Aaagghhhhhhhhh

PJJones

From the title, you may have realised that this is going to be a rant about something that has gone wrong.

I ordered a mobile phone from themobs.com and received it today. The very first thing that I noticed was that the little silver "protection" sticker had been peeled back and then stuck back down. Never mind, i though, they probably just checked that all the items were in there before they posted it out. Ok, back to work where i can hide behind my desk and play with my new toy.

I plugged the phone in to charge it up and proceeded to look through the paperwork... now, I have attached images of the website as I saw it, because, no doubt, after a few heated telephone calls, they will change the wording.

this page describes the different contracts offered > > > and his one, the price plan

Nowhere does it mention that the price of £12.50 per month is for a certain period, and if you do it right (or wrong, as the case may be), you only find out about a "half price for X months" offer when you have completed the transaction.

I rang to tell them that i thought they had made a mistake with the price plan, the girl said that "the offer is only for 3 months..." but i said that it doesn’t tell you that on the website. "...but that is the offer...", ok i said, perhaps it is, but that’s not what i was led to believe from the web site. This goes on for a few minutes and i end by saying ill have a further look through the paperwork. I did, and decided that i didn’t want to pay twice what i was lead to believe it would cost me and wanted to send it back. for this, i need a "returns number", otherwise the phone would be sent back to me (odd).

I rang for the returns number ad was asked why i wanted to send it back, i told the guy that i was mislead by the website. He asked me to go to the webpage while he was on the phone and took me click by click through site and showed me how to get the page with the "real" cost of the contract. It turns out that you have to steer away from the simple purchase route and go through the pick a phone then a contract route in order to click on an image that doesnt look like a link which shows you the real price.

Sound complicated? Of course, that’s what they want! :mad:

Ok, whatever, i still want to send it back, give me the number... "ok, you do realise that there will be a £29.99 admin charge for returning the phone...", i paused, kinda laughed at him and asked why. He said that it tells me this in the Customer Service Guarantee. I read on. What it actually says is "If the handset has been used you will be liable to pay a £29.99 administration charge.".
"Thats ok" i said, "i haven’t used the phone, i have just received it." He asked if i had opened the box. "Yes i have, but (and back to my very first point) it had already been opened and resealed when i received it."
"Ok, so you would be liable for the charge",
"but it had already been opened".
"We wouldn’t have sent it if it had been opened..."
"yes, but, it had been opened when i received it."
"we wouldn’t have..."
"look, it had been opened"
"we check all the contents before we send them out..." Where that came from, i dont know, but thats where he shot himself in the foot
"so it had been opened then?"
"No, we wouldn’t have sent it like that".
"Then how do you check the contents if you dont open the box, X-rays?" :rolleyes: [long pause]...
"ill just check something with a colleague" [HOLD MUSIC].

Now, what P****d me off was that i concentrated more on the fact that the box had been opened before i had even received it, rather than the fact that i hadnt used the F'ing phone anyway.

He came back, offered me a bluetooth headset "worth £49.99", i said no, gabbled on a bit more about the charge, i said that i just want the return number, i got the number and that was that. Thinking back, he didnt actually say that I would be charged or not, so i'd like to see if they steal £29.99 from me...

I had only had the phone for 30 minutes and already regretted it. (is regretted a word?)

What I would like to know after all that, is:
What, if anything, can i do about the fact that the website is not clear in what it is telling people?

What can I do about (not) paying this admin charge, because i haven't actually used the phone?

PJ

*!*HIBS*!*

Sounds like a case for the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority), as the contract is not clearly advertised. If not then maybe Trading Standards

As you bought your phone online you should be able to send it back (sometimes at your own cost), voiding your contract. The timescale when you are able to send it back and voiding your contract will vary from businesses, but it should be at least 7 days i think. Here is some legal blurb regarding the cooling off period, got this from http://www.kaltons.co.uk/articles/183.cfm

UK Consumer Protection (Distance) Selling Regulation 2000 SI 2334 ('the Regulations')
The purpose of this 'cooling off' period is ostensibly to give consumers the opportunity to examine the goods or services in the same way as they would have had they purchased it over the counter in a shop.

Hurry and check the T&Cs so that you can try and send it back. If they don't record the calls and details on their systems, tell them you don't want the phone and they should be able to authorise it for you to send it back hopefully voiding your contract. I think you should check all the facts out about the cost of the contract before taking it out and preventing you from getting into a situation like this in the future.