This is part one of what I hope will be a happy mobile phone experience.

I've just bought a new phone and monthly contract from my local Intek shop, who also trade on line as Mobilephonecentral. http://www.intek.uk.com/  http://www.mobilephonecentral.co.uk They seem to be a medium sized, regionally based business with ambitions to grow.

I also went into shops that belong to 2 major chains of mobile phone retailers. The Intek shop manager was exceptionally helpful and went to a lot of trouble to guide me to the best tariff for my purposes. Absolutely no comparison with the other people I saw who had obviously been to the "selling freezers to Inuit" sales school and swam around displaying rows of menacing teeth ;)

After reading about some of the horrors with cashback deals I was a bit doubtful about them but it seems that even the major companies do them and provided you can trust yourself to stick to the rules they ought to work. At least they allow you a sensible time window (30 days for Intek) to submit each claim.

In my case the Orange Racoon 35 (18 month) tariff came with cashback worth 14 months of rental so my average line rental cost will be under £8/month over the contract period. I still don't understand the business model that can give these massive cashbacks but I'll not let that worry me too much for now.

Obviously I can't give a full report on my experiences for at leat another 6 months but I'll try to remember to do an update, whether it's good news or bad.

Usual disclaimer: I have no connection with Intek other than being a customer who, so far, is very happy.

6 months has come and gone and I'm still happy. I sent my first cashback claim to Intek's head office and they sent the cheque within 3 days of receiving my claim. The slowest part was Royal Mail who took 4 working days to deliver my 1st class recorded delivery letter. Because of the Royal Mail delay I phoned Intek. They were very helpful and said that if the letter had been lost in the post they would accept a photocopy of the documents, including the Royal Mail recorded delivery chit. They would also accept scans of the documents sent by email.

I'm well aware of the bad reputation of cashback deals but this lot seem to be doing the right thing. You still have to trust yourself to comply with the rules but they are not too onerous.

Again I should add the disclaimer that I have connection with Intek except as a customer who is still happy.

all their shops (they are in the West country only) have geog numbers - unusual and laudable!

lompos wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2007 at 9:46am:

all their shops (they are in the West country only) have geog numbers - unusual and laudable!

Not quite all in the West Country. They have 2 in North London which is where I got my phone.

Lompos is quite right, all proper geo numbers with the exception of a few 0800.

Still good news. Sent the 2nd claim on 10th March and received the cheque today.

Looking at their website the current offers aren't quite so good as the one I've got. More like 9 months worth of rebate rather than 14. Presumably responding to market conditions. They also take the praiseworthy step of quoting the net monthly rental after the rebate.