The Daily Mirror has awarded 3 Mobile with the Awful Service Award 2007 following allegations that the network actively encouraged dodgy cashback deals.

 

In a round up of the year’s worst deals, the Penman & Sommerlad INVESTIGATE bestowed numerous awards to companies that fell foul of their customer service standards, amongst them ticket touts, timeshare scams, and charity thieves. The most prominent award went to 3 Mobile for ‘Awful Service’ alleging 3 Mobile were behind cashback deals engineered to deny consumers their money in what they call the ‘Great Mobile Cashback Robbery’.

"One network in particular – 3 – did not simply allow its dealers to play the redemption game. It actually encouraged dealers to offer cashback deals so that only four in 10 customers would be likely to successfully claim" said the consumer champions.

Online 3 dealer Simply Communications UK suspended cashback payments after it failed to "anticipate high levels of redemptions" prompting the Mirror to ask why the networks don’t "smell a rat and dump the dealers before they dropped their customers in the mire?".

"That’s because there’s only one winner in the cashback lottery and that’s the network which ends up with customers locked into fixed contracts regardless of whether they get their cashback or not" said the tabloid.

"That’s why we are giving 3’s sales director Marc Allera and his team our Awful Service Award for deliberately filling their coffers at the expense of their customers".

What ever the Daily Mirror say, they prove that money talks as straight underneath this rant against Three is an advert for… yep you’ve guessed it Three Mobile!

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