Challenge to cancellation policy - Page 2

Anonymous · ‎17-06-2009

Having been referred to the Terms & Conditions posted at http://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/iphone I believe that there are good grounds for mounting a challenge to o2's stated policy as regards cancellation charges.

In particular, one may at one's own election to reduce the subscription rate I find it remarkable that o2 assert that this should not be factored into the cancellation charge. By way of illustration, say that I am on the £45 plan (which until now I was - I have moved down a band in protest), and have 10 months to run on my contract. Under o2's policy my cancellation charge is £450. If I exercise my rights under the contract to move down one tariff a month until I am on the minimum tariff, I can reduce this to 1 month x £35 plus 9 months x £30 = £305.

I would like to garner some support for mounting an action. There are a number of ways to approach how to take this forward and which to take depends somewhat on how many people are prepared to commit their time (and potentially finances) to doing so (I would not be collecting money from anyone, rather more likely they would be paying their own court fees/costs of communication with Ofcom).

If you are interested in taking this approach would you please pm me.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, I have tried over the last 11 days to broach this with o2 but they will not engage properly with the issue.

Thanks

Anonymous · ‎04-07-2009

There be some rubbish coming out in these forums

You don't have to pay £35 per month at all. I bought my iPhone 3G on the day of release last year. All O2 customers are free to downgrade tariff which I've done after 9 months.

I went down to the £20 tariff and asked the lady how much it would be to cancel and she said that it's £20 x the remaining months I have left. I've already done mine and got the PAC code to move to PAYG.

I did send an email to O2 telling them how dissapointed I was with the service, phone and tariff and asked to move off the iPhone tariff to which they agreed. I don't know if this is why I was able to cancel on "the cheap".

Anonymous · ‎04-07-2009

Hi all, I upgraded to the new iphone only 2 months ago but due to health reasons I have had to give up work and do not need a mobile anymore. I telephoned o2 and the did reduce my monthly bills from 35 to 30. But due to no income,not even benefits (not enough NI paid apparently)I just cant afford it. I said I never signed for a new contract and there reply was when asked my D.O.B. I gave them it and thats all they needed. Help any 1 please

Anonymous · ‎04-07-2009

Hi all, I upgraded to the new iphone only 2 months ago but due to health reasons I have had to give up work and do not need a mobile anymore. I telephoned o2 and the did reduce my monthly bills from 35 to 30. But due to no income,not even benefits (not enough NI paid apparently)I just cant afford it. I said I never signed for a new contract and there reply was when asked my D.O.B. I gave them it and thats all they needed. Help any 1 please

David, tell them your situation and ask if you can suspend the account for x amount of months or go down to the lowest tariff they offer. At the end of the day it's in their interest to help you.

Also maybe think about selling the iPhone to pay off the contract? I sold mine for over £300 but I suspect you will get less now due to the new iPhone 3Gs.

Anonymous · ‎05-07-2009

Very correct SD, o2 will only suspend your contract if you are going to a theatre of war.

If your health is so bad that you have to leave work then you will find that you will be eligible for DLA or something like that.

Anonymous · ‎09-07-2009

You entered into a contract at £x a month so that's what you and O2 are contracted at - regardless of if you now lower your monthly payments.
.

Sorry to be away for so long again - work is still manic and I haven't yet received copies of my contract from o2, so not really spent much time on this.
Ratz, that's not correct on my reading of the contract - a number of service providers write their contracts so that a debt is incurred and the normal provisions on breach of contract (quantum of loss, mitigation etc) are therefore irrelevant. o2's contract does not contain such a provision. The closest it has is a liability to pay "monthly subscription charges". There is no definition of this term and I would suggest the most favourable reading that o2 could hope to argue is "current monthly subscription charge" (see in this respect what they offered Gareth824). I now have it in writing from o2 that they will charge my original subscription rate notwithstanding my downgrade of tariff.

The original contract still stands - it is only the contents of the contract which has altered not the original contract so you can try to fight it but it seems more fool you for getting a contract you either can't now afford or simply don't like the details of.

I should add, though it's of course only of tangential relevance, that the "contents of the contract" constitute the contract! Moreover, unless the is a unilateral power of variation under the contract (which is rare and in many cases unenforceable) a contract can only be amended by consent.

Anonymous · ‎09-07-2009

You don't have to pay £35 per month at all. I bought my iPhone 3G on the day of release last year. All O2 customers are free to downgrade tariff which I've done after 9 months.
I went down to the £20 tariff and asked the lady how much it would be to cancel and she said that it's £20 x the remaining months I have left. I've already done mine and got the PAC code to move to PAYG.

I have it in writing from o2 that they will not do this. Are you willing to pm me your details so that I can take this up with o2? I understand, of course, if not.

The irony is that I would be on the £45 tariff if I were to cancel at £20xterm, because I would be buying a new iPhone!