Help! Broke sony ericsson w800I on virgin contract 2 months old

lynne1985

Hi i have just started a new 12 month contract on virgin, my phone is broke 2 months into it due to accidental damage, anyway i thought i was insured by citymain administrators as you usually get 3 months free insurance, the insurance was cancelled by me in error when i was supposed to cancel my other phones insurance. the bank have now reinstated the dd but citymain are saying this isnt allowed even though im still within my 3 months, so they are not replacing the phone. i contacted onestopphoneshop and they said there is nothing they can do to help. i wouldn't normally bother but as i've no other phone its going to be crap paying £44 a month when i cant use it at all. Does anyone know if i would be able to cancel the contract? i know i cant lower the line rental till 6 months. Or does anyone know if citymain do reinstate direct debits?
Thanks
Lynne

GeoThermal

I'm no expert but I don't think there is much you can do. You could argue stopping the insurance was an error but I don't know if you would get far. What is the damage? Is it repairable? You could buy a cheap PAYG phone and put your sim card in it.

mike_wall15

Sorry to hear this but there is nothing you can do if the phone has been broken. If you bought a laptop and accidently lost it, you wouldn't get anything back for it, same with the phone.

Insurance is the only option but as you didn't have any active insurance then you'll have to bite the bullet I'm afraid.

The best you can do is approach phone repair companies & lower your contract after 6 months. At least you'll have lots of minutes and texts. Maybe just buy a Pay&Go phone for £25 to use them?

:beer:

lucidamike

Have you checked whether your home contents insurance would cover you. Sometimes they cover acidental damage to electronic equipment

lynne1985

My son was sick on the phone so its classed as water damage, when i took it to carphone warehouse it was really just the speaker that was faulty couldn't hear very well on it, but since getting it back yesterday most of the buttons are sticky and the cover isnt on properly. my son was sick on it over a week ago do you think the "new" faults are due to this? or that it hasnt been put back together properly? i understand with the insurance but as the first 3 months are free its not as if im trying to fraud them. if i had the phone for over 3 months and this happened and i had no insurance i would take blaim. its just the fact that one person over at citymain administrators is saying one thing and then someone else is saying another and when i asked to speak to someone else they declined. im also not covered for contents insurance.
Thanks for the replies
Lynne

mm66

Contact virgin..there should be a manufacters warranty also

drahcir_2

lynne1985 wrote:

My son was sick on the phone so its classed as water damage, when i took it to carphone warehouse it was really just the speaker that was faulty couldn't hear very well on it, but since getting it back yesterday most of the buttons are sticky and the cover isnt on properly. my son was sick on it over a week ago do you think the "new" faults are due to this? or that it hasnt been put back together properly? i understand with the insurance but as the first 3 months are free its not as if im trying to fraud them. if i had the phone for over 3 months and this happened and i had no insurance i would take blaim. its just the fact that one person over at citymain administrators is saying one thing and then someone else is saying another and when i asked to speak to someone else they declined. im also not covered for contents insurance.
Thanks for the replies
Lynne

acid in the sick is prob causing corrosion all the time inside
best to remove battery and get it prfessionally stripped and cleaned

michaels

First - beware - with osps you will void any cash back if you downgrade the tariff after 6 months

Second - did you actually call citimain to cancel the insurance or just cancel the dd - if the latter I would have thought that as no premium is payable in the first 3 months with osps (i am assuming tha this is the case) then I can't see that having cancelled the dd would have stopped the cover - although I can see you ending up in a major arguement over this one so probably worth getting advise from trading standards.

soolin

mm66 wrote:

Contact virgin..there should be a manufacters warranty also

Unfortunately manufacturers warranties tend to only cover faults with the phone, not loss or damage.

All i sno tlost though as Virgin phones can be picked up quite cheaply, so you will at least be able to use your sim in another phone.

Soo

lynne1985

I meant to cancel the direct debit for my other phone but instead cancelled the one for the new phone i done this by internet banking. i've spoke to customer services at citymain administrators one person is saying i can fax in a confirmation from the bank that this was cancelled in error before the 21st of may as thats when the free insurance runs out, where as another is saying that this is unacceptable, i asked to speak to someone else but was declined i would be good to know who is correct or to at least be giving the same imformation.

I've spoke to virgin mobile they best they could offer was a discount on a refurbished phone but they had none that i wanted in stock.

Thanks
Lynne

lee634

As you say you only cancelled the direct debit with your bank,
Therefore this could be due to you changing banks, once as company request a debit that has been cancelled they would contact you straight away and request new debit instructions or immediate payment,

Cancelling a DD is not the same as cancelling the insurance policy,
speak with them again and setup a new DD, and anyway as you are only 2 months into a 3months free, you will still be covered,

Ask to speak to a manager, and if any problems threaten further action,
you could always go see a solicitor who will normally give you an initial free consultation,

I'm 99% positive you would still be covered

Best of luck
Lee