02 False Advertising. Now overdrawn.

BennyB1

I'm currently waiting to begin university in September and am supporting myself with a part time McDonalds job to pay for my student accomodation which I have moved into early. McDonalds have recently released a deal on the site , which states that if I take out a contract with 02 , I get an instant £120 into an 02 account which pays for my contract until the £120 runs out and I then have to begin paying it for myself. I thought this deal sounded great , because I could have the phone all summer payed for , then when I begin university I can begin paying on time when my student finance comes through. The deal states I can get 5 friends also on the deal , aslong as I provide evidence that I work at McDonalds. It also CLEARLY states that the £120 comes into action within 30 days and that I wont pay a bill until it runs out. Knowing this , myself , girlfriend and friend all took out a contract phone. Myself and my girlfriend set up ours in her account , as mine wouldnt allow it as it's still a child account until I update it. As i've always been weiry of contract phones I made absolutely sure everything was made 100% clear to me with the 02 assistant in store and asked various questions , specifically asking if I definetly wouldn't pay anything until the £120 ran out. He told me numerous times it will begin immediately and my bills will not be taken out of my account , but the 02 account. Knowing this , I took the phones . Now we have a major problem. Today the bills came through , but instead they came out of my girlfriends actual bank account and not this 02 account they told me about , and which the deal is about. As there was no money in the account , due to us knowing we wouldnt have to pay anything until September/November , the account is now in debt. I got straight on the phone to 02 , and demanded to speak to the person who sorted the phones out with me. They told me he was busy so i explained the situation to him , and he turned round and said the £120 dosnt become active until 4 months into the contract. I told him I was NEVER told anything of the sort , and that it says on the OFFICIAL 02 and MCDONALDS page that it works immediately and nowhere does it say it takes 4 months. This is why I took the contracts , if I knew I would first have to pay the first 4 months , I would not have this phone right now. The worry now is , is that I cannot afford these phones until September. Nevermind paying off the debt in the account first aswell as the overdrawn charge , as I have to pay rent etc. I spoke to my bank and they said they have illegally entered the account to take the money , as the deal states they arent allowed to take anything until the £120 has ran out. I'm currently waiting for a call back off 02 , but I know there going to say they cant do anything now , and I should of know that it didnt become immediately active. But I was NEVER told this. So , what can I do about this ? Will I be allowed to cancel my contract for the lies they told ? Or seek legal advice/help?

Thank you

Ben

Olipro

what does the contract say? (yep, the bit of paper you signed)

if the contract says 4 months then it's your word against theirs... well actually it's a bit worse than that since they have the contract you signed.

In future, ignore what everyone tells you and just read what's written on the paper you're signing.