Issues with buymobilephones.net after leaving T-mobile after their price rise.

arturbdg

It was long long time ago but I was able to leave T-Mobile penalty free thanks to some forum members.
Originally I got a deal with a cheap phone through Buymobilephones.net



Now all of a sudden I have received this from them (I know it is only £19 pounds but considering T-Mobile was in breach of contact can they still pursue me for this??):


Amount due £19.14 or Return of Goods

Return Address;
A1comms Ltd (F.A.O The Collections Team)
Contract House
Turnpike Business Park
Alfreton
DE55 7AD

Details of our terms and conditions are fully particularised below;
1 The Debt
1.1 As stated a total of £19.14 is due to us. Please note should payment not be forthcoming and a claim is issued we reserve the right to claim statutory interest at a rate of 8% in respect of each of the amounts from their due dates following our payment requests, to the date of actual payment.
2 The Claim
2.1 In anticipation of forthcoming legal proceedings, we will summarise our position below.
2.2 You entered into a contract with us when ordering the phone and tariff from our website. After you placed an order you will have received an email from us acknowledging that we have received your order. Once Goods were dispatched to you, having passed security checks, you will have been sent by email a Dispatch Confirmation. This is when the contract was formed between you and A1 Comms Limited.
2.3 By proceeding to confirm the order on our website you indicated agreement to our terms and conditions, a copy of which you are directed to on the website.
2.4 These terms and conditions note the following:
2.4.1 “By ordering goods you agree to be bound by these Terms...”
2.4.2 Clause 4.5 – “If you purchase Contract phone or Sim-Only we will often charge you less for those Goods than the amount we would charge if you were buying them without a Network Contract (the Retail Price). You acknowledge that us providing those Goods to you for free or at less than the Retail Price is conditional on you not downgrading your Tariff or ending your Network Contract during the Minimum Term.”
2.4.3 Clause 4.6 - “Except in circumstances where you cancel your Contract and your Network Contract in accordance with clause 9, if your Network Contract ends before the end of the Minimum Term or if you downgrade your Tariff then:
2.4.4 Clause 4.6.1 - Within 7 days of the downgrade or end of the Network Contract you must:
(a) Pay us the difference between the price you paid for the Contract Phone or Sim-Only and a sum equal to the Retail Price including VAT, plus the market value of the Promotional Products plus VAT; or
(b) If the contract Phone or Sim-Only and any associated Promotional Products are in good working order, fully functioning and intact you can return them to us”;
2.4.5 Clause 4.7 – “If you do not make the payment required under clause 4.6.1 then we will be entitled to take back the Contract Phone or Sim-Only and any associated Promotional Products and you must return them to us as soon as we ask you to do so”.
2.4.6 Clause 4.8 – “If you fail to return any Contract Phone and Promotional Products under clause 4.7 we will commence proceedings to recover the cost of the Goods from you including but not exclusive to invoicing you for the sums owed”.
2.5 As a result, you are clearly in breach of the contract. As stated, the total amount due currently amounts to £19.14. Please note should proceedings be issued interest can be claimed at the statutory rate of 8% from the date each amount fell due to the date at which settlement is received.
2.6 Payment of the Goods can be made using debit or credit card by contacting us on the telephone number 0345 413 6212.
3 The Next Steps
3.1 You have ignored numerous requests for payment. As a result, we are left with no other option than to commence legal proceedings in 14 days unless payment is received in full. In the event that proceedings are issued, we or the third party will seek to statutory interest, and seek to recover any legal costs of bringing the claim in addition to the balance discussed above. Any legal proceedings could result in a county court judgment being entered against you which if unpaid, could impact on your ability to raise credit in the future.
3.2 Finally, we are obliged to advise you that you may wish to take independent legal advice in respect of this matter. Free independent advice and assistance can be obtained from several organisations. If you require any advice on this please contact us for details


I would really appreciate a quick advice on that matter. Should I bother with any response, ask for anything or just pay that £19 and forget about it?


Kind Regards
Artur

grumbler

>> Help Buymobiles.net claims i owe them money.

arturbdg

Well it seems that they have do not came to any conclusion at that post about buymobiles.net claims. Any information what next?

Guys_Dad

They have cherry picked sections of their contract with you and even refer to other sections.

Read the full contract and cherry pick your own sections.

arturbdg

Thing is that there is no term in their contract referring as to what are the rules if the network provider will be in breach of terms & conditions and as such you leave.


Now with that in mind I would have thought those are unfair terms & conditions as under normal circumstances I wouldn't have left.


Also I am wondering whether (irrelevant as to who is to blame) they can actually do things they say just like that - start charging 8% interest and if the case would go to court make me responsible for court costs??

Silk

arturbdg wrote: »

Thing is that there is no term in their contract referring as to what are the rules if the network provider will be in breach of terms & conditions and as such you leave.

The problem is that it's nothing to do with the network T&C's the ones that apply here are the T&C's of Buymobiles.


Depending on what date you took the contract out also depends on what set of T&C's apply here, you need to check this.

arturbdg wrote: »

Also I am wondering whether (irrelevant as to who is to blame) they can actually do things they say just like that - start charging 8% interest and if the case would go to court make me responsible for court costs??

If it did go to court and you lost you would be liable for costs and they could ask for interest for outstanding debt from the time of invoice.
To be honest I doubt very much that a company would find it a viable risk to issue proceedings for a £19 debt considering the cost and effort to do so, however we are talking about Buymobiles.net :rotfl:


The problem is they will sell the debt on at a later stage, the collectors would probably add on charges and make it more viable for Court proceedings. Whether that would happen and whether it is worth ignoring it and sitting it out to see if they would take it further is up to you.

arturbdg

I know that this has nothing to do with network provider, but if I take out a contract which is a two way deal and I break the deal I'd say fair enough I am liable for whatever, but if T-Mobile breach contract and I leave that is entirely different case - I mean wouldn't buymobiles have unfair terms & conditions then?


With that in mind if I make complaint can they carry on doing whatever they doing or they have to wait and deal with complaint?


As I understand I have the right to be in dispute with them and make complaint to whoever regulates them and as such request a deadlock letter and then after the review by the regulators they can carry on right??


So far they have ignored my request for original terms & conditions and totally failed to respond how they can request money from me if T-Mobile is at fault.


To add to discrepancies they have not made numerous requests but just one which I have responded asking for original terms & conditions and explaining that when I have opted for deal with them terms & conditions were not highlighted for me in any way, and I wrote to them that I do not agree to their terms as I believe that they are unfair as I am at no fault because T-Mobile was in breach and as such I would like them to issue a Deadlock letter if they do not agree with that as I want to make a complaint to Trading Standards with regards to the issue.
They completely ignored that.

Silk

arturbdg wrote: »

I know that this has nothing to do with network provider, but if I take out a contract which is a two way deal and I break the deal I'd say fair enough I am liable for whatever, but if T-Mobile breach contract and I leave that is entirely different case - I mean wouldn't buymobiles have unfair terms & conditions then?

It's not a two way deal it's a three way, you, Buymobiles and T-Mobile.
The T&C's you agreed to at the time allow them to pursue you for this regardless of the circumstances for the early termination

arturbdg wrote: »

With that in mind if I make complaint can they carry on doing whatever they doing or they have to wait and deal with complaint?

You are free to complain but they are free to carry on whilst considering the complaint

arturbdg wrote: »

As I understand I have the right to be in dispute with them and make complaint to whoever regulates them and as such request a deadlock letter and then after the review by the regulators they can carry on right??

Yes you have a right to dispute it but as they are not a network or official body etc they are not regulated other than the usual retail legal obligations

arturbdg wrote: »

So far they have ignored my request for original terms & conditions and totally failed to respond how they can request money from me if T-Mobile is at fault.

Because the T&C's are explicit about early termination regardless of reason

arturbdg wrote: »

To add to discrepancies they have not made numerous requests but just one which I have responded asking for original terms & conditions and explaining that when I have opted for deal with them terms & conditions were not highlighted for me in any way, and I wrote to them that I do not agree to their terms as I believe that they are unfair as I am at no fault because T-Mobile was in breach and as such I would like them to issue a Deadlock letter if they do not agree with that as I want to make a complaint to Trading Standards with regards to the issue.

You don't need a deadlock letter to report them to TS's


The T&C's should have been complained about and challenged when you took the contract out. They will defend the T&C's because they have lost income due to your early termination

mobilejunkie

The t&c were on the website at the time you ordered - and probably can still be found there by date. In any case, they seem to have quoted them for you; only "clause 9" seems to be missing. Unless that is some sort of get-out I think they have a case.

The contract with T-Mobile has absolutely nothing to do with your contract with Buymobiles - end of story.

This is a retailer; there is only contract law, not a regulator.

It's down to the t&c.

I speak as someone who has sued them more than once this year. I would not have done so if I didn't have a solid case. I doubt you do. If you have some sort of legal expense/advice section on your home insurance you may be able to get free advice over the phone.

arturbdg

I have looked up and the T-Mobile contract ended in June with CISAS decision.


As for the contract terms - there is only latest version available and when I took out the deal with buymobiles I was not pointed out to their Terms & Conditions at all. What I have received was T-Mobile terms & conditions and up until now as far as I was concerned I believed my contract was solely with T-Mobile.




So let me get this straight - are you saying that any retailer have a free reign to do whatever they like, regardless of customer complaints??

Silk

arturbdg wrote: »

As for the contract terms - there is only latest version available and when I took out the deal with buymobiles I was not pointed out to their Terms & Conditions at all. What I have received was T-Mobile terms & conditions and up until now as far as I was concerned I believed my contract was solely with T-Mobile

There are links to the T&C's posted in the other thread