Old O2 contract - Changes being Imposed?
I have a very old monthly contract - so old that it was taken out in 2002 with BT Mobile which later became O2. It was called "Pay Upfront For Life" and cost £199.99, inc. phone, and it gave a choice of Free call and text combinations. I chose 50 free minutes, any time, as I live in a rural area, and wanted it as an emergency phone, in case my car broke down.Calls were limited to O2 or landlines. Since then, I don't think I have ever used more than 10mins of my allowance, which cannot be carried forwards, but the security has been enormous, and my monthly charge of £0 is what I want to pay!!
O2 has recently contacted me to tell me that my contract is ceasing (!WHAT??! I'm not dead yet and paid for life!) BUT they were moving me onto a deal that will still cost the same, but give me unlimited calls to O2 and landlines, Unlimited texts, and 500Mb data a month. While not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, this is such a radical change to my contract that I am wondering if there are any drawbacks or risks to this - they say that " *Each year your Airtime Plan will be adjusted on your April bill by the RPI rate of inflation announced in the preceding February.". As my plan costs £0.00, any increase in % terms is £0.00 too, but is there any chance they will sneak in charges in this new contract? I cannot find how they treat this change - is it a brand-new contract, or a pre-existing one, for example, and their staff have No Idea, as they have never seen this original contract, which I believe was no longer sold by 2004.
Is this just too good to be true, and do I have any options to reject their "offer"? I was perfectly happy where I was, and would be content to stay on it, although the data does look tempting in case of emergencies. It is due to start on 5/9/21 - are there any questions I need to ask?
O2 has recently contacted me to tell me that my contract is ceasing (!WHAT??! I'm not dead yet and paid for life!) BUT they were moving me onto a deal that will still cost the same, but give me unlimited calls to O2 and landlines, Unlimited texts, and 500Mb data a month. While not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, this is such a radical change to my contract that I am wondering if there are any drawbacks or risks to this - they say that " *Each year your Airtime Plan will be adjusted on your April bill by the RPI rate of inflation announced in the preceding February.". As my plan costs £0.00, any increase in % terms is £0.00 too, but is there any chance they will sneak in charges in this new contract? I cannot find how they treat this change - is it a brand-new contract, or a pre-existing one, for example, and their staff have No Idea, as they have never seen this original contract, which I believe was no longer sold by 2004.
Is this just too good to be true, and do I have any options to reject their "offer"? I was perfectly happy where I was, and would be content to stay on it, although the data does look tempting in case of emergencies. It is due to start on 5/9/21 - are there any questions I need to ask?
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The question you need to ask is will they continue to charge £0 per month until you die - increased each year by the RPI if they want to.
Not sure if any useful info here:
£50 compensation for O2 Pay upfront for life package holders — MoneySavingExpert Forum
I would expect the original fee refunded if they don't want to honour the lifetime element. I would go for interest or compensation, but I think you have little chance, despite a good moral case.
I have also received my letter from O2 and have opened a complaint.
This is now the 3rd time O2 have tried to impose a change to this contract, back in 2011 I commenced a claim in the court against O2 which was settled before court and included a binding settlement agreement that stated:-
I detailed that journey in this thread
I will let this run its course again and will have no hesitation in taking the matter to court again if necessary.
I have formally advised O2 that, for the avoidance of any doubt, I do not accept any change to the binding contract.
I would point out to anyone affected by this that they pay particular attention to the new terms proposed by O2 which become affective to all contract changes made after the 25th March 2021, these are available on the O2 website here in particular see Clause 20. Changes to the Agreement which says
20.1 We can make changes to this Agreement at any time. Any changes will apply from the date we publish them on our Website. The latest version of this Agreement applicable to you will be available on our Website so please check www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile regularly for updates. In addition to posting the up to date version of this Agreement on our Website, we may also inform you by SMS, post or email of any changes we make to this Agreement and/or send you a link to the updated Agreement.
20.2 If we make a change to this Agreement which is to your significant disadvantage (in our reasonable opinion), we'll give you 30 days' Notice before the changes take place and you may have a right to terminate this Agreement as a result. If you do have a right to terminate and do not terminate in this 30 day Notice period, you’ll be considered to have accepted the changes.
If you allow this change then they will simply make a subsequent change to the tariff down the road and you may lose the benefit of the up front for life prepaid agreement.
Currently available new contracts seem to be very cheap, and cheaper with modest data usage, and modest data is what is proposed in this letter. I haven't priced it up exactly, but maybe they're proposing to give nominally about £2.50 to £3 value a month free of charge. The time to complain, if ever, is when charges are applied to the account, not before.
The note about future tariff increases says adjusted by RPI rate of inflation. Any percentage of nothing is still nothing.
The OP realises that this change seems too good to be true - perhaps in line with c8rls post, this gift horse packs a cunning 'we can do what we like in future' clause. No such thing as a free lunch - my opinion is if it looks like a free lunch, get it in black & white, then enjoy it all the more!
The sim card was never used for roaming, any reduction or increase in roaming prices would be allowable within the contract therefore it would not be a reason to take action.
May I ask why on earth you would think that it was a reason to take them to court?
The change discussed now is effectively a reduction of charges, partly as apparently it would soon include mobiles on other UK networks, instead of at 50 pence a minute. But you are talking about court action.