getting out of a mobile phone contract

basecamp1

Here is the dilemma...all advice and potential solutions welcomed! Signed a meteor 18month contract in Oct 2009. Got an up-grade in Oct 2010 thinking i was still in my original 18month contract which would end March 2011 (this month). on this assumption, went to vodafone today to buy the i-phone and entered into 18month contract with them. wondering why my SIM wasn't transferring over to i-phone, i ring meteor to see what date in March i was out of contract to be told that i wasn't out of contract til March 2012, because when i upgraded my phone i automatically entered into another 18month contract. I now have 2 phones, an iphone i cant use, and potentially two €60 bills a month, one for nothing. is there any way i can get out of either contract. i cannot afford two bills a month, and i am so depressed about this. i know, you sign a contract, its your responsibility to read said contract etc. but really the sales assistant should make you aware that getting an early upgrade puts you into a contract that supersedes your old contract should they not?

Fresh Pots

basecamp1 wrote: »

Here is the dilemma...all advice and potential solutions welcomed! Signed a meteor 18month contract in Oct 2009. Got an up-grade in Oct 2010 thinking i was still in my original 18month contract which would end March 2011 (this month). on this assumption, went to vodafone today to buy the i-phone and entered into 18month contract with them. wondering why my SIM wasn't transferring over to i-phone, i ring meteor to see what date in March i was out of contract to be told that i wasn't out of contract til March 2012, because when i upgraded my phone i automatically entered into another 18month contract. I now have 2 phones, an iphone i cant use, and potentially two €60 bills a month, one for nothing. is there any way i can get out of either contract. i cannot afford two bills a month, and i am so depressed about this. i know, you sign a contract, its your responsibility to read said contract etc. but really the sales assistant should make you aware that getting an early upgrade puts you into a contract that supersedes your old contract should they not?

Not an authority on this but i'd imagine you have a 7/14 day cooling off period where you can get out of your vodafone contract. Give vodafone a call in the morning and explain the situation.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

cookie1977

Monitor these pages too incase a change in T&C results in you being able to get out of contract for free without penalty according to EU regulation 17
http://www.vodafone.ie/terms/customernotices/?ts=1276770568754
http://www.meteor.ie/terms_and_conditions/notifications/

Here's the other companies notification pages for anyone who wants them too.

http://www.o2online.ie/o2/legal/consumer/index.php?cid=81
http://www.three.ie/terms/customer_notification.html
http://www.eircom.ie/cgi-bin/bvsm/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1230035957.1301378646@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfadfdeememjdcefeceiedffndffg.0&site=Res&cid=PriceChanges&chanId=-536882378&storeChanId=-536882378&clickIdAction=addClickID_gateway&clickIdTo=/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp&clickFrom=/bveircom/mainPage.jsp&clickFromCID=null&clickFromCategory=null

Fresh Pots

cookie1977 wrote: »

Monitor these pages too incase a change in T&C results in you being able to get out of contract for free without penalty according to EU regulation 17
http://www.vodafone.ie/terms/customernotices/?ts=1276770568754
http://www.meteor.ie/terms_and_conditions/notifications/

Already have the meteor one bookmarked! Hopefully they will make some changes soon!:D

silvine

I just saw Three's changes that they made in Feb. Is it too late to exit the contract now?

jay93

Yeah its to late now you need to cancel within 30 days of the notice that they have put up on their website keep an eye out for more changes if you want out of your contract:cool:

cookie1977

Well this is debatable. The wording of regulation 17 is:

(4) An undertaking referred to in paragraph (1) or a provider of electronic communications services referred to in paragraph (3) shall, not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service —

(a) of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and

(b) their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification.

(5) A subscriber referred to in paragraph (4) may withdraw from his or her contract with the undertaking or provider, without penalty if he or she does not accept a proposed modification referred to in paragraph (4).

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2003/en/si/0308.html

It says the provider must give at least 30 days notice to change although in point 5 it does not say the subscriber only has that time period to exit their contract. The providers add the line about the subscriber having only 30days to exit or they're stuck in the contract. I myself got out of contract with vodafone @home after the time for exiting had expired. I wrote a letter to vodafone customer care in Louth complaining about the changes to the contract and asking to exit it. They released me with out any hassle despite it being 20 days after the 30 days were up. It's worth investigating further.

jay93

Nice one cookie:D
I suppose if you keep at them that they will release people from contracts its worth looking into .some networks can be stubborn when they want to be tough and might not let the person out the try some bull like ''you have to cancel within 30days of the change to T&C's'' but seen as you got out of contract with vodafone it may be worth for other people to look into this further send a few letters to the mobile company and see what happens.:)

cookie1977

Yes definitely. You have to be polite and persistent. Especially writing letters. They hate receiving handwritten letters outlining your concerns and quoting the legislation. Also state how disappointed with the change you are and how you feel you'll have no other recourse but to contact comreg and publicise this issue if they cannot help you.

BostonB

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

and if you do this drop the contract you want to cancel to its minimum before hand. Then when you cancel its worked out at the lower rate.

fionny

Out of curiosity guys, if you break a contract quoting that rule 17 thingy are you entitled to keep the phone?

Also if you are allowed to keep the phone are you entitled to have it unlocked?

cookie1977

fionny wrote: »

Out of curiosity guys, if you break a contract quoting that rule 17 thingy are you entitled to keep the phone?

Also if you are allowed to keep the phone are you entitled to have it unlocked?

Yes you can keep the phone. Yes you are entitled to have it unlocked.

fionny

Excellent I will keep this in mind, as ill prob be taking a new contract out in a month or so and a freebie out would be sweet :P

ingen

cookie1977 wrote: »

Yes definitely. You have to be polite and persistent. Especially writing letters. They hate receiving handwritten letters outlining your concerns and quoting the legislation. Also state how disappointed with the change you are and how you feel you'll have no other recourse but to contact comreg and publicise this issue if they cannot help you.

i find email more effective from experience. it hits their inbox within a few mins, gets to the top person in company, cc the whole management team , job done.:D.

cookie1977

fionny wrote: »

Excellent I will keep this in mind, as ill prob be taking a new contract out in a month or so and a freebie out would be sweet :P

Be aware I wouldn't recommend buying a phone in the hope of getting it free and getting out of contract as the T&C may never change during your contract period. Just a warning

fionny

Aye. but it would be nice if it did happen!

cookie1977

Indeed it would

limboland

Thanks for the info guys very interesting.

So just to confirm (before I run off and get a massive penalty fee), I can cancel my iphone contract if they change their T&C's without having to pay the remaining months on my contract?

I have another year on my contract but would love to get out of it because they have way better deals out there now. But dont want to have to pay 45 x 12 months remaining penalty.

Will definitely be keeping a close eye on their website now!:D

fionny

I had forgotten about this Will have to try and remember to check meteors page every now and again.

cookie1977

Yes. If the change in T&C's affect's your plan specifically.

du Maurier

There's a real bang of immaturity/underhandedness with some of the comments on here - "A freebie", "There are better deals out there so I'd like to extract myself from my current network"?!

Whoever you sign up to you should have the foresight and prescience of mind to understand that tariffs etc change on a regular basis throughout the duration of a contract. There is always going to be some network offering a price plan that's more desirable from the outset. But it doesn't mean you can just jump ship on a whim. Pay the bloody remainder of your contract and move then. Or just do a sim only plan.

It's just a nonsense with people looking for loopholes etc. I can understand if you're not happy with a network for non-spurious reasons and are looking to extricate oneself from it but for whimsical reasons like 'I don't like my plan now' it's ridiculous.

fionny

du Maurier wrote: »

There's a real bang of immaturity/underhandedness with some of the comments on here - "A freebie", "There are better deals out there so I'd like to extract myself from my current network"?!

Whoever you sign up to you should have the foresight and prescience of mind to understand that tariffs etc change on a regular basis throughout the duration of a contract. There is always going to be some network offering a price plan that's more desirable from the outset. But it doesn't mean you can just jump ship on a whim. Pay the bloody remainder of your contract and move then. Or just do a sim only plan.

It's just a nonsense with people looking for loopholes etc. I can understand if you're not happy with a network for non-spurious reasons and are looking to extricate oneself from it but for whimsical reasons like 'I don't like my plan now' it's ridiculous.

Woah there nelly, climb down off that mighty high horse of yours.

If there is a law for this stuff then anybody is perfectly entitled to do this.

cookie1977

du Maurier wrote: »

There's a real bang of immaturity/underhandedness with some of the comments on here - "A freebie", "There are better deals out there so I'd like to extract myself from my current network"?!

Whoever you sign up to you should have the foresight and prescience of mind to understand that tariffs etc change on a regular basis throughout the duration of a contract. There is always going to be some network offering a price plan that's more desirable from the outset. But it doesn't mean you can just jump ship on a whim. Pay the bloody remainder of your contract and move then. Or just do a sim only plan.

It's just a nonsense with people looking for "loopholes" etc. I can understand if you're not happy with a network for non-spurious reasons and are looking to extricate oneself from it but for whimsical reasons like 'I don't like my plan now' it's ridiculous.

If networks dont want us to use loopholes (try legal rights!) then they shouldn't change the T&C's. In most cases the T&C changes are usually unfavorable for the customer and the networks will do their utmost to provide scant information on such changes, then they'll argue with the regulator to stop the customer from leaving. I dont have that much sympathy for companies who do this.

limboland

du Maurier wrote: »

There's a real bang of immaturity/underhandedness with some of the comments on here - "A freebie", "There are better deals out there so I'd like to extract myself from my current network"?!

Whoever you sign up to you should have the foresight and prescience of mind to understand that tariffs etc change on a regular basis throughout the duration of a contract. There is always going to be some network offering a price plan that's more desirable from the outset. But it doesn't mean you can just jump ship on a whim. Pay the bloody remainder of your contract and move then. Or just do a sim only plan.

It's just a nonsense with people looking for loopholes etc. I can understand if you're not happy with a network for non-spurious reasons and are looking to extricate oneself from it but for whimsical reasons like 'I don't like my plan now' it's ridiculous.

Also, I actually got really badly stung by my network when a former housemate ran up a 700 euro bill in two weeks on my internet hotspot over Christmas and then went back to his country. I found my provider really unhelpful and unwilling to way any of the penalties incurred for then canceling the service despite that this was one off exceptional circumstances and I've always paid my bill for the last seven years. They also didn't notify me when this unusual activity was occurring.

So seeing as my financial circumstances have dramatically changed, I would not feel remotely bad about availing of my legal rights to cancel my contract and switch networks.

Sponge Bob

Any change in your T&C by your network creates A 28-30 day contract break opportunity for all their customers. You must avail of it in that time.

du Maurier

fionny wrote: »

Woah there nelly, climb down off that mighty high horse of yours.

If there is a law for this stuff then anybody is perfectly entitled to do this.

I'm not on any high horse at all. I don't know what you mean by "if there is a law for this stuff".

It's the motives behind it that rankle with me. That's all.

du Maurier

cookie1977 wrote: »

If networks dont want us to use loopholes (try legal rights!) then they shouldn't change the T&C's. In most cases the T&C changes are usually unfavorable for the customer and the networks will do their utmost to provide scant information on such changes, then they'll argue with the regulator to stop the customer from leaving. I dont have that much sympathy for companies who do this.

Yeah, I concur with this. As I said, it's the motives behind it that might be of concern. There was freebie talk from Fionny and other such specious reasons to why one can just walk from a contract. These reasons aren't justifiable in my opinion but such loopholes are welcome relief I suppose for a person that has been treated poorly by a network. Just because it might happen to exist it doesn't mean that it's par for the course to exploit it for apocryphal reasons.

fionny

Dude I shop around every year and buy my phone and take out a contract as I see fit, I pay my bills and dont give out about them unless there is a problem...

BUT

If the network gives me an out so I can switch to a month to month cheaper bill option I will and thats my prerogative. If the networks want to ensure this doesnt then they simply need to ensure they dont change their terms...

I love how you make me out the be the bad guy here when the networks are the greedy feckers who each year increase the length of contracts and restrict usage more and more...

du Maurier

limboland wrote: »

Also, I actually got really badly stung by my network when a former housemate ran up a 700 euro bill in two weeks on my internet hotspot over Christmas and then went back to his country. I found my provider really unhelpful and unwilling to way any of the penalties incurred for then canceling the service despite that this was one off exceptional circumstances and I've always paid my bill for the last seven years. They also didn't notify me when this unusual activity was occurring.

So seeing as my financial circumstances have dramatically changed, I would not feel remotely bad about availing of my legal rights to cancel my contract and switch networks.

Again, I see where you are coming from with this. Unfortunate occurances like this are hard to gauge when looking at it from the providers' perspective but an element of reason, taking into account your history, a compromise should have been reached. This isn't really the kernal of what I'm saying - it's more about the opportunist that will seize this, unjustifiably, to extract themselves from a contract they just no longer want to pay. It was more about words like 'freebie' etc that were bandied around regarding it that I thought I'd offer my two cents:)

Sponge Bob

There is Suspicion of funny business with O2 Billed Traffic stats as well.