What to do if accidentally signed up for contract with Vodafone?

RogerMcStravick

Hi,

Advice would be much appreciated. I went to Vodafone online on 26 May 2010 to buy a 30 day mobile broadband toggle for the wife in hospital. Somewhere whilst doing this, Vodafone tell me that I signed up for a £15 per month 18mth contract. I was in the hospital and didn't look at any of their correspondence and am now outside the 7 day period where I can return it.

Can you advise if I have any options? This is down to either a human error on my part or theirs....in any case, they are insisting I pay £222.58 to get out of this. Their customer service emails are so frustrating. I keep getting a cut and paste standard reply.

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers,

Roger

Guys_Dad

If you signed for this, being over 18, you have agreed to a contract, unless you can prove that you were not mentally fit to do so at the time. You may have some goodwill leeway if you can prove you were in hospital for the 7 days following your "order", but you need to make a case for this to the chief exec's office as CS are somewhat robotic. ( Certainly if both your wife and you were hospitalised, you may gain sympathy). But, in the death, a contract is a contract and Vodafone have the right to enforce it.

However,...they need to be able to show that you have indeed agreed to this contract and, under law - as well as Data protection, they need to provide you with the evidence that you did agree to such a contract.

Equally, if their web site has been constructed in such a way that it too easily entrapped someone into inadvertently making an order, you could argue the case for the contract being void.

Thirdly, under distance selling regulations, they must confirm in writing the terms of any contract. Did you receive these? Was there a message on the screen thanking you for your order? Remember that Vodafone can prove how their web ordering service works and - others may correct me - I do believe that their ordering screens are quite informative.