Tesco mobile cancelling during cooling off period

DALIZER

Hello All,

I was in a similar situation a few hours ago, I attempted to return the phone within the cooling off period (I bought it Saturday and tried to return it Today which is Monday, so I'd only had it 2 days) and was told I'd have to pay £228, £222 of which was for data charges (at £4 per MB). I spoke to a guy at their call centre from the store and as he was unable to help so I asked to speak to his manager. The manager was unable to speak at the time, but they just called back and said that they would agree to only be charge me for my calls and texts made. They are going to put this in email within the next 24hrs too. I was actually returning the because I didn't realise it was a 3G and not a 3Gs until today, so I'm not sure if the lack of clarity surrounding this issue helped my cause. I basically explained to the manager that I was very dispappointed to be faced with such an extreme charge (compared to the normal terms of the contract) after only 2 days use. Anyway, hope this helps. I'll be sure to post an update if I don't get my email or more importantly end up getting charged £228.

johnbongo

DALIZER wrote: »

Hello All,

I was in a similar situation a few hours ago, I attempted to return the phone within the cooling off period (I bought it Saturday and tried to return it Today which is Monday, so I'd only had it 2 days) and was told I'd have to pay £228, £222 of which was for data charges (at £4 per MB). I spoke to a guy at their call centre from the store and as he was unable to help so I asked to speak to his manager. The manager was unable to speak at the time, but they just called back and said that they would agree to only be charge me for my calls and texts made. They are going to put this in email within the next 24hrs too. I was actually returning the because I didn't realise it was a 3G and not a 3Gs until today, so I'm not sure if the lack of clarity surrounding this issue helped my cause. I basically explained to the manager that I was very dispappointed to be faced with such an extreme charge (compared to the normal terms of the contract) after only 2 days use. Anyway, hope this helps. I'll be sure to post an update if I don't get my email or more importantly end up getting charged £228.

My cheque for the full amount arrived yesterday. It took over 3 weeks to arrive. I just don't understand why they play this game. I suppose it can be a nice little earner for them if most don't question it...

pid2004

oh my gawd, I wish I had seen this post before. I am being well and truely shafted by Tesco. Got an iphone on Friday last week, they sent the wrong colour, so called on Saturday to get it swopped. They cant work their systems and told me that I would have to cancel. Then wouldnt tell me the bill amount that I owed. Called billings and told it would be £240 purely for some data use. So have kept the phone and contract going! Got an iphone in the colour I dont want and !!!!!! service from Tesco. Roll on 12 months and I can move on!!

CityWalk_2

pid2004 wrote: »

oh my gawd, I wish I had seen this post before. I am being well and truely shafted by Tesco. Got an iphone on Friday last week, they sent the wrong colour, so called on Saturday to get it swopped. They cant work their systems and told me that I would have to cancel. Then wouldnt tell me the bill amount that I owed. Called billings and told it would be £240 purely for some data use. So have kept the phone and contract going! Got an iphone in the colour I dont want and !!!!!! service from Tesco. Roll on 12 months and I can move on!!

Wrong Colour? There is only one colour available

pid2004

Hi, I wanted the black 3gs phone but they sent the white one. x

skibuddy

I bought an iphone 4 last night in store. Only tried it today at home but the O2 signal is almost non-existent and keeps dropping out. Played around with data using my wi-fi and a couple of test phone calls to my old mobile. I really like the phone but it's no use to me if I can't make or receive phone calls at home. As I will have to cancel I have two questions:

1. Can I return it to the store ? I think the shop assistant said I could do this within the 14 days. I would have thought that if I bought it in store then I could return it that way from a consumer rights perspective.

2. Is there a way of checking what they may try to sting me for in call/data charges beforehand ? I've looked on my account page on the Tesco Mobile web site and it list a few GPRS items and 2 calls, totalling £2.08, all of which are discounted in the right hand column to £0.00. Reading other replies above, I guess the GPRS items could be increased ?? I've copied the details from my account page below and asterisked for privacy.

Date.Called Number Duration/Volume Call.Type Cost Charge
04 Aug 2010 12:** MOBILE WEB 287 GPRS £ 1.13 £ 0.00
04 Aug 2010 12:** 07********* 1 Free Calls £ 0.00 £ 0.00
04 Aug 2010 12:** MOBILE WEB 80 GPRS £ 0.32 £ 0.00
04 Aug 2010 12:** MOBILE WEB 7 GPRS £ 0.03 £ 0.00
04 Aug 2010 13:** MOBILE WEB 126 GPRS £ 0.50 £ 0.00
04 Aug 2010 13:** 07********* 30 UK Calls £ 0.10 £ 0.00

skibuddy

Quick update. I took the phone back to the store today for a refund which after a call by the shop assistant to Tesco Mobile, they said they would refund but I would have to wait for my first billing date to receive the money back to my credit card. As this is £449 I complained and eventually spoke to someone at Tesco Mobile who had to escalate to their manager. Unfortunately he agreed that it wasn't very good but was powerless to do anything as they are tied to the billing cycle. I felt I was getting nowhere and had to leave for work but will pursue this further.

During the call to Tesco Mobile I stated that the section 3. in the T&C's (Cooling Off period) never mentions a delay in getting a refund and when I bought the phone I specifically asked about refunds and they said just bring it back to the shop and we will refund you. If I had been told at the time of the sale I would have been reluctant to buy. I felt I've been misled.

Both shop asistants in the mobile phone section of the store and the manager at Tesco Mobile all agreed it needs to be clearer and that it's not very good. Nice that they agree but they seemed powerless to change it.

I never asked about the call charges and it was never mentioned during the call by Tesco Mobile, so I may get hit with that later but I never really used the phone at all.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with a complaint ?

btw, I wouldn't recommend Tesco Mobile on this basis for an iphone if you are unsure of what signal you'll get at home on O2. The first person I spoke to at Tesco Mobile during the refund process kept saying I was in an area of high signal strength, to which I kept saying the reality was different. I had checked the O2 coverage website before buying but it didn't help me in this instance.

When I get my money back, I will probably buy a handset from Apple and get a one month rolling SIM on three, so I'm not tied to more than a month.

kenozz

skibuddy wrote: »

Quick update. I took the phone back to the store today for a refund which after a call by the shop assistant to Tesco Mobile, they said they would refund but I would have to wait for my first billing date to receive the money back to my credit card. As this is £449 I complained and eventually spoke to someone at Tesco Mobile who had to escalate to their manager. Unfortunately he agreed that it wasn't very good but was powerless to do anything as they are tied to the billing cycle. I felt I was getting nowhere and had to leave for work but will pursue this further.

During the call to Tesco Mobile I stated that the section 3. in the T&C's (Cooling Off period) never mentions a delay in getting a refund and when I bought the phone I specifically asked about refunds and they said just bring it back to the shop and we will refund you. If I had been told at the time of the sale I would have been reluctant to buy. I felt I've been misled.

Both shop asistants in the mobile phone section of the store and the manager at Tesco Mobile all agreed it needs to be clearer and that it's not very good. Nice that they agree but they seemed powerless to change it.

I never asked about the call charges and it was never mentioned during the call by Tesco Mobile, so I may get hit with that later but I never really used the phone at all.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with a complaint ?

btw, I wouldn't recommend Tesco Mobile on this basis for an iphone if you are unsure of what signal you'll get at home on O2. The first person I spoke to at Tesco Mobile during the refund process kept saying I was in an area of high signal strength, to which I kept saying the reality was different. I had checked the O2 coverage website before buying but it didn't help me in this instance.

When I get my money back, I will probably buy a handset from Apple and get a one month rolling SIM on three, so I'm not tied to more than a month.

Your experience is exactly as mine, I am having to wait 6 weeks for my refund £400 I have talked and emailed to everyone and as you say they are totality inflexible, I have over a dozen email replies had 6 telephone conversations , all agree it is very unfair but all say that their system cannot be overridden, I have gone to Apple purchased a unlocked 16g it arrived in 8 days, got a new SIM, and, away I go, my data charges are 0.012 per meg, for the life of me I just cant understand how any one can be with a provider that thinks its ok to price data at £4 per meg, :eek: I cancelled my contract with Tesco after 3 days as the O2 signal was poor in my location, when I asked about the signal when placing my order I was told that is what the cooling off period was for , just sent it back he said :rotfl: no mention of the £4 per meg data charge, its cost me £47 and the loss to my bank account of £400 for the next 6 weeks, I am now wiser, but extremly angry at Tesco :mad:

skibuddy

I eventually got a customer service representative to send me email confirmation of the amount I will be refunded and when it will be refunded. The email stated I will get the full amount back in 6 weeks even though the representative on the phone said I would be charged for any calls or data usage I incurred but for some reason he never mentioned this in the email he sent. At least I have an email from them I can use if I get any problems.

skibuddy

Final update. I received a credit back to my card on the first billing date (6 weeks after the purchase date) as promised, for the amount of £446.68 (£449 - £2.32 for calls and data).