Stuck in a contract which was not as advertised

blondiedancer · 26 July 2012 at 4:08PM

Hi,
My Mum recently took out a contract with Virgin Mobile after being pay as you go since 1997. We've been with Virgin Media for telly/internet/phone for over 10years and a sales rep phoned up and offered a deal with web allowance, minutes and texts but that it was only valid if she began the contract then as it was a special offer tailored to say thanks for being a long term customer.
I encouraged her to go for it as it was a similar amount to what she was paying currently for pay as you go.
The sales rep for Virgin said she ought to go for their Blackberry curve as it is one of their bestselling mobiles, and would be suited for my mum considering she has never had a smartphone or android phone etc before. Since getting it, my Mum has been unable to use any of her web allowance as it takes over 20mins for a web page to simply load. I have complained and when asked if it was possible to get it fixed, Virgin have told me that a Blackberry curve is a notoriously slow phone for loading internet pages and that she should have looked into the phone in greater detail before beginning the contract. They won't swap the phone, nor will they let her exit the contract early as they said they are fulfilling their side of the deal by providing the web allowance, and the problem lies with Blackberry for making that model a slow one. This frustrates me because she is paying for a service she isn't receiving, and she was encouraged to begin the contract under false pretences then as the sales rep must have known that she wouldn't be able to access internet/web on the go even though she claimed she could.
Is there anything I can do about this as I really don't want my mum to have to ride the contract out for the next 22 months, and she is really unhappy with the customer service/way they spoke to her/and the fact that the deal was taken out under false claims?
Many thanks!

buscape · 26 July 2012 at 4:28PM

blondiedancer wrote: »

The sales rep for Virgin said she ought to go for their Blackberry curve as it is one of their bestselling mobiles, and would be suited for my mum considering she has never had a smartphone or android phone etc before. Since getting it, my Mum has been unable to use any of her web allowance as it takes over 20mins for a web page to simply load. I have complained and when asked if it was possible to get it fixed, Virgin have told me that a Blackberry curve is a notoriously slow phone for loading internet pages and that she should have looked into the phone in greater detail before beginning the contract.

If it's a Blackberry 8520, they're correct, that's a 2G phone and therefore has a slow internet connection. Tell her to download and install Opera Mini going to m.opera.com on her phone, This will speed the web browsing up and make it usable.

They won't swap the phone, nor will they let her exit the contract early as they said they are fulfilling their side of the deal by providing the web allowance, and the problem lies with Blackberry for making that model a slow one.

This is all true. Unless you're within the cooling off period, they aren't obliged to do anything.

This frustrates me because she is paying for a service she isn't receiving,

As I've said above, download Opera Mini, this will allow her to use the internet at a decent speed.

she was encouraged to begin the contract

Wasn't it you that encouraged her to take out the contract?

under false pretences then as the sales rep must have known that she wouldn't be able to access internet/web on the go even though she claimed she could.

She can access the internet (albeit at a snails pace), so I don't see where the false pretences are.

Is there anything I can do about this as I really don't want my mum to have to ride the contract out for the next 22 months, and she is really unhappy with the customer service/way they spoke to her/and the fact that the deal was taken out under false claims?

Aside from installing Opera Mini, there is nothing that can be done unless she wants to pay off the remaining 22 months.

latecomer · 26 July 2012 at 4:31PM

20 mins to load a web page isn't right, regardless of which phone it is. Are you sure that the settings are correct? Have you tried using it on Wifi? Have you tried using the SIM card in another phone?