upgrade balls up

shaz793

I went in to the car phone warehouse yesterday to enquire about tariff prices of the new I phones. After a conversation i was told i was eligable to upgrade, i asked them to double check this as i didnt think i was due till next month but was reassured no i was eligible now. woohoo new phone i thought and quickly picked a tariff and a new I phone 5c in pink, paid the £29 up front fee and left with my new toy. 24 hours later new phone is still not connected to the O2 site so i went back to the car phone warehouse. it would appear that my upgrade was refused by O2 because i have a business contract not a personnal one and the car phone warehouse can not upgrade me ! I have been asked to return the 5C to the store asap or they will have a block put on it. Where do i stand as i have a receipt and a contract agreement and also parted with £29 ?

forgotmyname

They messed up. But if they cannot proceed with the upgrade then they will block the phone and send you the bill anyway.

Best to return it and get your money back and have the contract terminated. As long as there is no cost to you.

grumbler

Ask CPW for some compensation for their incompetence and the trouble they cause you. After all, if you refuse to return the phone and they block it, they can't recover the cost of it.

Herongull

My take on this is:

They have sold you the phone and entered into a legally binding contract with you for the airtime. The phone is now yours.

As long as you keep paying then they cannot lawfully block the phone or cancel the airtime contract (unless there is something about this situation in the T&C?).

If they wish to cancel the airtime contract, you could consider agreeing, but the phone is yours (as they've sold it to you) so you don't wish to return it and they have no grounds for blocking it. If they do block it follow their complaints procedure and take it to the ombudsman or else take them to the small claims.

I can't see how this could impact on your credit rating. You have not defaulted - they want to reneg!

Buzby

The contract is void - there has to be an acceptance by the supplier (O2) CW is only their agent - however, the 5C is a bad move as its VFM (value for money) is considerably less than the 5s.

Get it back to them, and think yourself lucky you weren't stuck with it for 2 years.

grumbler

Buzby wrote: »

The contract is void - there has to be an acceptance by the supplier (O2) CW is only their agent ...

You are totally wrong about agents.
Just google 'agent legal definition'.

Herongull

The CPW T&Cs can be found here

These make it quite clear that your contract is with them. Why does Buzby make so many nonsense posts??

Interestingly their own T&C seem to bar them from blocking your phone in this situation (in addition to your statutory rights which would also prevent this).

"1.5.2. We shall not withdraw or modify to your substantial detriment any of the Goods or Non-subscription Services for which we have accepted an order from you, other than where such modification or withdrawal is required as a result of events outside of our reasonable control.

2.3. Each order placed by you will be treated as an offer to purchase the Goods and/or Services to which your order relates. The contract will only be completed when we dispatch the Goods/commence the provision of the Services (as applicable) or when we take any due payment from you (which includes debiting your payment method), whichever is the earlier.

2.5. We may, at our own discretion, limit, restrict or reject any order you place at any time prior to the contract having been completed. Where this happens, we will attempt to contact you. We also reserve the right to limit or prohibit sales to dealers or to entities that we believe, in our sole discretion, are making use of the Goods or Services for profit."

Provided you have actually paid the upfront cost of the phone and signed the contract, the deal is done. The phone is yours and there is a legally binding contract for the services (airtime).

Interestingly, it looks like you may also be able to end the airtime contract if they block the phone (as well as claiming damages in the small claims court) - see:

"4.1. Without prejudice to our rights under Clause 1 above, if either party breaks the terms of these Conditions in any material way, the other party can terminate these Conditions by giving the other party 7 days' written notice."

The upshot of all this is they've sold you a phone for £29 and agreed an airtime contract with you. They can't just decide it was a mistake and ask for the phone back - if it was an internal mistake this is their problem.

If you buy something from a shop, once you've paid for the item that's it. They can't say "Oh dear, we've didn't mean to sell it to you for that price, please bring it back" It is too late then - the item is yours.

grumbler

Herongull wrote: »

....They can't just decide it was a mistake and ask for the phone back - if it was an internal mistake this is their problem.

They cannot demand, but surely they can *ask*.

If you buy something from a shop, once you've paid for the item that's it. They can't say "Oh dear, we've didn't mean to sell it to you for that price, please bring it back" It is too late then - the item is yours.

I used to believe that it was the case too, but was convinced that it wasn't. Theoretically the shop can sue you if it was an obvious pricing error and you refused to return the item.

WTFH

Herongull wrote: »

The upshot of all this is they've sold you a phone for £29 and agreed an airtime contract with you. They can't just decide it was a mistake and ask for the phone back - if it was an internal mistake this is their problem.

If you buy something from a shop, once you've paid for the item that's it. They can't say "Oh dear, we've didn't mean to sell it to you for that price, please bring it back" It is too late then - the item is yours.

Incorrect.
CPW have sold a contract, and part of that contract is a £29 fee up front. The OP has entered into what is effectively a finance agreement to pay for the phone over the period of the contract.

If it worked the other way, then you'd have unscrupulous consumers going in, signing up for new contracts, paying £29 "for the phone", walking out and cancelling the contract, then coming on here trying to find a way of not having to pay the bills on the contract, yet hold on to their phone.

chanz4

one angle they could use, your a business o2 customer and the deal you selected was a consumer.

Herongull

WTFH wrote: »

Incorrect.
CPW have sold a contract, and part of that contract is a £29 fee up front. The OP has entered into what is effectively a finance agreement to pay for the phone over the period of the contract.

If it worked the other way, then you'd have unscrupulous consumers going in, signing up for new contracts, paying £29 "for the phone", walking out and cancelling the contract, then coming on here trying to find a way of not having to pay the bills on the contract, yet hold on to their phone.

Yes, the contract is legally binding, but the OP is not trying to get out of it! He is happy with the phone and happy with paying the monthly charges. The phone company want him to return the phone and cancel the contract!

My take is that why should he? He can't cancel the contract (except under certain circumstances defined in the T&C and the law), so why should the phone be able to do it. The contract is binding on both parties!

If the phone company really wants to cancel the airtime contract, he can choose to agree to this, but he doesn't have to give up the phone (unless he chooses to agree to do so).