Mobile Phone Contract Advice

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 11:56

I've been on my current Three contract since June 2010 and when I signed up for it "unlimited" internet with a FUP was part of the price plan. Internet Texter 300 for £22 a month.

I noticed about 8 months ago that my mobile internet allowance had changed from "unlimited" to 500MB and whenever I rang three up about it they denied any changed and stated that's what I'd signed up for, and I was never on unlimited data. Now I've just found my original letter from Three about my contract and it states "Unlimited" for the data.

I've been using a £5 a month "unlimited" data add on for a while as well (pushing my price per month to £27 rather than £22) to make sure I don't go over my now 500MB as I have done a few times, and they've charged a ridiculous amount for that.

What can I do with this new information? Ideally I want to cancel my contract with them and go with a new network, and I reckon this'll be enough reason to cancel without having to pay the remainder off, but I'm also thinking I might be entitled to some sort of refund considering they've reduced my data allowance but kept the price the same, and on top of that I've been charged multiple times for breaching the 500MB they imposed on me.

Now I know I could go and ask Three about it, but as you can expect, I'm sceptical of what they'll say considering they've lied so many times about my data allowance "always" being 500MB, or that they've changed it to look like it was always 500MB, but either way to me it seems like a breach of contract.

I've been thinking about reducing my contract to the lowest amount I can then paying it off so I can move over to Vodaphone when the Galaxy Nexus comes out because my girlfriend works at Vodaphone and has a really good friends and family discount she can give me.

Colbaker · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:00

Good luck on cancelling, Unfortunately i very much doubt you will be able to, All Networks seem to have this 500Mb limit, some sell as unlimited but with a Fair Usage Policy of 500Mb in the small print and some are up front stating the 500Mb Max.

platypus · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:01

Do you actually have your original contract, or do you have your "welcome" letter?

If your original contract doesn't state in the small print that Unlimited actually was 500Mb, you tell them that you have written and dated evidence of your original contract, and if they don't refund the charges and let you out early without penalty, you will take them to court.

As for a new contract I can't really say, as I'm coming to the end of mine and will not be renewing.

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:17

Colbaker said:
Good luck on cancelling, Unfortunately i very much doubt you will be able to, All Networks seem to have this 500Mb limit, some sell as unlimited but with a Fair Usage Policy of 500Mb in the small print and some are up front stating the 500Mb Max.

That's the problem, it's been changed to 500MB mid-contract. Initially it was "Unlimited" with a 1GB FUP, which I exceeded a few times with no charges or even complaints from them, but about 8 or so months ago I noticed it was 500MB and I was charged 10p per each MB I went over it.

I know a lot of networks have now changed their contracts to 500MB with no FUP (this is part of the problem as well), but I was never made aware of the change in writing or even via a phone call, they're claiming there was no change and that I never was on an "unlimited" internet allowance price plan.

platypus said:
Do you actually have your original contract, or do you have your "welcome" letter?

Well it was all done over the phone so nothing was ever signed but the letter I have states everything I signed up for and has what look like reference numbers in various places.

If your original contract doesn't state in the small print that Unlimited actually was 500Mb, you tell them that you have written and dated evidence of your original contract, and if they don't refund the charges and let you out early without penalty, you will take them to court.

The letter mentions nothing about 500MB, just "Unlimited", however for months my on screen allowance always said 1GB, which I have exceeded with no charges. This letter does seem like the contract, even though it is 2 pages, because it's the only documentation I received from them about my contract because I have paperless billing.

As for a new contract I can't really say, as I'm coming to the end of mine and will not be renewing.

Either way I'm definitely unwilling to go with Three again, even though I know most networks do things like this.

Thanks

Robbo · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:37

I suspect you had "unlimited" data but it had a FUP of 500MB. Most companies were doing this until recently when they had to change. It will likely be something related to that.

Three have some of the best data plans in the country, 1GB to All-you-can-eat (which is actually unlimited, having no limit at all), so if data is important you probably want to stay with them unless you want to go to Giffgaff.

Anyway, with regards to cancelling, your chances are extremely slim of being able to do this, the networks are usually covered extremely well in their T&C's.

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:39

Robbo said:
I suspect you had "unlimited" data but it had a FUP of 500MB. Most companies were doing this until recently when they had to change. It will likely be something related to that.

Three have some of the best data plans in the country, 1GB to All-you-can-eat (which is actually unlimited, having no limit at all), so if data is important you probably want to stay with them unless you want to go to Giffgaff.

Anyway, with regards to cancelling, your chances are extremely slim of being able to do this, the networks are usually covered extremely well in their T&C's.

Check my responses, it was never 500MB to begin with, it was always 1GB (viewed on my on-screen allowances through the My Three site, and I exceeded 1GB on more than one occasion with no charges for exceeding it). There was a distinct change from 1GB where I could exceed it with no charges, and this now 500MB where they charge 10p per every megabyte you exceed it.

platypus · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:42

kylew said:
Well it was all done over the phone so nothing was ever signed but the letter I have states everything I signed up for and has what look like reference numbers in various places.

How could you enter into a credit agreement without seeing and signing a contract? That isn't legal.

Haggisman · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:48

platypus said:
How could you enter into a credit agreement without seeing and signing a contract? That isn't legal.

I don't recall having to sign any of my renewals with O2, although they have always sent me a full contract.

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:50

^ Same as me, it was a contract upgrade, but the allowances weren't the same, however the contract previous to it also had unlimited data, I'd been using it for 2 years prior often exceeding 1GB with no issues. Basically it was a lower priced plan with less minutes and free 3-3 minutes as most people I know are on 3 as well. However, the data was "Unlimited" with a 1GB FUP on all of my contracts at the point of entering in to them.

ScoTTyBEEE · 27 Oct 2011 at 12:54

For £25 a month 3 do something stupid like 5000 minutes, texts and unlimited inet. Considering that's what you're paying why don't you try and get on that plan?

It's called 'The One Plan' IIRC

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 13:02

ScoTTyBEEE said:
For £25 a month 3 do something stupid like 5000 minutes, texts and unlimited inet. Considering that's what you're paying why don't you try and get on that plan?

It's called 'The One Plan' IIRC

I want to get off Three because I have the option of a largely discounted Vodaphone contract, but at the moment, my problem is that I've been paying for a contract that they've changed the allowances without notification from "Unlimited" to just 500MB and it's cost me money.

At the moment though, minutes and texts wise there's no issue there as I get 300 any network minutes, and 5000 3-3, and 5000 texts I barely dent either one.

Myshra · 27 Oct 2011 at 13:13

Right, all you have now is what you think you had (basically conjecture) , not actual proof so lets fix that.

1) By law all networks keep all the documentation for all contracts - lets start here. For example, Orange contracts have the name <Plan name><Date of first availability> so most recently Orange people on Panther are on Panther9-9-2011. You need the details of your contract, which you can request from their exec office or online if they are good about it.

2) This will include the starting agreement but does not include changes - this would have been sent to you (usually as an SMS going "we are changing your t&c's, goto this URL") Changes made to a contract that have an impact greater than 10% are about the only area you can argue. This means if changes to your deal result in you having to pay more than 10% extra per month you can basically escape else you have to suck it up. You can prove this with statements assuming you had proof your contract changed.

3) If you do go ahead with this, don't bother with CS - they likely will not be able to help. Write to the current CEO/exec office with your proof, first class registered and write a decent letter outlining the problem. Say you are willing to talk about this via phone (give you number/acc number) and you'll get somewhere.

kylew · 27 Oct 2011 at 13:30

Myshra said:
Right, all you have now is what you think you had (basically conjecture) , not actual proof so lets fix that.

It's not really what I think I had because when I ring Three up, they tell me my internet allowance isn't unlimited and it never was, that it was only 500MB from the start. The letter I have states unlimited, something they say I never had which means they are either lying about it, or they (3 as a company) have changed it "sneakily".

1) By law all networks keep all the documentation for all contracts - lets start here. For example, Orange contracts have the name <Plan name><Date of first availability> so most recently Orange people on Panther are on Panther9-9-2011. You need the details of your contract, which you can request from their exec office or online if they are good about it.

Thanks, I had a feeling they might have something like that, but don't talk about it unless you as the customer are aware of it.

2) This will include the starting agreement but does not include changes - this would have been sent to you (usually as an SMS going "we are changing your t&c's, goto this URL") Changes made to a contract that have an impact greater than 10% are about the only area you can argue. This means if changes to your deal result in you having to pay more than 10% extra per month you can basically escape else you have to suck it up. You can prove this with statements assuming you had proof your contract changed.

The problem I have here is that the information they give me about my contract contradicts what my letter says, like I say above they claim it was never unlimited, not 500MB with a FUP, just 500MB, so they say there have been no changes (this was prior to me digging the letter out).

3) If you do go ahead with this, don't bother with CS - they likely will not be able to help. Write to the current CEO/exec office with your proof, first class registered and write a decent letter outlining the problem. Say you are willing to talk about this via phone (give you number/acc number) and you'll get somewhere.

Would you see there being any harm in at least giving it a go? I've had some good results from customer services if I've nagged at them enough and insisted I be put through to a manager.

Myshra · 27 Oct 2011 at 13:54

kylew said:
It's not really what I think I had because when I ring Three up, they tell me my internet allowance isn't unlimited and it never was, that it was only 500MB from the start. The letter I have states unlimited, something they say I never had which means they are either lying about it, or they (3 as a company) have changed it "sneakily".

No, you have conjecture (you think it's true - it's not unproven you did start with this but as you have no contract currently it isn't proved either) - in the terms of the contract they could have said "unlimited = 500mb FUP" and then you're back to square one so lets keep to things we can prove. Anything less and you won't win and everyone likes winning because it means free stuff

kylew said:
Would you see there being any harm in at least giving it a go? I've had some good results from customer services if I've nagged at them enough and insisted I be put through to a manager.

Be my guest but due to the technicality of the problem (potential mis-sale, potentially on the wrong contract issue, query regarding a change of services) I'm suggesting a much easier path. Ideally you'd need a higher up billing expert to solve this and they don't sit on the front lines.

If there was one golden rule in trying to deal with contract matters it would be "the rep is lying to you unless they can prove it or they deliver on their words". Keep to stuff you can sort - ask for your contract, ask in there were any changes to the contract from start date until now, that sort of thing.

mattyprice4004 · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:32

You'll be able to cancel that, from experience. I used to work with a major provider.