I'm not quite sure what makes an "official" dispute but simply writing to someone who sends a bill saying "thank for the bill, but I dispute the total because ..." makes the amount disputed. Once an amount is disputed, it is expected that both sides will enter into correspondence to try and resolve the dispute. A court would certainly look dimly on anyone who tried to enforce payment without responding to a dispute. Ignoring such a letter from a customer will significantly weaken the position of the supplier.

rob

sorry about the link

just thought that it would be helpful, over riding factor.

drumster:

sb:    i think now that we are in an official dispute we can all cancel the direct debits and if the airtimers have a bad ticked in our credit report, that should come off later.

If that was legally sound the whole country would grind to a halt. As a matter of interest who decided that “we are in an official dispute”?

This is an extract courtesy of Vodafone:-

d) If you owe us any money, which not in dispute and this is not paid when it should have been paid, we may charge you interest daily on the unpaid amount at the rate of 2% per annum above the base rate of Barclays Bank from time to time. We may also charge you our reasonable administration costs incurred as a result of your late payment or non-payment of any money you owe us.

 

who says we are not in dispute, how else can we make it any clearer.

voda are going to release statements like that and yet give £5 for the balance of the contract.

sb:    i think now that we are in an official dispute we can all cancel the direct debits and if the airtimers have a bad ticked in our credit report, that should come off later.

If that was legally sound the whole country would grind to a halt. As a matter of interest who decided that “we are in an official dispute”?

 

This is an extract courtesy of Vodafone:-

d) If you owe us any money, which not in dispute and this is not paid when it should have been paid, we may charge you interest daily on the unpaid amount at the rate of 2% per annum above the base rate of Barclays Bank from time to time. We may also charge you our reasonable administration costs incurred as a result of your late payment or non-payment of any money you owe us.

 

 

 

 

That's a useful site sb. I'd not been there before but those are the sort of things that I would be saying in letters. I note though that one of the letters says "Thank you for taking time to respond" but I think that some of the phone companies are not bothering to respond at all - which makes their case weaker.

I didn't fall for the cahback scam myself, but I have sympathy for those that did. Certainly just keeping up the payments without a squeak is not going to help anyone.

maxsteam and all

did you get the sim off vodaphone and the phone

the answer is no, it all came from PBD/CNM

i think now that we are in an official dispute we can all cancel the direct debits and if the airtimers have a bad ticked in our credit report, that should come off later.

how many of you have been to this other site with templates to send off and in their 3rd letter it makes special mention of not reporting anything to the credit raters.

check it out for the templates.

Moderator - Link to other alternative community forum removed, in line with MS terms of service.

In my opinion, if it's all part of the same deal and if you've tried to communicate with Vodaphone (and have records of this) to resolve the matter and they haven't replied, you may be able to dispute the case in court. It all depends what was agreed and with whom it was agreed when you started the contract. If you agreed the cashback with Phone Box Direct and agreed the phone contract with Vodafone, then you are in a weak position. If you agreed it all with Phone Box Direct, you are in a strong position.

In the shoes of someone who had made an agreement with Phone Box Direct but was getting billed by Vodafone, I would write several letters to both companies stating that I wished to end the arrangement, explaining why. Unless I received a reply within, say, a month of writing the third letter, I would cancel the payments by contacting my bank and write a fourth letter explaining what I had done and why. This course could indeed result in county court action but courts are there not to support big companies against their customers. Courts are there to decide what is reasonable and legal. I, pesonally would be willing to stand before a magistrate on this matter. I appreciate that some other people will do what they can to avoid court action.

Your legal options against a company in administration are very limited. All you can do is tell the administrator that you are a creditor and hope that there is some money to share out once the company has been wound up.

Hi

I am in month 7 of 12 Vodaphone £35 a month on 2 phone...effectively loosing £840 !

If I cancel Vodaphone contract I can still save about £350 but don't you think they will not get a county court notice to claim the money as it is not Vodaphone but PhoneBoxDirect who has broken the contract.

But please do let me/us know if you have had any success. 

Hi nm1982

I am sure you have done some research before deciding to write this article. There has been many articles, watchdog enquiries and also a BBC documentary on this.Nothing seem to have changed.Same people have set up another company with same modus operandi again.

 For something like this to happen with out a check, there has to be a legal loophole.Main issue therefore is not how to highlight the problem in the press but how to sort this legally.I read in various forums that people have taken them while they were still doing business, to small claim court with or without success.-

I do not know the legal options against a company which has declared bankruptcy.

By any logic, at least there has to be a machanism in place to make sure these people are not allowed to set up another company and exploit thousands of innocent victims.

Besides not honouring cashback promise After they go bust, these companies have history of not honouring Valid Claims Before they declare bankruptcy.

A public interest litigation seems to be only solution.

To organise one is difficult for a layman like me and most of victims here but you being a journalist can do a miracle of sort by getting as many people as possible on board.

Please let us know if this appeals to you.

Thanks.

PHONEBOXDIRECT

Mobile Media Systems Limited – t/a Phoneboxdirect and Mobile Affiliates Limited t/a Coolnewmobile and Phones2yourdoor.

These companies were placed into administration on Wednesday 14 November, the joint administrators being Philip Lyon and Steve Wood of Mazars LLP.

Phone Box had been actively marketing via the internet mobile telephones which offered cash-back incentives to customers, providing certain conditions were met by those customers.

Unfortunately the number of customers that were able to comply with the terms and conditions and hence became eligible for the cash-back payments exceeded the company’s expectations. The company is therefore no longer in a position to meet its ongoing liabilities to those customers.

It had been hoped that negotiations with the supplier of the telephones and the networks involved would have enabled a “rescue package” to be implemented to assist those customers affected.

Unfortunately it has not been possible to achieve that objective within the timescale available to the company.

The company has insufficient money available to enable payments to be made to employees and therefore it will no longer be able to answer any individual telephone enquiries. In addition, it follows of course, that email communications will remain unanswered.

We are in the process of obtaining the company’s records of the email addresses of all customers. Any future communication will be by email or posting to the company’s website (www.phoneboxdirect.com) or (www.coolnewmobile.co.uk).

We anticipate that customers main queries will be regarding cash-back claims. Our initial investigations show that these liabilities may be between £4-10 million. There is no possibility that the company will be able to make any meaningful payment to any creditor, whether consumer or supplier.

The second query from customers is in connection with their ongoing contracts with the network suppliers. We are unable to advise individually on this point and would suggest you to contact your network supplier direct or you may wish to take legal advice or contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Office.

hello, i know i have missed your deadline but i have been scammed by phoneboxdirect aka cool new mobile aka mobile media systems. look on their website www.phoneboxdirect.com they have just realased they have gone bust! Fantastic . I stand to lose 420 pounds. as it is when i tried to claim my first cash back they said i used the wrong order number and were voiding my claim. If you read their excuse on the website 'we didn't anticipate as many people claiming' then it looks like they were looking for any excuse not to give you your cash back.

I am with Vodaphone and am waiting to see what they are prepared to do for me as i am in month 5 of 12. 

Please write another article there are so many people affected by these scams. These companies shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

 thanks

Hi There,

I'm a journalist writing an article on mobile phone scams for tomorrow's paper. I'm looking to speak to anyone who has become victim to these scams by not getting their cash back. I also want to speak to anyone who has been duped into getting out a new contract or been switched to a new network without their consent.

 

 Thanks.

Moderator -- Media requests should me made to the Moneysupermarket.com Press Office on 01244 665 700. Cheers.

I think you will find the other posting on this forum of value. It is entitled...     Phoneboxdirect cashback offer

hi jagruti,

i also have go in to 12 months contract like you. if you have found any way to get out of this then let me know.

Prakash

There is a "cooling off" period of seven days during which you can change your mind about the contract. As this period has passed, you are now stuck in the contract.

There are, however, two sides to each contract and if phonebox direct do not honour their side of things, you should give them a fair chance to put things right and then, if they don't, you can cancel. If the company start being awkward, put your experiences and wishes in writing and take control of the payments through your bank.