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Legal advice about contract for Internet Access?

CarolineX_2
Posts: 4 Newbie
Hi, can anyone offer any advice on this problem I am having, before I go to Citizen's Advice please?
I signed a contract for 18 months with CarPhone Warehouse for Internet Wireless dongle including a free notebook for £30 per month. It seems a good deal as I wanted to be able to access the internet anywhere on the move. I was told at the time by the rep at CW that I could cancel within 30 days and keep the notebook. Of course I asked how they covered themselves for scams and she said they had been stung by some but now you would have to pay a fixed fee of about £60 (2 months rental) if this happened. I thought this seemed reasonable if I decided I did not want the service within 30 days, so went ahead. They checked my postcode area and said access was very good. The provider is 02.
I have had it for nearly 4 weeks and the service is terrible. I cannot access the internet when I want and when it does connect it is always LOW so I cannot browse properly and most of the time the network is not even showing in the available networks! When it does work it is intermitently and disappears after 20 mins max. I spend £7 talking to customer services at 02, and they checked the dongle and all the configurations - they could not work out why I could not get a better connection and suggested I move the notebook around the room! Even the booster that comes with the dongle did not help. I went back to CW to say I am very unhappy with the service, it is not as it should be and I want to cancel the contract. I was told I couldn't - and they said the rep should not have told me that I could cancel (she wasn't there). The manager tried my notebook in the shop and had the same problem with a low connection and agreed that this should not be so in the City Centre. He said his hands were tied as they are the middle men and I have to take it up with 02, he would help me with this, but said I had to get them to diagnose the problem, agree it was the dongle that was the problem and get a new one. Thing is my friend also signed up for the same deal and has had the same problems as me with her laptop and she is in a different part of the city from me. I told the Manager this and he said perhaps a batch of dongles are faulty? I said I don't want the notebook - I am not happy, I have not got the service I paid for, which he agreed, but said I still could not cancel. I left the shop.
Can anyone tell me where I legally stand? Thanks.
I signed a contract for 18 months with CarPhone Warehouse for Internet Wireless dongle including a free notebook for £30 per month. It seems a good deal as I wanted to be able to access the internet anywhere on the move. I was told at the time by the rep at CW that I could cancel within 30 days and keep the notebook. Of course I asked how they covered themselves for scams and she said they had been stung by some but now you would have to pay a fixed fee of about £60 (2 months rental) if this happened. I thought this seemed reasonable if I decided I did not want the service within 30 days, so went ahead. They checked my postcode area and said access was very good. The provider is 02.
I have had it for nearly 4 weeks and the service is terrible. I cannot access the internet when I want and when it does connect it is always LOW so I cannot browse properly and most of the time the network is not even showing in the available networks! When it does work it is intermitently and disappears after 20 mins max. I spend £7 talking to customer services at 02, and they checked the dongle and all the configurations - they could not work out why I could not get a better connection and suggested I move the notebook around the room! Even the booster that comes with the dongle did not help. I went back to CW to say I am very unhappy with the service, it is not as it should be and I want to cancel the contract. I was told I couldn't - and they said the rep should not have told me that I could cancel (she wasn't there). The manager tried my notebook in the shop and had the same problem with a low connection and agreed that this should not be so in the City Centre. He said his hands were tied as they are the middle men and I have to take it up with 02, he would help me with this, but said I had to get them to diagnose the problem, agree it was the dongle that was the problem and get a new one. Thing is my friend also signed up for the same deal and has had the same problems as me with her laptop and she is in a different part of the city from me. I told the Manager this and he said perhaps a batch of dongles are faulty? I said I don't want the notebook - I am not happy, I have not got the service I paid for, which he agreed, but said I still could not cancel. I left the shop.
Can anyone tell me where I legally stand? Thanks.
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