Leaving contract?

RichardJohn_2

My mother and her husband have been on 3 since 2004. Every year they've taken a new contract out to get the best deal.

Last October, they signed a new 18 month contract after being contacted by a company. They offered them 9 months half price line rental, and told them that after 9 months they were entitled to switch to a lower tariff (they don't use their phones a lot).

It's the 9th month, so they phoned 3 to change tariff. They were told that they couldn't do it until October. Rightly annoyed by this, they asked "what if they couldn't afford it?", in an attempt to get the tariff switched.

The "customer care" person just told them bluntly that 3 would send debt collectors, and hung up on them.

At this point, ideally they want to move away from 3 ASAP (great customer retention there, losing 2 loyal customers in one phone call!). If it's not possible, they want to switch to the lowest tariff until the contract is up.

I believe the promise on switching tariff was made by another company, but they do have it in writing.

What's the best way to go about this? Would another phone company be able to buy them out of the contracts? Or is a letter to someone high up at 3 the best route?

Any advice appreciated!

Steve_xx

You wont be able to move away from 3 at this point without having to pay the remainder of your contract fees. Also, if you refuse to pay and they send in debt collectors the effect will be twofold. First, you will still have to pay the amount owed, and secondly it could harm your credit rating and that is something that you need to consider very seriously.

However, if you were told that you could downgrade the tariff after 9 months and this was conveyed to you orally, then it does form part of the contract. However, therein lies the problem. You will have to be able to prove that this was what was said, and in the absence of anything written then this will be difficult. You might consider an action in the small claims court to get the contract set aside. But you would need to write to 3 and tell them that you proposed to do that if they did not agree to the detail of the contract. Again, this may be risky in the absence of anything written. However, a judge may take note that telecoms companies often do this sort of thing over the phone and frequently don't follow it up with anything written and that may prove favourable to your complaint.

3 are members of OTELO, the telecoms ombudsman. If you contact them they will advise you on how you should proceed. Here is a link to Otelo:
http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/1home.php

Ypaymore

Before you can go to OTELO you must exhaust the 3 complaints procedure.See:
http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/4howtocomplain.php

As the promise in writing was made by another company and not 3, they may not have a case against 3 anyway.