[agoetcherian]

I suppose this is a bit of legal advice I need :P

Basically, I've been getting really poor coverage from vodafone for the last couple of weeks. Phoned up today to find out that they're updating the nearby something or other so it'll be a bit patchy for a while. She credited some money on my account and I said thanks.

I then asked how I was doing in my usage (to find out if I was exceeding my minutes/texts in my recently updated contract. I found out that I've being massively overcharged for the last two months because the guy who set up my account didn't put any internet coverage on it. I found the offer I asked for (same price and plan as my current one, with extra 500mb of internet) and said that that was what I had asked for, to be told it was an internet only offer for new customers, and I couldn't switch it. For the same plan I would have to pay an extra £3 a month (£13 instead of £10)

My question is, am I in my right to cancel my contract (12 month contract only 2 months in), in light of the crap reception I've been receiving? I've literally been getting around 2 hours a day, and my internet has been charged at £1 per day for those two hours. It's not the sort of service one would expect, so can I cancel and go to orange who are running the same deal as the vodafone online only?

Thanks.

[agoetcherian]

bump?

[Xarren]

(Original post by agoetcherian)
I suppose this is a bit of legal advice I need :P

Basically, I've been getting really poor coverage from vodafone for the last couple of weeks. Phoned up today to find out that they're updating the nearby something or other so it'll be a bit patchy for a while. She credited some money on my account and I said thanks.

I then asked how I was doing in my usage (to find out if I was exceeding my minutes/texts in my recently updated contract. I found out that I've being massively overcharged for the last two months because the guy who set up my account didn't put any internet coverage on it. I found the offer I asked for (same price and plan as my current one, with extra 500mb of internet) and said that that was what I had asked for, to be told it was an internet only offer for new customers, and I couldn't switch it. For the same plan I would have to pay an extra £3 a month (£13 instead of £10)

My question is, am I in my right to cancel my contract (12 month contract only 2 months in), in light of the crap reception I've been receiving? I've literally been getting around 2 hours a day, and my internet has been charged at £1 per day for those two hours. It's not the sort of service one would expect, so can I cancel and go to orange who are running the same deal as the vodafone online only?

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure they are covered against all that in the small print, and that it does not invalidate your contract with them.

Since this is a student forum, may I ask how old you are? If you are under 18, this could be rather easy to solve.

[agoetcherian]

(Original post by Xarren)
I'm pretty sure they are covered against all that in the small print, and that it does not invalidate your contract with them.

Since this is a student forum, may I ask how old you are? If you are under 18, this could be rather easy to solve.

I am. I'm on my mum's account, but I'm turning 18 in a couple of weeks.

[Xarren]

(Original post by agoetcherian)
I am. I'm on my mum's account, but I'm turning 18 in a couple of weeks.

So wait. Is it your contract or your mothers? (Meaning who is financially liable? Who's name is on the dotted line?)

[agoetcherian]

(Original post by Xarren)
So wait. Is it your contract or your mothers? (Meaning who is financially liable? Who's name is on the dotted line?)

My mum is the financier. I'm named on the account as a second number.

[Xarren]

(Original post by agoetcherian)
My mum is the financier. I'm named on the account as a second number.

Ahh.

If it were me I'd tell them to sod themselves. But haven't a clue whether you can actually do anything.

[megaman70]

I did a law degree but i did contract law a few years ago so i can give informed advice but i may be a bit rusty

Having no signal in your area is definitly a breach of contract as they are not providing the agreed service. Now we all know that technology does not always work perfectly and some down time is to be expected but the amount which you describe is far beyond acceptable and normally this would give you a right to cancel, i dont know if your contract has a "get out clause" on this point for the company thou.

You said that you were told that you had a data package at the time but later found out that it was an internet only offer. If you were offered the data package and you were not told at the time that is was an internet only offer then the data allowance forms part of the contract, they cannot refuse to honour this - perhaps you can use it as a negotiating chip when you try and get them to cancel the contract (ie you will let them off if they let you off)

Someone mentioned that you may be able to get out of the contract if you are under 18, but you said the contract was with your mother. If the contract is on your mums account it will probibly be seen as her contract so this is an irrelivance. even if you were under 18 all the law does is make SOME contracts unenforceable against you, this is a complex area of law and i would not attempt to tell you if or not you could use it to get out of the contract in this case.

another thing to remember is that if you simply refuse to pay then the phone company must enforce the contract somehow, if you have a direct debit setup then you are probibly screwed but if you manually pay each month you could simpily stop paying - they probibly wont bother taking you to court because its too much hastle.

[cl_steele]

not knowing the small print i dont know if theyve violated any aspects of the contract but assuming they havent the only way out is to pay them the rest of the contract in a lump sum, not fun at all -_-

[agoetcherian]

Thanks guys, I spoke to someone else later on who sent a message to some department. He said they'll check the call and listen to it; I assume this'll mean that if the guy did tell me I was receiving data in my plan then they will have to honour it, but if when the guy read me the plan summary did not mention any data, thenI suppose it's my fault. I'm certain that he did tell me there was internet in it (I've had internet ever since I had a smartphone - why would I cancel it and then carry on using internet that cost me triple what it was in the first place?), because I wouldn't have accepted it otherwise, but you never know. Hopefully they'll get back to me tomorrow. If it turns out I was in the wrong, I guess I'll just have to pay the extra £4 a month to upgrade my contract to include internet, cos the deal I wanted is for online only.