Can I cancel my contract for free

yusuo

After arguing with vodafone for an hour the other day about cancelling my contract for free and being told that I would still be liable for the cancellation charge (with a 25% discount mind you)
I finally got through to someone who stated that they would cancel my contract free of charge if I returned the phone and signal box back to them.
After speaking to this man for about 5 minutes he asked me to wait on hold and without me knowing blindly transferred me to a different department, I spoke told them that he had agreed to do this but apparently he had not left any notes saying that he offered this to me, and it stated that I was still liable for the charge. I have argued with them regarding this matter and sent off an angry email stating that this was offered to me.

Where do I stand from a legal point of view as I am not paying anything else on this contract, I have what I think is an interaction id and requested the call to be listened to. But I would like to know where I stand.

Thanks in advance

Jon_01

A bit of history on the reason you want to cancel might help?

yusuo

Basically a lack of signal in my house is the main cause, they provided a signal box to overcome this, but its not compatible with my isp. My main peeve is that I was never informed of the T+C's and point of sale and was never informed that they were not liable for lack of signal in my local area.

Other reasons is because im not happy with the customer service, and have even been sworn at by a manager in a past occasion, but i don't think that's a legal reason to cancel

grumbler

yusuo wrote: »

Where do I stand from a legal point of view ....I ...requested the call to be listened to. But I would like to know where I stand.

I think this call record, even if found, has no legal value.

yusuo wrote: »

Basically a lack of signal in my house is the main cause, ...My main peeve is that I ...was never informed that they were not liable for lack of signal in my local area.

So, is it in your house or in your local area? This makes a big difference.

yusuo

Its in my house, ive even had someone from vodafone say that they can see the network in my area is patchy at best

NFH

yusuo wrote: »

they provided a signal box to overcome this, but its not compatible with my isp.

The SureSignal box is agnostic to the ISP. Therefore there is no compatibility restriction. Do you have insufficient bandwidth perhaps?

yusuo

Nope, I have unlimited internet with Sky so bandwidth isnt a problem. I went through it with their technical team and still nothing. Because I was out of the house alot (and have a landline for when I am home) I didn't see it as much of an issue at the time but now being made redundant Im spending more and more time at home with no signal

simax

There are no compatability issues with Sky Broadband Unlimited. I know people who use it with a Sure Signal OK.

A mobile network will never guarantee coverage indoors, so the offer to cancel is generous - it sounds like the operator offered this to keep you quiet, but transferred you to get rid of the call to someone else as they knew a cancellation would not be sanctioned by their boss.

I'm sorry if it seems cynical but is this just a ploy to get out of the contract because of your employment ending?

yusuo

No its not a ploy i got made redundant a few months back and the contract payments aren't a problem, their more than manageable, if I wasnt with Vodafone I would be with someone else regardless as I need a contract phone rather than a PAYG phone. This is purely because when i'm at home there is no signal.

The fact that someone within the complaints department said something that I would view as a verbal agreement with them acting on behalf of the business, I didn't hound on to this guy I just got transferred one department to another and the first thing he said to me is "we can cancel your contract free of charge." If he didn't think it was going to be sanctioned why say it.

Surely them saying this to me is the same as me verbally agreeing the contract to them over the phone as I did at the start of the contract.

I've never signed anything and wasnt made aware of anything other than how much I would be paying since the contract began

yusuo

Thats actually a very good point, because ive never actually signed anything, and nothing was mentioned in relation to terms and conditions at the Point Of Sale (meaning that i'm not tied to the contract in relation to network coverage or anything, all I agreed to was the payment and the term length), that would state im not legally binded to them, wouldn't it?

grumbler

Absolutely not.
Contracts don't have to be printed and signed. And you cannot expect to be read the full T&C at the point of sale, although you can ask for a copy and read it.
Your only valid point is that if you bought it in a shop they were supposed to check the coverage in your area before the sale, but this is arguable as you had been using the phone for many months without complaining.