Mobile Phone Contract - Price Rise Refunds

starsailor123uk

RandomCurve wrote: »

I hope you asked them to explain the difference between a "back dated" cancellation and an "immediate" cancellation - You asked for a backdated termination, the adjudicator gave you a backdated termination, but is now saying it is an immediate termination - i.e. they have changed the decision.

As I said I asked for clarification on what backdated meant but as it was me I was querying the decision but when EE asked what they meant it was clarification

RandomCurve

If anybody is still up for helping me to to prod Ofcom into taking the action it should be taking to protect US the consumer from the EE change in T&Cs and price rises during the fixed period of the contract in general - then read on.


I have now prepared an "official Complaint" to Ofcom which I will copy here, but which can be found in a downloadable format (word document) from the Fight Mobile Increases website.
http://fightmobileincreases.com/pressure-ofcom/
TEH email to send is FMI-6 and you will also need to attach FMI-4 and FMI-5 (both of which are on the site).


To do the above there is no need for you to have ever contacted Ofcom before and the more people who send the email the harder it will be for Ofcom to walk away from this.


Thanks in advance for your help

RandomCurve

Send to:
Graham.Howell@Ofcom.org.uk

Dear Mr Howell

Official Complaint Re Ofcom’s lack of action over EEs change in T&Cs and Ofcom’s obvious side-stepping of legitimate consumer questions.

Following recent communications with Ofcom and Lynn Parker in connection with the EE (all brands) change in Terms and Conditions effective from 26th March 2014, please accept this letter as the next step in the formal escalation process.

Before beginning the substance of the complaint I would like to point out that from a consumer perspective asking one senior Ofcom employee to review another senior colleagues’ response does not come across as an unbiased way of reviewing what has happened. I strongly suspect that that you will do little more than to agree with your colleagues’ opinion. However as this is the next stage in a larger complaints process I have taken the time to prepare the below.

In essence there two complaints (originally only one, but due to Ofcom’s (lack of) response it is unfortunately now two.

I will only outline the issues here as all of the details can be ascertained by reading the correspondence that has already taken place.

Complaint 1
Ofcom did not take action when EE gave notice that they were changing their T&Cs effective 26th March 2014. The change is in connection with the price variation clause (the very clause that Ofcom has tried to address in its change of definition of Material detriment).
The change means that EE now purports to have the right to increase the contract price by RPI inflation on an annual basis without triggering my right to a penalty free cancellation, whereas the old clause capped EE price rises to the maximum of the LOWEST inflation figure (CPI which according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) due to the calculation methodologies used RPI will always be higher than CPI).
So EE have updated their price rise clause in a manner which allows them to increase prices by an amount greater than was previously the case (58.8% higher using the March inflation figures which a subsequent price rise was based on) during the “fixed” period of the contract.
I would like Ofcom to explain the reasons why no action is being taking, being mindful that my complaint is that Ofcom should have taken action because of the change that was being made, and has nothing to do with if the new clause is fair or causes Material Detriment.

Complaint 2
Despite Ofcom insisting that they have addressed all previous questions, I (the person actually asking the questions) believe a number of points remain unanswered. Please see the attached emails FMI-4 and FMI-5 where I think it is clear enough where I believe Ofcom have either answered different questions to those actually being asked, or have ignored the question altogether.
I am also still unclear if Ofcom are not taking action because their interpretation is that EE have not breached GC 9.6, the UTTCRs, or indeed the Unfair Trading Regulations – Material distortion* regarding the wording of the change notification which made on mention that a higher price rise could now be applied, but rather suggests that the change was to do with the way that the notification will be made
“We're making some changes to the terms and conditions for your 4GEE plan to give you more clarity on the notification of price changes. For more details and to download a copy please see http://www.ee.co.uk/termsrefreshv1 The new terms will take effect from 26 March 2014.
Or if Ofcom are not taking action due to their “administrative priorities”.

Should you believe that Ofcom have already adequately responded to each question (the actually question asked) then could you be so kind as to “cut and paste” the answers under each of the questions in FMI-4 and FMI-5.

Regards

Supporter of “Fight Mobile Increases” – a pressure group dedicated to assisting consumers use the protection of the UTCCRs and GC 9.6, and to monitor and highlight Ofcoms actions (inaction) in relation to the Mobile Phone Market.

*Unfair Trading Regulations
Test 2: Material distortion
10.8 Material distortion is defined (in Regulation 2) as:
‘appreciably to impair the average consumer’s ability to make an informed decision thereby causing him to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise’. It applies either when a practice distorts or is likely to distort the average consumer’s behaviour.
The second condition is likely to be met if, for example, because of the practice, the average consumer would buy a product they would not otherwise have bought, or would not exercise cancellation rights when otherwise they would have done so.

zcakg26

Hey guys,

So I received my decision on 4th August and it was a success. I've got my PAC code now so I am planning to move to 3 soon but I haven't received any correspondence with regards to my compensation of £52 and my refund of all charges imposed after original complaint date 1st May 2014.

How do I go about following up on this?? Any help would be much appreciated.

Decision

1. The claim succeeds.

2. The company shall terminate the customer’s contract immediately, refunding all charges imposed since 1st May 2014.

3. The customer is awarded compensation in the amount of £52.00

4. The company shall provide the customer with his PAC code.

Adjudicator’s findings and reasons

10. I find that:

f. I am satisfied that the termination ought to have been effected at the customer’s first request, on 1st May 2014. Hence I consider it fair and reasonable to direct that the customer’s contract be terminated immediately and that he be refunded all charges incurred since 1st May 2014.

g. In light of my findings above, to the effect that the company has broken a term of the contract, I am satisfied that an award of compensation is justified. I consider it fair and reasonable to award the customer compensation in the amount of £52.00.

Conclusion

11. My conclusion on the main issues is that:

a. The claim succeeds.

b. The company imposed a price increase which caused material detriment to the customer.

c. The customer’s contract shall be terminated immediately without the imposition of a cancellation fee.

d. The company shall refund the customer all charges imposed after the original cancellation request on 1st May 2014.

e. The customer is awarded compensation in the amount of £52.00.

f. The company shall provide the customer with his PAC code.

These are just the relevant parts of my decision letter and from my understanding I don't see how Tmob can wriggle their way out of providing the compensation and refund of charges?

MUCH THANKS

RandomCurve

@zcakg26


Just email the exec office and remind them of their obligations under the binding CISAS ruling.


If they still mess you about the email again and say you will charge interest on the amount owing a start another CISAS case to have the money owed repaid.

starsailor123uk

CISAS (IDRS) Complaints procedure is as much a fiasco as its arbitration

Despite winning the case and backdated termination which later CISAS clarified as not amounting to backdated refund of charges I made a comaplint and included all the questions suggested in a previous post in a follow up email which was, according to ME @ IDRS to be included and answered as part of the complaint

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=65934385&postcount=1233

When the complaint was answered I couldn't believe what was said and no reference made to the questions above

I reject the complaint answer and asked for it to go to the next level Senior Director and refered ( and copied the original email )

Imagined my delight when the stated

[FONT=&quot]I note that you wish to escalate your complaint about IDRS, and you have asked for an additional e-mail below to be taken into account. I confirm that I will escalate this matter to a senior director, who will provide you with a full response within thirty working days (ie. on or before 9 October 2014).

[/FONT]What New Email!!!.. I am askign you about an email you already have and replied would be dealt with as part of the complaint
[FONT=&quot]
Hopefully this response will be better or its the Independent Assessor but likely nothing before Xmas at this pace!
[/FONT]

Samarkand

Thank you so much for all your hard work.

Decision 1.
The claim succeeds in part.
2. I direct that the company shall issue a PAC to the customer, and cancel the customer’s contract without applying a penalty for doing so.
The company shall also apologise and pay the customer the sum of £25.00 in compensation.

This is the 2nd Contract EE have now had to cancel.

Many thanks again for all your hard work...

zcakg26

Hey just a quick question,

Do I have to use the PAC they have provided me, meaning lets just say I want to change my number anyway can I switch over to a different network and cancel my T-mob contract without bringing my number over.

Thanks

RandomCurve

zcakg26 wrote: »

Hey just a quick question,

Do I have to use the PAC they have provided me, meaning lets just say I want to change my number anyway can I switch over to a different network and cancel my T-mob contract without bringing my number over.

Thanks

Legally no you don't, but EE have been threatening not to close the contract unless you use the PAC - they are such bad losers!!!


You may be lucky, just email saying that you don't want to use the PAC and to close the account at date X. If they insist on you using it then you'll have to get a PAYG sim and transfer the number to it. You can then cut up that sim and it is all done.

GolfBravo

This is just unbeliveable! I am fuming!

CISAS are totally useless.

A few months ago I challenged EE's change to terms and conditions. Followign adjudicator appointment I then received the following info from CISAS:

Further to our previous correspondence, we write to advise that the original appointed adjudicator is unable to make a decision in the above matter due to unforeseeable circumstances and therefore a substitute adjudicator has been appointed.
The parties are advised that Dr MCD.....
has been appointed as adjudicator and that all of the case papers received have been forwarded for consideration.

The adjudicator didn't even try to read my complaint properly. Case against Orange was lost.

So take 2. Challenging Orange price increase. New case and new adjudicator appointed.

Today I receive this:

Further to our previous correspondence, we write to advise that the original appointed adjudicator is unable to make a decision in the above matter due to unforeseeable circumstances and therefore a substitute adjudicator has been appointed.
The parties are advised that Dr MCD.....
has been appointed as adjudicator and that all of the case papers received have been forwarded for consideration.

How corrupt is that? Obviously CISAS don't want to bite the hand that feeds them.