Reducing my T-Mobile price plan

Red_Imp_2

I am currently on a 18 month t-mobile contract (flext 25) and I want to reduce to a lower price plan. I've rung them twice and they are adamant I can't change until my contract is up in February.

In terms of T&C's I can't find anything on my bill about price plan reductions so am I being fobbed off or do I simply have no leg to stand on by taking this any further?

robertkydd

The same happened to me. There must be something in the T&Cs but like you I couldn't find it. I'm off to O2 next year

talkalot

T-Mobile changed their T&Cs last October. You can no longer downgrade to a lower price plan till the end of you minimum term. So if say you start on Flext 50 to get a free phone you will have to stay on that till the end of your contract. T-Mobile IMO are rapidly getting as bad as 3 for CS and changing T&Cs.

Guys_Dad

There is a regular contributor on this forum - Mobilejunkie - and, although I have some differences with him in certain areas, he gives a lot of excellent advice, particularly regarding t&c.

He advises - and I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong - always to save a copy of the t&c and correspondence/paperwork in effect when you took out your contract as mobile companies change them from time to time.

T-mobile, as said above, do not allow you to change down your tariff now, although at one time they did. If it was in their t&c when you took out the contract that you could change down, then you can enforce that or cancel your contract (I believe). That is, as long as it was in their t&c at the time.

Otherwise, ask yourself "Why should they"? You got a good deal on the phone and minutes for part of your contract. Suppose they said "OK, but we will back charge you to day 1 and recalculate you costs at the tariff you now want to transfer to and ask you to repay that".

So, if you signed up with some evidence that T-mobile allowd mid-term changes and can prove it, fight for it. If not, then stick to your agreement and honour your contract.

getti

The issue is with phone contracts that downgrading a price plan is not in the terms and conditions that your signing.

What your signing in the contract is you agree to pay £x a month for x months, the fact a network used to allow you to drop down before was pretty much a gesture of goodwill.

I think a reason networks stopped this was 3rd party stores saying to people a phone is free on £50 a month then after 6 months just drop down but that means the network has paid the store who sold it a commission on a £50 contract but not getting that value back.

No network mentions changing of price plans in the T&C so if they do change their mind too only allow you to drop down after 17 months they have not changed any conditions of your actual contract, just a company policy

chattychappy

I've been with T-Mob since it was Mercury one2one and have been on Flext since it started it started. At that time it was a promoted feature you could change each month. I generally went through periods of being in the UK and high usage (Flext50 or more) and periods overseas with no usage. I renewed the contract on this basis at least a couple of times. (I had more than one contract.)

Each time I renewed I checked that it would be "everything the same as before". I had a fixed discount instead of taking a phone.

I happened to be on Flext50 when I renewed a contract in December. A little later I wanted to go down to the lowest one. Big argument on the phone - they said the T+Cs had changed a while back and applied to me from when I renewed the contract. They said that they'd confirmed this in writing after I renewed. Sure enough I received something in the post. It included something like "we do not have to let you go to a lower tariff". I rejected this argument - 1) it was something they imposed after we agreed on the phone. ie "too late". 2) based on the conversation, I was reasonable to assume that I would be continued to allow to downgrade tariff as the wording had left them that option.

They kept saying that I was on such a generous discount that they would never have offered on a lower tariff. I pointed out that this hadn't been a problem in the previous contract period when I had renewed on a lower tariff. Besides, a deal's a deal - not my problem if they feel they can't make money from it.

They "lied" - they said I'd been told of the change by the operator and this had been noted this on the system. Quite the reverse in fact.

I offered to end the contract there and then. They refused saying that as I had had the benefit of the discount I would have to see out the contract. Again a bit silly - unlike getting a new phone, the value of the discount is spread throughout the contract period.

I persisted and went to a supervisor... Eventually, since I told them I was going away for 2 months only, they agreed to reduce me to Flext30 (the current lowest) for 2 months only. After that I would have to return to Flext50 and stay there until the contract terminated.

Well... several months later I am still on Flext30. Seems they forgot. How silly... I don't want to ask them to put it back up because I don't want to get stuck there. So they are losing business because they couldn't stick to what they promised or properly train their call centre staff.

It goes without saying that they said it wouldn't be possible to retrieve a recording of the conversation.

So my message is this. Be fair - if you just got a new phone and are "trying it on", then don't bother. But if like me you were promised flext flexability (by T-mob themselves, not a silly shop) or had it before and it wasn't clear you were renewing on changed terms - then stick to your guns. But it will be a struggle.

sporedude

chattychappy wrote: »

I've been with T-Mob since it was Mercury one2one and have been on Flext since it started it started. At that time it was a promoted feature you could change each month. I generally went through periods of being in the UK and high usage (Flext50 or more) and periods overseas with no usage. I renewed the contract on this basis at least a couple of times. (I had more than one contract.)

Each time I renewed I checked that it would be "everything the same as before". I had a fixed discount instead of taking a phone.

I happened to be on Flext50 when I renewed a contract in December. A little later I wanted to go down to the lowest one. Big argument on the phone - they said the T+Cs had changed a while back and applied to me from when I renewed the contract. They said that they'd confirmed this in writing after I renewed. Sure enough I received something in the post. It included something like "we do not have to let you go to a lower tariff". I rejected this argument - 1) it was something they imposed after we agreed on the phone. ie "too late". 2) based on the conversation, I was reasonable to assume that I would be continued to allow to downgrade tariff as the wording had left them that option.

They kept saying that I was on such a generous discount that they would never have offered on a lower tariff. I pointed out that this hadn't been a problem in the previous contract period when I had renewed on a lower tariff. Besides, a deal's a deal - not my problem if they feel they can't make money from it.

They "lied" - they said I'd been told of the change by the operator and this had been noted this on the system. Quite the reverse in fact.

I offered to end the contract there and then. They refused saying that as I had had the benefit of the discount I would have to see out the contract. Again a bit silly - unlike getting a new phone, the value of the discount is spread throughout the contract period.

I persisted and went to a supervisor... Eventually, since I told them I was going away for 2 months only, they agreed to reduce me to Flext30 (the current lowest) for 2 months only. After that I would have to return to Flext50 and stay there until the contract terminated.

Well... several months later I am still on Flext30. Seems they forgot. How silly... I don't want to ask them to put it back up because I don't want to get stuck there. So they are losing business because they couldn't stick to what they promised or properly train their call centre staff.

It goes without saying that they said it wouldn't be possible to retrieve a recording of the conversation.

So my message is this. Be fair - if you just got a new phone and are "trying it on", then don't bother. But if like me you were promised flext flexability (by T-mob themselves, not a silly shop) or had it before and it wasn't clear you were renewing on changed terms - then stick to your guns. But it will be a struggle.

Downgrading isnt part of your terms and conditions. It was changed as a direct attack on dealers who buy people out of contracts. Oh and T-mobile do train staff correctly, Its just that over the phone a large number of customers are too up their own !!!! to listen. Thats all.

DarkConvict

So if it is not in the T&Cs, then were is it written. If you are sold a contract on the premise you can downgrade/change after x months. But then they decide against it. It would seem the contract was mis-sold if you were told that you could downgrade. And thus any changes to t&c would apply only to new contracts taken out.
As people say contracts are two way things.

sporedude

Its not written into the contract atall. T-Mobiles policy is that you can downgrade on the last month of the contract, Tough titties if you want to lower it before that. Its policy, Not a T+C.

chattychappy

sporedude wrote: »

Downgrading isnt part of your terms and conditions. It was changed as a direct attack on dealers who buy people out of contracts. Oh and T-mobile do train staff correctly, Its just that over the phone a large number of customers are too up their own !!!! to listen. Thats all.

It is part of terms and conditions if that is what you agree on the phone - I renewed on the basis of the same terms and conditions as I had before. Sorry you can't accept that.

I listened to them. They listened to me. But they repeatedly asserted something I was told something I wasn't. Since I had taken the trouble to check this particular point and had a note to this effect, something went wrong at their end.

It is obvious what happened. They decided to change their T+Cs to allow them the option of not allowing downgrades. They intended to apply this to new contracts and on renewals. The operator didn't mention it to me, and I verified "same deal as before". In fact I even mentioned I would likely "go down" in a few weeks. Deal was done.

That's it.

sporedude

If its written clearly on paper then yes it will be part of your T+C's, If not, Then you cannot downgrade.