Being charged VAT on contract

[Anonymous]

Hi I'm a little concerned. I'm being charged £5 VAT on top of my contract. This is my first contract ever and I wasn't aware of this extra cost as it wasn't stated anywhere. I signed up for £28 a month but on my bill it states this: £25.01 for contract then £5 VAT. Someone please help I'm totally confussed 😞

[Anonymous]

On 28 Dec 2016 I signed a 24 month, pay monthly, contract for an iPhone6, 3gig data.

The price stated on the website is £31 per month.

The price stated on the signed contract is also £31 per month.

I refer to current legislation - -

*The Price Marking Order 2004*, *Citation 1 {2} in this order*.

Link = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/102/pdfs/uksi_20040102_en.pdf

I quote - -

"selling price means the final price for a unit of a product …..including VAT and all other taxes"

"unit price means the final price including VAT and all other taxes".

That is to say that government legislation / law clearly states that the shown and advertised price of a product, at the point of purchase of that product, must include VAT.

Additionally, from the *terms and conditions* of my O2 contract, as with any of their other contracts - -

I quote - -

3, Price and Payment.

3.1. The price of the goods or services {if any} shall be the price of which we inform you prior to accepting your order. Prices include VAT at current rates unless stated otherwise.

At no point, prior to, or during, the signing of the contract, was I informed 'otherwise', either verbally or in writing.

I note from my latest bill, dated 12 Jan 2016, that I am being charged VAT !

The bill actually states - -

Tariff charges = £29.13   {which I expected to be £31]

Things You've bought = £3.32       {I bought nothing - apps have been charged directly to my bank}

VAT = £6.49

Total Bill = £38.94.

This being £7.94 more than I expected, and this x 24 would = £190.56 over the 24 month period.

Also, there is no apparent correlation between the original Tariff of £31 and the bill tariff of £29.13, and there is no explanation as to why this anomaly should exist.

It would appear that at the point of sale I was misled and misinformed and/or the company is committing an offence against government legislation.

I intend taking this issue further, but before doing so, any coments or advice would be much appreciated.

[MI5]

Your bill is always quoted ex VAT and shown as a breakdown in your My O2.
The additional charges are always on a first bill as you are charged for a couple of days pro rata before the first full monthly bill cycle kicks in and these pro rata days are then added to the first bill.
This is normal and the same for everyone and explained on the website http://www.o2.co.uk/help/bills-and-payment/first-bill

[jonsie]

All perfectly normal and your next bill will be as per your agreement. You could have saved an awful lot of research by coming on here first. By the way this is a customer forum and O2 would not pick up your post here.

[Sam7heAlmighty]

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