anyone had a similar experience?

sadista

Im sure this is an issue that has been posted here many times before but I havent got time to search for a similar thread so il just blurt it out now.

Lets go way back to the beginning....

2 years ago I signed on to a large mobile phone companys billpay.I wont say who but after my experience I have decided they are space cadets(thats a clue btw).It was the end of August 2006 and everything went grand for the 12 month minimum period and I got a free upgrade at the end of it and signed a new 12 month commitment to them.

So at the end of August this year I went down to my nearest carphone and was having a look at the new phones to see what I could get for my new upgrade and I had an employee there check if i was eligible.They told me at the moment I was not but to check back in a week or so because I had probably called them a few days too early.

So a week later I called up meteor to ask them about my upgrade and they tell me that due to new criteria they cannot upgrade me for another 4 months (something which as a bill pay customer I should have been notified of well in advance) But my contract stated that I would get an upgrade after 12 months which I had stuck to for another year, had never missed a bill etc.

I asked to speak to a supervisor to have her explain it properly and it seemed she was just talking ****e so I said 'Look the only reason I am staying on bill pay is because I wanted the upgrade at the end of the year, I barely use all my minutes a month and now you want me to wait another 4 months for a new phone. So what would happen if I were to go back to Prepay'?

Well she nearly had a heart attack it would seem, she started offering me more free minutes, free texts, anything to get me to stay but I was like no its not really worth it I would like to go back to prepay so could you advise me on how to go about doing it.She told me that they need a minimum of 30 days notice so I would have to wait another month for my final bill I said fine and she gave me the date when my phone would switch back to prepay. I asked is that all there is to it and she said yes.

So I got my final bill today and it says 309euro contract fee due. Im like WTF? I rang customer care to ask them and I said that I fulfilled my 12 month minimum period and had not entered into a new agreement so under their Ts&Cs I am not legally obliged to pay them anything so why were they charging me.I rang 3 times to see if i could get someone who knew something but no one would give me an answer an just kept rambling on about the credit control team who conveniently would not be in til monday morning. I checked my t&cs when I got home and it states that 30 days written notice must be given but when asking the supervisor for advice about this on the phone she never mentioned it.

I am so peed off about this for 3 reasons:
1: If there was a change in their contract regarding upgrade criteria they should have informed the customers.
2. If it was required that I give 30 days written notice why didnt she tell me on the phone when I clearly asked how to go about going back to prepay.
3. The standard of customer service as a whole is appalling. The first girl put me through to credit control and then cut me off. the second guy wouldnt give me any information at all and then told me the credit control team were away til monday morning and the third girl told me that there were no supervisors around and said she would get someone to call me tomorrow. Well see if that actually happens.

So what to do now?I have prepared an email for consumer affairs in case things get messy but surely they are in the wrong?Do I have a right to cancel my direct debit so that they cant withdraw my money?

I know people cant hand out legal info but if anyone has had a similar experience and could tell me how they went about sorting it and what the outcome was I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Sam Vimes

firstly, no you don't have a right to cancel the direct debit. While it's an annoying situation to be in they haven't broken the terms of the contract in not giving you an upgrade and the clause of 30 days notice is mentioned in your contract

but where did they get the figure of 309 euro to cancel the contract? You have to pay off whatever monthly commitments you currently owe plus your usage plus the extra monthly fee for 30 days notice. Does this not add up to 309 euro? If not, how do they break it down?

sadista

Sam Vimes wrote: »

firstly, no you don't have a right to cancel the direct debit. While it's an annoying situation to be in they haven't broken the terms of the contract in not giving you an upgrade and the clause of 30 days notice is mentioned in your contract

but where did they get the figure of 309 euro to cancel the contract? You have to pay off whatever monthly commitments you currently owe plus your usage plus the extra monthly fee for 30 days notice. Does this not add up to 309 euro? If not, how do they break it down?

I know that they didnt break the t&cs by not giving me an upgrade but if they were prolonging the upgrade by 4 extra months why werent customers informed? And if I decided to go back to prepay the t&cs clearly state that 12 months is the minimum period in which you are legally binded by contract which I fulfilled.
Surely they cant just assume I wanted another years contract and penalise me now because I rang up and asked them to go back to prepay a week after the contract was ended? And if the contract had been changed to 16 months minimum period why wasnt I told that on the phone when I was asking for advice on how to go about doing it? I clearly asked what do I need to do and was told I would need to wait 30 days to recieve my final bill not that I would need to confirm it in writing. She also never mentioned anything about a contract fee. If she had I would have just waited the four months and got my upgrade like any sensible person.

The way the contract fee works from the t&cs is that if you cut a contract short you are liable to pay the amount remaining over the term of the contract. This again doesnt make sense because I had not even paid my first bill so in effect they would have been charging me for 12 months which would amount to in or around 600 euro. So I dont know where that figure came from.

Im not sure if they just didnt know their own t&cs when I was asking them or if they are trying to make a quick buck through misinformation. Or it could have been a mistake made by credit control when it got passed to them but excuses aside they shouldnt be able to charge a ridiculous amount of money like that for me ending a service with them at the right time. Either way they got their 30 days notice and I fulfilled 24 continuous months with them so according to their t&cs I should be off the hook.

Sam Vimes

that's very confusing. Firstly, the minimum contract is 12 months but you have to give 30 days notice. If you want a contract of exactly 12 months you have to call them 30 days prior to the end of the contract and inform them that you want to cancel it

secondly, there is no such thing as a 16 month contract on meteor. Unless the figure can be explained by call charges, something has gone wrong with the billing and you should call them and tell them so

sadista

I just called them back for the 5th time since yesterday and it seems im finally getting somewhere. No one seemed to know what I was on about until I got this lovely chap on the phone who told me that the contract fee should not have been on my final bill unless I had gotten the upgrade and therefore signed a new agreement for 12 months which I didn't do. So he apologised and told me that unfortunately the credit control team will not be in until 8.30 monday morning and he advised me to call them as soon as they open to avoid the money being debited.
So il just have to see how it goes on monday. I hope they dont give me the runaround.