Contract Cooling Off period

SavvyBoy

My son is a 18 year old student, with no job, yet he signed a contract for 24 months with Phones 4U one afternoon.

When he came home I explained my disappointment (I went beserk) and encouraged him to ring them immediately to cancel which he tried to do, the shop point blank refused and told him he needed a code....we rang Vodafone - they were great and said yes, he can cancel, just get P4U to agree.

We rang P4U head office and they explained that even though Vodafone had agreed to null the contract it was not up to them and P4U would not cancel and as they did not need to comply with the FSA regulations there was no cooling off period.

The following day he went back to the store with the phone still packaged and was told to clear off!

I have been out of the country for 2 weeks and upon my return this is still not resolved.

I am sure they are correct legally but morally they are appalling - not that Mr Cauldwell cares.

My advice to anyone is do NOT go near Phones 4U. SHARKS - BE WARNED

:mad::mad::mad:

Guys_Dad

SavvyBoy wrote: »

My son is a 18 year old student, with no job, yet he signed a contract for 24 months with Phones 4U one afternoon.

:mad::mad::mad:

Obviously Phones4U's fault then !

macman

Your son provided the necessary ID and passed a credit check. He is a adult and as such can make contracts-and is then legally bound by them. There is no statutory cooling off period for contracts agreed in-store, other than what the retailer may voluntarily offer.
Why should P4U cancel without charge because of his stupidity? The phone is now secondhand and cannot be resold as new.

SavvyBoy

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Obviously Phones4U's fault then !

Not at all - he is a prat.

But be warned as this can happen to anyone.

It is my opinion that they should have an obligation to point out that there is no cooling off period as he is in store.

Furthermore he (and I) believed there was an entitlement to a cooling off period - THERE IS NOT.

SavvyBoy

macman wrote: »

Your son provided the necessary ID and passed a credit check. He is a adult and as such can make contracts-and is then legally bound by them. There is no statutory cooling off period for contracts agreed in-store, other than what the retailer may voluntarily offer.
Why should P4U cancel without charge because of his stupidity? The phone is now secondhand and cannot be resold as new.

I will admit I was confused over the credit check also.

Stupidity is not limited to any individual (I wish it were) so he has to live with the consequences of his action (or I do as he cannot afford it). I do feel they could be clearer on the statutory rights regarding contracts in store - effectively NONE.

Regardless, in less than 2 hours he realised his error and tried to negotiate a proper route out (with Vodafone's support).

P4U are legally correct - but in my opinion morally bankrupt.

I will never use them for anything and I am hope that as a direct response to this post others will be equally wary of them.

macman

SavvyBoy wrote: »

Not at all - he is a prat.

But be warned as this can happen to anyone.

It is my opinion that they should have an obligation to point out that there is no cooling off period as he is in store.

Furthermore he (and I) believed there was an entitlement to a cooling off period - THERE IS NOT.

No such obligation exists-it's up to the buyer to ask, which is easy enough.
It's exactly the same with anything you buy in a shop. There is no automatic right to return it just because you've changed your mind. It's down to what the retailer may voluntarily offer by way of a returns policy.
If your opinion was in force, then every time that you buy a newsaper, the newsagent would be required to verbally inform you that the paper was not returnable before taking your money. A mobile contact is no different. Any valid contract is legally binding and enforceable.
His contract is not with Voda but with P4U, and they have different returns policies.

grumbler

SavvyBoy wrote: »

... he has to live with the consequences of his action (or I do as he cannot afford it). ....

If he cannot afford it let him to default and you will have nothing to worry about for the next 6 years. Good for you and for him.

Guys_Dad

SavvyBoy wrote: »

Not at all - he is a prat..........................

................Furthermore he (and I) believed there was an entitlement to a cooling off period - THERE IS NOT.

There's honesty for you. :beer:

The problem is that we are all conditioned to high street shops accepting back goods if we change our minds. But we accept that buying a new car doesn't give you the right to return it within 2 hours for a refund, or jewellery, underwear etc.

There is so much commission involved from the networks and as said above, the handset, sim etc have all been registered and it is difficult to sell again if returned. Sometimes the shop guys put the sim in, get it registered etc, thereby making it automatically "used" They say it's for customer benefit but it's often to render it used.

To be fair, most of the High Street 3rd parties are the same, although network shops with the possible exception of 3 do allow you to make a return.

Always test out and evaluate in store then buy on the net where DSR applies.

Not helpful, but I bet he won't make that sort of mistake again throughout his life.

SavvyBoy

He better not or he is in for a miserable time....FOREVER!