Carphone Warehouse

Rache1

Hi,

My sister received a text from Carphone Warehouse saying she was due to upgrade her phone, so she went in and they checked on the system and said yes she was due an upgrade. She chose a new phone, an upgrade contract was printed and signed and she went away happy.
However (there was always going to be one of those), the transfer of her old phone number didn't happen so she went back into the store and the staff rang Orange who the contract is with, and were told she wasn't due an upgrade until January and my sister must pay for 2 contracts until then, as far as orange are concerned she has not upgraded but taken out a new contract with her old one still running.
I spoke to the store staff on the phone and they said it was all due to a system error with the Carphone Warehouse and all they could do was cancel the contract, refund the money paid for the phone and she had to decide if she was going to hand the phone back or pay for both contracts. I have advised her to hand the phone back for now but to get a copy of the contract while I seek advice.

My question is - Does anyone have to honor the contract? Is there a way forward or is it that she just has to accept that Carphone Warehouse have messed up?

Any advice would be appreciated as she has mental health issues and this has not done her any favours so I need to get it resolved as quick as possible.

Thank you

pinkshoes

Rache1 wrote: »

Hi,

My sister received a text from Carphone Warehouse saying she was due to upgrade her phone, so she went in and they checked on the system and said yes she was due an upgrade. She chose a new phone, an upgrade contract was printed and signed and she went away happy.
However (there was always going to be one of those), the transfer of her old phone number didn't happen so she went back into the store and the staff rang Orange who the contract is with, and were told she wasn't due an upgrade until January and my sister must pay for 2 contracts until then, as far as orange are concerned she has not upgraded but taken out a new contract with her old one still running.
I spoke to the store staff on the phone and they said it was all due to a system error with the Carphone Warehouse and all they could do was cancel the contract, refund the money paid for the phone and she had to decide if she was going to hand the phone back or pay for both contracts. I have advised her to hand the phone back for now but to get a copy of the contract while I seek advice.

My question is - Does anyone have to honor the contract? Is there a way forward or is it that she just has to accept that Carphone Warehouse have messed up?

Any advice would be appreciated as she has mental health issues and this has not done her any favours so I need to get it resolved as quick as possible.

Thank you

They're offering to take the phone back, cancel the contract and refund all money paid. This seems fair.

She can then upgrade in January.

Don't see the issue with this.

She should keep a better record of when her upgrade is due!

Rache1

pinkshoes wrote: »

Don't see the issue with this.

She should keep a better record of when her upgrade is due!

Thank you for your reply, it is as I suspected, (which is why I told her to hand the phone back) and I am grateful to you for confirming it.

We do not all the know the ins and outs of consumer rights and so as unsure I felt it best to ask.

However the above quote was unhelpful. I had already explained in my post she has mental health problems, keeping track of records is not what everyone is good at.

But thank you all the same.

Valli

Rache1 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, it is as I suspected, (which is why I told her to hand the phone back) and I am grateful to you for confirming it.

We do not all the know the ins and outs of consumer rights and so as unsure I felt it best to ask.

However the above quote was unhelpful. I had already explained in my post she has mental health problems, keeping track of records is not what everyone is good at.

But thank you all the same.

TBH if she has mental health issues someone (possibly you) needs to be keeping an eye on her purchasing decisions. If she is going into shops and entering into contracts like this then she clearly has a good-enough credit history; if she is going into shops on her own and making her choices independently then it's not going to be obvious to retailers that her mental capacity is, possibly, an issue.

So she's going to be treated like every other customer. Which, in a way is good; however it's highly unlikely to be apparent to sales staff that she perhaps needs extra support or advice. So it's hardly a defence to point out her problems when she DOES make a poor decision.

Techhead_2

Rache1 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, it is as I suspected, (which is why I told her to hand the phone back) and I am grateful to you for confirming it.

We do not all the know the ins and outs of consumer rights and so as unsure I felt it best to ask.

However the above quote was unhelpful. I had already explained in my post she has mental health problems, keeping track of records is not what everyone is good at.

But thank you all the same.

In your OP you mention her health issues as this situation not doing her any favours. There isn't anything to suggest that she isn't good (or capable ) at keeping track of records. So I don't see the reason for your comments.

I can understand you are protective towards her but don't let it cloud your judgement.

frugal_mike

My brother has issues too, but his bank convinced him to take out a credit card. My parents protested, but the bank refused to deal with them for data protection reasons. My brother has no understanding of credit or interest; all he knew was if he put the card in a cash machine he got cash just like with his debit card, so it must be his. Needless to say the bank got no money back so hopefully they learnt not to push things on vulnerable people (it is obvious with my brother), but I vaguely remember them saying that they aren't allowed to discriminate against people with mental health problems by refusing them credit.

browneyedbazzi

It sounds to me like carphone warehouse are doing the right thing and putting your sister back in the position she was in before they made the error. That's all you can reasonably expect them to do.

If your sister has mental health issues to the point where she can't keep track of time, perhaps when she gets a phone (assuming it's a smart phone) put a reminder in her calendar on the phone so she'll get an alert when the contract is up/an upgrade is due. You might want to make her aware that simply upgrading isn't always the best value so when her contract is coming up to expiry you could help her shop around and find the best deal.