Contracts

Privateer · 13 Sep 2008 at 09:56

A lot of companies use yearly contracts, everybody honors them, but can i refuse to pay one that i don't use, after all i didn't sign anything.

I have 3 mobile phone contracts running, i need to stop them, if i stopped paying them could they remind me of the contract, i know years ago anything unsigned would be useless

fini · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:08

How do you expect anyone to reply when your post has a complete lack of detail?

Privateer · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:22

fini said:
How do you expect anyone to reply when your post has a complete lack of detail?

sorry ill edit my post.

fini · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:36

You have a contract - you can't get out of it through non-use. A signature's not required for a contract to be valid (though it helps), all that is required is (a) consideration (b) intent to create legal relations - both of which are present.

BENdage · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:37

You can stop paying, they cant physically go into your bank and take the money, but in the long run it'll cost far more and leave you in a poor situation. They can if they want take you to court to get the money from you. You'll probably find that they'll want a lump sum of all the remaining line rental plus their legal fees, so it could get expensive. Thats not to say they will do that, but it would be an option to them.

If its just because you dont use it I cant see them being very co-operative with ending the contracts early, its not their fault after all. If its down to poor service or problems you've had with them then if you kick up a big enough fuss you can probably get out of it.

I managed to get out of a terrible contract with BT and in the end got so much compensation from them that the 5 months they were (trying) to provide my service worked out free.

fini · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:38

BENdage said:
You can, they cant physically go into your bank and take the money. They can if they want take you to court to get the money from you.

Well yes, but he'd lose and nobody wants a CCJ against them.

BENdage · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:40

fini said:
Well yes, but he'd lose and nobody wants a CCJ against them.

thats what I said...??

fini · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:42

Sorry you seemed to be imply it was in any way a sensible option to let them try to take you to court to get the money. Might just be my misreading of your post though.

PinkPig · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:43

Why would you get three mobile contracts that you don't use? If you just stop paying it will work out a lot worse (and more expensive!) in the long run.

BENdage · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:52

fini said:
Sorry you seemed to be imply it was in any way a sensible option to let them try to take you to court to get the money. Might just be my misreading of your post though.

Ahh, I see your point, sorry

Goign to court is never a good thing, I was just trying to say that he can stop paying, no one can stop him cancelling the DD or not phoning and paying the bill and for a few months he might be better off, but in the long run, with the legal fees he'll be much worse off, and like you say, having a CCJ will make it harder and more expensive to get phone contracts, credit cards, overdrafts, car loans, mortgages etc in the future

Privateer · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:59

fini said:
Sorry you seemed to be imply it was in any way a sensible option to let them try to take you to court to get the money. Might just be my misreading of your post though.

I'm angry with Virgin basically, me and my kids have phones, I have everything through Virgin, they supply my BB, i had to pay BT the £124.99, I'm getting the 02 package, they do really nice phones,
ill wait for the phone contracts to expire.

Namistai · 13 Sep 2008 at 11:15

Signature or no signature, if you're paying them money and they're providing you with a service then you have a contract. If it's not down on paper (which I fail to believe can be the case with a company the size and nature of Virgin) then you will have formed a contract by accepting their service and paying them. The agreement to have paid for several months is construed as acceptance of what they provide. What this doesn't do, of course, is provide any duration to the contract. So check with Virgin themselves as to the remaining duration of the contract.

As said in other posts above, if Virgin are failing to provide the service that you pay for then you have grounds to ask for early termination of the contract - although this will either require both parties to mutually agree, and you will have to provide evidence that they are not performing as they should do. Alternatively, you could write them a letter to request they terminate the contract on the basis that they are failing to provide the contracted service, and then stop paying them. But you do risk being in the position stated above.

However, all of this that I'm writing is based on an assumption that they aren't providing you with the contracted service level. If you're angry with them for some other reason, unless it's a breach of contract then you can't easily wriggle out of it.

Just bear in mind that it's definitely not as simple as refusing to pay on the basis that you didn't sign anything. Gl