escaping long term phone contracts

Oldmalo7

Does anyone know a way of 'getting out' of a long phone contract with say, Meteor, for example.....

Can you say after say, 6 months of a 12 month contract that the 'reception quality' has diminished, and that be a reason to quit your contract... or are there better reasons anyone know ?

Phone contracts for smart phones, to get a good deal, are just too long now i.e. Meteor 24 months for E49 etc. so any one know what to say to get out of them sooner and/or had experience/difficulty/luck in doing so ??

appreciated cheers

Mr. G

It should be written in the terms and conditions.

Kenny Logins

You can try the reception quality angle, but you'll have to prove it.

pajor

Only way you can 'get out' really is to pay the rest of the contract up front.

Oldmalo7

true, thanks

Oldmalo7

yeah, that's a fair point, thanks

Bog Standard User

the "contract" is there to charge you for the cost of the handset. if you want to terminate your contract you must pay up the remainder of the contract. but if you go this route make sure they unlock your phone so u can use your phone on another network. they are legally required to unlock your phone if you paid the remainder of your contract upfront

whiterebel

Probably the best way, is to not get into one in the first place?

Spear

There's not much specific to networks here, so I've moved this to consumer issues instead.

fl4pj4ck

FYI: In some european countries you are only liable up to the value of the discount on the phone you got when signing the contract. Not in Ireland though.

Cabaal

If you don't want a contract then simply don't sign up to one, if you want a phone then go pay for it like everyone else.

keithclancy

You can also get out of contract if there is a change to the contact.

E.G.
Tariffs modified
Change to Terms and Conditions

They will write you a letter and you have a specified time to opt out

Jayop

I can never understand why people come into these threads and post things like this;

whiterebel wrote: »

Probably the best way, is to not get into one in the first place?

Cabaal wrote: »

If you don't want a contract then simply don't sign up to one, if you want a phone then go pay for it like everyone else.

It happens in almost every one of these threads someone comes in with a smart answer which rather than help the op will only serve to possibly flame them. Immature stuff.

TheBoffin

The only easy way to back out of a contract IMO is where (1) there is a price increase or change to the plan that you agreed to OR (2) Where the company has breached data protection creating a frustration of contract - This happened about 2 yrs ago and i used it as an opportunity to switch.

womandriver

Jayop wrote: »

I can never understand why people come into these threads and post things like this;





It happens in almost every one of these threads someone comes in with a smart answer which rather than help the op will only serve to possibly flame them. Immature stuff.

Well in fairness, the op would have known the terms and length of the contact when they signed up and did so willingly to avail of a reduced price phone. Now they don't want to keep up the payments.

It's a familiar theme these days, phone contacts, mortgages, credit card bills - maybe people are sick of people trying to weasel out of their responsibilities and legal obligations and think they should just pay their bills.

If you think a contract is too long, don't sign up to it in the first place. And if you do sign up to it for a cheap phone, don't come looking for advice on scams to get you out of it.

Jayop

whiterebel wrote: »

Probably the best way, is to not get into one in the first place?

womandriver wrote: »

Well in fairness, the op would have known the terms and length of the contact when they signed up and did so willingly to avail of a reduced price phone. Now they don't want to keep up the payments.

It's a familiar theme these days, phone contacts, mortgages, credit card bills - maybe people are sick of people trying to weasel out of their responsibilities and legal obligations and think they should just pay their bills.

If you think a contract is too long, don't sign up to it in the first place. And if you do sign up to it for a cheap phone, don't come looking for advice on scams to get you out of it.

I'm sure he's aware of the error of his ways. Maybe they lost their job and can't afford it, maybe some other circumstances changed? It doesn't really matter.

If people are so sick of it, maybe they should avoid the threads, or at worst just say nothing if they aren't going to say something useful.

If I asked the same question in the pub and someone gave one of those answers they would rightly be regarded as a *&%^.

womandriver

Jayop wrote: »

I'm sure he's aware of the error of his ways. Maybe they lost their job and can't afford it, maybe some other circumstances changed? It doesn't really matter.

And maybe he just decided he couldn't be ars*d paying it. People need to take responsibility for their actions and lose the "poor me" attitude.

PaddyofNine

What if there's genuine frustration with the quality of the service?

I joined a network about two years ago. I often work from home, using my phone. In the last six months the quality of the signal in my home has dropped precipitously. I'm constantly missing calls or dropping calls, at least a few times a day. As for internet? Forget it. 3G only works half the time, at best.

At the network's behest, I've changed my phone (no change) and my SIM card (no change). At this stage, I just want to hand in my phone, the box and the charger and head to another network. I've got 7 months left on my original contract, but they're not holding up their part of the deal. I'm starting to get grief from work over missing important calls. I don't have a problem with paying for service, but if they're not providing that service, what can I do?

womandriver

PaddyofNine wrote: »

What if there's genuine frustration with the quality of the service?

I joined a network about two years ago. I often work from home, using my phone. In the last six months the quality of the signal in my home has dropped precipitously. I'm constantly missing calls or dropping calls, at least a few times a day. As for internet? Forget it. 3G only works half the time, at best.

At the network's behest, I've changed my phone (no change) and my SIM card (no change). At this stage, I just want to hand in my phone, the box and the charger and head to another network. I've got 7 months left on my original contract, but they're not holding up their part of the deal. I'm starting to get grief from work over missing important calls. I don't have a problem with paying for service, but if they're not providing that service, what can I do?

And that would be genuine grounds for requesting to end the contract but that wasn't the tone of the op, as far as I can tell anyway.

Jayop

womandriver wrote: »

And maybe he just decided he couldn't be ars*d paying it. People need to take responsibility for their actions and lose the "poor me" attitude.

Maybe there was, but those commenting don't know that and decided to have the holier than though attitude that reeks across these threads.

Like I said, if you don't know that for sure just say nothing. The only reason people make those type of comments is because they need to re-enforce some sense of self instilled superiority.

womandriver

Jayop wrote: »

Maybe there was, but those commenting don't know that and decided to have the holier than though attitude that reeks across these threads.

Like I said, if you don't know that for sure just say nothing. The only reason people make those type of comments is because they need to re-enforce some sense of self instilled superiority.

Thank you for the sweeping generalisation and the amature pyscho bable. Scheme away o wise one, against the evil companies who try to enforce contacts. Now Bond is just starting so I'll leave you to it.

Jayop

womandriver wrote: »

Thank you for the sweeping generalisation and the amature pyscho bable. Scheme away o wise one, against the evil companies who try to enforce contacts. Now Bond is just starting so I'll leave you to it.

I haven't offered an opinion on how he should work his way out of it have I? So where's my scheming? The first sweeping generalisation in this thread was your assumption from the 'tone' of the OP that he was trying to weasel his way out.

Maybe everyone in the thread who posts this type of crap is so concerned that another multi national gets their pound of flesh and feels the need to stick the knife in for no good reason other than supporting out capitalist comrades in big business. How very righteous you must feel. A real person of the people.

selekta

keithclancy wrote: »

You can also get out of contract if there is a change to the contact.

E.G.
Tariffs modified
Change to Terms and Conditions

They will write you a letter and you have a specified time to opt out

European Commission is enforcing lower roaming rates from July 2014. Is this going to mean a change in everyone's contract, provided the roaming rates in their contract are higher now?

What I am getting at is, will everyone be able to end their contract in July?

Gatling

Basically it sounds like the op wants top of the range phones on bill pay but thinks he should be able to walk away after a few months with the shiny high end subsided phone ,
In which case buy either pay as you or buy sim free ,

petes

Jayop wrote: »

I haven't offered an opinion on how he should work his way out of it have I? So where's my scheming? The first sweeping generalisation in this thread was your assumption from the 'tone' of the OP that he was trying to weasel his way out.

Maybe everyone in the thread who posts this type of crap is so concerned that another multi national gets their pound of flesh and feels the need to stick the knife in for no good reason other than supporting out capitalist comrades in big business. How very righteous you must feel. A real person of the people.

What is your reason for posting in this thread only to antagonise people?

OP wants to 'get out' of their contract and trying to use an excuse to not pay for the remainder.

Granted if there was something wrong with the signal fair enough!

Losing their job isn't a valid enough reason to me. Of course it's going to be difficult and no one can foresee the future but if you enter in to a 24 month contract to get a subsidised phone beware the consequences regardless of what happens in your personal life.

RangeR

selekta wrote: »

European Commission is enforcing lower roaming rates from July 2014. Is this going to mean a change in everyone's contract, provided the roaming rates in their contract are higher now?

What I am getting at is, will everyone be able to end their contract in July?

No. Roaming rates are not linked to the monthly tariff cost. Roaming will affect the cost of calls per minute.

Greyfox

Jayop wrote: »

..other than supporting out capitalist comrades in big business. How very righteous you must feel. A real person of the people.

It’s not supporting capitalist comrades, it’s just the voice of common sense unfortunately, mobile providers are very careful to make sure if they give a free phone to someone that it’s very difficult to leave the network for the contract period because if it was easy they’d be out of business quickly. Even rubbish/no coverage in your own home will not get you out of a contract as no provider guarantees indoor coverage. The only real way out is if the provider agrees that theirs no outdoor coverage in your area and if they don’t agree your stuck. Data protection breeches or major plan changes can be used but these are quite rare.

dudara

Posters - enough of the baiting and arguing. Let's stick to the original topic.

dudara

Jayop

petes wrote: »

What is your reason for posting in this thread only to antagonise people?

OP wants to 'get out' of their contract and trying to use an excuse to not pay for the remainder.

Granted if there was something wrong with the signal fair enough!

Losing their job isn't a valid enough reason to me. Of course it's going to be difficult and no one can foresee the future but if you enter in to a 24 month contract to get a subsidised phone beware the consequences regardless of what happens in your personal life.

I was asking the same question of those who posted to antagonise the OP.