WARNING - don't get caught out cancelling T-MOBILE / EE

stugra

Well, just had the most ridiculous telephone conversation with T-mobile.

I wrote to them on 2nd April, recorded delivery, telling them of 30 days notice to cancel my contract.

They wait until today, SIXTEEN days later to write and tell me that I can only cancel by telephoning them. I have NEVER heard of a company refusing written communication as a legal way of cancelling a contract! Add to that the deliberate 16 day delay.

Anyway, it is written in the T&C's, so I have to accept it.

Luckily I asked for a PAC code on the 11th April, so my contract ends 30 days hence.

I asked for written confirmation of when the contract ends and the guy told me that I would HAVE TO WRITE IN FOR THAT as he couldn't take the request over the phone!!

I knew I had made a mistake when I joined them, after I realised they charged for VoiceMail.

So, I would recommend steering clear from T-Mobile if you could do without hassle. I have already received better customer service from O2 and have moved two phones over to them as a result of this.

I know everyone has different groans about the various suppliers, but perhaps this info will also help you to decide.

Oh, and don't be tempted by the Orange and EE/T-Mobile alliance. Since that happened, the coverage has notably dropped as they, presumably, have reduced the number of cell sites to reduce costs.

grumbler

Would you be happy if your contract was cancelled unexpectedly by some stranger pretending to be you and sending a letter to Orange?

Even if Orange have a sample of your signature, it is not the case for most their customers.

flashg67

stugra wrote: »

Luckily I asked for a PAC code on the 11th April, so my contract ends 30 days hence.

Have you confirmed the cancellation also - if you don't use the PAC before it expires, your contract won't automatically cancel - they're 2 seperate things.

grumbler

flashg67 wrote: »

Have you confirmed the cancellation also

You can't do both. It's either a notice or PAC.

matttye

grumbler wrote: »

Would you be happy if your contract was cancelled unexpectedly by some stranger pretending to be you and sending a letter to Orange?

Even if Orange have a sample of your signature, it is not the case for most their customers.

There's nothing stopping T-Mobile from calling him to confirm and finalise the cancellation request.

They could even send a text message and ask you to respond and/or call them to confirm the cancellation.

Saying they only accept cancellations by phone and completely disregarding the letter is nothing but a copout.

Not sure about T-Mobile, but Three tried telling me I had to call them to cancel seven days after I sent a message on their website asking them to cancel my rolling iPad data contract. I pointed out that nowhere in their terms and conditions did it specify HOW they must be given 30 days notice, only that they must be. They backed off.

grumbler

matttye wrote: »

There's nothing stopping T-Mobile from calling him to confirm and finalise the cancellation request.

They could even send a text message and ask you to respond and/or call them to confirm the cancellation.

How is this better than the OP simply calling them?

Saying they only accept cancellations by phone and completely disregarding the letter is nothing but a copout.

Because otherwise there has to be a clear procedure in place known to both the OP and EE, i.e, what to do with the letter if the OP is inaccessible or doesn't reply to texts.

Not sure about T-Mobile, but Three tried telling me I had to call them to cancel seven days after I sent a message on their website asking them to cancel my rolling iPad data contract. I pointed out that nowhere in their terms and conditions did it specify HOW they must be given 30 days notice, only that they must be. They backed off.

I guess it was a secure message that only you could send.

matttye

grumbler wrote: »

How is this better than the OP simply calling them?

I'm not saying it's better, but the OP chose to write to them for reasons best known to himself. Probably because it leaves a record of what has been said. Rather than disregard his letter they should make attempts to confirm the cancellation.

grumbler wrote: »

Because otherwise there has to be a clear procedure in place known to both the OP and EE, i.e, what to do with the letter if the OP is inaccessible or doesn't reply to texts.

Anything would be better than simply disregarding the letter. I find that completely unacceptable.

grumbler wrote: »

I guess it was a secure message that only you could send.

Just checked and I sent them an e-mail from my Gmail account (the one registered with my Three account), so that perhaps is a secure account of sorts.

This is what I said to them:

'I would like to point out that the terms & conditions on the Three website states that I only have to give 30 days notice. It does NOT say I have to give 30 days notice over the phone. Here is the relevant part of the terms and conditions:

"(b) You can end the agreement during your Minimum
Term (if you have one – this will be stated in your
Package) by giving notice to Three Customer
Services 30 days before the date you want to end the
agreement. However, you must pay us all the Charges
you owe, plus any Cancellation Fee for your Package
(as set out in the Price Guide)."'

System

Consumers need to be treated fairly.

I'm sure they can send you letters and expect you to honour them.
I would therefore expect them to accept my written instructions.

I would suggest lodging a complaint and ask for the additional line rental refunded along with payment for inconvenience.

grumbler wrote: »

Would you be happy if your contract was cancelled unexpectedly by some stranger pretending to be you and sending a letter to Orange?

Even if Orange have a sample of your signature, it is not the case for most their customers.

matttye

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Consumers need to be treated fairly.

I'm sure they can send you letters and expect you to honour them.
I would therefore expect them to accept my written instructions.

I would suggest lodging a complaint and ask for the additional line rental refunded along with payment for inconvenience.

Exactly. If a company sends a paper based bill they'll expect you to pay it. They wouldn't take kindly to you writing back to them and saying you will only pay bills if they contact you by phone.

Why should it work differently if the customer writes to them?

boatman

Sadly with mobile companies they have sunk so low as to try anything to get out of their obligations, any reasonable company would accept a letter or email as reasonable notice of cancellation, state of the nation it would appear. All i can say is that they get all they deserve when people throw their t&c's back at them when they get it wrong.

digp

Mobile phone companies in the uk are now parasites.

Use http://goo.gl/MulpY to contact the big fish at the top.