Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Truth Behind Automatic Cash Back Mobile Phone Deals

By Asim Bhuta

This article will first introduce to you what an automatic cash back mobile phone deal is, then move on to talk about how it works and finish off with the pros and cons of these types of mobile phone deals. We will also reveal a secret as to who to trust when it comes to automatic cash back deals.

To put it in simple terms, an automatic cash back mobile phone deal is a mobile contract deal, which you buy from a merchant and the merchant will pay you the whole cash back sum automatically without you having to send off any bills or information regularly to redeem your cash back. Some merchants will pay directly into your bank account within a month or even 14 days, where as some merchants may give you a cheque the moment you leave the counter with your mobile phone. Majority of online merchants tend to pay you with cheques or bank transfers and can take as little as 7 days right the way up to 2 months.

So how does it actually work? Is there a catch? We will take an online merchant as an example as these are the more popular merchants compared to the high st ones. You go to a merchant's website and choose a deal, whether you use a mobile phone comparison site or you knew the merchant's website address it doesn't really matter. You chose a Blackberry 9700 Bold on T-Mobile's combi 35 + Blackberry data 18 month tariff. The line rental cost per month for this tariff is approximately 40 pounds per month. The merchant is advertising 200 pounds automatic cash back. Lets assume that this merchant will pay directly into your bank account after 14 days of receipt. During the checkout process you will be asked to give your bank account number and sort code. Once you checkout and placed your order, your application will be put through to the network's credit check. Once you have passed your credit check you will receive your mobile phone and sim card from the merchant. After 14 days from the day you received your mobile phone through the post, your cash back will be transferred into your bank account without you having to contact the merchant after your checkout. Depending on which bank you have an account with, it could take up to 7 working days from the day of the transfer for you to be able to withdraw your cash back from your account. So in total it could take up to 20 days for the money to be in your hands.

Here are the main advantages of going for a mobile phone deal with automatic cash back. Provided you use your cash back to pay for your line rental costs, you could reduce your line rental charge by over half depending on the deal and merchant you choose. The biggest advantage is that you are not required to send off your monthly bills and other bits and bobs to the merchant to claim your cash back. A more recent advantage is that merchants are now offering to give away free incentives like HD televisions on top of the cash back without you having to claim anything from the merchant. They will send it to you without you having to contact them.

The only real disadvantage is that automatic cash back deals aren't as cheap as the normal cash back by redemption deals due to the merchant taking the full risk by reducing their profits. The author of this article firmly believes that every advantage of automatic cash back deals will always out weigh the disadvantages. However one merchant, 'Beepy,' increases the disadvantage by asking for your first 'paid' monthly bill, which is actually your second mobile phone bill and a completed cash back form with it.

In conclusion automatic cash back deals are the best type of deals to go for and our promised secret is to trust 'mobiles.co.uk' as they have an excellent customer service.

About the Author:

0 comments: