Prestige telecom / plan.com - its time we fought back

Hibousage

Garnett_F I wrote to my MP, Carol Dineage (the MP for Prestige's area), EE, O2, Trading Standards, Watchdog/Rip off Britain, local press & media to that area and so many other people. Not one reply. I'm not sure what it needs for someone to take down these crooks. I saw a recent post where someone who had been caught out by their scam used a SAR's request and won his case through the Ombudsman. Maybe the Govt should just give them a juicy contract in order to leave us poor punters alone!

jspod

I have just managed to get out of my contract that was misold to me by prestige.  I had a very similar experience to many people here! cold call by them implying they were calling from vodafone about the upgrade i was due on my account.  They said they could reduce my monthly bills etc.... all the same sales spiel, and stupidly i went for it.  I then realised i was locked into a 36 month contract that was extortionate that i couldn’t get out of! At the 18 month point the only way to reduce my bills was to take out a further 36 month contract, if i didnt do this, my monthly sim only contract would go up to £37 from £28! This company are calling small businesses that do not deal with business contracts regularly, if at all,  therefore do not understand differences etc...
Here is what i did:
1.)sent a subject access request for all phone conversations regarding sale of the contract
2.) lodged initial complaint with Prestige Telecom Group - i argued that the contract was missold under communications act 2003, and the contract terms are unreasonable under the unfair contract terms act 1977
3.) Prestige responded, they did not agree with any points i raised in my letter but interestingly did offer a resolution, which i did not accept 
3.) As it had been over 8 weeks i logged my complaint with Ombudsman services.  I uploaded all phonecalls, emails and initial complaints letter.  

4.) 8 weeks later after no appeal from prestige the ombudsman concluded that the contract should be cancelled and the cancellation fee waivered! What the ombudsman concluded was that while prestige had mentioned it was a business contract, they had not mentioned  there was no cooling off period!! This is where they got them! 

If you want any further information i am happy to help! I feel strongly that this company are stopped from doing this to people!! 

This whole process has taken 8 months and quite a lot of my time but thankfully it has paid off!! Good luck!! 

mertuygun

Hello everyone,
it looks like never ending story...
I am the new member although I always taking a reference from this website.
They did same to me and unfortunately I have been mis-sold too.
After what happened in this event (as same as you) I took some actions (complaints/emails) which did not help at all.
I am going to follow the steps for ombudsman services and lets see what happens.

Molevich

I am also in this same situation, and have been since 2017. I am now fighting this as hard as I can, as I have the time to devote to it, being semi-retired. 

One tactic I have noticed is they always put a different person to answer the emails. So there is a string of different names replying. 

They say things like our e-contracts do not need a signature!

1898bb

Hi all, I'm new to this forum but I'm having the same issue with Plan.com mis-selling a contract as a business contract. A relative of mine has been stuck in contracts with these people and she isn't even a business, they should not have told her she had no cooling off period. I understand under the CRA she is classed as a consumer so should have a cooling off period but not only that, if they argue that she was actually entering into the contract in a business capacity then it's actually on them to prove it (s2 (4)A trader claiming that an individual was not acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside the individual’s trade, business, craft or profession must prove it.)

Has anyone had any luck getting out of a contract or getting any money back for misrepresenting the nature of the contract? There aren't even hard copies of the contracts, just phone call recordings which have been cropped so in all likelihood she was given false information which they have now deleted.

lucky99

Hi, don’t activate sim card. Get solicitor to cancel the contract. Write letter to them about misleading and valid cooling off period. It worked for me. 

1898bb

She's been stuck in these contracts for a couple years already and has been using the SIM, she's under the impression that she's totally stuck because it's been renewed but I think the initial contract was misleading and shouldn't have gone ahead in the first place. It's so bad, the call recordings are shocking, one of them she even says she doesn't really understand it all and nothing is clarified!

lucky99

Get solicitors, unless you’re be slave for many years. 

Millie_moo2

Another victim here. I was cold called in Dec 2020 just days before Christmas. They didn't announce who they were when I answered but they knew my name and details making me believe it was EE (my phone company). I have so much to complain about:

1. I was rushed and pressured into signing a contract while the guy on the phone repeatedly said "are you done? Have you read it? Ready to move on? Are you done" - how can I read that?! In annoyance I said yes. Big mistake. He also "helped" me fill in the online form; "scroll down, check that box, scroll down, check that box etc". I have two small kids, it was days before christmas so they were excited/bugging me and he used his scammers charm to make out like he was help me to get it done quickly so I could go back to sorting the kids out. 
2. I was told it was a 1yr contract but it was actually a 3yr contract (small print).
3. Was coerced into saying I use my phone for business simply because I occasionally read work emails on it - I repeatedly said it wasn't a business phone but he insisted even if I read just one email then it's a business phone which means I get a cheaper deal. I believe this is because you lose consumer rights when taking out a business contract.
4. Was never told about a one off £69 line rental fee.
5. Was told I'd never pay more than £35 INCLUDING VAT - I'm paying £42.

I'm a sole trader - I don't deal with any contracts apart from the ones I send to my clients. I was never made aware of my rights. I didn't even know what a business to business contract was. I was definitely not told I wouldn't get a cooling off period.

I asked to complain at the time and was ignored. I was actually told I couldn't go to the Ombudsman because it was a business to business contract. I'm stuck with these scammers for 3 years now on a business contract for a phone that I don't use for business.

Millie_moo2

ballyblack said:

Thank you for your story

I am afraid its unlikely you are not going to get any useful advice on here as this is a tech site

BUT why did you engage with a cold caller in the first place ??

Nobody rings you out of the blue and offers a fantastic mobile deal (doesn't happen in the real world)

Get ur PAC code,  pay your fine for being gullible and move on !!

Yes, it does happen in the real world! 

When I was with EE (I was with them for about 10yrs), they rand me twice during that time and spoke about lowering my monthly payments. They'd looked at my usage and figured I could get the same for less. It was great.

However, as people have pointed out - Prestige do not announce themselves. They literally say, in kent/essex accents, "hi *name*, how are you? I'm just ringing to see if I can make your phone package cheaper. Can you confirm some details for me please" and then go on to 'confirm details' as if you're talking to your phone provider. I genuinely thought it was EE and they didn't announce otherwise. 

If you don't have anything helpful to say then perhaps you shouldn't. Top points for victim blaming btw.