Are T-Mobile right Re not letting me cancel after the FUP mess

nsabournemouth

When i found out that they were going to reduce my FUP i called on Tuesday umpteen times like many did to cancel.

As we know they changed their minds Wednesday afternoon.

Now as i advised them that i wanted to ON Tuesday cancel they have told me i can't, despite me saying i wanted to under OFCOM and their 9.3 rule.

lucylucky

I suspect you are not alone.

You might need decent legal advice on this.

My thoughts on this are

T mobile announce change to T&C to start on a date in the future.
Because this amounts to a material change you cancel.
T mobile dispute this but quoting OFCOM you are able to show that they are talking ballcocks
At that point T mobile should have accepted your cancellation.

However....

As T mobile have backtracked and had their collective minds changed for them they will say that there can be no cancellation without penalty as the "change" is no longer taking place.

But....

My argument with them would be that no matter whether they changed their minds or not by then you had, fairly in my view, decided to reject the new T&C and cancelled.

corbyboy

No you can't cancel.

They said they were going to lower their FUP but they never did so you have nothing to dispute.

nsabournemouth

First person to say sorry and agree i can cancel at T-Mobile.

Mithent

I would agree that nothing is happening of "material detriment" any more and they're not required to let anyone cancel without penalty.

You can, of course, cancel at any time. The question is whether you shouldn't have to pay off the contract. I'm not sure what a lawyer might be able to argue, but it seems that if you can cancel without penalty through Ofcom 9.3, it would be a loophole rather than really in the spirit of the regulation.

nsabournemouth

Mithent wrote: »

I would agree that nothing is happening of "material detriment" any more and they're not required to let anyone cancel without penalty.

You can, of course, cancel at any time. The question is whether you shouldn't have to pay off the contract. I'm not sure what a lawyer might be able to argue, but it seems that if you can cancel without penalty through Ofcom 9.3, it would be a loophole rather than really in the spirit of the regulation.

Pretty sure 9.3 is no loophole. It should of been done the very day people called up. There should of been no CSR telling people that the guidelines and terms as laid by OFCOM don't count for anything.

lucylucky

Not sure what T mobiles T&C about this state but if a customer contacts them to cancel when does that cancellation take effect from?

At the point of contact or at some other time?

If it takes place at the point of contact then I believe they should let you walk away with no penalty.

gjchester

nsabournemouth wrote: »

Now as i advised them that i wanted to ON Tuesday cancel they have told me i can't.

You certainly can cancel but there will be a fee to pay.

You can't cancel due to the FUP change as the change has not been implimented, so theres no reason to change. The law doesn't really consider how you feel about it, just the black and white that there is now no material change to your contract so you have no valid reason to cancel without a fee.

nsabournemouth

gjchester wrote: »

You certainly can cancel but there will be a fee to pay.

You can't cancel due to the FUP change as the change has not been implimented, so theres no reason to change. The law doesn't really consider how you feel about it, just the black and white that there is now no material change to your contract so you have no valid reason to cancel without a fee.

No the change wasn't implemented but i made contact when i was advised of the change and contacted them prior to their retraction.

OFCOM states:

9.3 Where the Communications Provider intends to modify a condition in a contract with a Consumer which is likely to be of material detriment to the Consumer, the Communications Provider shall:
(a) provide the Consumer with at least one month?s notice of its intention detailing the proposed modification; and
(b) inform the Consumer of the ability to terminate the contract without penalty if the proposed modification is not acceptable to the Consumer.


T-Mobile failed to carry out any of the above on Tuesday when i made contact.

esuhl

It seems T-Mobile didn't learn any lessons from the last time they did this (6 or 7 years ago, when they repeatedly and fraudulently lied to customers about their ability to cancel after deciding that existing customers should be charged extra for paper billing).

I'm afraid I'm not sure what the legal position is on your ability to cancel now they've been "forced" to abandon their plans of profiteering from existing subscribers, but I would make sure you avoid doing any future business with a company as corrupt and arrogant as T-Mobile... If they didn't learn anything from their unacceptable behaviour in the past, you know they'll probably do the same again at some point.

mmpombears

I'm in the same boat, called tmobile on Monday & Tuesday, as well as sent emails before they backtracked. What irritates me the most about this is that they seem to get away with altering their own contracts, ignoring ofcom and generally breaking T&Cs whenever they want. The only reason they backed down was because they know they would have no leg to stand on in court.

Anyway in response to my email dated 12th January sent at 10:04am, I received the following today (conveniently after they have backtracked):

Good afternoon <Me>

Ref: mobile number <My number>

Thank you for your email regarding the changes to our fair use policies for using the internet on your phone.

We are no longer changing the fair use policy amounts for our current customers. So your fair use amount will stay at what it has always been, rather than going down. We will be changing the fair use policy amounts for new and upgrading customers only and apologise for any confusion caused.

Should you require a Porting Authorisation Code for your number you would incur a cancellation charge of £215.52 VAT exempt. Please contact our Loyalty and Retention team if you wish to go ahead.

Thank you for sharing your feelings on this matter, <me>. I trust the above confirms that your fair use amount will not be changing.

Unfortunately due to wording on my part (apparently if you told them you're terminating contract effective immediately it's fine, but not if you request like I did) this will be difficult to fight in court as there has been no "material detriment", and annoyed as I am I'll have to stay with them. However, I will leave asap when approaching the end of my contract, and make sure I use up the full allowance every single month till then. Yay for 3g watchdog