OT Phonebox direct, phones2yourdoor and coolnewmobile gone into administration

http://www.phoneboxdirect.com/ has a statement

Oh well, it was bound to come to a sticky end eventually.

Personally, I have benefitted from this type of cashback deal for the past
6 years. I haven't paid a bean for mobile phone use in that time, apart
from the odd 08xx no or international call/text.

Last month I took out another 12 month Vodafone contract through them. I
guess I'm going to be paying the £35 a month out of my own pocket.

Plus the 2x £84 rebates they owe me from the recently expired contract.

So (2x84)+(12x35) = 588 of cash back I am almost certainly going to lose.

A bit of a bummer but not the end of the world. I'd guessed that eventually
one of these contracts would go titsup. If you spread that loss over the 7
years (until Oct 2008 when my current Vodafone contract expires) it works
out at 84 months at £7 a month. Not bad when you consider I've had
something equivalent to a £35 contract for that money.

 

There was one of this sort of company went tits up recently , and customers
were able to get out of their current contract. If you can do the same
that's far less of a loss to bear.

I'm sure someone with a less hazy recollection will be able to help

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6987821.stm which is not
relevant IMV. I took out a retail contract with CNM and received a separate
telephony contract from Vodafone in the post. Reading the small print, once
I connected to the Vodafone network, I accepted the T&Cs of the airtime
contract. I've gone over the distance selling cancellation time so the only
option is to ask Vodafone for a cheaper tariff. Oh, and I could sell the
nice almost new & shiny Nokia 6300 and revert to the trusty K310i.

Forums at http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20791&page=27
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=187496&page=67

Note the page numbers at the end - anything before those predate the
current issue.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/17258.asp?men=2&sub=22 says that the
major networks are going to be quizzed by Parliament on the issue if
cashbacks.

I haven't read through all of the forum posts, there's lots of shit
obviously. I'll post an update if anything interesting comes to light.

 

Ah well , worth a look.