Looking for others who have been mis-sold a business contract by Onecom and sharing my experience

drdillydally

Hi! I was mis-sold a contract by Onecom a few months ago and I just wanted to come on here and post how far I got with complaints and various research and advice I got on how to proceed with them.

 When I first realised I had been mis-sold this was one of the few forums that came up with people discussing it, and I always found it annoying that people would say they were going to complain and then you never found out how far they got – so yeah, this is for anyone who fell for their scammy sales technique – not that I got very far. While I’m not going to chase my personal case any further, I would love to get a group complaint out there to various bodies, (media watchdogs, trading standards, ofcom, office of fair trading, etc) so if you’ve been mis-sold by Onecom please message me! It might not make a difference, but I’m definitely willing to try.

Typical story with Onecom – I was called by a local number, guy on the phone made it sound like he was from my current provider looking to update my tariff and put me on  cheaper deal with a business contract. I thought I was getting £15 a month unlimited data sim for 18 months. It was actually a 3 year convoluted cashback scheme that actually meant if you average it out I end up paying £70 a month with a completely different provider. Yeah. And what I didn’t realise at the time as my business is just a hobby business is that you have almost no consumer rights. I suspect that they’re deliberately targeting sole traders and tiny businesses who wouldn’t know this.

So I complained via email. Got no where (obvs this is their MO). I requested the full recording and got an app to transcribe it  (otter – you can get a free trial) and went through it. Basically I talk to 2 salesman, and the first leads me to believe he’s from EE and can give me a better deal. He then hands me over to a 2nd salesman who I stupidly trust is just confirming my details, and who flies through some nonsensical terms at a mile a minute. Unfortunately he does state most things... kind of. I won’t go in depth as to why here as its annoyingly complicated but the £15 a month promised by the first salesman is not reflected in what I’m being charged at all, due mainly to VAT, annual price hikes, and cashback. He does kind of state most things in the audio albeit in very misleading roundabout way, and there’s definitely points I could argue in court if I got that far, even without consumer protections.

I was going to go to CICAS but I was dubious as everything I read online tells me they’re a terrible ombudman that’s not worth your time- also Onecom seemed suspiciously eager to suggest this route. I instead wrote a letter to the CEO (never phone anyone, have everything in writing! If there’s one tiny positive I can give Onecom, it’s that they do email you back quickly) and got put in touch with a customer rep who offered me 20% off. I ended up taking this offer, just cause I couldn’t handle the stress of it any more.

BUT I did visit a solicitor to get their opinion, so I’ll share what they said if this helps anyone else.

Basically they said I could take them to small claims. I would sue for the price of the contract over which I thought I was being charged when I agreed to it. So if I thought I was being charged £15 a month but I’m actually being charged £70, I’d sue for the £55 difference (but for the cost over the entire contract).

They said that my case could be argued but most likely Onecom are well versed in defending themselves, and it would be a case of how sympathetic the judge was to my plight. The only law you can reference in regards to business to business contracts is the Unfair Terms Act, and its a very vaguely worded bit of law mumbo jumbo indeed. It is possible to win, but could very much go either way.

 That said if I hadn’t been offered a deal I would’ve gone straight to small claims. The costs are limited, even if you lose you just pay the other side’s court fees, and it costs them time and money regardless which would’ve been a win for me either way. BUT its a long drawn out process that can take more than a year and is a lot of stress.

You don’t hear about a lot of individuals taking large companies to small claims largely because the individual will most likely be offered a deal by the company before it got to the actual court. It just isn’t cost effective for large companies to go to court, and it encourages others if it gets out that an individual won against them. Likely if I had refused the deal and tried to take then to court I would’ve been offered something better, but it’s hard to know and I have to weigh up the time and stress vs what I’d actually get in return. I would love to take them to court on the principle, but I’ve just had a baby and I just don’t have the energy.

In summary: if you’re caught out by Onecom request the recording and transcribe it. Keep communication to email/letter only. Escalate to the CEO if you want a discount, but if you want to go full scorched earth you can start court proceedings without going to CICAS first (I’d be interested to hear from people who have tried the CISCAS route) but beware its a long stressful process and there’s at best a 50:50 on whether you’d win or not.

Apologies for the essay and hope this helps someone!

Neil_Jones

Moral of the story:  Never say "yes" on the phone to anybody no matter how good the offer.  Especially if you are a business.

drdillydally

Neil_Jones said:

Moral of the story:  Never say "yes" on the phone to anybody no matter how good the offer.  Especially if you are a business.

Yep. Very very angry at myself for falling for it.

luckylegs18

Has anyone had success getting out of a contract with Onecom? I signed up (stupidly and kicking myself every day since) about 6 weeks ago. The first payment was as expected from Vodafone, but I've just had £465 taken out instead of £55! I'm also aware I've got to pay for 3 my fi devices that we don't use and I didn't want as well as a land line that I've since found out are only free for the first 18 months and that i was told were completely free. I'm not sleeping and so stressed about this. How are they getting away with this? 

Shepparp1

I am another mug who was sucked into their honey trap. The ramifications appear to be; paying circa £200 per month with £150 payback 5 days later fot 17 months then payback stops and renegotiate for the next 19 months!!! god knows what that will be! I am able to buy out the contract for circa £5k!! I Also have 2 mifis I didnt want or use and I will certainly be trying  the CEDR route. Like other respondents it is causing massive stress  sleepless nights etc. I  cancelled my Sky mobile account which was for my wife and my phones which was costing a very reasonable £20 per month with no complicated/confusing arrangements, I did try to get out of the onecom contract after receiving the complicated financials that were emailed to me a few days after the call  but like others they say a verbal contract is a valid contract it does not need to be in agreed in writing and no cooling off period unlike a personal account