Phones2udirect - End of a Beautiful Friendship?

[dialtosave]

Over the past few weeks the number of complaints from Phones2udirect customers who bought phones from Phones2udirect after visiting DialToSave has been too much for us to handle.

We've decided to put a warning on every page advertising Phones2udirect deals, and only advertise those deals that no other retailer has available.

I admit, I've been a bit slow on this as some other affiliates have already stopped advertising Phones2udirect's cashback mobile phone deals (most of the complaints are about non-payment of cashback) but it's not easy because we had a really good relationship with Phones2udirect over much of the past year. They were one of the first retailers to work with DialToSave, rather than just have us work for them. (you can all play the world's saddest song on the world's smallest violin).

I expect that in a few weeks, if nothing magical happens (I'm giving them some time to reply to our emails) we'll have to drop Phones2udirect from DialToSave altogether.

What is everyone else doing about these sorts of complaints (I mean the legitimate ones when customers did actually follow the terms and conditions).

And who are the other big offenders? (apart from Mobileclub7?)

[Black Cat]

If that's the case they're one of many ....

It's a black cloud that's hanging over the whole mobile phone market at the moment. It's eating away at consumer confidence in cashback deals. Search engines throw up all kinds of negative stories about this issue and with the BBC's Watchdog gathering info on culprit companies (or so I've read), it must be just a matter of time before we see a grand finale.

In other words (without the dramatic talk) I feel mobile affiliates and genuine mobile phone merchants should brace themselves, and yes lets name and shame the companies that are currently threatening the livelihood of us hard working folk. (if correctly founded of course! )

[Gavinio]

The frustrating thing for companies that DO honour cashback deals (avoiding a blatant plug here) is that they then have less money to offer the customer in deals and to affiliates in commissions.

You can offer £1000 cashback if you only are going to have to pay 10% of it.

[dialtosave]

It should be noted that the relevant people at Phones2udirect are taking this post and subsequent comments very seriously, and are working with us (DialToSave) to resolve all existing customer complaints.

If I have any more news, I'll post it up here.

[T.J.]

I think more and more people are getting fed up with cashback deals.
Is there a merchant who doesn't sell cashback deals?
If so, I would seriously consider sending all my mobile phone traffic to them.

[phones2udirect]

Richard we are taking your accusations very seriously

"Over the past few weeks the number of complaints from Phones2udirect customers who bought phones from Phones2udirect after visiting DialToSave has been too much for us to handle"

Dialtosave has in fact received 3 complaints since october regarding our cashback's payments this represents less than 0.01% of sales made whilst I would rather 0% in the real world that is never going to happen, we certainly are suprised to find that they "have been too much to handle"

I find the above comment by him both potentialy damaging and hugly exagerated!!! Especialy since of the 3 complaints forwaded to me

1 has claimed outside the terms
1 is in despute since Orange has changed some billing information
1 is due to be paid and would have been in 10 days time so his complaint was unfounded

I find it disapointing that the emails were sent to me on the 6th and his post was made on the 7th not giving us any time to respond

We would like to assure all affiliates that all valid claims are paid with out exception.


Dave Ellis

[phones2udirect]

Originally Posted by Gavinio The frustrating thing for companies that DO honour cashback deals (avoiding a blatant plug here) is that they then have less money to offer the customer in deals and to affiliates in commissions. You can offer £1000 cashback if you only are going to have to pay 10% of it.

Gavinio that is not ony a cheap shot, but a very bold statement.

Are you stating that you pay 100% of cashback deals sold and if so you must have NO cashback complaints what so ever.

I look forward to your comments.

Dave Ellis

[dialtosave]

Thank you for your reply Dave.

Unfortunately despite our exchange of emails, you don't appear to have read what I have said over the past few days.

the 1 that is due to be paid, is now being paid their 2nd cashback payment. The complaint was referring to their 1st cashback payment, which they submitted in October and should have been paid by early December. You did pay this, but you paid it later than your terms and conditions allow.

The one due to Orange changing some billing information is yet to be resolved by you, and does not appear to be due to the customer breaking any terms and conditions.

There was a fourth complaint relating to cashback.

There were also other complaints relating to elements of your customer service. In my above post, I said that most complaints relate to cashback. But complaints also related to waiting 45 minutes trying to call you to return a faulty phone before giving up. I advised that customer not to try again, and to just return the phone directly to Nokia for repair.

We have received no complaints about other retailers in the relevant period (since October) despite generating significant numbers of leads.

As for what is too much to handle, please bear in mind that I am a full time student. So this must time spent on dealing with complaints about one and only one retailer, is in my opinion "too much to handle".

[Gavinio]

Originally Posted by phones2udirect Gavinio that is not ony a cheap shot, but a very bold statement. Are you stating that you pay 100% of cashback deals sold and if so you must have NO cashback complaints what so ever. I look forward to your comments. Dave Ellis

Hi Dave,

I'm hoping P2U fall into the same category as merchants that do pay their cashback. I think we all know there are companies out there that don't. I was responding to BlackCat's more general post

It's a black cloud that's hanging over the whole mobile phone market at the moment.

and the question posed by DialToSave

What is everyone else doing about these sorts of complaints (I mean the legitimate ones when customers did actually follow the terms and conditions). And who are the other big offenders? (apart from Mobileclub7?)

- and I apologise if that isn't clear. Perhaps in reading the subject of this thread it can easily be misconstrued.

I have no knowledge of P2U's cashback processes, but have seen plenty of complaints about other companies. That's what I was responding to.

[T.J.]

I know it has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but I see
phones2udirect have now made the no.1 spot at blagger.com
Do things like this have any effect on consumer confidence?

[Cyanide]

Having sent 10,000's of hits to these "cashback phone sites" I have all but stopped now. I still do a small amount o