02 contract issues

Littlefinger

Hopefully someone here can give me some advice on what to do.
My phone is broken and is irreparable , so I was shopping around to see what decent phone I could get in its place. THere was a great offer with Vodafone that is nearly too good to be refused. I'm currently with O2 and have been for years.

So my problem is that according to O2 I'm locked in an 18 month contract until march 2013. I have had my iphone since early 2010 and at that time i signed a 12 month contract. O2 are saying that they phoned me in october of last year and agreed a new contract. THe only call I can recall getting from o2 was asking me if I was happy with o2 and I said yeah I was. I never would have signed into a new contract with them without getting some sort of upgrade to my phone which I have been putting off getting as the price plan I am currently on is no longer availible, so if i were to get a new phone I would have to pay more for less (I would be losing out on some of the perks I have at the moment)/ This is why I was shopping around at other networks.
They are also saying that they emailed me a copy of the contract and as I never replied to the email then that was enough to enforce it. Upon checkibng with them , it turned out that they had left a letter out of my email address so I never got it in the first place. There is no such email as the one they sent it to, so they should have gotten a bounce back.
they say that there is a recording of that call but it will take 10 to 15 working days to get it
Im wondering have I any comeback from this, as I never got the contract in writing from them.

drunkmonkey

They have to provide you with details of where you agreed. Await the recording in 14 days. If it doesn't appear which it probably won't get them to reverse locking you into contract. This is a well known trick by o2 to keep their customers a little longer and not provide a phone.

I don't know what Vodafone plan your looking at but I bet it's easy to refuse, Vodafone are notorious expensive. Shop around a little harder.

Oryx

o2 tried this trick with my husband, trying to charge him 600 euro when he ported to another network. Stick to your guns and tell them you did not agree to a new contract. It took 3 calls in our case, and they did keep trying different reasons why he was still tied to contract (all false). When they realised we weren't giving up they backed down.

foggy_lad

It should take no more than 24-48 hours to get the recording of the call, I would regard their claim as false if they can't produce a record of the contract in 3 days and go ahead and move to another network.

Littlefinger

they got back on to me today. Unfortunatly they were able to provide a recording of me agreeing to an 18 month contract. I was absolutely smothered with a chest infection at the time, so probably wasnt even heading what they were saying. MOst of the call is me coughing and spluttering. So I guess I'm stuck with 02 til April of next year. The real killer is that if i get a new phone that will tie me into a longer contract with them .
I'm assuming that an aural record of the agreement is just the same as a written one?

Procrastastudy

Littlefinger wrote: »

They are also saying that they emailed me a copy of the contract and as I never replied to the email then that was enough to enforce it. Upon checking with them , it turned out that they had left a letter out of my email address so I never got it in the first place. There is no such email as the one they sent it to, so they should have gotten a bounce back.
they say that there is a recording of that call but it will take 10 to 15 working days to get it
I'm wondering have I any comeback from this, as I never got the contract in writing from them.

How in the name of bleep do they work that one out? One of the very first thing in any contract law book is you can't enforce acceptance by silence. This is actually angering me that they would try and pull this crap.

The law on how E-mail and contracts work is unsettled but it really makes no odds in this scenario as you did not respond.

Someone really needs to rein in these con artists. Please get on to Comreg.

Bah just saw your new post - I have no idea - at common law its fine to have an oral contract but I have not idea what consumer protection legislation there is out there for Mobiles. Hopefully someone here might be able to help you more.

Littlefinger

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

How in the name of bleep do they work that one out? One of the very first thing in any contract law book is you can't enforce acceptance by silence. This is actually angering me that they would try and pull this crap.

The law on how E-mail and contracts work is unsettled but it really makes no odds in this scenario as you did not respond.

Someone really needs to rein in these con artists. Please get on to Comreg.

There is an aural record of the phone call, I heard it today. I assume thats just as good as a written one?

slimjimmc

Unfortunately for you, it is. A verbal contract is just as valid as a written one, just usually harder to prove.