Tmobile price increase

SteveyAsp

I emailed T-Mobile the middle of last week for my PAC and got an email back saying they were forwarding my email to their legal department.

Since then I've heard nothing, I look at it this way the longer they take the longer they are paying for my service with them.

I did try speaking to CS but they didn't have a clue what CISAS was.

Will write to them again tomorrow or Wednesday if I've not heard anything.

RandomCurve

Just to let you know Post Oct 12 contract won, backdated to 6th April and £150 compensation. :j

I'll post some summary findings later.

Adjudicated by:
DECISION
by Alison Dablin LLB (Hons), MCIArb
An adjudicator appointed by CISAS under the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme.
Decision date: 29 July 2013 :


Thanks to all of you for keeping me sane whilst my head was hitting that wall!! :beer:

Seeing my MP tonight and now more evidence to support why he needs to ask questions of Ofcom -let's hope he is not another wall!

RandomCurve

Below is the "guts" of the decision - remember I am on V59 (Post Oct 12) but in TMs defence they provided a screen shot showing I was on V58 (pre Oct 12) and then proceeded to defend a "made up case" as to why V58 was implemented correctly and could reference March RPI'



Having reviewed the evidence in full, I am persuaded thatthe relevant Terms and Conditions for the customer's contract is version 59.The correspondence from the company makes reference to these terms and, havingtaken out a contract after their publication, it is wholly reasonable for thecustomer to believe that it is to version 59 of the Terms to which he is bound.I shall therefore proceed on the basis that the parties are bound to Terms andConditions version 59, as provided by the customer, for the purposes of hiscontract.

f. Version 59 of the Terms and Conditions allows price increasesso long as this is not in excess of the RPI "published on a date as closeas reasonably possible before the date on which We send You WrittenNotice".

g. I am satisfied that "as close as reasonablypossible" is that RPI most recently published at the time of notice.Notice was given between 2 and 8 April 2013; the most recently published RPIwas that for February 2013, published on 19 March 2013. This is 3.2%.

5

h. Accordingly, I find that the price increase applied bythe company is in excess of the relevant RPI and the customer is entitled toterminate his agreement with immediate effect without incurring any penaltycharges as per Clause 7.2.3.3 of the Terms and Conditions.

i. The company has therefore breached its contract with thecustomer by refusing to allow him to terminate the contract without charge whenthis was requested on 6 April 2013, and by continuing to take monies inrelation to this contract.

j. With regard to the customer service provided, as above,this has consistently made reference to v59 of the Terms and Conditions. Italso includes clearly incorrect interpretations of the contract clauses,including specifying that the relevant clause refers to the RPI publishedbefore the notice was given, before specifying that the relevant RPI is thatfor March 2013, published 16 April 2013, after notice was given. This will havebeen frustrating for the customer as the interpretation is not one that canreasonably be made.

k. I also find that the customer has only ever requestedtermination of the contract and provision of the PAC code in line with clause7.2.3.3, ie without charge. The company provided the customer with a PAC codeon the understanding that termination of the agreement would incur earlytermination charges.

l. The customer did not use this PAC code and did nototherwise terminate his agreement as the company declined to do this on awithout-charge basis. Moreover the customer responded to the company's emailexpressly stating that he did not agree to termination on these terms.

m. Despite this, the company deducted early terminationcharges totalling £262.77. It had no contractual or other basis for making thisdeduction and I find this to be a gross breach of contract. The company didrefund this charge, less the monthly recurring charge that would be due on theaccount. As above, the company was in breach of contract by failing toterminate the customer's agreement without charge when this was requested; Ifind that this deduction was accordingly made in breach of contract.

So that basically is that.

I had requested compensation for taking the payment of the PAC because as far as I can tell TM have breached the Unsolicited Goods and Service Act 1971 (UGSA), however the adjudicator declined to pass judgement on this as it is " a complex area of law" I am now trying to find out if I accept the CISAS decision can I still go to court over the potential breach of the UGSA - strangely CISAS said "We think you can, but best to take independent legal advice" - which is what I am doing. Why the desire to pursue this through the courts? Because not only can I claim against TM I can also take action against both Mr Swantee :wave: himself (as he was copied in on all emails) and the Exec office advisor who has been feeding me corporate BS for the last 3 months!

IanR2012

Another pre-Oct Win (2 contracts)

Won on the main points as per everyone else, plus my written notice was incorrect (arithmetical error) so won on that also (not provided 30 days notice). Also won on poor Customer Service.

Result: Cancellation of 2 contracts, without charge, backdated and £100 compensation (£267 requested was felt disproportionate)

Didn't find in my favor for "no legal authority for price rise since T&C's not referred to during Telesales call when pricing was agreed".

Adjudicator found that, on balance, it was likely the T-Mobile staff were correctly trained to divulge all necessary information during the Sales call... (paraphrased)

Great Result!!!

RandomCurve

Went to see my MP about this with the desired outcome of getting him to ask parliamentary questions of Ofcom as follows:

1. Why have they not been more proactive in this
2. How on earth could they have described EEs behaviour as reasonable
3. Why are they not taking immediate action over being misled and
4. On General price rises why are they not forcing the mobile companies to repay sums in the same way as the Endowment and PPI mis selling scandals.

To his credit he was well prepared and obviously understood all the points. He could hardly believe that Ofcom have been so inactive on this specific issue, or the general price rises.

So the question is will he write to Ofcom? Well he said NO, but that is because he thinks Ofcom have been so ineffective in this whole saga that instead he is going to write to the Secretary of State. :T

Only snag is because of the summer recces it may take 3 months before he receives a reply. Still Ofcom can back date their action!!!

So you know what I am going to say next - can you all arrange to see your MP and see if they will contact the Secretary of State too.

stoney73

I'm glad there are so many winners, it just makes my blood boil that mine and RufLonger's cases were decided against us.

philicibine

Hi all... I just wanted to add another win to the list.

2 pre oct contracts, backdated to the 11th of april.

D M Curnow was my adjudicator. He kept it brief.. said I won in part but didnt explain what I didnt win on. Got what I asked for though.

Thanks for all the help. Im off to get a shiny new s4 ;-)

ruflonger

stoney73 wrote: »

I'm glad there are so many winners, it just makes my blood boil that mine and RufLonger's cases were decided against us.

Feel that Stoney and I should be able to appeal based on all the winners. Congrats to everyone and hopefully I will be able to win in the SCC. The second CISAS claim has been stopped because of the SCC

RandomCurve

stoney73 wrote: »

I'm glad there are so many winners, it just makes my blood boil that mine and RufLonger's cases were decided against us.

It really annoys me that two people have lost - as has been pointed out before we are all on the same contracts and all had the same letters.

Any chance you can post the adjudicators reasoning on the forum (sorry if I missed it) or PM them to me?

anna2007

RandomCurve wrote: »

Just to let you know Post Oct 12 contract won, backdated to 6th April and £150 compensation. :j

Thanks to all of you for keeping me sane whilst my head was hitting that wall!! :beer:

Big congrats RC, and a big thank-you for all of your input and effort on this thread - can I change the beer to a glass of wine?