By Erik Lynam

Have you ever heard of a free line rental mobile deal? Chances are you have not, as they are pretty obscure!

Well, if you haven't, you are about to find out how you can get a completely free mobile phone for 12 months. That means a free handset, with free calls and free text messaging!

By now you will have smelled a rat, it is not possible for retailers to give away free phones on free 12 month contracts and still make a profit, is it?

The way it works is this, when taking out your new mobile contract the retailer offers to give you cash back, to cover the cost of your bills. So, initially you have to pay the bill as normal. At this point, you are out of pocket, not what you would expect from a 12 months free line rental deal!

At a later date, often 9, 10 or 11 months into the contract, you have to submit a claim for cashback. Assuming you have done everything the retailer asked you to when you took out the mobile contract, the retailer will refund your money, via instant cash back which will cover the entire cost of your phone contract. Thus, the retailers are able to advertise these as free line rental deals.

So how do the retailers make money? Surely retailers lose money on free line rental deals? Absolutely, but, only if the customer successfully makes their claim for cashback! If the customer forgets to make that claim, then they end up paying their line rental as normal, and the retailer makes their money. You see, it is a battle of wits!

To make a profit the mobile phone retailers have to make sure a lot of people on free line rental deals do not get their money back. So, the first thing they do is say that you must make the cashback claim on a particular date. They know that some people will miss this date. Then they ask for obscure pieces of documentation, knowing that some people will have lost this, and so it go's on. By the end of the process they have tripped enough customers up to make their profit!

So, in summary, it is possible to get a 12 months free line rental mobile contract, and the deals are legitimate, legal and above board. But, they are also too good to be true. There are a lot of strings attached, and only the smart customer is likely to walk away with a free phone. The rest will pay their line rental as normal!

If you opt for a free line rental deal you would be well advised to organise yourself. Make sure you have the relevant dates and documentation to hand so that when you make your claim it all goes smoothly, and you get your free line rental deal!

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