Grounds to cancel contract?

[Anonymous]

I took out a 24 month contract with O2 in April 2012 and have since moved to Canada at short notice.  I know I can't cancel my contract - fine.  I figured I would just remove the data bolt-on saving me £10/month (I use WiFi here all the time anyway), leaving me with £26/month to pay.  I figure I can receive texts from back home for free and if I send, they'll only cost me 25p - sweet.

My latest bill showed a hike in my 'Roaming text messages non-EU' to 40p each - ouch!

I was looking on this forum and noticed this clause from the terms and conditions:

5.3 You can end this Agreement without having to pay the Monthly Subscription Charges up to the end of any Minimum Period you have left, if:
(a) we increase your Monthly Subscription Charges by more than the Retail Price Index (RPI) annual inflation rate at the date we notify you of the applicable price increase; or
(b) we increase any of our Charges (apart from for Additional Services) in such a way that would have increased your total bill for the immediately previous month by more than 10% (if the increase(s) had applied for the whole of that month).

So, I calculated the costs from my latest bill as follows:

Bill for December included 82 Roaming text messages non-EU:
16 @ 0.25 = 4.00
66 @ 0.40 = 26.40
TOTAL = 30.40
BILL TOTAL = 64.66

If 'Roaming text messages non-EU' had been charged at 0.25 instead of 0.40, total bill would have been:

82 @ 0.25 = 20.50 as opposed to

82 @ 0.40 = 32.80
DIFF = 12.30 = 19% of total bill

Do I have grounds to terminate my contract??

Many thanks

Amanda

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

You'd need to speak to a lawyer to get the best advice but as far as I can see, the section of the T&C's you are looking at does not apply to your situation because the cost of using the service abroad has not "increased" - it's your use of the servce that has changed, not O2's call-charges.

Regardless - you've nothing to lose by contacting O2 and explaining the situation - they may be willing to remove or reduce any early termination penalty.  At the very least, they cam tell you what an early termination will cost you - it may work out better for you to pay that and get a contract in Canada - it depends on pricing with operaors over there.  (If there's a Telefonica operator in Canada - it might even be worth asking O2 if they'll be lenient on termination charges if you take a contract with their Canadian "cousins".)

[adamtemp64]

ring o2 for free from canada using this number

From abroad

+44 7860 980 202

Free‡

The sms price rise is above the 10%  but not sure if that roaming counts as an additional service

[ewanrw]

As adamtemp64 indicates, roaming is classed as an "Additional Service" which you opt in to, so price can be adjusted as and when they like.

ewan

[Bambino]

You can certainly try calling using the number suggested, but it's highly unlikely that you will get much joy, as this really isn't grounds to end your contract. Roaming charges are normally meant to be used only on a temporary basis for when you travel for business or on holiday. They're not meant to be used permanently.

By all means call and have the data bolt-on removed, but you will be responsible for the subscription charges on your contract for the remainder of your term.