How can i get out of an O2 contract?

janie63

I'm hoping someone on here can help me-

to cut a long story short i owe O2 £75- i am on a 24 month contract which started in January- i won't have any money at all until 30th August and even then i am not sure i can clear this-
I have rung them and they have said i need to pay that or i will incur more charges for disconnection etc- i know i owe them this money but surely there must be some way round this??

i.e cancel contract and go on pay as you go??:eek:

Jon_01

Your stuck, sorry. Contracts are there to protect both sides. You've agreed to it and it's legally binding, mobile contracts have been going long enough that there are no loopholes any more.

All you can do is call the billing dept and see if you can come to an arrangement to pay it off somehow, if your circumstance have changed explain that to them and see if there's something they can do, but as you're only a few months in their options maybe limited.

You could always sell the phone and use that to help pay off what you owe ?

clouty

If you cancel the contract, you will have to pay a cancellation fee. This used to be as much as the total contract, and when I was unexpectedly moving abroad, I managed to pass my contract on to a family member who wanted one. I had to hand on the phone, and a bit of an incentive, but it was way better than paying cancellation fees, or keeping the phone and paying all those roaming charges.

I believe the cancellation fees they are allowed to charge have gone way down recently, perhaps someone else can help you more with this.

You will need to pay what you owe, but perhaps they will give you time if you explain your position.

Hope some of this is of some use

DarkConvict

Jon 01 has already go on this and is right, contracts protect both sides.

There is no way out, if you were not able to meet the cost of the contract (over its min term) before taking out you should have gone with PAYG to begin with.
Failure to pay, will mean you get default on your credit file, and the contract length is owed in full.
I.e. £25 a month over 24 months, is £600. So you had it in January but have £75 in arrears. The amoutn owed would be (£25*(24-6)(months remaining)) + £75 (arrears) + any administration fees. So i assume a balence is going to be about £500 to £500.

If 02 is not going to accept a payment plan, there is no other way.
Failure to pay after the default will likely lead to a CCJ. If you break the terms of a CCJ or do not attend court bailiffs will be issued. Bailiffs will lead to more charges.
Its a downhill issue if you get into debt you cannot pay back. As such i recommend you ring national debtline as you may have other issues that need to be addressed.

DCFC79

How come you cant pay it ?

boliston

DarkConvict wrote: »

Jon 01 has already go on this and is right, contracts protect both sides.

There is no way out, if you were not able to meet the cost of the contract (over its min term) before taking out you should have gone with PAYG to begin with.
Failure to pay, will mean you get default on your credit file, and the contract length is owed in full........

The OP might have been made redundant for all you know or some other unexpected reason why their income has dropped

DarkConvict wrote: »

If 02 is not going to accept a payment plan, there is no other way.
Failure to pay after the default will likely lead to a CCJ. If you break the terms of a CCJ or do not attend court bailiffs will be issued. Bailiffs will lead to more charges......

They usually seem to just sell on the debt agencies rather than go along the CCJ/bailiff route. The main problem will be a blackened credit rating for the next 6 years.

jd87

If you don't pay it will trash your credit file. Go without food if necessary, seriously.

iamcornholio

jd87 wrote: »

If you don't pay it will trash your credit file. Go without food if necessary, seriously.

Rubbish. A less than perfect credit file is no big deal.

Just repay it when you can, and try and negotiate alternative terms with a specialist advisor ... not just the usual ones to answer the call at he call centre

Monkeynut

Occasionally, some companies are willing to change the contract you originally made.

Well, saying that, this is based on one incident really. A couple of years ago my OH ended up with 2 mobile contracts (took out one with 3 as there was a really good offer which was about to stop, then realised his then current Vodafone contract had been an 18 month rather than 12 months so he had 7 months left at the time rather than just the 1 he'd thought when taking up with 3). Anyway, he obviously didn't really want to be paying for 2 phones, so he contacted Vodafone and told them that he had lost his job (teeny fib!!) so was going to find it difficult to pay, and would they end it early atc as he felt PayG with a different company would be cheaper for him. He wasn't really expecting them to do anything, because after all, a Contract was in place, so he was just trying his luck really.

Anyway - they offered to change the contract onto a different tariff for the remaining 7 months to the cheapest option they had available, which was of course fine for him as he had the 3 phone with the calls/messages etc that he needed, so although he was still paying twice, he was paying less than half the amount to Vodafone than he was originally. I guess they must have decided it was easier to try and ensure he was paying regularly still as it must be easier for them, even if he's paying slightly less, plus they were trying to encourage him to still stay on Vodafone when he 'went to Pay As You Go'!!!

We didn't think anything would be able to be done, so I guess it's always worth trying your luck.

Monkeynut

iamcornholio wrote: »

Rubbish. A less than perfect credit file is no big deal.

Just repay it when you can, and try and negotiate alternative terms with a specialist advisor ... not just the usual ones to answer the call at he call centre

Must agree with this, I think the previous poster was slightly exaggerating. Especially as if the OP is having problems paying this bill, they chances are they may be having problems paying other things too, so their credit file would already be imperfect anyway,
If not, then of course it depends on whether a perfect credt file is majorly important to OP.
(I know they *are* important, before I get blasted down for that, but you know what I mean).

DarkConvict

boliston wrote: »

The OP might have been made redundant for all you know or some other unexpected reason why their income has dropped

I was actually stating if you cannot afford it in full before you enter into the contract then go PAYG. I was not referring to having £x surplus per month but can you afford in full to begin with. Peoples circumstances change all the time you cannot live on hope that your income will not change so you should look to having savings for when things go wrong.

If you don't pay it will trash your credit file. Go without food if necessary, seriously.

Obviously an exaggeration, you need to look after your basic living costs before debts and luxuries.

There is however an important point you must consider. If you breach your contract by failure to pay the amount is owed in full as already explained. Now!, If this happens your service will end as you should expect, you will not get a mobile signal EVEN if you pay it off. No signal during paying it off, nor x months of signal after its paid in full. Basically you end up paying for no service because of 3 or so months missed payments. You will have wasted alot more money if you are unable to get the account out of arrears.