Phone contract not cancelled by store, where do I stand?

Gillybean

Ok, this could be a long one.

I recently switched mobile networks, having been with the same one for a few years. Cancelled the direct debit. Then I received a letter from my old provider saying they had tried to take payment but were unable to and I owed them £x. Simple case of my old contract not being closed down properly I thought and went to the shop I did this through to sort it out. They rang my old network and for reasons none of us could work out at the time they couldn’t identify me over the phone so I couldn’t get any further, I’d need to go into the nearest store of my old provider.

I went in today. After a lengthy discussion and a lot of work on the part of my old provider it has emerged that 2 years ago, when I last changed my contract and changed my number (with the shop mentioned before) my old contract had not been cancelled by them and so for the last 2 years I’ve been paying a monthly direct debit for a phone I thought was cancelled.

Now, I’m usually very diligent regarding my direct debits, so I was really surprised at my oversight. BUT in my defence of the 2 direct debits from the company, one was a very similar amount to my husbands monthly bill. I assumed it was that, forgetting that he had moved his direct debit to another account.

However, the fact remains that 2 years ago, the phone shop did not do their job properly and did not cancel the contract. Moreover, the phone company could not understand why I had to take out a new contract and new number when the shop could have done an upgrade. Unless of course they were wanting to boost their sales figures...but that’s pure speculation.

I’m going in to the shop tomorrow to get this sorted. Do I stand any chance of getting my money back from them for the phone contract I assumed was cancelled? Any advice on how best to approach this would be gratefully received.

bris

No absolutely none. They will deny all knowledge and blame you. Not noticing for 2 years is not really their fault even though they made the mistake, getting them to agree to that is a different matter though.


One thing to note however is that cancelling a DD is not the same as cancelling a contract.

hollydays

Whew that’s tricky. You need to be very polite and switch to very assertive if they refuse. Take a note of everyone’s names

Fosterdog

If it was taken out as a new contract rather than an upgrade then unless it was the providers own shop they wouldn’t be able to cancel for you, they wouldn’t get past the first hurdle of data protection. At the most they would have had to call your provider then hand the phone over to you to complete the cancellation.

Are you sure you didn’t get your wires crossed two years ago and you were supposed to arrange the cancellation yourself?

pmduk

I'm sure we all suspect the store in question to be a certain chain independent of networks!

Gillybean

pmduk it’s a small local chain, only about half a dozen stores, so probably not the group you’re thinking of! I’ll never be using them again that’s for sure. The sheer volume of staff turnover should have been warning enough. You can go in one week, go in a month or so later and it’s completely different people. Fortunately the current manager who I dealt with last week is an ex employee of my old provider and seemed to know his stuff.

I’m not going to go in there all guns blazing, I’ve worked in customer service for enough years to know that approach never works. Just explain everything from my side, everything my old provider was able to find out and see where we go from there. I think based on all the hassle and time I’ve had to spend sorting out something which is not of my doing deserves some recompense.

DCFC79

Well it is your doing, you didnt correctly cancel the contract.

bertiewhite

I'm confused.

Gillybean wrote: »

I recently switched mobile networks, having been with the same one for a few years

Gillybean wrote: »

so for the last 2 years I’ve been paying a monthly direct debit for a phone I thought was cancelled

So have you been using a mobile phone for the last 2 years for which you've been paying a monthly DD?

Gillybean

Back in 2015, I had phone number A. When I went in to upgrade, for some reason they said I couldn’t take my number with me so I took out a new contract with phone number B, which is the one I’ve been using ever since, assuming that the contract for number A had been cancelled. I wasn’t told I had to do anything, it was all done for me in the shop.

I remember being confused and annoyed at the time about having to change my number, but I trusted what they told me.

It now turns out that number A contract was never cancelled and I’ve been paying for it ever since. The contract was with the same provider as the old one, so I didn’t pick up on the direct debit not being cancelled. I assumed one dd was mine and the other my husbands, forgetting that he had moved his to another account.

bertiewhite

So you've been paying for 2 contracts when you've only had one?

Gillybean

Yes, I was paying for 2 when as far as I was aware I only had one.
Now it’s emerged the second one was never cancelled.