Vaya $100 cashback fake marketing plan...anyone else got duped?

Lkiwiinoz on 10/07/2017 - 10:28
Last edited 10/07/2017 - 10:48 by 1 other user

I bought an Samsung S7 from one of the sales Vaya had a while back and then I received an email from them for $100 cashback as per below:

"Congrats ***** - you're entitled to $100 cashback when you activate a new SIM!

Thanks for your recent device purchase! We'd like to sweeten that deal and offer you some of Australia's best mobile and data plans.
Vaya offers awesome value, award-winning plans, available with no lock-in contracts. We have data plans offering up to 70GB/mth, and unlimited standard talk & text plans starting from $16/mth, so order a new plan today!
Use code '100BACK' when you place your SIM order and we'll pay back $100 cash from your device purchase after activation. For further details see terms and conditions below.
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Terms and Conditions:
1. Limit of one Vaya mobile plan activation per device order. New Vaya customers only and not redeemable for cash.
​2. Not valid in conjunction with any other offers. The promotion '100BACK' is valid until the 30th of June, 2017 and code must be entered within the promotions field at checkout on https://www.vaya.net.au/
3. In order to qualify for the cashback, the customer must have placed a device order over $200 in value at https://vaya.net.au/ after March 17, 2017 and activated a service on Vaya before the 23:59pm on Friday, June 30, 2017.
4. Rebates will be processed as a partial refund of the original payment method on orders placed at https://vaya.net.au/.
5. Promotion period, promotion benefits and other terms and conditions are subject to change.
6. All other conditions of the Vaya Standard Form of Agreement and Fair Use Policy apply to the customer’s agreement with Vaya. Buy Mobile’s standard terms and conditions also apply."

I thought it was a sweet deal so bought their cheapest plan. I received the SIM and was thinking over activating it but it was activated automatically by Vaya without me even requesting for it. Anyways I emailed them for the cashback and first reply from them was "awaiting for approval from our management regarding the cashback promo for your account" and then 2nd reply was "Unfortunately, I just receive update from the management that you are not eligible as the order was placed on March 15th and our promo was offered from orders made March 17th onwards." I replied saying if I was not eligible why did you send me that email in first place? And since then I have received no reply from them after repeated emails. They have charged me for second month as well for a SIM I am not using. I was wondering if anyone on here has received the cashback or been offered cashback? I think it was an illegitimate way to get people to sign up on their plans.

Thanks

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Vaya

• 

  spackbace on 10/07/2017 - 10:47

  +2

   In order to qualify for the cashback, the customer must have placed a device order over $200 in value at https://vaya.net.au/ after March 17, 2017 and activated a service on Vaya before the 23:59pm on Friday, June 30, 2017.

  Well they're not wrong…

  • 

    kiwiinoz on 10/07/2017 - 10:56

    I did buy the device after 17th March and their system auto activated the SIM before 30th June.

    • 

      spackbace on 10/07/2017 - 11:29

      +1

      "Unfortunately, I just receive update from the management that you are not eligible as the order was placed on March 15th

      So which was it?

      • 

        kiwiinoz on 10/07/2017 - 11:33

        Sorry I misread that, I did buy it on 15th March but don't you think the email was misleading? "you're entitled to $100 cashback when you activate a new SIM!" . Why would they send it to me knowing I placed order on 15th March, 2017.
        I have seen ACCC accepting claims for misleading marketing.

      • 

        spackbace on 10/07/2017 - 12:26

        +1

        @kiwiinoz:

        Not that hard to read the terms and I certainly would've questioned them before signing up to a contract!

• 

  [Deactivated] on 10/07/2017 - 11:01

  +1

  Vaya is very unscrupulous which is odd because they're owned by Amaysim. Then again, even Amaysim is going down the drain too.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 10/07/2017 - 18:01

    Yeah, amaysim is pretty shitty nowadays. Not sure what's with their support, every time I call them I have to wait ages… It's almost like Vaya took over them and not the other way around.

• 

  GregMonarch on 10/07/2017 - 15:20

  +2

  Technically:

  1. You bought a device from Vaya.
  2. Which put you on their email list.
  3. You receive a marketing email from them.
  4. You don't read the terms & conditions.

  Morally:

  They shouldn't be emailing any offer to ANYONE with "you're entitled to", regardless of what their fine print says. It should say "customers MAY BE entitled to (please check terms & conditions)."

  I nearly went with Vaya recently. Then I researched them on Whirlpool - which made me hated them before trying them, LOL. So I'm very glad another option presented itself.

  • 

    kiwiinoz on 10/07/2017 - 15:22

    You are right…I will raise it with ACCC and see what they say.
    ACCC has fined Vaya in the past for misleading information.

• 

  GregMonarch on 10/07/2017 - 15:30

  +1

  LOL, you got in before me, while I was editing…

  You could also put in your complaint:

  They shouldn't be emailing any offer to ANYONE with "you're entitled to", regardless of what their fine print says. It should say "customers MAY BE entitled to (please check terms & conditions)." Plus they then mention the REASON you qualified, is due to your recent purchase. So they've thrown out two pieces of bait to disarm you, and only later saying you really don't qualify at all.

  If they were going to mention your purchase qualifies (regardless of what the qualifying date is) then the email still should not have been sent out until the day it was valid as it worded, because on that date NO-ONE qualified yet, and would 'net in' customers that purchased earlier - just as it did with you.

  Also, I don't know if it's an ongoing SIM plan, but you would have done your sums, after applying the discount, to see if you could afford it. So the offer of a refund was what you based your calculations and purchase on. No refund now makes it no more attractive than other offers you were considering.

  • 

    kiwiinoz on 10/07/2017 - 17:08

    Thanks a lot once again for mentioning it all. It will definitely help me word my complaint better to ACCC.