Payment liability on unused contracts.

Zza1pqx

Not sure if the title offers enough info.

I got an 02 contract through carphone warehouse a few years ago.
I became dissatisfied when I discovered that a new contract offering unlimited texts turned out to be just 500 and incensed when I discovered that an 02 bolt-on I had applied to a previous cheap contract was carried over onto my new expensive contract despite the fact the new contract would have dispensed with the need for it.
I have my bills online and as such I simply pay the direct debit so I didn't discover this until I was looking into upgrades on the carphone warehouse website.

So I decided to cancel my 02 contract and go with Orange instead. I went to my local CW and organised the new contract and asked them to cancel the old O2.
They said they couldn't and that I would have to ring them. They also added that despite Carphone Warehouse being written on the top of my bill they couldn't give me any phone numbers to ring either!

So I went home. I made one call and got through to people trying to sell me things from scripts who also told me they couldn't get me any numbers and that I should write.

I became indignant at this point and decided to simply cancel the DD in the hope that an actual letter would come to tell me how to ring.

However, out of sight, out of mind. I never got round to doing that until last month.

My contract ran out in November 09 and they have continued to take DD amounting to just under £50 a month since then.

Now I have received emails telling me that I have to pay or I will be reported to credit ratings agencies.

I'm stunned that this can be legal. My contract ran out and I haven't used the phone or indeed had the sim card anywhere except my 'man drawer' for a year.

It's possible to expand your services in two clicks online, but to decrease it you need to phone and to get them to stop charging you need to write? Where's the address? It's not on the website.

Is it worth arguing the case. I am now in arrears of £99 for a service I don;t use, from a company I got a different suppliers contract from which has made it nigh impossible to cancel simply.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated including any relevant consumer advice and clarification on this bananas mobile phone contract 'is for life' nonsense.

Wickedkitten

Out of sight, out of mind indeed. You never cancelled the contract so yes they can ask for their money. They should actually have an option for it if you ring 202 from the O2 sim or

The email address for cancellation is:

[EMAIL="disconnections242@o2.com"]disconnections242@o2.com[/EMAIL]

The postal address is :

O2 Disconnections
PO Box 242
Houghton Regis
LU5 5WA.

robt_2

Your contract doesn't 'run out'. 12, 18, 24 month etc are MINIMUM terms, after this it is a rolling one month contract.

You owe the money. All you can do is appeal to their good nature - being stroppy or angry with them won't achieve this.

Zza1pqx

Thank you very much indeed both of you. I guess I'll give them a ring, settle and cancel. Cheers.