O2 - my t&c's have changed without them telling me!

Charliezoo

I upgraded my old iPhone 3G for the new 4 model. I took out my original contract with the CPW and upgraded through them too. When I placed the order over the phone I was asked if I would like to stay on my current tarrif which I did so I expected my bills to continue to be the same amount. My first bill arrived and I was shocked to discover it was £20 more than before. Looking at my bill closely it appears that I am now being charged 25p/40p per text when I'm abroad, I used to have 4 messages deducted from my text bundle before. I spend about half a month working abroad and texting home is my lifeline, I'm now faced with higher bills than I can afford. Surely I should have been told that my contract was changing? Where do I stand with this? Is there any way I can go back to my old contract?

Oscar_The_Grouch

Under contract law, you have to have "offer and acceptance". Essentially, this meanst that you have to be told what you are buying your way in to and have to agree to it. If they sent you a contract, regardless of whether you read it or not, you accepted the terms of it and are stuck.

O2 have been well documented on here for their decision to offer everyone unlimited UK texts whilst removing the overseas texts from their tariffs. I don't think you will get them back by complaining, but you may be able to get out of your contract (and leave O2) if you argue that you were not informed of this change. The problem is where would you go for your contract then? I don't know of any UK provider that gives overseas texts, so you may be better off just staying where you are and buying yourself a cheap unlocked phone (CPW have most of their phones unlocked - just ask at the till) and getting a PAYG sim in whatever country you are visiting & use that to reply to texts from the UK.

DarkConvict

The 4for1 pic/roaming message stopped along time ago.

If you upgrade or change tariff then you loose this. Whilst people have fought to get it back you will struggle because you did upgrade not swap tariff, you got a new phone and an upgrade is still putting you on a new tariff even if the allowances are very similar. For them to accept back a used phone puts them at a loss and without sending the phone back I do not think they would even consider a tariff change. The fact you have a bill indicates you used (accepted the service) and that the phone is over 7 days old so you have no rights under DSR for 7 day returns.

If you did it on the phone, ask for a verbal recording of the phone call so you can listen to it so see if they stated that the terms were identical in the new contract..

DUTR

It's one of the reasons I will be staying sim only and buying the handset out right.

chuckley

complain and look for a better international deal?!

Charliezoo

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Under contract law, you have to have "offer and acceptance". Essentially, this meanst that you have to be told what you are buying your way in to and have to agree to it. If they sent you a contract, regardless of whether you read it or not, you accepted the terms of it and are stuck.

I was never actually sent a contract, just a receipt so had no way of knowing that my tariff had been changed. I've been on the same contract for years and upgraded several times with no changes so I'm not sure how they expected me to know it would change.

and getting a PAYG sim in whatever country you are visiting & use that to reply to texts from the UK.

I could end up in any of about 10 different countries so this isn't really a viable option unfortuately.

I'm not sure what to do now, I can't really afford my phone bills jumping up this high suddenly:(