Mobile contracts: how to escape them early article discussion

grumbler

Christiangaz777 wrote: »

Is there a way I can get out of this awful contract without paying extortionate costs....

In one word, NO.
I guess you were happy when buying it a year ago when your handset was newer and S2 cost much more than it costs now.

Re the signal, "even in 3G" makes no sense really as 2g signal is stronger and 2g coverage is better than 3g.

gfplux

Hi Garry.
You will just have to cope with it. When you signed a year ago that was the deal. 2 years then you can sign another deal. Now with one year to go the market has change but that's life. You will just have to man up and think next time about a two year commitment and if you can cope. You mentioned a hasty upgrade in the past. You must try to think what you NEED not what you WANT.
good luck.

thefirs

gfplux wrote: »

Hi o2/orange /voda/t-mobile
You will just have to cope with it. When you signed a year ago that was the deal. 2 years then you can sign another deal. Now with one year to go the inflation rate is much the same as it was then but that's life. You will just have to man up and think next time about a two year commitment and if you can cope. You mentioned a possibility of index linking in the small print. You must try to think what you NEED not what you WANT.
good luck.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just respond to the providers like this?

gfplux

Thefirs, that is brilliant.
Hopefully the challenge being made by the office of fair trading will reverse these dishonourable price increases.

Gledders32

I am with O2, I phoned them to change the bank details on my direct debit in early december and was told that my payments would be collected from the new account from the January payment. Just after the January payment was due I started to get texts, e-mails and phone calls stating the payment was overdue and demanding payment. They had failed to update the bank details correctly and I have contacted o2 on 4 occasions since without getting an answer as to what they are going to do to sort the problem out. Can I get out of my contract if they don't sort the issues within a certain amount of time?

grumbler

In one word, NO.
They made some error and will correct it.

anneleyskiing

My husband is 6 months into a Vodafone 24 month long contract having been with them for years. For the last 22 days the signal where he works, in deepest mud shire, has stopped working. He has phoned them several times and complained and they have given him£20 compensation, before abruptly terminating his call. Problem is he really relies on his phone for work. He is checking if other networks have coverage but can he escape this contract? Advice much appreciated.

Vodafone

Hi anneleyskiing,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

To enable us to help your husband further I'd initially recommend that he follows the guidance in the Network troubleshooting thread which can be found in the Network section of our eForum. Unfortunately, I'm unable to link you to it directly due to the posting guidelines which company representatives are obliged to follow.

In the event that he'd like to discuss matters further he's welcome to email me with his details via the link in our profile here?

All he'll need to do is copy and paste the link into his web browser and it will take him to the Contact us form on our website.

To ensure that it reaches me could he also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line and once our automated reply arrives could you update the thread with his email reference number and I'll get back to him as soon as possible?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

anneleyskiing

Sorry for not responding sooner. The day after my post reception returned where husband works. I will give him the details above. Thank you

Herongull

It seems to me that the solution to all these contract issues is never to take out contract unless:

You are seriously rich and have more money than you know what to do with and you wish to donate the money to a phone company rather than to charity.

Everyone else should decide what phone you really want - great value inexpensive phone that does everything you need or very expensive "must have" phone to keep up with your friends. Like everything else in life, choose something that you really want and that you can afford.

Buy the phone outright (sim only or PAYG and unlock it). You will have consumer protection from DSRs (in 1st 7 days) and then SOGA thereafter (plus guarantee). If you get a really duff phone (ie one that stops working in 2 weeks) you can reject under SOGA and claim a refund and get another one.

Go with PAYG mobile provider (or consider really cheap short-term sim only contract). Pay nothing or practically nothing each month. You never pay more than you can afford and if anything goes wrong eg you move house and there is no signal or bad CS, then you just port out.:beer:

Can't see why so many people are shelling out so much money each month and having so much stress and agro:eek:, when it is all completely avoidable by not getting a long contract/"must have" contract phone.

I'm sure there must be a reason why people want to put themselves through this, but can't see it myself.:(