Business Contracts o2

Theguywhovapes

Hi everyone

My wife lost her phone on a night out last October and wasn’t covered by her insurance for loss(silly her) so she had to take out a second contract to get a new handset. She went into an o2 store to get a new contract and was told she would only be allowed a 2nd contract if it was a business contract. She accepted this as believed it was their policy.

Fast forward 6 months later, she receives a windfall to pay off this contract so she wouldn’t continue paying for 2 phones. She was told that in order to to pay off this contract she would also have to pay the tariff as well. She was also told that she shouldn’t have been sold this in the first place and made a complaint which has been rejected.

We will be taking this to the ombudsman of course but wanted to know if anyone had any similar experiences or knowledge of o2 policy. Links would be helpful.

Tia

mobilejunkie

All airtime contracts have a minimum term - which she signed up to. Most contracts ARE the tariff and the phone is "free". Some new types of contracts split the two and rip people off in a different way. Why would anyone expect to leave a contract without paying off the minimum term - with any network?

She relied on a sales pitch to take out a business contract (probably unnecessarily) - but what's the difference?

Theguywhovapes

Hi mobilejunkie

Thank you for the response, with the business tariff it’s more expensive than a personal one plus she would have to pay the tariff costs on the business contract, not with a personal contract, just the handset.

mobilejunkie

Then it must be one of the new types of contract. It seems to me that she would need to prove that she was mis-sold a business contract. Not sure you'll get very far with the Ombudsman. In any case, you can't refer it there without a formal complaint response from O2 OR until 8 weeks after making a formal complaint without one.

Theguywhovapes

Thanks for the response. See this is where it’s getting confusing. My wife is not a business owner, she’s a teacher. Why would she want to take out a business contract which costs more and doesn’t have the flexibility of paying just the handset off.

What plausible reason would they have to sell her this sort of contract?

mobilejunkie

Commission? What possible reason would she have to accept it? She could have tried O2 direct rather than through a shop or gone to a different network. She could have bought a sim-free handset and used the existing sim contract in that (usually better value anyway). It doesn't really matter to O2 whether she's actually in business or not. It also doesn't ring true that she couldn't have got a personal O2 contract simply by calling them.

It doesn't sound confusing; for whatever reason the sales person steered them into a business contract. Why not complain to O2 directly about that? It may be the best chance of any kind of recourse.

grumbler

Theguywhovapes wrote: »

...so she had to take out a second contract to get a new handset.

No, she didn't have to take a contract. She could buy a sim-free handset.

Theguywhovapes wrote: »

Why would she want to take out a business contract which ... doesn’t have the flexibility of paying just the handset off.

Many consumer contracts don't have a separate part for a phone either. Why do people buy them?

Theguywhovapes

mobilejunkie wrote: »

Commission? What possible reason would she have to accept it? She could have tried O2 direct rather than through a shop or gone to a different network. She could have bought a sim-free handset and used the existing sim contract in that (usually better value anyway). It doesn't really matter to O2 whether she's actually in business or not. It also doesn't ring true that she couldn't have got a personal O2 contract simply by calling them.

It doesn't sound confusing; for whatever reason the sales person steered them into a business contract. Why not complain to O2 directly about that? It may be the best chance of any kind of recourse.

We have complained to o2 directly, it was when the store assist in another o2 shop who told her she should have been put on another personal contract as it was cheaper and no reason not to. The first store assistant said she HAD to have a business contract as there was no alternative to get a 2nd contract.

Theguywhovapes

grumbler wrote: »

No, she didn't have to take a contract. She could buy a sim-free handset.

Many consumer contracts don't have a separate part for a phone either. Why do people buy them?

Unfortunately she couldn’t afford a handset outright at the time otherwise that would have been an option.

grumbler

This may sound harsh, but a person that can't afford buying a handset outright, can't afford paying for two contracts either.
There are plenty of decent smartphones costing about £100 and suitable at least for surviving until the time when you can buy a better one if you really need and can afford it. Not to mention basic handsets that are almost free.

Theguywhovapes

grumbler wrote: »

This may sound harsh, but a person that can't afford buying a handset outright, can't afford paying for two contracts either.
There are plenty of decent smartphones costing about £100 and suitable at least for surviving until the time when you can buy a better one if you really need and can afford it. Not to mention basic handsets that are almost free.

I completely agree and understand your point. We’ll take it to the ombudsman and see where we go, it’s just seemed wrong to sell this when there was no reason to sell her this other than to hit targets, and to reject the complaint saying it wasn’t mis-sold has just wound me up.