Cancel O2 contract early without charges?

leebrook

I am 5 months into my 18 month contract with o2 and i am having to close my business and want to close contract early but have been told i need to pay for the remaining months around £490 i think and i wondered if there was anyway around this?
Thanks for reading.

RenegMC

If you keep asking under financial hardship, it might be possible... will probably require phoning multiple times, speaking to the managers, and just pushing them to do it.

I got 3 months cancelled at the end of my Tmobile combi 30 contract (18month) and converted it to a Solo 10, with a 1 month minimum commitment.

Clearly you've got a lot longer, so they will probably be more reluctant, but good luck.

robt_2

To be honest they probably haven't even recouped the cost of the handset yet, never mind any usage of the service so it is highly unlikely.

Jakg

It's a contract - you agreed to stay with them for 18 months and they therefore could afford to give you a shiny new phone.

How would your business feel if people opened a contract, took the free sweetners and then searched for a loophole to cancel it?

leebrook

Thanks for all your replies and in response i am a little one man company who took pride in doing work for people and not tying them into a long contract or charging call out fees. I understand the answer just don,t know why you would defend a big company unless you work for them?
Anyway cheers to all apart from that man!

ukbill69

Id say you are stuck, if you dont pay they might seek money via courts, then a ccj will be issued.

Guys_Dad

leebrook wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies and in response i am a little one man company who took pride in doing work for people and not tying them into a long contract or charging call out fees. I understand the answer just don,t know why you would defend a big company unless you work for them?
Anyway cheers to all apart from that man!

Actually, "that man" is explaining how it is and why you can't just cancel. It's the same as if one of your customers half way through the job decided that, after you had bought the materials and were out of pocket, wanted to get out of paying for the rest of the job to be done. That isn't, in my book, defending big business - it is explaining why they can't just cancel without it costing them money. Far different from cancelling a 12-month sim only contract where it could be argued that they had lost nothing.

But whatever you do, don't just stop paying or you will, as others say, be putting your credit rating at risk. Try to negotiate with them, on the basis that by reducing your tariff at least gives them some income. Offer a 6 month extension if they agree to move you to a lower tariff. If you have a top of the range phone, sell it on Ebay and buy a cheap £9.99 one till you get back on your feet.

And, as others have suggested in other threads, next time go for a rolling 30-day sim so that you never get caught like this again.

Good luck.

Jon_01

It's not a case of defend a big company, it's giving you the info you asked for. There's no point people here telling people what they want/would like to hear that doesn't help anyone.
No one's happy that you're tied to a long contract you're finding hard to pay, but once you sign a legal contract you're bound to it. There are no loophole the networks having been going long enough to have closed them all, sorry. . .

RenegMC

Alternatively, assuming this is genuine, would this work?

Taking out insurance with http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/support/geek-squad/geek-mob-policies, and adding Airtime Contract Protection for 2GBP, then claiming on it to cancel the contract? Anyone know how this section of the policy works?

mistysmoth

RenegMC wrote: »

Alternatively, assuming this is genuine, would this work?

Taking out insurance with http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/support/geek-squad/geek-mob-policies, and adding Airtime Contract Protection for 2GBP, then claiming on it to cancel the contract? Anyone know how this section of the policy works?

You can only take out the insurance within 14 days of purchasing.

Then you can only do an ACP after being in contract for 9 months.

Buzby

The real solution is NOT to take out a contract. Folk are blineded to the fact that they 'must', thinking htat PAYG is somehow inferior. It isn't, and gplaces the power with the consumer instead of the network.