O2 contract nightmare

tomhill

Hello,

I joined O2 in 2007 on their 'sim only' contract for 500 minutes at £20 a month. Because my phone broke I decided I needed to sign up to a full contract and asked if I could leave O2 ... the person in retentions at the time said that if I stayed with O2 that that they would keep me on the 500 mins £20 a month tariff and put me on a 12 month contract.

In August 2008 I wanted to renew my tariff (as I needed another new phone) so rang up to see if I could repeat the contract. Initally they said that I would need to 'upgrade' to a 600 minutes a month tariff at £35. Because this was only 100 more than I was currently getting at £20 I said that I didnt want too. Instead they offered to keep me on the current tariff but to offer me a refurbed phone instead - an offer which I accepted.

Come October they've started charging me £35 a month despite me not agreeing to pay any more for my contract. The customer relations department tells me this is because previously I was (always) on the £35 a month contract before but had a £15 discount on taken off it (so paid £20 as before overall). They've said that this discount has now expired and I will be charged £35 from now on.

I renewed believing that I was on a £20 tariff (not a £35 tariff with an expirable discount) and made it very clear that I didn't want to end up paying any more. I feel that O2 have used the word tariff very loosely here and been very misleading.

I trapped in the contract for another 6 months now so will end up paying an extra £180 overall (12 x £15)!

I'll feel like I should complain to somebody about this but I'm not sure too. I cant see how it is a legal contract if I made it clear that I didn't want to be 'upgraded' to their £35 tariff?

Thanks for any of your help,

Tom

Quentin

As you have "accepted" this since October last year, (by paying your bills), it seems a little late to start a complaint.

They will have a complaints procedure if you want to pursue it - start off by writing them a letter headed "complaint", and ask them to put it through their procedure.

tomhill

I thought i was getting charged £35 for going over my minute allocations and I've only had 2 bills since October...

Thanks for the advice though ... I'll try drafting them a letter.