Like others, I was misled into signing a contract on the assurance that future price rises wouldn't affect me for the duration of the 24 month contract. Yes, I WAS missold; O2 three counts, Tesco (who I took the contract out via) 1.
The fun began when it appears (O2's words) given the 'wrong' O2 contract by Tesco. It was a genuine O2 contract but it was a rather old one to say the least. Why O2 was continuing to use this contract in Tesco Phone Shops is beyond everyone but the fact remains, it was and as I'd not been made aware, let alone given 30 days notice of any changes to it, the contract I signed on the 18th November 2012 is the only contract of interest.
So, what about the outcome? Good news, I'd correctly interpretted the terms of the contract (O2's words) This was not resolved by O2's Complaints Review Service who did anything but. It was actually resolved by a previous O2 manager who took full ownerships, checked out the legalities and came back to me a week or so later to apologise for all the fuss. No pressure to accept an alternative, just explained that she was prepared to allow me to leave 'without' penalty which clearly, I accepted.
Clauses cited were as follows:
8.4 You may end this Agreement at any time by giving us notice if:
(a) we break this Agreement in any way and we do not correct the situation within 7 days of your request;
(c) we increase any of the Charges for the elements of the Service you are using or change this Agreement to your disadvantage. In this situation paragraph 8.3 will not apply.
It doesn't matter if O2 has given 30 days notice, if you have the terms above, you may use them at will provided the changes are negative.
At least for the contract I signed, since I'd not been given 30 days notice of a change to my contract, the contract was now broken and since this was never resolved at all, let alone within 7 days, I had grounds under both 8.4(a) and (c).
The real irony for O2 is that had advisors dealt with this matter of being missold accordingly from the outset, I would have stayed, I simply wanted someone to take responsibility.
Interestingly, a trip to O2's head office Shop in Slough and less than 10 minutes discussion was all it took to resolve the price increase and a wasted 120 mile round trip. I goodwill gesture of £50 was offered along with a genuine apology. Unfortunately, the issue with the contract could not be resolved, not a fault of the advisors in the shop, this was always going to be a little messy.
Tesco's has also accepted I was missold instore but would offer anymore than a credit for the difference (twice in error 
). The Tesco manager still maintains he has done nothing wrong, now claiming I was clearly advised correctly on taking out the contract.
This has been a costly error on both Tesco's and O2's part with the loss of some £800 contract and I still have a flash phone which I have no obligation to return and no such requests to date.
I since returned to O2 (sort of 
) via GiffGaff and have no plans on taking out any more long term contracts until operators start playing fair and stop leading customers into signing these misleadingly advertised 'fixed' deals. Hopefully, Offcom is going to sort this out later in the year.
Who says the Networks can't be held to account? 
