O2 - 2yr contract price increase within 3 weeks......

MGT007

My partner, agreed a new contract with O2 three weeks ago - she was really pleased as they offered her (over the phone) a really competitive price, this did however require some reduction in allocations , which she was prepared to do to get the competitive deal.

So before she even gets her first bill she has been advised her monthly fee is going up.

She is so disappointed. 

I know they are allowed to increase in relation to RPI and such, however it seems rather rogue-ish , when done so soon after offering "The New Deal".

Thoughts? Comments? Possible Actions?

Thanks my learned friends.

;-)

Billxx

Too late now, but there are some providers that do not increase the cost over the lifetime of the contract.  Tescos Mobile as an example. And they use the o2 network.

Kim_13

Was your partner promised over the phone that she would not be subject to an RPI adjustment in 2024? If so, request a copy of the call and use it to get O2 to retract the increase. 

If she was not, then she is outside the cooling off period and the only way she could do anything about it would be if they did not read her 'will increase by February's RPI+3.9% each April' before she agreed to the contract. If they did, then she agreed the increase and would be relying on any goodwill they might offer as a result of her not expecting a contract taken out in February to go up 6 weeks later.

If they will not give any, then once the complaint route is exhausted, it's a case of going elsewhere once the minimum term is up. Each operator will have its own cut off as to when new contracts will not be subject to inflation based increases in that year, so find that out for any under consideration (assuming that Ofcom do not ban mid contract rises before the contract is up - unlikely, it looks as though they'll require pounds and pence increases instead to which there will always be a cut off date.) Or take out any new deals shortly after the network concerned has imposed its rise for the year.

MGT007

Kim_13 said:

Was your partner promised over the phone that she would not be subject to an RPI adjustment in 2024? If so, request a copy of the call and use it to get O2 to retract the increase. 

If she was not, then she is outside the cooling off period and the only way she could do anything about it would be if they did not read her 'will increase by February's RPI+3.9% each April' before she agreed to the contract. If they did, then she agreed the increase and would be relying on any goodwill they might offer as a result of her not expecting a contract taken out in February to go up 6 weeks later.

If they will not give any, then once the complaint route is exhausted, it's a case of going elsewhere once the minimum term is up. Each operator will have its own cut off as to when new contracts will not be subject to inflation based increases in that year, so find that out for any under consideration (assuming that Ofcom do not ban mid contract rises before the contract is up - unlikely, it looks as though they'll require pounds and pence increases instead to which there will always be a cut off date.) Or take out any new deals shortly after the network concerned has imposed its rise for the year.

Thanks again for this.

She does not believe they said "......will increase by February's RPI+3.9% each April....' - she would remember if they did, as she would have asked what they meant in quantitive terms by this phrase..... So what does she do now? transcript? as per first paragraph?

400ixl

Did they send her the T&C's within 14 days that contained the information?

Kim_13

Yes, a copy of the recording it is.

It may not be word for word, as it's essentially January's RPI published in February and taking effect from the April bill (8.8% was confirmed on 14th February this year when January's RPI of 4.9% was released by the Office of National Statistics.) It is not enough for them to say that the clause is in their standard terms of business and that inflation based increases have been around for years now, she has to have agreed to some wording of that clause. 

If the recording reveals that she did, then if she signed up after 14th February, focus on the fact that it was known to O2 at the time that 8.8% would be the increase they were applying and they could have been clearer about that. (Of course next April would still be essentially a blank cheque.) If someone signs up after April, then they can't be any clearer as no one knows what next January's RPI will be until next February.