In September last year, Abby bought a phone from The Mobile Outlet offering completely free line rental in the form of cashback.
The first cashback was due in January, but we heard nothing from the claim. I discovered today that Mobile Matters (UK) Ltd (T/A The Mobile Outlet) went into administration on 15 Feb. We’ve submitted a claim to the administrators, but I don’t hold out much hope, which means we are £420 out of pocket!!
The next step is for Abby to ring T-Mobile to see if they will reduce her line rental – I’ll keep you posted.
The Mobile Outlet site is not working at the moment, but I got the administrator’s details from Google’s Cache. If you can’t get those details, they ask you to send details to:
Begbies Traynor, Burley House, 12 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9NF or by e-mail to mark.pintar@begbies-traynor.com
Another thing worth doing is signing the Downing Street Petition to make the networks responsible.
Let me know if you’re in the same boat. I’ll keep this updated if we hear anything from the administrators or T-Mobile.
[Update: 26 March] : Abby got an email confirming she was listed as a creditor of the company -it’ll be interesting to see what happens!
[Update: 2 April]: We managed to persuade T-Mobile to reduce the price plan – see the main post.
10 responses to “The Mobile Outlet Gone Bust”
Hi, thanx for posting this artilcle. Im a student who took out a 12 mth free line contract (o2)with mobile outlet in Nov 2007, i can’t believe I didnt realise about this company before, im devestated that i am out to lose £480 and will have have to pay 02 line rental until the contract is over. I contacted them but they say they can’t do anything.
Please could you tell me if you have had any success with any route of action so far?
See the main post for an update – we’ve had a quick email from the administrators
It seems there is at least one company (likely Dextra Solutions, a huge handset distributor) that is withholding money from the Administrators. Without this, those swindled by Mobile Matters/The Mobile Outlet are on course to get nothing. With it, we will be rightfully and justifiably compensated, and receive the added satisfaction of knowing that the cash bypassed the well-worn pockets of the Mobile Matters’ Director.
Those reading may wish to consider lobbying the reluctant debtors. Only weeks to go before administration is complete.
When i sent my bill to The Mobile Outlet in order to get my cash back they ignored me. No answer, no money, the phone number that appear on the web site is wrong and now website doesn’t work.
But company who got the license in direct inbox, they still exist, they giving the backup to that company.
companies who have them a license(orange, t-mobile, o2 etc) also involved in it, keep phoning them as well…………
When i sent my bill to The Mobile Outlet in order to get my cash back they ignored me. No answer, no money, the phone number that appear on the web site is wrong.
Hello Rob,
Thanks for posting this. I’m in exactly the same boat – bought my phone last September, submitted the claim in January but have not received any money (they owe me 42.50/month). Thanks to your blog I just emailed the administrators, hope it’s not too late. Curious to see what happens – have there been any recent developments?
No updates for now, but I don’t expect anything until they get back to us with the final amount – I’m not holding out much hope that we’ll get much though.
I am also in the same boat as everyone else, I took out a contract in October 2007 promising 12 months free line rental via cashback. I carefully made sure I sent in all required documents in February for my first cashback only to find the company had not been paying cashback for months and was in administration! I too put in an email claim for my £480 and received a email reply stating I had been listed as a creditor some weeks ago but as of writing have heard nothimg else. I did however finally manage to get O2 to lower my tariff from £40 to £15 a month but be warned, it took much insistance on my part to speak to managers of managers! You need to ask to be put through to the manager of the customer service staff you initially reach as they will just quote their terms and conditions to you which do state that you can not change your tariff untill a certain month of your contract but this is an unusual situation and the networks are obliged to help you, managers at the top will take that into consideration and if they are unwilling to help you then ask to speak to their manager and so on. The higher you go the nicer and more willing they are to help you!
They r all mother bit*hes. I would beat the sh*t out of that fuc*er director of mobile outlet
@Slicer: Not the most constructive comment, but I understand your frustration, and who am I to censor!?