Mobile contracts: how to escape them early article discussion

Former_MSE_Archna

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Escape mobile contracts early Article

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***guest***

i have taken out two mobile contracts last year a 12 month one for my husban and 18 month one for myself. after my husband had had his phone almost a year it was in urgent need of upgrading and he was looking forward to the options which come with changing your phone at the end of your contract. when we went to the shop the sales assistent said ''sorry your still in your contract, you are allowed to change handsets with this company after the 12 months thats all, you can upgrade but its not the end of your contract your on an 18 month contract!!! so no special deals will be avaliable to you'' (and our upgrade options were limited to full cost phones/ price plans as with us still being stuck in a contract with them we had no haggling privalages which come with changing a phone at the end of a contract)
i was fuming and was adament the contract was worded as being a 12 month contract! so i went to get my paper work to prove this, but when i looked closly at it they were correct so i have no proof and i had to buy myself out of the last 6 months of contract to then get the ability to haggle for a decent phone!
i recall this being done very sneekly, i am positive they stated it was 12 month also my other 18 contract is the same - has an extra 6 months added to it so its a 2 year contract in effect! :mad: so annoyed.
i have been with the company for a while and did scan through the contracts when i got them but i recall them being very talkative to the point i was distracted from reading them. they are crafty witht he way it was all presented and worded to me and i am furious witht he company. im sure this must fall under a law about sales tactics!
i know of others who have had the same problem with oranges sales tactics being the same.
i feel cheated by the company they misleaded me into thinking i was buying a smaller contract! any suggestions about how to get out of my 2 year contract without having to pay the last 6 month up front would be greatly appreciated. hope they havent conned many more people, please read your contracts throughly people - i know i will next time!

acuwa

Hello all.
Can anyone on here give me any advice. 8 Months ago I took out two 24 month contracts for me and my wife on a well known network who I had personally been with for 12 years.
However now I'm moving to Australia to start a new job and as honest as I am I told the company my situation and the fact I would no longer need their services as they don't cover that country. I even offered to return the handsets.
To my horror they turned round and said that to cancel the contracts would be over £250 each
We don't have this kind of money as we are buying flights etc to move out to Australia and we certainly didn't know that our life would change like this 8 months ago when we took out the contracts. I'm not the type of person who would just move away and hope they don't come after me.
Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to cancel the contract or at least reduce the costs of cancelling?
Andrew

Guys_Dad

OK - here is where I make myself very unpopular.

In general, with very few exceptions, I have zero tolerance or sympathy with "mustavits" who dive into legally binding contracts that supply mobile handsets as part of the contract and then bleat when they are not allowed to get out of their contract early without honouring it.

You entered into a contract of your own free will, if you didn't read it properly then it's your fault. So why should anyone help you wriggle out of your obligations.

Why don't you buy the handset outright - put it on your credit card if you haven't got the money, then go sim-free or giff-gaff. Then try reneging on your credit card repayments. There is no difference.

I don't want my network to lose money by being done by mustavits who are so addicted to changing their handsets every 10 minutes who can't stand by their commitments.

I support all legitimate attempts to save money, but that does not encompass those who choose to try to wriggle out of freely-entered contracts.

grumbler

1. The title requires some correction I think.

2. "Updated 15 Mar 2011", "Correct as at March 11".
Once I tried and failed to find any information on '3' website confirming that you can downgrade to the cheapest tariff in the second part of the contract.
I even sent a e-mail to "Spotted out of date info/broken links? Email: [EMAIL="brokenlink@moneysavingexpert.com"]brokenlink@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] " asking to check if the information was up-to-date. I have not received any reply and the article remains unchanged. So, is the above information correct?

alanne_2

Guys_Dad wrote: »

OK - here is where I make myself very unpopular.

In general, with very few exceptions, I have zero tolerance or sympathy with "mustavits" who dive into legally binding contracts that supply mobile handsets as part of the contract and then bleat when they are not allowed to get out of their contract early without honouring it.

You entered into a contract of your own free will, if you didn't read it properly then it's your fault. So why should anyone help you wriggle out of your obligations.

Why don't you buy the handset outright - put it on your credit card if you haven't got the money, then go sim-free or giff-gaff. Then try reneging on your credit card repayments. There is no difference.

I don't want my network to lose money by being done by mustavits who are so addicted to changing their handsets every 10 minutes who can't stand by their commitments.

I support all legitimate attempts to save money, but that does not encompass those who choose to try to wriggle out of freely-entered contracts.

No doubt you go to church every sunday and check the corners of your windows after the window cleaner has been.

jb66

Folk don't understand what a contract is these days, you chose to move to Australia, why should you get out your contract? Why should the operator lose out?

Guys_Dad

alanne wrote: »

No doubt you go to church every sunday and check the corners of your windows after the window cleaner has been.

No I don't. But I know about legal commitments and contracts and the concept of reneging.

Putting it more simply, people know that if I give my word or shake hands on a matter, I will honour it and not try to wriggle out.

Clearly you don't understand that concept.

And if your first contribution to this forum is to pick up a 2 moth old dead thread and then make a fatuous comment, your second post won't be missed.

yeslek

jb66 wrote: »

Folk don't understand what a contract is these days, you chose to move to Australia, why should you get out your contract? Why should the operator lose out?

things change.
Contracts are binding yes, but I work for an ISP and often when people leave or move we have to override our own t&c and offer a refund and allow early cancellation. Its less fair to pay for a service your not getting use of.

quietcucumber

I have just called 3 to attempt to downgrade my priceplan as im struggling financially. As ive "only" been with them for 7 months (using my phone constantly and paying in full, on time every month), instead of me paying £35 per month, they will downgrade my phone minutes and save me... wait for it,... £2 per month to take away 200 minutes of talktime. Great. What a saving. Oh, plus, theyre going to charge me £10 to downgrade. Really helpful.

Anyone have any advice to help me?

Im not trying to wiggle out of the contract, I just need to pay less. I explained that im happy to reduce talktime, minutes etc. But, if the easiest way is to complain and close the contract altogether, how would I do this?

grumbler

quietcucumber wrote: »

...But, if the easiest way is to complain and close the contract altogether, how would I do this?

I don't quite understand what you are going to complain about.