Miss -selling by Sure Communications

mickeybok

Hi, i'm new to this site and would kindly ask if anyone might be able to give me some advice on what I can/should do next regarding a contract I have taken out with a company called Sure Communications.
I'll try to keep it short. I was cold called just over a week ago by sure and talked into changing my 4 mobile monthly contracts along with my internet connection. The price was slightly less than I was paying, or so I thought, I later found out that they had 'inadvertently forgotten' to let me know that the price was ex VAT.
I also arranged to buy 2x iphone14 mobile phones, as I was in the process of buying them for my daughters for Christmas presents and the price again was good with them.  The first  time I realised that I had been 'scammed/had/fooled/turned over' was a day later. I was called by them to confirm some information and I asked when the phones would arrive, they told me it would be between 10 and 30 days. I immediately said that's no good to me as I need them for Christmas day so I would cancel the order, I was told that this would cost me a £4000 cancellation fee as there was a 'No day cooling off period', something I had never heard of as I thought every contract bought over the phone had a 14 day cooling off period.
After sending them a letter complaining about miss-selling I was fobbed off with a badly written email pretty much telling me I had no rights and that if I wanted to cancel everything it would cost me £7000. I now feel stupid and foolish as well as extremely annoyed that my daughters didn't get their iphones, I dont know what to do next, any advice would be gratefully accepted. Could I also add that having checked on trust pilot there are numerous accounts of this kind of behaviour by them.   

littleboo

Sure Communications say they are a business provider - are you a business or a consumer? If its the latter, you may be better posting on the Consumer Rights forum. If its a B2B contract, you're rights are very limited.

Bradden

If as @littleboo suggested Sure are a B2B supplier it would explain why they quoted ex-vat prices to you. 

MalMonroe

Hi, this is terrible.

As littleboo says above, the company appears to sell to businesses, not consumers. Why did they think you were a business?

Are you sure that the people you are dealing with are actually from Sure Communications? Or are you dealing with scammers pretending to be from there? The penalties they have quoted to you seem to be not only extortionate but also very random. 

I found the following information online, it is a Financial Ombudsman special page to complain about Sure Communications. (They must have received quite a lot of complaints about that specific company to have a page dedicated to them.) It tells you what you need to do.

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/providers/sure-telecommunications-limited

There's info from Ofcom - 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/complaints/complain-about-phones-or-internet-services/the-way-a-service-was-sold

Also some advice from Citizens Advice (you can phone them too for further help) -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/if-you-were-misled-or-pressured-into-buying-something-you-didnt-want/

And there's information from this very site - -

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/

(We consumers do have rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015). 

If you weren't told about your cancellation rights, then you have even more rights. . . see the info in the above link. 

Also please report this to Action Fraud - https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ - because it all sounds very dodgy.

I hope some of this is of some help. All the best to you.

mickeybok

Hi, and thank you for all your comments, I should have let you know that It is a B2B contract because I am a window cleaner, although my income is way below the VAT threshold and therfore I am not VAT registered. Whenever I buy anything the least I expect is for them to say £10 + VAT, they never mentioned to me that this product was ex VAT.
I am also confused as to why a business should have less rights than a consumer? I will check out the financial ombudsman's advice but thanks to everyone for your help.

Neil_Jones

mickeybok said:

Hi, and thank you for all your comments, I should have let you know that It is a B2B contract because I am a window cleaner, although my income is way below the VAT threshold and therfore I am not VAT registered. Whenever I buy anything the least I expect is for them to say £10 + VAT, they never mentioned to me that this product was ex VAT.
I am also confused as to why a business should have less rights than a consumer? I will check out the financial ombudsman's advice but thanks to everyone for your help.

Businesses have less rights than consumers which has always been the case.

Because (in the case of a limited company) you are acting on behalf of that company, you need to have done your homework and make the best decision(s) for the business.

The law treats business-to-business contracts and business-to-consumer contracts differently. Businesses do not get cooling off periods when signing up to contracts at home, on a business premises or at a distance. Unless the contract you have with the company you are purchasing the product from states you have a cooling off period, you will not have one.

Also:  the Consumer Credit act doesn’t apply to an offer or supply of credit to limited companies, however, it does apply to contracts entered into by sole traders and partnerships.

https://reducer.co.uk/blog/understanding-business-to-business-contracts might be of interst.

Assuming you're a self employed Window Cleaner, you get more rights than Joe Bloggs Ltd will ever do, because being self employed in this way effectively gives you more of the domestic protections.