o2 price rise - more than rpi. cancel contract!

sjmm80

In the terms, clause 5, you can cancel the contract if they increase the price by more than rpi. Now, I'm on a £15.50 contract. Rpi was 3.2% at the time of the notification which is £0.496 but o2 have increased the tariff by £0.50. I've writtenuto them to cancel my contract and they have come back to me to say they have to round up. Now, as far as I'm aware there is nothing in their terms that states this and so I've made a formal complaint because they are increasing it more than rpi - if they wanted to stay true to the terms and conditionsp they should have rounded down.

Am I right? Does anyone have any experience of this?

Tia

DUTR

Welcome to the forum, we are a friendly bunch here, but sometimes people need to be told what they need to know not what they want to hear.
So if you really feel that you have a case over 0.004 pence then take Telefonica to court, but don't be surprised if you lose (and possibly the Judge charges you with wasting time and acting like an idiot) after all, do you challenge the forecourts as they often charge fuel at part pence so what you pay is often rounded up to the nearest whole penny.
But you already knew that

dealer_wins

We have a "Mr anal" winner

yabbadabbado

Its ludicrous that the fixed term contract increases in price at all. Their costs are even decreasing as the mobile network in the UK is now fully functional, and the costs to THEM of each piece of data is decreasing year on year. Infact mobile phone companies are currently under investigation by OFCOM for these mid-term price increases.

I suppose you have 2 options now.

You could press them harder, and explain how the increase in prices are affecting you in these tough economic times. Or try some other negotiation, perhaps it would take a lot of effort to reduce the price/cancel the contract, but you might have some luck asking for extra minutes or something (if you need them).

DUTR

[QUOTE=yabbadabbado;58553709]Its ludicrous that the fixed term contract increases in price at all. Their costs are even decreasing as the mobile network in the UK is now fully functional, and the costs to THEM of each piece of data is decreasing year on year. Infact mobile phone companies are currently under investigation by OFCOM for these mid-term price increases.

I suppose you have 2 options now.

You could press them harder, and explain how the increase in prices are affecting you in these tough economic times. Or try some other negotiation, perhaps it would take a lot of effort to reduce the price/cancel the contract, but you might have some luck asking for extra minutes or something (if you need them).[/QUOTE]

It's written in the contract that the subscribers agreed to , so it's a pointless moan if you are honest with yourselves.

billsavings

yabbadabbado wrote: »

I suppose you have 2 options now.

Yes pay the increase or buy yourself out.

jnm21

DUTR wrote: »

It's written in the contract that the subscribers agreed to , so it's a pointless moan if you are honest with yourselves.

dealer_wins wrote: »

We have a "Mr anal" winner

DUTR you have already won the award, so stop campaigning.

OP: With mobile companies, OFFCOM compels them to be members of ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution IIRC) schemes - I suggest a letter/email asking them to reconsider or provide details of their ADR scheme - they may change their tune. It is my understanding that a complaint to the ADR is free of threat of cost & binding (on both - you can't then sue if you don't get the decision).

I full agree that price rises during a fixed term contract are despicable! My recent letter from Virgin Media mentioned not applying the increase for those in contract - waiting to see (I signed up less than a month before the rise).

jhp

Its already been done to death

here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4339023

and here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4339023

and their is no work around forthcoming ,so little point in writing to them or anyone else.They o2 appear to have a watertight case on this occassion.

DUTR

jnm21 wrote: »

DUTR you have already won the award, so stop campaigning.

OP: With mobile companies, OFFCOM compels them to be members of ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution IIRC) schemes - I suggest a letter/email asking them to reconsider or provide details of their ADR scheme - they may change their tune. It is my understanding that a complaint to the ADR is free of threat of cost & binding (on both - you can't then sue if you don't get the decision).

I full agree that price rises during a fixed term contract are despicable! My recent letter from Virgin Media mentioned not applying the increase for those in contract - waiting to see (I signed up less than a month before the rise).

Why should I stop, when the 'offended' continue to campaign?
People have a right to the alternative opinion.
You know deep down in your heart what you agreed to, why not join with the OP and take the networks to court, do you honestly belive you have a case that the Judges will agree to?

sjmm80

I might be missing the point here but as far as I can tell this is a simple breach of contract. I don't actually have a disagreement with the price rise per se but the fact is in their terms they say you can cancel the contract free of charge if they increase the cost by more than rpi. Am I wrong then that 50p is more than 49.6p, no matter how small? If so, I'd better give up my day job as a maths teacher :-S

Oh and thanks for the welcome - it's a shame someone felt the need to say I'm acting like an idiot though. I never said I'm going to take them to court but I would like to hear how they feel they are able to bend the terms of a contract to suit them. I'm within my rights to query this, cancel my contract in accordance with their terms (penalty free) and make a complaint no matter how petty it might seem. Thank you x

DUTR

sjmm80 wrote: »

I might be missing the point here but as far as I can tell this is a simple breach of contract. I don't actually have a disagreement with the price rise per se but the fact is in their terms they say you can cancel the contract free of charge if they increase the cost by more than rpi. Am I wrong then that 50p is more than 49.6p, no matter how small? If so, I'd better give up my day job as a maths teacher :-S

Oh and thanks for the welcome - it's a shame someone felt the need to say I'm acting like an idiot though. I never said I'm going to take them to court but I would like to hear how they feel they are able to bend the terms of a contract to suit them. I'm within my rights to query this, cancel my contract in accordance with their terms (penalty free) and make a complaint no matter how petty it might seem. Thank you x

Indeed you are within your rights to query it, and as a maths teacher you are aware numbers can be rounded up or down, and usually above 0.5 it is rounded to the next whole figure above. As 1p is the smallest currency coin at present then you can see why 49.6p becomes 50p and not 49p.
I'm sure in life you may have come across people who think others are idiots, but no need to take it personal as it was not intended that way. When people are having a dig at teachers I defend their corner, so as for the post topic, not necessarily you I think as an idiot but the 'idea' I see as idiotic. But then you will get that on a public forum, I'm sure there are a great many that think I'm an idiot but hey ho, they are also entitled to their opinion.