Getting out of a contract ?

jasmin10

After being with Virgin for over 15 years without ever changing my phone I decided to do it in Oct last year. I was always worried about changing it and having problems as I know what a nightmare they can be to sort out.

They updated my package and my phone.

My problems started straight away as they werent charging me the correct price, so each month for the first 3 months I had to keep phoning them to get them to credit my account to make the tariff right - this is now sorted.

I then started getting a problem from last month where my phone had reached its credit limit of £50. I phoned them as I have never ever reached my limited (only ever gone over my tariff by about £5, my biggest bill being £25) When I phoned them they said not to worry as it is just where my bill date overlapped with when my allowances are put on and that would be sorted the next day when my allowances are credited. I got the same message on my phone this month, over my limit. This morning I have now found my account suspended.

I have phoned them and they said that it's nothing to do with bills being unpaid as they are all been paid but with my credit limit. my bill for this month, due to come out on 12th is for £28 and my bill due to come out on 12th May is at £48, so my account wont be released until the 12th APril and then it was be just below the £50 barr £2.

I know to some the amounts arent a lot but I chose a monthly tariff of £18.53 as this is what I can afford. I'm having a right panic at the thought of a £50 bill come May.

I dont have a land line and need to have access to a phone. for the time being I have a Tesco PAYG to use but am really wanting to get out of the contract. When I initially had problems in the first few months they quoted me something like £300 to get out of the contract (24 months).

Is there anything I can do to get out of it or am I stuck. What about if ever they notify me of price increase - would this be my chance.

I so wish I never changed my phone I'm going to look into getting a land line. With a 6 year old and a 3 month old baby I dont want to be without a phone.

Any help would be very much appreciated - I feel such an idiot.

grumbler

jasmin10 wrote: »

After being with Virgin for over 15 years without ever changing my phone I decided to do it in Oct last year. I was always worried about changing it and having problems as I know what a nightmare they can be to sort out.

They updated my package and my phone.

My problems started straight away as they werent charging me the correct price, so each month for the first 3 months I had to keep phoning them to get them to credit my account to make the tariff right - this is now sorted.

I then started getting a problem from last month where my phone had reached its credit limit of £50. I phoned them as I have never ever reached my limited (only ever gone over my tariff by about £5, my biggest bill being £25) When I phoned them they said not to worry as it is just where my bill date overlapped with when my allowances are put on and that would be sorted the next day when my allowances are credited. I got the same message on my phone this month, over my limit. This morning I have now found my account suspended.

I have phoned them and they said that it's nothing to do with bills being unpaid as they are all been paid but with my credit limit. my bill for this month, due to come out on 12th is for £28 and my bill due to come out on 12th May is at £48, so my account wont be released until the 12th APril and then it was be just below the £50 barr £2.

I know to some the amounts arent a lot but I chose a monthly tariff of £18.53 as this is what I can afford.

Well, if you have chosen the tariff on the basis of affordability, then stay within your monthly allowances. However, it is far more reasonable to do this on the basis of your monthly usage. Either try switching to a more expensive tariff with a bigger allowance or cut your usage and stay within allowances. Or buy a second phone for a tenner and keep using Tesco when you run out of minutes at Virgin.

I dont have a land line and need to have access to a phone. for the time being I have a Tesco PAYG to use but am really wanting to get out of the contract. When I initially had problems in the first few months they quoted me something like £300 to get out of the contract (24 months).

They have right to charge you the fee for early cancellation. I don't see any grounds for demanding cancellation without fees.

Is there anything I can do to get out of it or am I stuck. What about if ever they notify me of price increase - would this be my chance.

It would if the increase is "significant". See your T&C for the definition of "significant". However, what's point in guessing if they have not notified you yet?

macman

What tariff?
No you can't void your contract just because you are going over your limit. You need to investigate if the billing is correct, and if so what you are spending it on-data or calls.
Go through your bills and establish what the excess is for. If you can't stay within your limit, upgrade to a bigger tariff-it will be cheaper tha paying for the excess at penurious rates.
24m contract-not a good move. I'm guessing that you have opted for an expensive smartphone? One way out would be to sell it and use the PAYG handset with the VM SIM.

grumbler

macman wrote: »

...One way out would be to sell it and use the PAYG handset with the VM SIM.

Just to clarify:
"PAYG handset" in this context means a cheap handset that can be bought on Virgin PAYG or any unlocked/sim-free handset bought from any other company and can be used with your Virgin contract sim.

I think the old handset that you changed last year can do the job.

jasmin10

I know if it is because I have gone over my limits then obviously I need to keep an eye on it, even though this has never happened in the past. I cant see my current bill on line at the moment as they are saying it wont be produced until 12th April. However she said one call is a mobile with a value of £13 for the one call.

TBH I havent a clue on phones. my last was just an old Nokia, make calls and texts etc. This new one does have internet etc but I dont use it as I havent a clue how to and cant imagine it being much good on such a small screen. It's a HTC Wildfire S. So far I think it's a load of rubbish as it keeps saying it hasnt got enough memory to do a software update even though I increased the SD card to a 32gb. I so wish I had kept my good old trust one.

I think when I can check the bills I can see whats what. and then learn from it and will keep my old spare on handy.

I have checked my allowances today and its saying that I have 600 standard minutes, over 1000 texts, over 1000 mb and over 1000 other virgin minutes. By this I am confused, why itsnt it saying I have 0 minutes etc or something and if it's showing minutes available I dont understand why I am being charged. Am I missing something?

macman

Indeed, I was assuming that 'Tesco PAYG' referred to an old handset, not just an old SIM.

macman

Why have you chosen a tariff with a 1GB data allowance if you are not using it? Have you switched data off, if not it'll be using up your allowance as it updates.
As I said before, you need to go through yur bills in details and see where the excess is being incurred-calls or data.
Any calls to UK mobiles should be within your inclusive minutes, that £13 call is presumably to a premium rate or other exclusive number.

jasmin10

the ! GB it just something the lady said it something that I would need to use the phone? I didnt ask any questions and just assumed I guess. So I guess I need to find out how to turn that off then. Using this though wont affect my call usuage though will it.

No the mobile number is a legit number from Vodaphone, must have been something to do with school and doing a lot of talking. I dont understand why this wouldnt be included in my minutes, should it be included in one of the above? I think I will phone Virgin again and ask them.

macman

You only need a data allowance if you are using data (email, web surfing, apps)-not for making phone calls.
Schools do use premium rate numbers, same as many doctors' surgeries...

grumbler

AFAIK, the term 'premium' normally refers to 09 and 070 numbers.
Schools may use 0845, 0844 or 0870 that are not 'premium' but are not included in the allowance.

jasmin10

this months bill is now £16.68 as they forgot to credit the discount I get. The lady checked my April/May bill 2nd march 26th and she said that when my my allowances wered used there was a 2 day overlap for my account to be credited which is why my account. She is going to increase my minutes once payment is taken on the 12th but my account is suspended til then