Letter of Demand from Buymobiles.net

caverncity

Hi I can see reading through the forums I am not the only one this has happened to but seems no one has come to a conclusion or offered any suggestions.
Out of the blue I received a shocking & demanding email from buymobiles asking me for £360 or return of goods within 7 days as, as they say I have been disconnected from T-Mobile.
In April 2013 I followed a link from HDUK for a Nexus 4 at £15.50 a month with a free phone. I took up this offer and received said phone and paid T-Mobile every month however on the 18 month due to the small amount of minutes I had I decided to buy out my contract by ringing up T-Mobile and asking for a pac code which in turn gave me a final bill of approx £66.
I then checked using checkmend if T-Mobile had a hold on the phone and it came up clear so sold it and used the money to pay off my bill. I then took out another contract with EE.
Now I have received this email and am very annoyed about it, one that the phone was advertised as free, two that the phone was £279 new at the time and after 18 months is no where near worth £360 and three that I dont know where I stand. Also they state I have recently been disconnected and have not fullfilled the minimum 2 years. But i have as I bought out the remaining months and T-Mobile said thats all I need to pay.
I have just checked the terms on their site and the only one was EE and that states after six months the phone is mine to keep.
I am not sure what the terms stated at the time of purchase or if I actually read them. I have finished off contracts before and have not had this happen.
The email is in my next post. I understand these are not terms so not sure where they have come from and why they are paragraphed the way they are.
Seems to me this company are bullies and have found a way of demanding extra money from customers when they upgrade etc early using another company or provider.
thanks

caverncity

LETTER OF DEMAND PURSUANT TO THE CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 1998 AND ANNEX B OF THE PRACTICE DIRECTION-PRE ACTION CONDUCT

Dear

We have been notified by your service provider T-Mobile that you have recently been disconnected. As a result, in accordance with our terms and conditions, which are fully particularised below, we now require you to pay to us the following sum, for the products provided;

Amount due £360.00 or Return of Goods

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

Alternatively the goods supplied can be returned (to the address at the top of this letter) but must be in good condition and in full working order. You have 7 days from the date of this letter to return the products failing which we will proceed to recover from you the cost of the products as particularised below. Assuming you fail to return the products in good working order within 7 days, it is our policy to provide you with one opportunity to settle the debt prior to legal action being commenced. This letter is therefore being sent pursuant to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and in accordance with Annex B of the Practice Direction – Pre Action Conduct. We should highlight that should you fail to pay pursuant to this letter within 7 days (assuming you haven’t returned the products in good working order) we will either commence court proceedings or alternatively we may pass the debt on to a third party which will then in turn commence a court claim to recover the monies due. This letter should therefore be taken seriously.


1 The Debt
1.1 As stated you owe a total of £360.00, 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 (assuming the goods are not returned or paid for pursuant to the terms and conditions below), 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 “If you purchase a 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 “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, on the basis that the goods are not returned within 7 days pursuant to the terms and conditions, the total amount due currently amounts to £360.00. 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 Should the goods not be returned nor payment made in full, we will be left with no other option than to commence legal proceedings in 14 days or pass the debt to a third party to recover payment. 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.

We look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely
Collections Team

caverncity

Using waybackmachine I have found the original offer give or take a day and it clearly says phone FREE.


They do not have their own terms on their site now, only the providers terms however again using waybackmachine I have found terms dated March 2013 so not 100% these applied on the day I made my purchase.
The terms contradict each other.

Silk

As per the other threads you've read on here it's a disgrace and if ever there was a reason not to use them this is it.
Problem is it's legal as it's what you agreed to.

caverncity

what about unfair terms, would the "unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999" come into this.
Here is a list of the some of the terms:

2. Payment and Ownership of Goods

2.2. In these Terms and Conditions of Business: - "Goods" means goods or products offered for sale by us. "Goods" also means mobile phones that are discounted or "SUPPLIED FREE" with monthly paid contracts.

2.4. Goods and Promotional Products remain our property until you have fulfilled the minimum term of your airtime contract.

I paid up in full so have fulfilled the term.

2.10. After this transaction is complete we will then take payment for your phone handset or any other items in your basket that require a value to be paid to Us. No funds will be debited from your credit card account for a handset that has been sold as 'FREE'.

10.4. Unless faulty, mobile phones cannot be returned if they have been used. This includes (but is not exclusive to) making calls, sending texts, using the Internet or setting up email accounts, taking photos, copying files or data to the device or using applications.

Collabora

The phone forms part of the contract, so if you pay off your contract then this also includes the phone.
I took Orange contract through CPW and though various issued EE are willing to release me from my contact and provide PAC without penalty, so contacted CPW about phone and they told me no phone invoice will be sent as that is part of contract and once contract is paid off, so is phone

caverncity

Hi collabora. This has always been my understanding on phone contracts especially after as t-mobile state six months. However reading a comment from buymobiles on a review site they insist there are two contracts. One for the tariff and one for the phone. No where does it state this when purchasing.

Silk

Collabora wrote: »

The phone forms part of the contract, so if you pay off your contract then this also includes the phone.
I took Orange contract through CPW and though various issued EE are willing to release me from my contact and provide PAC without penalty, so contacted CPW about phone and they told me no phone invoice will be sent as that is part of contract and once contract is paid off, so is phone

The problem is we are not talking CPW it's Buymobiles and their T&C's any other company doesn't matter

flashg67

Crikey, what a ridiculous 'scam' - whether you understood it at the time, this cannot be legal or fair?
Of course the phone is subsidised, but surely not at 100% of it's cost? I would love to know how much (if any) subsidy the network take back from Buymobiles if you end a contract early, particulalrly as it's been fully paid up by you, therefore the network operator has no reason to claw back any subsidy they originally paid to Buymobiles.
This amount (if there is one) would be, IMHO, the only possible amount they could look to claim from you, as a loss to them for you ending the contract.
The fact that they seem willing to accept a nearly 2 year old phone back that could be worth next to nothing, model depending, says to me that they're thieving chancers and need to be put out of business.
If it were me, I'd be looking for some legal advice (free initial appointment?) to see if I had a chance of beating these cowboys.
How about buying a second hand phone to send to them - the IMEI will be different, but you could claim you had a warranty or insurance exchange? This should get them off your backs at least, and should be less than £360.
I've checked my terms with Mobile Phones direct and it seems to have a similar condition in there. Seems to be a warning to buy direct from the networks, even if it is a little more expensive?

ConsumerGuy0016

Silk wrote: »

As per the other threads you've read on here it's a disgrace and if ever there was a reason not to use them this is it.
Problem is it's legal as it's what you agreed to.

I've seen the other threads regarding A1 Comms/buymobiles.net but was wondering if any of the OPs in those threads had updated to say whether or not they had been chased to court for the amounts supposedly owed?

Collabora

caverncity wrote: »

Hi collabora. This has always been my understanding on phone contracts especially after as t-mobile state six months. However reading a comment from buymobiles on a review site they insist there are two contracts. One for the tariff and one for the phone. No where does it state this when purchasing.

The only ones that offer split contracts at the moment are the o2 refresh and Tesco Mobile Anytime upgrade in which you take out a 24 month contract which is in 2 parts. a fee for the phone and a fee for the airtime, so after 24 months you have paid for the phone so you just then pay the airtime, but it also means if you want to change phones within 24 months you can pay off the phone and charge that without effecting your airtime