An unbeatable genuine free offer on phones and contracts (Buymobilephones.net)

Name: Immlang

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Product:	Buymobilephones.net
Date:	20/05/08 (292 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can save a packet

Disadvantages: You need to be very well organised

Buymobilephones.net is an online retailer of mobile phones with and without contracts. What makes it different to some others is that it offers cashback and other offers. This review is of the cashback offer and is based on 12 months experience.

The idea behind cashback offers (and there are quite a few online retailers offering them) is that you buy a phone and contract as you would anywhere but, if you comply with fairly demanding conditions you can get some or all of your money back. In my case I did actually get all my money back, so it is worth writing about.

The way it works is like this:

You buy the phone and contract. The contracts tend to be mid-range and up. Mine was a £35 a month Flext 35 with T-Mobile and I got a snappy Samsung phone with it. You then have to rigidly follow a programme of sending the bills in to the retailer according to a tight schedule. If you fall behind in your payments to the mobile operator you forfeit all cashback. Similarly, if you are even one day late in sending the bills to the on-line retailer in you forfeit all cashback. The schedule is typically something like, after month six send the first six bills in, then at month eight send the next two in, and so on. You can have as little as two weeks from the date on the bill (not the date you receive it) to send the bills in.

If you get it right, the retailer will give you some or all of your money back, depending on the deal you originally went for. If you get it wrong, you won't see a penny.

It seems that the business model is that many customers are tempted by the offer, but very few are organised enough to keep the bills and send them in on time, so in fact the retailer does not have to pay much out and this is more than compensated for by the boost in sales by all the people who mistakenly think they will get it right.

I'm pleased to say that over the last twelve months, in which I did meet all the conditions, Buymobilephones.net were as good as their word and they totally honoured the agreement, meaning that I really did get a new phone and a year's worth of £35 a month contract for the price of half a dozen envelopes, some photocopying and the cost of sending the bills in recorded delivery. That left me about £400 in pocket for 2 or 3 hours work in total - and that's not bad as an hourly rate!

It gets better. On one occasion, I sent the wrong bills in. Rather than just saying the business equivalent of "so long, sucker", they emailed me to tell me of my mistake and when I hurriedly sent them the right set of bills they still honoured the agreement. It was still within the defined period and I imagine they would not have been so generous had I fallen outside it.

I'm about to start a new deal with them, now that the year has ended. There are no 100% deals on their website at the time of writing but there are some on the lines of "buy a 12 month contract and pay for 4 months", which will do. Other similar site are offering 100% deals but now that I trust Buymobilephones.net I'll stick with them.

A word of warning. These deals tend to get a bad press in general and deservedly so, as the firms come and go and promises are often not kept. I have had an excellent experience with Buymobilephones.net and this is worth flagging up, but that does not mean that they too will not go belly up at some time in the future. Nonetheless, I'm prepared to try them for another year.

Summary: You really can get a phone and contract for free - or nearly