What rights to cancel do you have when buying from a shop?

smallzoo

I need help and advice asap.

Yesterday(Sunday) I went into Carphone Warehouse in Crewe Cheshire to buy two phone Nokia N95 and Nokia 5310. All seemed to be ok and the salesman offered us the best deal he said for the two phones based on our txt/phone usage etc and advised us to move to Orange even though we said we were quite happy with O2. When he gave me the contract all he said was to sign and date on the contracts and nothing else was mentioned

Today I went on the Carphone warehouse website and they had two deals on both these phones which based on cashback would have saved me £300 !! over the 18 month contract.

I rang the store this morning and the said they could not match the website price at all and under Orange's new rule there was no cooling off period so I was stuck with the deal. He said once I had signed the contract that was that.

Surely this is wrong. At no time did the salesman ask me to read the contract OR mentioned there was no cooling off period.

Do I have any rights here !!

Please help as I would like to get a fax to the store this morning rejecting the contract on the grounds the salesman did not explain about the contract to me...

Peter

rustybucket

I don't think there is a cooling off period as you went into the store and signed up.

smallzoo

That may be the case BUT surely the Salesman by persauding me to move from O2 to orange AND not mentioning the fact there was NO cooling off period was misleading and does that not give me some rights !

rustybucket

Get advice from your local trading standards but normally if you agree to a contract in person then it's binding.

smallzoo

As we have switched from O2 to Orange how easy is it to say that the reception is poor and thus cancel the contract !

Woby_Tide

smallzoo wrote: »

Surely this is wrong. At no time did the salesman ask me to read the contract

*spits coffee*

so you know a contract is important, yet expect to be told to read it rather than making your own judgement and thinking "Hang on, what am I signing here?"

smallzoo

Well you must be unique then. I bet you if you asked 100 people if they read mobile phone contract 90+ will say no. Buying stuff in a shop works two ways. It relies on some knowledge from the consumer but also trust between consumer and retailer. Even if you were able to read the whole contract in store I bet the vast majority of people woul dnot be able to decipher the legal jargon contained herein.

Anyone else got more helpful advice ?

Woby_Tide

smallzoo wrote: »

As we have switched from O2 to Orange how easy is it to say that the reception is poor and thus cancel the contract !

impossible, no mobile contract guarantees reception, it's the users choice where they use the phone and should generally check before committing to such a contract. Whilst you think you've been hard doen by it seems whilst CPW could probably have helped a bit more they didn't do anything 'illegal' and the onus should have been on you to confirm it. I doubt there is much you can do as you signed it in person rather than a web/phone contract. At least you're now in the 10% of people you assume will read a contract before signing it in future

reehsetin

smallzoo wrote: »

As we have switched from O2 to Orange how easy is it to say that the reception is poor and thus cancel the contract !

orange have a coverage checker, they will put your postcode in there if it shows as excellent/good reception you have no chance, if it says its bad you might have a chance

signing means your happy with the deal you have been given, you should have done your research before you signed
you are expected to read what you sign, if people commonly dont then it shows whats wrong with society really

rustybucket

smallzoo wrote: »

Well you must be unique then. I bet you if you asked 100 people if they read mobile phone contract 90+ will say no. Buying stuff in a shop works two ways. It relies on some knowledge from the consumer but also trust between consumer and retailer. Even if you were able to read the whole contract in store I bet the vast majority of people woul dnot be able to decipher the legal jargon contained herein.

Anyone else got more helpful advice ?

Trust between consumer and retailer, remember retailers are there to make profit.

Initially you were happy with the outcome when you signed the contract.

And did he have your arm in a lock to persuade you to move? Of course not, he used his patter to win you over, and you fell for it, hook line and sinker.

I cannot believe you just signed an 18 month contract without reading the small print.

As an example I signed up for Setanta Sports for £15 a month, 12 month contract, literally a few days later it was advertised as £10 per month, no contract, I didn't go bleating to them as I knew I had signed up and was tied in, I just got on with it.

Use this as a lession learned, and research better before you buy.

smallzoo

I thought the whole point of Martin's superb website is to fight for consumer rights and stop retailers,banks etc taking consumers for a ride. It seems from some of the comments made that if we make a genuine mistake that we should not blame the retailer as they are there to make money but just blame ourselves for a lapse in concentration. The WHOLE point is that if CWP had mentioned the FUNDAMENTAL fact about the Orange contract that there was no cooling off period and NO money back gaurentee I would certainly have thought again.

CPW said in a recent interview with the BBC..

"...The Carphone Warehouse says providing expert and clear advice has always been core to its principles..."

Thats what I am talking about, not trying to moan or bleat as some people have indicated. We should fight for our rights not sit back and let the onus be on the the consumer rather than the 'experts' who are selling us their goods or services.