Upgraded Sim Only contract then cancelled but received huge early termination fee.

Fry_man101

Hi

I had 3 months left of my sim only contract with O2 and decided I'd upgrade my contract with them (although to a much cheaper contract). However, 3 days in to the new contract I realised that another network was offering a much better contract so I cancelled my O2 contract.

Now I've received an email from O2 telling me I'm being charged £180 for early termination. That means they're charging me a whole 12 months worth.

What are my rights here? I cancelled the new contract well within the cooling off period and was definitely not informed I would be charged that much.

Any help would be great. Thanks!

JJ_Egan

You cancelled the contract and are laible to pay the contract you agreed to .
What cooling off period ??

macman

As above. There is no cooling off period on upgrades, so you are liable for the full ETC-which is the full amount due within the minimum term.
Which is why you need to research the options before committing.
So unless the alternative contract is going to save you £180 or more, cancel the termination.

Fry_man101

Ah I see!

The only reason why this didn't realise this was the case was because when I rang up O2 to cancel I told them that as I was within the cooling off period that I'd like to cancel as I'd found a better deal they a) didn't tell me there was no such cooling off period and b) did not inform me of any early termination charges. I was basically not given any warning.

Surely I can argue this with them? I understand that there's always small print that needs to be read but surely they need to give some warning?

Thanks both for your quick replies btw!

JJ_Egan

You took out a contract the essence of which is you commit to pay x amount .

Fry_man101

Just for future reference, just spoken to o2 and there was actually a 7 day cooling off period with an upgrade.

It's been sorted. Thanks again.

Herongull

Yes, the DSRs are statutory and allow 7 working days cooling off. Upgrade is just a marketing term and is not one of the DSR exclusions.

grumbler

AFAIK DSR don't apply to service contracts after you started using services. That's why normally they don't apply to upgrades.

macman

So essentially this is an o2 discretionary cooling off period that they give on a voluntary basis?
NB: the OP didn't actually say (in their original post) that the upgrade was done by phone. If in store, DSR would not apply anyway.
OP, if you ask to cancel while in minimum term, they're obliged to process that request, but they're not obliged to tell you what the terms or penalties are. It's up to you to ask. And the ETC will always be the full amount owing.

Earthworm

Herongull wrote: »

Yes, the DSRs are statutory and allow 7 working days cooling off. Upgrade is just a marketing term and is not one of the DSR exclusions.

Isn't that only when equipment is supplied with the service? For the service alone it is already running therefore I thought a network had no obligation to offer a cooling off period.