Cancelling a contract due to poor service and now cut-off completely!!

pete10_2

I took out a new mobile phone contract in September which i am not happy with (understatement!). Initially this was due to poor network service both at home and at work which are 2 completely seperate areas, now the provider has cut me off completeley.

As i'm not happy with the service anyway, I'm about to package the phone up in all of it's original packaging and send back, along with a cheque for the balance. I will enclose a covering letter stating that I believe they have not provided the agreed service so i am terminating the contract. I wondered if anyone had any experience of where i stand legally ???

Thanks in advance for any advice, background as follows ....

My chosen payment method was direct debit which I set up at the start of the contract. The company have failed to take a single payment despite my first bill back in september clearly stating "thank you for choosing to pay be direct debit" and the direct debit having been set up with sufficient funds in my bank account. I've confirmed this with my bank.

The timeline of events is as follows:-

Bill dated 24th Sept - £29.93 to be taken by DD on 11th Oct
Bill dated 24th Oct - £40.60 to be taken by DD on 9th Nov
Letter Dated 25th Oct - Reminder for amount due £40.60 requesting either make payment via credit/debit card or offering to set up direct debit!
I called provider 4th Nov - i called and they confirmed DD on 9th Nov was okay and no action required
Bill dated 3rd Nov - £69.61 stating "this months charges ONLY will be debited from your nominated bank account on 22 Nov 2010" suggesting that the original direct debit would be taken on 9th Nov as previously stated
Nov 10th - without any warning the phone has been cut-off "calls from this number are barred"

rev_henry

Well, almost certainly they've barred outgoing calls for non payment of bills. Which is normally fair enough, but not in your case as they're obviously incapable of setting up a direct debit. As for returning the handset, and cancelling, you'll probably have a fight on your hands. You need to write to them and make a formal complaint really.

pete10_2

It's the fact that they've now disconnected me without any warning that's got me - no letters or calls to inform me :mad: and when i called them they seem perfectly happy that the DD is set up...

Snakeeyes21

pete10 wrote: »

It's the fact that they've now disconnected me without any warning that's got me - no letters or calls to inform me :mad: and when i called them they seem perfectly happy that the DD is set up...

Umm then simply call them, pay the balance with a debit / credit card then you will have nothing to moan about.

As for shoddy coverage, no network guarantees this, the only way they will let you cancel in cases over bad coverage is where you have previously had good coverage and they have taken down or failed to fix one of their masts.

good luck with just sending the phone back and saying you are cancelling, you will recieve a bill shortly after for the amount you are contracted to pay, monthly line rental times the amount of months left.

Guys_Dad

They will want you to pay off the contract in full (less VAT).

I would NOT take that course of action - i.e. sending back the phone - without discussion with them. Your Credit Score will be trashed, if it is not already.

You signed a contract for a period and you have some way to go to get it annulled.

Jon_01

Sending a phone back without some sort of reference or agreement with the network will just result in the phone bouncing around the post room for a while until they can find someone to deal with it.

As Mr Dad says above, you're in a contract. You can't just end it yourself you must talk to the network to get it sorted out. . .

pete10_2

Jon_01 wrote: »

As Mr Dad says above, you're in a contract. You can't just end it yourself you must talk to the network to get it sorted out. . .

I talked to the network back on the 4th, i even offered payment yet they told me that the direct debit was in place (as also stated on their bills to me) so there was no need. Yet again they failed to take the direct debit on the 9th, and they have now cut me off completely without warning.

Doesn't this amount to the provider ending the contract ? They're not providing the agreed service - i had payment method in place, and contacted them to resolve, yet now they have cut me off without warning ...

rev_henry

pete10 wrote: »

I talked to the network back on the 4th, i even offered payment yet they told me that the direct debit was in place (as also stated on their bills to me) so there was no need. Yet again they failed to take the direct debit on the 9th, and they have now cut me off completely without warning.

Doesn't this amount to the provider ending the contract ? They're not providing the agreed service - i had payment method in place, and contacted them to resolve, yet now they have cut me off without warning ...

In theory, I'd say yes, so you could actually walk away with the phone. Getting them to actually allow you to do this though is another matter.

Guys_Dad

rev_henry wrote: »

In theory, I'd say yes, so you could actually walk away with the phone. Getting them to actually allow you to do this though is another matter.

Don't think so, Rev. The fact that they cocked up collecting the money wouldn't negate the contract. Certainly they should correct the payment history and do some compensation for the cut off.

OP needs to go through the formal complaints process and get hold of the senior execs who will usually smooth things over, but no contract let out, I fear. The fact is that they have received no payment, even though this appears to be 100% down to their incompetence, but OP will still lose unless he sorts it out with them.