MSE News: O2 to hike its prices by 2.7% - can you leave your contract penalty-free?

parrysite

Now I've had a call from Wescot debt collection agency!

Have forwarded all documents and they've put any action on hold as O2 have given them wrong information off the bat but it's safe to say I am NOT happy with O2.

sailaway

I have had a monthly contract on the Pay Upfront For Life tariff for many years, recently went over my 50 inclusive minutes and was shocked to be charged 40p/min for calls to a landline.

Previously the charge has always been 15p/min peak, 5p/min cheap and 2p/min weekend and I was under the impression that would be the tariff "for life" (this is how it was sold originally).

I called customer services and they said that all additional minutes have been 40p since a change in T&Cs in Spring, and that they didn't have to inform me of the tariff change.

Just wondering where I stand on this?

RandomCurve

sailaway wrote: »

I have had a monthly contract on the Pay Upfront For Life tariff for many years, recently went over my 50 inclusive minutes and was shocked to be charged 40p/min for calls to a landline.

Previously the charge has always been 15p/min peak, 5p/min cheap and 2p/min weekend and I was under the impression that would be the tariff "for life" (this is how it was sold originally).

I called customer services and they said that all additional minutes have been 40p since a change in T&Cs in Spring, and that they didn't have to inform me of the tariff change.

Just wondering where I stand on this?

They do have to inform you of price increases. You can take case to the Ombudsman and have the price rise reversed as they never notified you of it, but it will be hard work for little gain I'm afraid.

ChilliP2012

Mediation agreed for 4th September 2014 at 2pm. Fingers crossed.

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.

RandomCurve

ChilliP2012 wrote: »

Mediation agreed for 4th September 2014 at 2pm. Fingers crossed.

Are O2 still letting this proceed? If so good luck.
If Mediation goes against you can you/will you continue to the court?

ChilliP2012

Hi,

Aye it's all going ahead this Thursday. If mediation fails then I will proceed to the small claims track. I've already paid my hearing fee. I think it will all get settled though. Obviously that may contain a confidentiality clause, but we'll see.

RandomCurve

ChilliP2012 wrote: »

Hi,

Aye it's all going ahead this Thursday. If mediation fails then I will proceed to the small claims track. I've already paid my hearing fee. I think it will all get settled though. Obviously that may contain a confidentiality clause, but we'll see.

Best of luck fro tomorrow - if they land you with a confidentially clause then I suppose a simple smiley face posting will tell us what we need to know.

ChilliP2012

I'm sure I'll sort something out. Thanks RC, seriously, massive thanks.