Signed into a year contract without knowing

Pangea

Hi my sister has Three broadband, and she was enquiring about how low the limit was , so the man said if she paid x amount she would get 10gb more, however he failed to mention to her that she was signing a year contract.
She wants to cancel three now but they wont let her because she signed it and they said on the phone well we always mention to our customers if they are signing a contract.
Does she have foot to stand on?

Did she read the document she signs?

ForstalDave

Pangea wrote: »

Hi my sister has Three broadband, and she was enquiring about how low the limit was , so the man said if she paid x amount she would get 10gb more, however he failed to mention to her that she was signing a year contract.
She wants to cancel three now but they wont let her because she signed it and they said on the phone well we always mention to our customers if they are signing a contract.
Does she have foot to stand on?

Did she sign a paper contract or was this over the phone?

Pangea

ForstalDave wrote: »

Did she sign a paper contract or was this over the phone?

a paper contract. I will have to ask her was there much reading on the document.

Pangea

Pangea wrote: »

a paper contract. I will have to ask her was there much reading on the document.

I think she has no escape

jimmii

Pangea wrote: »

Hi my sister has Three broadband, and she was enquiring about how low the limit was , so the man said if she paid x amount she would get 10gb more, however he failed to mention to her that she was signing a year contract.
She wants to cancel three now but they wont let her because she signed it and they said on the phone well we always mention to our customers if they are signing a contract.
Does she have foot to stand on?

Guessing this was done in a shop right? Its a hard case to argue given that it involves signing a new agreement. First port of call would be a complaint to the store manager giving as much detail as possible. I used to work for 3 and complaints from that end instead of the customer service end can be dealt with a lot quicker as area managers (at least used to be) are authorised to do a lot more than people on the customer service side. Things have obviously changed a lot in the past year or so and I am sure the structure of things has changed so I would imagine its not as easy for area managers to do that sort of thing any more but its worth a try if you aren't getting any joy elsewhere.

ForstalDave

How long ago was this by the way the longer it is the harder the argument is likly to be

Pangea

jimmii wrote: »

Guessing this was done in a shop right? Its a hard case to argue given that it involves signing a new agreement. First port of call would be a complaint to the store manager giving as much detail as possible. I used to work for 3 and complaints from that end instead of the customer service end can be dealt with a lot quicker as area managers (at least used to be) are authorised to do a lot more than people on the customer service side. Things have obviously changed a lot in the past year or so and I am sure the structure of things has changed so I would imagine its not as easy for area managers to do that sort of thing any more but its worth a try if you aren't getting any joy elsewhere.

Thanks for the tip, well actually it was signed on the car bonnet in the car park of Aldi! My sister rang up the shop in question and seeing as the store is 45 minutes away and she wasnt able to make it, he met her half way as he had business in the area of some sort.

Pangea

ForstalDave wrote: »

How long ago was this by the way the longer it is the harder the argument is likly to be

October

jimmii

Pangea wrote: »

Thanks for the tip, well actually it was signed on the car bonnet in the car park of Aldi! My sister rang up the shop in question and seeing as the store is 45 minutes away and she wasnt able to make it, he met her half way as he had business in the area of some sort.

Lol never heard something like that before! Sounds like they must have been on their personal time rare for shop business to take someone so far from the shop! They probably thought they were doing her a favour as they wouldn't have earnt much from that at all shame its not turned out like that.

Pangea

Yeah I think they had a store nearby but since it closed they make some trips for customers, it looks like a classic case of always read the small print.

eeguy

Pangea wrote: »

October

She had a cooling off period for two weeks in which she could cancel penalty free.

No chance now though.

slimjimmc

Well then it's a off-premises contract and she as has same right to cancel as she would have if she bought by phone/online. However it likely she has agreed to the new service starting immediately and waiving her right to cancel. Most likely the seller is well covered.

The only hope I see (imo extremely unlikely considering she has some paperwork) would be if she wasn't provided with the necessary written information required by Part 3 of the regulations for off-premises/distance contracts.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2013/si/484/made/en/print

jimmii

Pangea wrote: »

Yeah I think they had a store nearby but since it closed they make some trips for customers, it looks like a classic case of always read the small print.

Thats very good of them in fairness just a shame they didn't make it clear what was being signed! Try the Manager and ask them to bump it up to their area manager as its only then that anything can really happen. Its still unlikely but it doesn't cost anything to try.

JimsAlterEgo

Did he say anything about a new contract or advise her to read the contract?
Did she ask anything regarding a new contract? Did she ask anything about why she had to sign something?
Did he purposely rush her?

These could go a long way to proving she was coerced into a new contract.

my3cents

What did she think she was signing? There is a load of paperwork (well information they want from you) even if you are buying a phone outright in most of the phone shops so it might be hard to know unless told what you were signing for. In a car park you might think you were singing for goods the same way you sign for stuff you accept from a courier. Being asked for bank details and providing them would have been a bit of a give away it was a contract though.

Pangea

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

Did he say anything about a new contract or advise her to read the contract?
Did she ask anything regarding a new contract? Did she ask anything about why she had to sign something?
Did he purposely rush her?

These could go a long way to proving she was coerced into a new contract.

1- No
2 She was going over her GB allowance and the man said if she signed and paid 50 Cent extra per week she would get 10gb more, however he failed to mention to her that she was signing a year contrac
3 I dont think so, although he was sitting in his van, and my sister bascially reached into sign the paper.

She just found out today out its a 18 MONTH CONTRACT
They sent her a copy of the form she signed so I am just going over it at the moment.

Pangea

my3cents wrote: »

What did she think she was signing? There is a load of paperwork (well information they want from you) even if you are buying a phone outright in most of the phone shops so it might be hard to know unless told what you were signing for. In a car park you might think you were singing for goods the same way you sign for stuff you accept from a courier. Being asked for bank details and providing them would have been a bit of a give away it was a contract though.

She was signing to extend her GB allowance from 10GB to 20GB, they have her on direct debit already so new bank details were not needed.

my3cents

Pangea wrote: »

She was signing to extend her GB allowance from 10GB to 20GB, they have her on direct debit already so new bank details were not needed.

Sorry it was not clear to me on first reading that your sister was already in contract or on a rolling contract. I say she has a case, just summarise the details and email them to consumerline@comreg.ie and ask them if they think three have behaved correctly in the matter. If they tell you to contact three then you know she is in with a chance.

Riamfada

When I worked in a phoneshop I couldnt keep track of the people who said that they were not told that they were signing a contract when in fact they were. This happens all the time. Im not saying your sister wasnt told but the "no one explained what I was signing to me" is a very common way people try and break a contract.