Anything I can do?..

Dash_r

Good evenin'

In January 2016 I was assaulted and robbed. My iPhone 6 was one of the unlucky items that was stolen. Unfortunately I did not insure my iPhone at the time it was stolen (dispite having worked within the insurance industry for 5 years. Doh!!). I was paying 45 pounds a month for my phone. After arguing and explaining to EE the situation they lowered my tarrif to 35 pounds a month and were able to offer me a Samsung J5 for 13 pounds a month. So I now pay 48 pounds a month for two phone contracts - but only one phone.

Cut to tonight; I'm seeing alot of fantastic phone deals and new handsets coming out that I would love to be able to take part in however feel hopeless.

My question: am i really tied into both of these contracts until the bitter end? (IPhone is up in June 2017 and Samsung is up Feb2018)? Do I have any options at all? I hold no loyalty to EE after the way they handled the situation so if I need to, I'll switch provider.

Thanks for your time.

Ian011

Yes, you will have to pay for the products that were supplied, even if you no longer have them. It was your decision not to have insurance. Balance up what that would have cost versus what you now owe.

If you don't want to be tied into one year or two year contracts in future, then buy the handset as a SIM-free unlocked unit, and pay for airtime on a rolling one-month contract.

Dash_r

Cold. Real cold.

J_B

Dash_r wrote: »

Cold. Real cold.

Is that some 'down with the kids' expression I haven't come across yet?



Why did you take out another contract 24 months @13 = over £300

You could have purchased a sim free phone for les than that, got EE to send you a new sim from the iPhone contract and carried on.

Anyway, lesson learnt, there is sadly nothing that you can do but honour the two contracts.
Sorry if that's a cold answer

For a hot answer, maybe you could call EE and tell them it's not fair ........... sadly the answer will be the same!!

Herongull

It seems that EE behaved very reasonably in reducing your tariff - they didn't have to as they weren't responsible for the theft of your phone.

Not sure why you took out a second contract though. Why pay for airtime you aren't using? You could have bought a cheap phone to tide you over and then you could have had your pick of the new phones that are coming out now.

Given where you are now, one option is to sell the Samsung phone and put that towards a new phone if that is what you really want. But buy the phone outright - don't get a third contract.

d123

Dash_r wrote: »

My question: am i really tied into both of these contracts until the bitter end? (IPhone is up in June 2017 and Samsung is up Feb2018)? Do I have any options at all? I hold no loyalty to EE after the way they handled the situation so if I need to, I'll switch provider.

Whether you think it's hot or cold, EE did more than they had to, and you are obligated to honour the contracts you agreed to, that's what a contract means...

jenniewb

If it's any consolation OP, you are far from the only person in that situation, though I wasn't mugged and am grateful to have not experienced the trauma, I did have my brand new (at the time) phone stolen, it was a new contract with 3 mobile who sent me a refurbished very old handset which I purchased outright but turned out to be faulty (only found out a year later when the issues I tried to ignore weren't just glitches). I didn't argue with 3 because you end up getting nowhere and risk nearly losing your hair and your mind within one call. But if you do find the handset is faulty you can get it repaired and the time it takes them to repair my handset, I didn't have to pay for, which owing to 3's incompetence was nearly 3 months of my 18 month contract


I'm sure there was a good reason you didn't take up insurance and I'd bet like many out there, you know they'd never pay up or if they did that the excess and stress wouldn't make it worth the struggle. I've not had mobile phone insurance but I have had device insurance for other items and needed to claim, the only thing it taught me was to never bother doing that again!

Dash_r

jenniewb wrote: »

I'm sure there was a good reason you didn't take up insurance and I'd bet like many out there, you know they'd never pay up or if they did that the excess and stress wouldn't make it worth the struggle. I've not had mobile phone insurance but I have had device insurance for other items and needed to claim, the only thing it taught me was to never bother doing that again!

Thank you Jennie. Yes I did have reason for not buying insurance at the time.

The 'Cold. Real Cold' comment was directed at Ian for his flippant assumption that I chose not to insure and should therefore endure the consequences.

Although I appreciate it sounds like EE have been rather noble in reducing my tarriff by a 10er however this only happened after having explained to them on various phone calls and shop visits that I had been ravaged and put in hospital by a pack of mutts. I was seeking some compassion and human decency - we all know the phone advisers have power to reduce to retain customers - not the "you signed the contract" answer.

I've only posted this thread as I came across a website called Unleashed (I think it was..) and it made me wonder if there was anything the technical gurus on here could advise.

I guess not - So as mentioned, its chalked up to human error on my behalf...

d123

Dash_r wrote: »

p we all know the phone advisers have power to reduce to retain customers - not the "you signed the contract" answer.

They don't, actually, it would have taken a managers override to downgrade your contract.

I've only posted this thread as I came across a website called Unleashed (I think it was..) and it made me wonder if there was anything the technical gurus on here could advise.

I guess not - So as mentioned, its chalked up to human error on my behalf...

I haven't seen the website you mention, but contracts across all industries are the same, you sign for xx months and to leave before that time is up will incur an early termination charge which is normally the rental x months left (sometimes with a small discount).

If you sign for 24 months you should expect it to be in force for 24 months...

mobilejunkie

I don't see any issue. The OP entered into a binding contract with a phone for 24 months - with their eyes wise open. How many people would scramble onto the bandwagon if it were possible to turn round with a sob story and expect the network to pay for the consequences which were nothing to do with them? How would the OP respond if the network turned round, said it's head office had burned down and wasn't covered by insurance so expected them to see a big increase in their contracted monthly price?

Dash_r

HAHAHAH.

Calm down.

I was only asking advice.

Again human decency and brain cells seem to lack these days.