Taking my mobile provider to court

talksr

Hello, I wondered if anyone could offer some suggestions and help.
In November 10 I switched from O2 to another well known mobile phone provider. I signed up to a 18mth contract where I got 600 minutes, unlimited texts, web access and a BlackBerry Torch 8900.

As soon as I got the phone, the company had got the bill wrong and were charging me way too much. I reported this to them the day I got the phone (Nov 23rd) and it took them until January 2011 to rectify their mistake. I had to write so many letters, make so many calls, it really stressed me out.

Now the handset has developed a fault where calls are not coming through to it. I have had lots of arguments, missed meeting people and generally just missed important calls.

I reported this issue to them at the beginning of this month via their online email system. And I am still waiting for a reply. I am not getting what I have paid for and I am really upset. I should have just stayed with O2.

I have tried contacting BlackBerry (the handset manufacturer) but can't get any sense. So I thought I would go back to the provider who sold me the contract and the phone.
I have been communicating solely via email or letter as when I had the bill issues, they claimed I had not called them to report the issue etc, so I found the best way was via letter/e-mail and then they would not be able to bend the truth as I would have a full audit trail.

Based on what I have written, does anyone feel I have a case? I know it has not been a full month yet, but in my last email, I made it very clear the phone was not functional and I was unable to use it properly. I sent this on 1st March and its now 17th. And based on my current experiences with this company, they seem to just leave you waiting for months.

Any help would be great.

Guys_Dad

When you have a fault with a phone or any other service, the proper route is to contact them to resolve the problem. In your case, you have done this by mail so you have a trail. But are you 100% sure your complaint has gone to the correct address?

And you should always follow (a) their published procedure for reporting faults and then (b) their complaint/dispute resolution procedure first of all. Any court will expect you to go through that first of all.

You must be unique on here as most people telephone the network or call in on one of their shops.

I am sure that the network will advise appropriate measures to get the phone repaired or replaced before any need to go to court, particularly as they have not said they won't do anything - yet!

grumbler

talksr wrote: »

Hello, I wondered if anyone could offer some suggestions and help.
In November 10 I switched from O2 to another well known mobile phone provider. I signed up to a 18mth contract where I got 600 minutes, unlimited texts, web access and a BlackBerry Torch 8900.

As soon as I got the phone, the company had got the bill wrong and were charging me way too much. I reported this to them the day I got the phone (Nov 23rd) and it took them until January 2011 to rectify their mistake. I had to write so many letters, make so many calls, it really stressed me out.

So, let's make it clear. Are you going to sue them for getting you stressed? If not, why are you telling us this?

Now the handset has developed a fault where calls are not coming through to it. I have had lots of arguments, missed meeting people and generally just missed important calls.

I reported this issue to them at the beginning of this month via their online email system. And I am still waiting for a reply. I am not getting what I have paid for and I am really upset.

What's wrong with phoning them? As far as I understand, you don't have any problems with outgoing calls and you can do it for free with all networks if you are a pay monthly customer.

I should have just stayed with O2.

I have tried contacting BlackBerry (the handset manufacturer) but can't get any sense.

Very informative piece.

So I thought I would go back to the provider who sold me the contract and the phone.
I have been communicating solely via email or letter as when I had the bill issues, they claimed I had not called them to report the issue etc, so I found the best way was via letter/e-mail and then they would not be able to bend the truth as I would have a full audit trail.

Well, it's your choice. Sounds like the 'fault' is not very serious and you are not eager to have this sorted.
Also, are you sure that it is the handset fault, not a result of poor reception?
And if it is a genuine fault, you can have the handset repaired or replaced either via the retailer or the manufacture. I don't see that you exhausted all regular means before trying to force them doing this via court. And I am not sure that it's the handset fault. Are you?

Based on what I have written, does anyone feel I have a case?

I don't - based on what you have written.

Scrammer

Seems unclear where the problem is with the network or the phone.
The first part of your post seems entirely irrelevant to the rest of it.
Your phone should be still under guarantee.
Take it back to the shop you got it from, ask them to call it and when it does not
ring demand a refund.

Again there is no point taking the network provider to court if the problem is with the phone is there?

I may be complicated in that you nought the phone as a package on a contract.
Something I would avoid.

MisterBrico

How do you refund it if it was "free" as part of an air time agreement, and notice the important word there, air time.

Best bet is to go into a shop for the network and ask them to send it off to be repaired, failing that you must have some form of reputable mobile repair specialists near by?

Also I used to get it alot at work "I can't send it off for repair I need it for work" when we had business tariffs that would mean a couriered replacement not a send off job. But no one wanted to pay the extra £5

Just like people go for the cheaper networks then it all goes wrong, £30 for nothing or £35 for a working phone :P

Scrammer

It is not free it is part of the package in reality.
If it is free ask to swop it for another free one.

talksr

Guys_Dad wrote: »

When you have a fault with a phone or any other service, the proper route is to contact them to resolve the problem. In your case, you have done this by mail so you have a trail. But are you 100% sure your complaint has gone to the correct address?

And you should always follow (a) their published procedure for reporting faults and then (b) their complaint/dispute resolution procedure first of all. Any court will expect you to go through that first of all.

You must be unique on here as most people telephone the network or call in on one of their shops.

I am sure that the network will advise appropriate measures to get the phone repaired or replaced before any need to go to court, particularly as they have not said they won't do anything - yet!

Hi thanks that is very useful.
I will take a look and see what they recommend. As I said, I have tried calling them re the billing and after months of faffing, they turned around and said that I never even called them. After all of that, I decided the best way was letter and also email too so each correspondence has gone out via snail mail and email.

It is not a reception issue as I have my partners blackberry in the same location on may occasions and this works with no problems.

I would visit a store but I bought via the telephone so don't know which store to visit and I am sure they are more interested in selling deals and getting their commission than dealing with moany customers.

My experiences to date with this company have been pretty poor and the reason for my post is that if within one month of contacting them, I have still not had even a response, I feel this is grounds to claim back the money I have been paying them for something I have not been getting.

This has been going on for a while and I have been completely oblivious.

grumbler

talksr wrote: »

It is not a reception issue as I have my partners blackberry in the same location on may occasions and this works with no problems.

You forgot to say that it was the same network. Was it?

Wintermute

I'm not a lawyer, but you don't have a case.

Assuming your handset actually is faulty, you should just go into one of their stores, any stores and ask about returning the handset for repair or replacement, if they can't sort it they'll be able to point you in the right direction. Issues regarding money can often be complicated or time consuming, issues with handsets are simple and usually straight to the point (providing it's actually faulty), the chances are one of two things are going to happen;
1. You'll be asked to send your phone to their repair centre (or there may even be a courier to pick it up for you).
2. You'll be told to go to your local store to book it in for repair.

I can understand and appreciate your reasons for not wanting to call in and have some sort of paper trail, but at the same time if you called or went into a store at the start of the month the chances are your issue would be sorted by now.

Back to your "fault", you say calls aren't coming though, is this an intermittent issue? Is it happening everywhere you go? What's happening with the calls, are they going straight to voicemail, ringing out? Have you got a 3G signal when this happens? Have you tried putting the SIM in another phone to see if that solves the problem? Are these calls registering as missed calls? Is it a 3G SIM in your phone? Does this happen when you have all internet related settings off?

There's a number of other questions you'd really need to answer and some basic troubleshooting steps that you really need to go through to confirm the phone faulty, to do this with any sort of efficiency you really need to be on the phone with somebody who knows what they're doing and can make test calls.

If you're issue is that every so often a call will go straight to voicemail when you know you have service then the chances are this is more to do with the level of service and what your phone is doing and you will experience this no matter what smart phone you use. A frequent cause of this is smart phones syncing sites (i.e. facebook), updating weather forecasts, checking email or anything that uses an internet connection in areas with anything less than 3G connections, it's a limitation of the network technology, when you're using a GPRS or an Edge connection it works similar to the way an old dial up modem works, meaning it's effectively using the voice network to access the internet so when somebody tries to call you at the same instant your phone is trying to access the internet it'll be just like you're on the phone to somebody else and they'll either get an engaged tone or go straight to voicemail.

Silk

A lot of this needs a bit more detail to offer any help

talksr wrote: »

Hello, I wondered if anyone could offer some suggestions and help.
In November 10 I switched from O2 to another well known mobile phone provider.

Did you do this direct with a provider or through a 3rd party retailer such as CPW or P4U etc?

I got the phone (Nov 23rd) and it took them until January 2011 to rectify their mistake. I had to write so many letters, make so many calls, it really stressed me out.

Bearing the dates and christmas and new year etc writing letters and receiving replies its no wonder it took so long ..why not use email ?

Now the handset has developed a fault where calls are not coming through to it

Why did you not just ring the supplier and say you thought it faulty and ask what to do ?

I have tried contacting BlackBerry (the handset manufacturer) but can't get any sense. So I thought I would go back to the provider who sold me the contract and the phone.
I have been communicating solely via email or letter as when I had the bill issues, they claimed I had not called them to report the issue etc, so I found the best way was via letter/e-mail and then they would not be able to bend the truth as I would have a full audit trail.

How did you go about contacting blackberry ?
Why did you not ring the supplier ?
writing letters is so slow to get replies

As I said, I have tried calling them re the billing and after months of faffing, they turned around and said that I never even called them. After all of that, I decided the best way was letter and also email too so each correspondence has gone out via snail mail and email

Did you keep note of who you spoke to and the dates and times to verify who you spoke to ?

I would visit a store but I bought via the telephone so don't know which store to visit and I am sure they are more interested in selling deals and getting their commission than dealing with moany customers.

The stores belong to the same company the employees work for the company they are also there to help existing customers ...as to which shop it doesn't matter just go to the nearest one.

talksr

grumbler wrote: »

You forgot to say that it was the same network. Was it?

Sorry, yes it is. Hers is a less snazzy model than mine but same network.
Both of ours have this new UMA feature for switching between the mobile network or your broadband wireless (to obtain reception), this was promptly disabled, as I noticed it would randomly switch between the two and that could cause a temporary loss of reception.