Vodafone Mast Down since 2nd Sept - Still no service - Cancel contract under SOGA?

trevorjdaniel

ok. an update. of sorts..

still no signal.
still no news on when service will be resumed.

Also, just received confirmation that VF refuse to honour my request to cancel my contract and have said THEY will check their records to see who has had service or not and THEY will consider cancellation requests on a case by case.

So, even though I was probably the 1st person to report this on 3/9/2012 after waiting 3 days for them to fix the problem not even I seem to qualify for cancellation.

So, looks like this will end up in court with them suing for their remaining contract value.

Can I counter claim for compensation for lost work?

Trev

gjchester

trevorjdaniel wrote: »

Can I counter claim for compensation for lost work?

Yes.

If you have a business contract with consequnsial loss cover it would be easy to proceed.

If your using a consumer level contract to running a business on you can but would be a lot harder to get any liability accepted.

Silk

trevorjdaniel wrote: »

So, looks like this will end up in court with them suing for their remaining contract value.

Can I counter claim for compensation for lost work?

Trev

Having read whats happened I think I would be tempted to get the action in first
If it was me I would be sending a letter requesting that I be released from contract within 7 days without cost.
If they failed to release me I would be issuing against them for the cost of the remaining contract plus the costs of substitute alternatives during loss of service.

Claiming for lost buisiness will be a long drawn out affair with you having to provide proof and up to date accounts etc etc unless you were certain you could prove it beyond doubt I wouldn't bother

trevorjdaniel

ok, forget the loss of business for now...

I have already reached an impass with Lee from Vodafone...

So, the next step will be them taking debt recover steps I would imagine.

I am quite willing to go to court over this as I feel strongly that they have breached the Sale of Services Act 1982.

But, I am assuming their next step will be to put a default on my credit file even though it is disputed.

What can I do about that if anyting?

Thx

Gordon_Hose

Be aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages before court is even on the agenda. It'll get sold onto a DCA for a while first.

gjchester

trevorjdaniel wrote: »

I am quite willing to go to court over this as I feel strongly that they have breached the Sale of Services Act 1982.

In what respect?

Vodafones service overall is still running, it's not down national wide. If you go to see a friend in the next village the phone will probalby work fine.

It's not working in your location, and yes it's a pain to you and the rest of the people affected, however Vodafone never promised you continuous fault free service at any particular spot.

I understand why you are being frustrated but the terms and conditions say they can't provide a fault free service at all times, and you agreed to this condition. If they have been trying to get this tree trimmed but the land owners refusing then as long as they have been trying they can say they are attempting to resolve the issue.

Silly question but do you know if any local landowner been know to be trying to get more out of the network for access rights that is the root cause?

trevorjdaniel

gjchester wrote: »

In what respect?

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/29/section/13

Silk

gjchester wrote: »

It's not working in your location, and yes it's a pain to you and the rest of the people affected, however Vodafone never promised you continuous fault free service at any particular spot.

I would tend to disagree with that stance.
It's generaly accepted that they provide a service to the customers primary location usualy the billing address.
The customer has enjoyed the service in the past at the location and this is no longer available due to no fault of the customer.
The problem it seems has been on the cards for considerable time which they knew about long before the service ceased and have had more than enough time to solve the issue.
As they are not in the position to restore the network or even give a date for which it will be restored it would only be fair to allow the contract to cease without penalty

gjchester

trevorjdaniel wrote: »

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/29/section/13

Again in what respect.

It's not Vodafone fault that a land owner is refusing access.

If Vodafone can show they have tried repeatedly to negotiate for the tree to be lopped then they are performing with reasonable care and skill.

gjchester

Silk wrote: »

The problem it seems has been on the cards for considerable time which they knew about long before the service ceased and have had more than enough time to solve the issue.
As they are not in the position to restore the network or even give a date for which it will be restored it would only be fair to allow the contract to cease without penalty

I totally agree with you, but fairness has nothing to do with the process.however I'm not sure the law does.

The contract says the service will not be fault free, it can't be as it's the nature of the radio system all phones rely on. Thats what we all agree to on joining any network.

It doesn't say will always be working at your home, and the network IS working just not in that one location.

No-one as far as I know has ever contested this in court, the only case I can think of is Tom Prescott but thats a different set of circumstances and in that case Orange didn't turn up in court so lost by default.

The OP may find that trying to go through the county court is the fastest solution to get out of the contract.