Help Needed! Mobile Phone Cancellation for Vulnerable Young Person

Huntj

Hi,
I am currently supporting a young man in supportedaccommodation that has recently taken out a phone contract with a company named'Go Mobile' in Weston Super-mare. I have blocked out his name and any othersinvolved for data protection, however I have been corresponding with thiscompany for two months with poor results and have hit a dead end. It would befantastic if somebody could help me achieve a positive result for thisvulnerable young person who is currently in supported hostel accommodation.

Please read my the correspondence below and replyif you feel you have any good advice to contribute,

Thank You,

Brom1

Emails:
From Operations Manager
Hi xxxx

I have read into your recent complaint regarding xxxxx unfortunatelythe phone xxxx has purchased cannot bereturned

We have strict guidelines in the mobile phone industry which wehave to keep to and the two following procedures would have happened which isxxxx would have had to provide his bank card in order for his card to match hiscurrent address which shows us that xxxx is capable of making a decision usinghis own personal bank card

Second of all we have paperwork which he has signed to theeffect of a NO 14 DAYS RETURN POLICY this is clearly written and explained toevery customer purchasing a mobile phone contract from us at Go Mobile

I do apologise it has taken a while for my response

No further action will be taken and this complaint has now beenclosed

Kind Regards

xxxxxxxx

Operations Manager
Mad Mobiles Limited

From: Support Worker
Sent: 19 May 2014 08:48
To: xxxxx
Cc: xxxxx
Subject: FW: Customer Care

Hixxxx,

Ihope you’re well.

Iwould just like to ask if any progress has been made in regards to thecomplaint I submitted on behalf of xxxx on the 14/04/2014.

Asyou can see below ‘This guy keeps calling the store’ but I am yet to receiveany correspondence via email, telephone or by post that would advise eithermyself or xxxx how best to move forwards with this complaint or return yourproperty (Nokia Lumia) if it can be returned.

AsI have not received any response from yourselves I will be instructing xxxx toseek legal advice to discover what options may still be available to him,

Itwould be fantastic to hear from you as xxxx would like to resolve this matterASAP and with minimal hassle.

However,I would like to note that our experience with Go Mobile’s customer servicesfall far below our expectation of what we would expect to be ‘good’ customerservice. I hope this is an isolated incident and not representative of thecompany as a whole. I hope we can work together to resolve this issue.

Ilook forward to hearing from you,

Kindestregards,

Support Worker

From: Weston Go Mobile Store
Sent: 09 May 2014 14:50
To: xxxxxx
Cc: xxxxxx
Subject: Fw: Customer Care / Complaint

Hi(Operations Manager)

Thisguy keeps calling the store

Anynews

Store Manager


From: SupportWorker

Sent: Monday,April 14, 2014 3:52 PM

To: WestonStore

Subject: RE: CustomerCare

Hi Store Manager,

I hope you’re well.

Thank you for help today it’s very much appreciated.

Please could you forward this attachment to your complaintsdepartment,

Kindest regards,

Support Worker

From: Weston Store (Manager)
Sent: 14 April 2014 14:26
To: Support Worker
Subject: Customer Care

HiSupport Worker

Attachedcare/complaint form.

Dateof sale 17/03/14 and invoice number xxxxx

Regards

Manager



Copy of original complaintletter:

CUSTOMER CARE

NAME- xxxxx written by Support Worker

CONTACT NUMBER - xxxx

SALES PERSONS NAME - Unknown

DATE OF SALE - 17/03/14

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letteron behalf of xxxx who is currently a resident of the xxxx supportedaccommodation scheme in xxxx. I am writing to you with the intention ofterminating xxxxx’s phone contract with yourselves and returning your property(A Nokia Lumia 625). Below are a list of reasons as to why I feel that thecontract may have been mis-sold and why you’re property should be returned.

1) xxxx is currently in receipt of Benefits/unemployed and thereforeunable to pay for his contract.

2) xxxx was not fully informed of the cancellation policy for thephone. He was under the understanding that there was a minimum cancellationperiod.

3) The previous management team at Go Mobile Weston did not inform usof your complaints procedure when I phoned on the 18/03/14 and wereunfortunately apathetic to xxxx situation. This was not rectified until I spoketo xxxx (Store Manager) two weeks later after contacting both Orange/E.E andOfcom to be referred back to your store. I must commend xxxxx handling of thesituation and his professionalism when dealing with our requests. At one pointdue to Orange’s advice we returned the phone at our cost via special delivery,just to have it returned once more and begin the process again.

4) xxxxx is a vulnerable young person in supported accommodation andcurrently has debts outstanding with Orange/EE that have been sent to debtcollection agencies; the fact that he can take further contracts out and thatsafeguards are not in place borders on ridiculous. However I do understand thatthis is not your fault, a credit check was completed and it was successfulwhich is in line with your policy/procedure. Yet it appears very little wasexplained or discussed in regards to affordability or repercussions of nonpayment.

I do not want to seeabrasive, however the tone of this email represents the level of frustrationboth myself and xxxxx have experienced trying to get a straight answer out ofeither Go Mobile or Orange/E.E.

I would like to requestthat we can return you’re property ASAP and cancel the contract.

My preferred method ofcontact would be via email, however you can leave a message for me on my officecontact number.

Kindest regards,


SupportWorker.

Herongull

I don't really understand the nature of the complaint.

Why should the contract be cancelled? The young man entered into it knowing he was on benefits and had debts but that was his decision. There seems to have been a 14 day cooling off period. Why didn't he use it?

In what way was he missold? Was there misrepresentation?

You will have to explain the issue clearly if you want advice.

PS The phone is the young man's property not the mobile company's. He could sell it to clear some of the debt.

JJ_Egan

Likewise .
1 its not the property of anyone but the user .
2 Being on benefits or unemployed is not a valid get out clause thousands are in the same position .
3 Its going to be an ongoing problem if a vulnerable person is allowed to take out contracts or credit .

Looks like a person took out a mobile phone contract legitimately and now cannot pay the bill and wants to break this contract .
The company have abided by the law and want reimbursing for the contract .
But you are saying in effect that contract law should not apply to this person . The store disagree with that point of view .

grumbler

Herongull wrote: »

...There seems to have been a 14 day cooling off period. Why didn't he use it?

There wasn't any cooling off period.

Huntj wrote: »

1) xxxx is currently in receipt of Benefits/unemployed and thereforeunable to pay for his contract.

This cannot be a reason for cancellation

2) xxxx was not fully informed of the cancellation policy for thephone. He was under the understanding that there was a minimum cancellationperiod.

He didn't have to be informed as for in-store purchases cooling of period is rather an exception than a norm.

4) xxxxx is a vulnerable young person in supported accommodation andcurrently has debts outstanding with Orange/EE that have been sent to debtcollection agencies; the fact that he can take further contracts out and thatsafeguards are not in place borders on ridiculous.

Well, the more defaults he has in his credit history the more unlikely he is to get any new credit. Just don't pay and default on this contract.

Personally, I don't see any point in complaining and any grounds for this. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Huntj

The operations manager (in the above email at the very top) stated that there was no cooling 14 day cooling off period on the contract that the young man had signed.

The young man in question was not informed of this at the time of sale and understood he could cancel within 14 days if neccisary.

I contacted the store along with the young man the day after the contract was signed as I undertood that in most cases contracts can be cancelled if the company is informed before this 14 day period expires.

After ringing, emailing and writing to the company for two months I have had no reply from customer care dispite numerous attempts to contact them. So even if it was a possibility to return the item within 14 days which is usually the case. He would have been unable to do so.

In essence, he was not infomed that he could not cancel his contact or of how to complain or raise a dispute. He is also a vulnerable young adult in financial diffculties who regretted his decision, did not use his phone and wished to return it a day later to avoid further financial hardship.

I hope this adds some clarity,

Brom1

chanz4

Huntj wrote: »

The operations manager (in the above email at the very top) stated that there was no cooling 14 day cooling off period on the contract that the young man had signed.

The young man in question was not informed of this at the time of sale and understood he could cancel within 14 days if neccisary.

I contacted the store along with the young man the day after the contract was signed as I undertood that in most cases contracts can be cancelled if the company is informed before this 14 day period expires.

After ringing, emailing and writing to the company for two months I have had no reply from customer care dispite numerous attempts to contact them. So even if it was a possibility to return the item within 14 days which is usually the case. He would have been unable to do so.

In essence, he was not infomed that he could not cancel his contact or of how to complain or raise a dispute. He is also a vulnerable young adult in financial diffculties who regretted his decision, did not use his phone and wished to return it a day later to avoid further financial hardship.

I hope this adds some clarity,

Brom1

" regretted his decision" this is not the companys fault

mobilejunkie

I have no idea where you get this 14 day return idea. There is NO such clause in English law unless it is sold on the doorstep or over the internet (when it is currently 7 days and not 14) unless the company itself decides to offer it.

There is no way the company could have known or could be expected to go into all the circumstances of every purchaser. It is the network and NOT the retailer who does the credit checks and they usually decline the contract if there is a very bad credit history as you suggest.

Although people selling things on the doorstep do have a duty of care, this is not the case in the circumstances described. If the retailer were to accept the return they would have a second-hand phone and need to rimburse the network for the FULL value of the contract over its term.

I do sympathise, but that's life and there's not a lot anyone can reasonably do about it. There are also numerous and regular instances where people come on here and expect to be able to cancel contracts for various reasons; a contract is just that - a binding agreement between both parties.

gjchester

Huntj wrote: »

After ringing, emailing and writing to the company for two months I have had no reply from customer care dispite numerous attempts to contact them.

I'm sorry this will not be what you want to hear but unless you are a legal guardian, are on the gentlemans file as a registered person or have a power of attorney then I'm suprised they even talked to you at all, rather saying nothing and citing the Data Protection Act, could it be thats why Customer Care will not reply to you?

If the gentleman is a vulnerable adult then someone needs to take control of his bank account and cards. If he is not considered vulnerable enough to have those control in place then this will be repeated whenever he wishes to buy anything new. You said this has already happened with Orange/EE what makes you believe it will not happen again. I'm not trying to be nasty, just pointing out the gentleman has done it before and may do it again.

And playing devils advocate unless you were in the store at the time you have no idea what was (or was not) said, its possible everything was explained, and the gentleman forgot, or its possible nothing was said as you suggest. However theres no way to prove it, and the store will have a signiture saying the gentleman has read the Terms and Conditions. Verbal agreements ARE part of a contract but will be very hard to prove either way.

Good Luck, however the store are correct and this will be hard to fight.

Herongull

Sorry I missed the "Not" in the original long post.

If he signed something to the effect that he accepted that there was no cooling off period then it will be very difficult to argue that he was misled into thinking that there was one.

As I suggested before he should sell the phone to clear some of the debt and budget to pay the rest or else default but that means putting up with debt collectors hassling him for years.

Next time he will know to stay well away from phone contracts. Buying a phone outright and going PAYG is the best way forward.

ISEE

Hi
I've just had a very similar experience - same company different town. A vulnerable adult took out a phone contract even though she doesn't know what a contract is. What happened in the case referred to in the thread? Was the contract cancelled? Did it go to court?
Thanks

DCFC79

ISEE wrote: »

Hi
I've just had a very similar experience - same company different town. A vulnerable adult took out a phone contract even though she doesn't know what a contract is. What happened in the case referred to in the thread? Was the contract cancelled? Did it go to court?
Thanks

I suspect you wont get a response from Huntj as they haven't been back since 2014.