stuck in a phone contract :(

ryan92

My mum took out a contact in her name with Virgin Mobile, as I am only 17. The reason was being at university, id be in contact with home alot, and PAYG wouldnt really benefit me at all.

The only problem, is at the uni, the coverage is absolutely terrible. We cannot have a decent conversation without the signal dropping completley, and I find I have to re-ring the number several times during the course of the conversation, which is terrible.

The coverage checker listed the coverage as being' good' which seems ok... the coverage I am getting is far from good... its terrible!

The question is, where do we stand on this, and the fact that we are now only about 4 month into the contract?

mrochester

If the coverage check was done prior to the sale, you might have a case. If not, unlikely.

nikki2804

Im sure you only have a 14 day cooling off period.
Don't think you would be able to cancel the contract.

ryan92

yeah, we checked, and when it listed good, we thought it would be ok!
It's far from good though!

juliescot

You can contact and ask them - but as a service cannot be guaranteed I think you might be stuffed. Have you tried your sim in another phone to see if it improves at all?

Money_Grabber13579

This featured on Watchdog last year. If a mobile phone company can't provide you with a service, then they can't hold you in the contract.

robt_2

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

This featured on Watchdog last year. If a mobile phone company can't provide you with a service, then they can't hold you in the contract.

But there probably IS service for the address where the contract was taken out - IE the OPs parents.

jamespir

its the same old story why cant people tell they cant get a signal in the first 14 days its not hard is it

ryan92

I lived at my home address when the contract was taken out, and that has excellent coverage! I also checked my uni coverage, which said good.
I had the contract for 3 months before moving to the uni accomodation

M4RKM

the coverage maps normally only list signal quality for outside, so what you need to do is stand outside, and see if you can have a conversation then. If so, then you can't really argue..

As someone else has said, it could be the phone itself that just has a low signal, so try the sim in another phone and see if that makes a difference..

M

DarkConvict

You did do a coverage check in the area you planned to use it, so they may let you cancel but they will want the phone back.

I also agree coverage plots are outside and are estimated. I believe the software is HTZWarfare (or the name of the civilian version). I got to use the military version of it, but basically you place down what you think is in the area and it will predict it. I.e. Urban areas have lower signal due to buildings, but obviously big blocks of flats at a university as well as university equipment may cause unexpected interference.

As interesting as that might be, the fact you have no coverage has given people grounds to cancel, although they usually go from coverage to no coverage at home, without moving house. You have moved to university to an area with only predicted signal.