Where do i stand with cancelling a contract?

thelegendofyrag · 15-03-2010, 5:30 PM

My partner and i both purchased a Samsung Tocco Lite each from Dial a Phone on the Orange network around 6 months asgo.

At the time we did a signal check for our area and work areas which showed a strong signal.

Having previously been with o2 who had good signal wherever we went the Orange was not quite as good but was ok.

After a couple of months my Partners has become unusable especially at work (i try calling and it goes straight to voicemail) mine isnt so bad at work but like my partners is difficult to use at home.

I just called Orange who confirmed our home address has a poor signal strength but would have to take up getting out of the contract with Dial a Phone although we would more likely have to pay the rest of the contract.

Where do we stand in terms of paying the rest of the contract? Obviously this is not what i am willing to do so are there any other avenues i can go down?

As far as i am concerned they have been lucky to get 6 months out of us let alone the first 28 days (which was ok).

RobM · 15-03-2010, 5:47 PM

Sadly after this long, your chances are slim and rely on a goodwill gesture. But the chances of that are slim too.

It's worth a try and, if necessary, a fight. But ultimately I think you've two choices with Dial a Phone...

1) Drop to the lowest possible tariff and pay off the contract. The fee will be the monthly cost * months remaining.

Or,

2) Negotiate with DaP to pay less but give them your custom by moving to another network. This will still have a cost associated, but they may be willing to help you out a bit this way.

If both fail and you don't want to pay the contract out to cancel now, you could try dropping to the lowest tariff and then signing up for a SIM-Only deal elsewhere. These are generally cheaper so you might find the cost of this as well as the Orange contract (at the lowest possible rate) isn't much more than you pay now. You will lose your number though.

Unfortunately, too many people have tried every excuse imaginable to get out of their contracts that operators and resellers aren't that keen on helping.

thelegendofyrag · 16-03-2010, 11:52 AM

Thanks for your input Rob,

I did think about perhaps asking to switch to a different network but thought they wouldnt as it's them that is tied to the contract with Orange. Like you say though would still likely have a cost associated.

Good idea about dropping to a lower tariff but at £15 a month i think it is the lowest as we can redeem money back aswell which ends up at only costing £10 a month.

We only went back onto a contract so that we each got a new phone but has come back and buggered us!

RobM · 16-03-2010, 12:38 PM

The letter of the law says you've no hope of an early cancellation without paying up the contract. But I would definitely give them a call and explain your side and make it clear you're not just trying to get out of your contract, but you just want to switch to a service that works.

If all else fails, get your current handsets unlocked and switch to something like O2 Simplicity which starts at £10/month for 100 minutes and Unlimited texts. This would be a safe bet if you already know O2 works for you.

thelegendofyrag · 19-03-2010, 9:32 AM

Result!!

After an hour and a half on the phone on Wednesday going through signal tests and arguing my case I ended up being told I would be called back on Thursday as the cancellation department had gone home (how convenient).

So I waited 2 hours last night and no call as promised. I rang them again and asked to be called back by a team leader immediately. I was told I would in 5-10 minutes.

Again I did not get a call after 40 minutes so I called again, and finally got a team leader to call me back.

I spent 30 minutes on the phone to him explaining my situation again but to no avail. He told me I would have to pay the remainder of the contract to cancel so I asked to speak to his manager.

He told me they do not take these types of calls and would only say the same as him anyway.

So I told him that I would be taking the case to CISAS who deal with unresolved complaints for Orange. This still did not sway him so I ended the call stormed downstairs and started composing a formal complaint.

Within 10 minutes we received a call from an Orange Manager who asked what we wanted so told them we wanted the contracts cancelled. She obliged straight away and within 30 minutes our phones were dead . She had also that same evening been on the phone to another customer with the same problem and the same outcome.

It turns out whilst I was on the phone for an hour and a half on Wednesday this Manger was attempting to call us but could not get through. I found out the calls to them from a landline cost 35p per minute so my call cost a needless £31.50.

I will still write a formal complaint to them once we receive the letter promised by the manager. I will explain the waste of time and money I spent when a manager was just going to call me anyway and shall push to have this cost compensated!

I think a good thing to learn from this is DO NOT GIVE IN.

You will always get what you want if you push for it. Just shows how much *** a representative will give you to persuade you that they cannot give you anything when they in fact can!