write them a letter with 14 days notice and after that if they are not interested to resolve the matter then contact your local trading standards organisation, they are providing help free of cost.

Cheers

Sukh

We contacted consumer advice direct who reported them to trading standards for us. I wrote them a letter with 7 days to get the money to us or a valid reason before we go to the small claims court which is Monday. I got told over 2 weeks ago it would be dealt with urgently and sent out the same day, then it was within 7 days and then 14 days and that's passed now. Overall it's been over 3 months and for us it's £140 for each claim.

I haven't managed to get a copy of their complaints procedure despite asking/emailing four different people, but after a month I managed to get a response from my complaint letter although it did seem to ignore everythin I'd put and just said we're dealing with it and sorry for the inconvenience!

hiya sukh

i am going to try that then. i will write them a letter giving them a deadline to respond. at least you've given it a try. please let me know how it goes.

on another matter, i also had a contract with onestopphoneshop. it got to the time when i had to send my final bill which was the 12th month, which i did by recorded delivery. a couple of weeks later i got a reply saying that i had sent it in too early and i couldn't understand what they meant because i had carefully counted the correct bill to send. when i phoned them they said that they had received it before the date they wanted the bill. the date they stamped on receipt was 12th march and they said it should not arrive before 18th march. can you believe that!!! in other words i had to send exactly the same paperwork again!!!!

everyone be careful of this

fila

Hi fila,

Thx, I am still waiting for their reply because deadline is not over yet, anyway i will inform whatsoever the outcoming. In the meantime just planning to contact press media about this serious issue.

I posted on here at the beginning of March because I was worried that I was never going to get my cheque back through Carphone Warehouse. It eventually turned up on Saturday. They held on to it for just about the longest possible time but at least I got it in the end. I didn't do recorded delivery, just followed the instructions. I phoned them a couple of times, I think if they know you are not going to forget it they pay up.

You're lucky we've been waiting 4 months now and have phoned once a week since January, have sent two letter and a few emails and still nothing. We were promised it'd be here today and have just written them the letter telling them we are taking them to court over it (£136 every 3 months is not something I'm going to forget about!) Just got to fill out the online form for the small claims court!

New to the forum but have been constantly reading this as I have been having my own disagreement with E2SAVE.com (and Carphone Warehouse). I have been waiting for over 7 months now for my first chequeback to arrive and have had it cancelled and reissued over 4 times now. My second chequeback arrived within a week strangely. I have followed all correct procedures and they have admitted as such verbally, in writing and on my account records (available from Carphone Warehouse outlets, but costing £10 from E2SAVE).

After a 5 and a half month gap, I wrote stating my complaint and detailing all telephone correspondance. I sent this to the Complaints Department at E2SAVE, Andrew Heddle (MD at E2SAVE) and Charles Dunstone (CEO at Carphone Warehouse). Check your spelling of Charles Dunstone please!!! Response was that it was a FREE GIFT and that there was nothing they could do and I would have to wait 14 days as another cheque had been issued. It didn't arrive so I wrote confirming that if I didn't recieve my cheque within a further 14 days including compensation (calls made to them - with accompanying evidence from bills; recorded deliveries of letters, effort, time, and interest lost on monies owed), I would take them to Small Claims Court. Acknowledgement but no solution offered.

This final deadline passed and I sent in all documentation to Small Claims - copies of all letters sent to them and their replies to me, contract online and sent to me etc. I recieved confirmation that the court proceedings had been sent to them a few days after. That same day a cheque arrived from Charles Dunstone at Carphone Warehouse. I sent it back to him directly claiming that as it was after the final deadline and did not include compensation and/or court costs, it was effectively worthless. I await their response to the Court Claim.

Since Carphone Warehouse are a PLC, I am led to believe that they cannot go to court over something like this and they will have to settle out of court. Unlike other people who have written on this page, I WILL post my results.  

If anybody is having trouble with CPW/E2Save/CoolNewMobile please email your details to me and I will take up issues direct with them on your behalf. I have managed to resolve a number of issues for people in the last couple of months and they have received their money. If the claims are justified and processes have been followed, there is no excuse for these retailers to withold your money! Please outline your issue (briefly!) and your mobile number and contact details...

Mail  rob.barnes AT moneysupermarket.com

I cannot promise resolution in all cases but I have good links with these businesses and I will try

regards

Rob

---

Rob Barnes

Head of Broadband & Mobile

moneysupermarket.com

To anyone considering legal action after non-payment of cashback cheques from CPW, I would recommend that you go for it using Money Claim Online www.moneyclaim.gov.uk. 

I claimed successfully about 6 months ago.  They owed me £90 and I ended up getting about £200 because I claimed for compensation as well based on the amount of my time that they had wasted chasing the cheque.  A case was lodged in the small claims court, they initially disputed all costs and then just before the court hearing they pulled out and sent me a cheque for the full claim amount. 

One thing that may have worked in my favour was that after the case was lodged they sent me the £90 cheque and I claimed that this was them admitting they were liable for the whole claim. They clearly purposely ignore many cashback applications in the hope that people will just give up.  For this reason always use recorded delivery. 

Hope this helps.

Sean

Replying to my own message of 16 Feb 07 just to let you all know the outcome of my experience with CPW.

 
I finally got the money for my first claim; it only took 9 months of phone calls, letters etc

The cheque for my second claim came only 15 days after I sent in the claim form and and having it confirmed by CPW.

One more claim to go... but I still won't use CPW ever again.
 

RMR 

 

I have a contract with the carphone warehouse and fortunatly i havent had any problems receiving my cashback. I got the phone in August 06 and subsequently sent back my November bill and my March bill. I sent back the most recent bill around the middle of April and i got my chequeback within 10 days which i just cashed in last week. I sent the first one recorded delivery but i only sent the 2nd one first class, i still received my voucher though.

I think it tends to be hit and miss, follow all the information they ask you to give when claiming  down to a t and you should be fine.

 Regards

---

Lucy

What has happened AndyP with this?

Hi

The latest update is that I have written several letters now demanding payment.

I have stated that I consider the contract unlawfully restrictive.

I have also been given conflicting information by CFW. One department has told me that I can make my claim at any time during the contract, and another dept tells me that my claim must be received by a certain date.

I even went into my local CFW shop and the manager of the store said that I can make a claim at any time, I proceeded to look through the literature that he had just handed me, and it clearly stated that there was a time limit for a claim...I confronted him with this and I was ushered out the door, not before letting all the other potential customers know what was happening. The store did empty out quite quickly...

I am trying to claim my first cheque back, my 2nd was honoured although a little late. 

My last letter to CFW was sent last week, informimg them that they have 14 days to pay or a court summons will be issued.

I have ensured that before court action takes place, I have done everything reasonable and practicable to resolve this matter, as the courts should not be seen as an easy first option.

I will let you know how things progress.

Andy P :-)