Getting out of a contract

guygamps

In November 2011 I took out a 2 year contract for a mid price smartphone on Vodafone. I live in London Colney near St Albans, reasonably well developed residential area, with M25, M1, A1, A405, A414, A1081 in shouting distance, 20 miles from London. Phone mast in field at back of my house.

Within 2 weeks of taking delivery, I was finding I was missing calls, getting no internet, and call signal level was terribly unreliable, not just at home, but at many locations that I visit regularly around St Albans

I tried 3 different makes and model of handsets, all were same

I called Vodafone wanting to cancel the contract and was told I was out of the 7 day cooling off period and could not cancel, after a long call they agreed two measures a) a smart signal box which provides a "local" cell in my home through the internet, and b) a discount of £5 per month from my tariff as an ex gratia gesture. Relunctantly I accepted.

Now 10 months on I am just so fed up, the reception in and around st albans seems to be getting worse, the smart signal box needs re-bootin a couple of times a week, and their customer service is truly awful when I try to talk to anyone about it.

They are quoting me more than £240 to exit my contract!

Do anyone else in the forum live in this area and have similar problems with Vodafone? Other family members are on Orange, O2 and T Mobile and none have issues.

How do I cancel the contract without paying the termination fee!!

Guy

19lottie82

what kind of phone is it? can you sell it and put the money towards the cancellation fee?

guygamps

19lottie82 wrote: »

what kind of phone is it? can you sell it and put the money towards the cancellation fee?

I could sell it, and also some resellers offer auto cash back up to a fair bit, but those tend to be on fairly rubbish phones that aren't selling.

I'd rather find a way of cancelling the contract (Not Fit For Purpose) if I can show that Vodafone reception around here is trul awful

ianders

I'd imagine they'd give you a vodafone sure signal before they let you out of the contract.
Might be worth trying CS for one of them.

diamonds

guygamps wrote: »

In November 2011 I took out a 2 year contract for a mid price smartphone on Vodafone. I live in London Colney near St Albans, reasonably well developed residential area, with M25, M1, A1, A405, A414, A1081 in shouting distance, 20 miles from London. Phone mast in field at back of my house.

Within 2 weeks of taking delivery, I was finding I was missing calls, getting no internet, and call signal level was terribly unreliable, not just at home, but at many locations that I visit regularly around St Albans

I tried 3 different makes and model of handsets, all were same

I called Vodafone wanting to cancel the contract and was told I was out of the 7 day cooling off period and could not cancel, after a long call they agreed two measures a) a smart signal box which provides a "local" cell in my home through the internet, and b) a discount of £5 per month from my tariff as an ex gratia gesture. Relunctantly I accepted.

Now 10 months on I am just so fed up, the reception in and around st albans seems to be getting worse, the smart signal box needs re-bootin a couple of times a week, and their customer service is truly awful when I try to talk to anyone about it.

They are quoting me more than £240 to exit my contract!

Do anyone else in the forum live in this area and have similar problems with Vodafone? Other family members are on Orange, O2 and T Mobile and none have issues.

How do I cancel the contract without paying the termination fee!!

Guy

read here http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/contact-us/complaints/index.htm

complain here http://campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/complaints/

report such complaint to Ofcom on 0300 123 3333

MikeWhite

ianders wrote: »

I'd imagine they'd give you a vodafone sure signal before they let you out of the contract.
Might be worth trying CS for one of them.

I think, if you re-read the original post, you will conclude that he already has one of these.

Mike

diamonds

Mike what is your regular handset ? Voda have 900 & 2100mhz frequency 3G, sometimes locking to one over the other can resolve issues if avail options for them 3G signals as seperate transmissions are on your mobile, 2G is patchy at best as the 900mhz that was 2G got a big lump reallocation to be used for 3G 900mhz.

MikeWhite

diamonds wrote: »

Mike what is your regular handset ? Voda have 900 & 2100mhz frequency 3G, sometimes locking to one over the other can resolve issues if avail options for them 3G signals as seperate transmissions are on your mobile, 2G is patchy at best as the 900mhz that was 2G got a big lump reallocation to be used for 3G 900mhz.

I'm not having issues with Vodafone. Did you mean Guy?

Mike

guygamps

My regular handset is an HTC Sensation XE with Beats audio, but my wife's iphone 4 is hardly any better.

stroptart

Hubby has an XE too, if that's the black one with a memory card rather than the white one without...

He researched online, and consensus is that its a conflict between HTC software and Vodafone settings. Not found a workable solution yet, other than "rooting", which means nothing to little technophobe me.

He has an ok reception for calls, but texts are often delayed and mobile broadband is so slow I could look it up in a book quicker.

He's had no joy with complaining either. If he takes it to a store, they admit their signal is boosted so all works perfectly.

I'll keep an eye here, and if we find anything useful, I'll let you know.

guygamps

Just written a complaint to Vodafone, outlining why I believe their service here is "not fit for purpose", I used the link provided by forum member: "diamonds" thank you. I will let you know how I get along.

In meantime I have had a stonking offer from Phones4U / Dial a phone which is nearly good enough (in terms of auto cashback gift and handset trade in), to buy me out of my Vodafone contract and to get me a Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Orange instead.