Help - Mobile Phone Contract Cancellation

joleneemery

Hello,
I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by what a believed was my current phone supplier Vodafone saying that they wanted to improve my current rates. They had ALL the information about my current contract, my details, my rates, my numbers - everything - which is why I didn't question who they were.

Regardless, they sold me on upgrading my account. After the third call back to me as they were always checking for better rates, they offered to switch me to 3. I did wonder why Vodafone would do this, but again I thought they have all my details so they must be Vodafone. Naive?????

They insisted on sending me 2 phones by post to my office which i hadn't been in for over a week.

I picked up the phone brought them home, busy, left them sitting for a few days and then got post of 3 about the switch.

I decided I didn't want to switch. I realized how wrong it was for this other company to have all my personal details. It angered me and annoyed me.

I called 3 to cancel thinking I had 14 days and was told that I should not contact them but a third party supplier. What? Who was this third party supplier that had all my details? They gave me the number to call - which I did. They said that I had exceeded my 7 day cooling off period and was not able to cancel the contract. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that someone had to call me back. I protested saying that was unreasonable considering there was a time frame here that could bind me further.

I have not used the phones. I don't want anything to do with the company.

I have emailed 3 and emailed this 3rd party company which I have come to understand is Advanced Data Network.

I have told everyone to cancel this immediately. Emails say response within 72 or 7 days. What is someone to do. I can't speak to anyone and I can't get reply emails within a certain time.

Does anyone have any guidance about distance selling and the right to cancel?

Thank you

grumbler

joleneemery wrote: »

Does anyone have any guidance about distance selling and the right to cancel?

7 woriking days after receiving the goods.

Naive? IMHO it was naive multiplied by negligent.

That said, AFAIK it is possible to cancel the contract with '3' directly. At least this was the case for contracts bought through Tesco Phone Shop: £10 1 month rolling contract with android phone

macman

Why would 'Vodafone' want to switch you to a rival network?
They didn't say they were Voda; they would have said, 'we are Voda partners', 'working with Voda' etc.
The moral is never to buy based on a cold call, even if the pitch was genuinely Voda.

joleneemery

Naive - yes. No question. Unfortunately, I fell into the trap as I am sure many others do. I am not used to distance selling or people other than my contract suppliers to have my personal information.

On another note, you should know that I have made many attempts to get through to this 3rd party to cancel and have been told that they will call me back without doing so. Time keeps ticking into the 'verbal contract'...

3 say they can't cancel the lines. It has to be done at the point of sale. No help there. Nice!

No signature, no nothing. What happens if my roommate, enemy gets a hold of my phone and confirms this type of thing without my consent? What then? How binding is a voice on the phone that may not even be yours?

It's ridiculous and should not be a legal method of selling anything.

It is also a sleezy way of doing business and that is something I am not used as I don't operate like that.

I totally have learned NOT to accept cold calls. Hard lesson to learn.

macman

No signature is required to make a contract, the validity is exactly the same as a written one.
The law does not give you any cooling-off period on upgrades, though the retailer may have a voluntary 7 day one in force. If that has now been exceeded, you are out of luck.
For a new contract, a 7 day cooling off period applies to phone or web sales.
You are not disputing that you accepted the contract-what you will now need to prove is that you were mis-sold it because they misled you. And that is basically where it gets tough, because it's their word against yours.
I'd start by making a complaint (in writing, by recorded delivery) to the MD and ask them to cancel the contract without penalty for the reasons given. Give them 14 days to reply and state that you will bring a civil action against them if they not comply.
Don't waste your time emaling or phoning.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

What date were the phones delivered to your office, and what date did you first call the company to tell them you didn't want the phones?

joleneemery

Thank you for the time you have given to share your comments and views. I do appreciate it.

I started to draft a letter to Advanced Data Networks (the point of sale crew). Is this way you mean by MD? Any suggestions to make my case tougher in terms of reasons for cancellation?

In terms of the phones, I don't know when they were delivered. I was not working from my office, but out of office for over a week. Unfortunately, I share premises with another company who accepted them. I believe they would have been delivered the week of the 14th November 2011 and I called them yesterday the 24th November.

Thanks again.

joleneemery

This is the letter I drafted to Advanced Data Networks - any suggestions:

I have come to learn that you somehow accessed my personal Vodafone contract information without my consent or that of Vodafones. When speaking to you over the phone, you knew everything there was to know about my personal information and contract information with Vodafone. Why is this? Where did you obtain my personal contract information without my consent?

Having this personal information about me in your possession without my consent, ultimately mis-led me into thinking you were a representative of Vodafone. You mis-led me over the phone by having information about me that you should not have had and therefore have mis-sold me. Your approach was to dealing with me is fraudulent.

Please cancel any switch over immediately without penalty.

I have not used the phones or your service.

You have 14 days to reply to my request.

I will bring a civil action against you if you don’t comply with request.

mobilejunkie

The dealer can't cancel the contract - only the network can and they will charge the whole term cost minus the VAT. Your only remedy is to claim for the costs incurred but that be difficult because you seem to have got what you agreed to - even though later you decided you didn't want it.

Just about the only thing wrong is that they purported to be a different organisation to the one they claimed to be. You must have known the details of what you agreed to; I suspect that only if they provided something different to that (and you can PROVE it) will you have something to pursue legally and are basically tied into the contracts. Bit late, but a trap many have fallen into; I'm sure you'll never give the time of day to any unsolicited calls offering you things again.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

OP, you NEED to find out what day the phone was delivered.

The 7 day cooling off period starts the day after the day of delivery and only includes working days.

If it was delivered in the 14th then your 7th day was Wednesday so you'll be too late.

If it was delivered on the 15th (last Tuesday) then we were still within the 7 days when you called them yesterday, if so then when they told you you were out of the 7 days they were wrong / lying.... however thats all your word against theirs now so chances are you are still screwed.

If the phone was delivered at the end of the week (doubtful though, they normally send them next day delivery) then you could still be within the 7 days now.


IMHO your letter to their MD has about <0.5% of any success.... your best hope is it finds a very happy MD on a very good day having just won the lottery and scored a hole in one at golf....

A civil action has even less chance than that of succeeding.

Buzby

Alternatively, very quickly box then up and return via Special Delivery first thing on Monday. You can also argue the toss as they sent it to your business address you did not recieve it until much later. As long as you have the handsets, you are disadvantaged, your Special Delivery posting receipt will be your best friend - as you cannot easily be held to a contract if you do not have the phone or SIM card. DO take a full note of the Phone IMEI, SIM and any allocated phone number(s).