MOBILE PHONE CONTRACT vs CONTRACT FOR THE OFFER ... heeeeeeelp!!!!!!!?

Question

Hello

thank you for entering in my post

I need to send a letter of complain against a Carphone Warehouse where I bought a new phone
I asked a help to the Citizen Advice Bureau and they gave me a document concerning What the law says about mobile phones
Reading this document I realised that the selles staff made a lot mistakes, they didn't follow at all what the law says about mobile phones, in fact this young sales staff didn't know anything about tariff and plans, that is the subject of my matter.
I'd like to know please if I can add also this other part of this document, written below, which i didn't understand very well, I mean, I need to know if I can complain also this other matter:

“Before entering into the contract you must be given this information, verbally or in writing:
the terms and conditions of the offer. You must be told that the CONTRACT FOR THE OFFER is separate to the MOBILE PHONE CONTRACT”.

The day of the purchasing the sales staff gave me the contract concerning my plan, that is Vodafone, which i signed it off, which according to what written above it should be the CONTRACT FOR THE OFFER,
Is that right?

The same day they gave me also an other paper which looks like a throwaway brochure, it doesn't look a contract at all, and nobody told me about it, both the day of the purchasing and when I went back 13 days after the purchasing.

Only when I went back 16 days after the purchasing they showed me that on this brochure was written my right to cancell the contract, and they told me that i had 14 days to cancel the contract, so when i went back 16 days after was too late, BUT I DIDN'T SIGN THIS OTHER PAPER/BROCHURE!

So according to what the law says about mobile phone, this brochure should be the MOBILE PHONE CONTRACT, and in addition I had to be told that these two contracts were saparate,
Is it right?

Can I complain that during the purchasing the sales staff didn't tell me anyting about the MOBILE PHONE CONTRACT?

Any suggestion according this matter will be very appreciated

thank you so much in advance for your help

Answer 1

I think I understand your situation now and of course you're right to be upset and file a complaint. After doing some quick research and reading about Carphone Warehouse, they seem to be angering a lot of people by pushing and even outright sneaking service contracts into every hardware sale of a mobile phone. Again, I plead absolute ignorance of British law in this matter but from what I do understand, they've apparently deceived you about what you were signing. If only ONE agreement was signed and you bought a phone, then it could only have been the contract for the offer.



If I were you, I would make a written complaint to their corporate office: The Carphone Warehouse, PO BOX 375, Southampton, SO30 2PU. You can use their online form as well: https://selfhelp.carphonewarehouse.com/SelfHelp/request.do?forward=contactus&cpw_contactus=complaint or call them at 0845 655 7900. This could be a case of the local dealer violating company policy in an attempt to boost their sale numbers - I'm sure they're under pressure to push those contracts and probably get bonuses for making their "goals." Greed (or fear of getting sacked) can make some people overlook the rules of t he game.



If you wish to get their attention, I'll be glad to send their HQ a quick word of friendly advice that helping you would be in their best interest as you might very well inform the entire internet that they're not doing good business. The local office might not care about your problems - to them, it's just more work that will certainly end in the loss of an "upgraded" sale, but the people who run that company would actually consider you worthy of their respect because Yahoo Answers is not a small community and it could potentially cost them thousands (maybe even millions) in potential income every someone from this site goes phone shopping, connects the name Carphone Warehouse in their memory to the obvious hassle and frustration you're going through and decides to go somewhere else.



I hope I understand the problem now, but let me sum it up to be sure. You went to this store to buy a mobile phone for which you would seek/provide your own wireless coverage plan. Perhaps you're making payments on the device, which of course would involve a contract to ensure you won't run away giggling "suckers" with an expensive new toy. I'm likewise assuming that the "offer" you speak of refers to a very good price for said phone. The thing is, they use those phones more or less as bait to snag people into the service contracts, where the real money is made. Even though there are laws giving you the freedom to buy a phone without being bullied into a plan, they really don't like it when people snag the bait off their hook and get away. Even so, that's no excuse for them to lie to you and that's probably what they're doing. They either lied and got you to sign the mobile contract thinking it was the offer agreement or they're saying you signed something you didn't just to get the payments rolling in.



For the record, I admire your tenacity about this and am REALLY rooting for you to stick this back at them where it will hurt. I would have personally just laughed at them and showed off my cutest finger, but you're right to stand up them and make them straighten it out even if it WON'T cost you money or hurt your credit. You give 'em hell until they do the right thing and if you need any more of my help or intervention, you can email me at [e-mail]. I'm not afraid to write their office and let them know that you've convinced at least one very intelligent stranger that they're running a shady operation and you don't appear ready to shut up about it until somebody has made sense of this mess.Best of luck to you and I hope with all my heart that you get to enjoy the deal you were offered without having the greedy contract scheme muck it up. If karma is kind, they'll even lose money on you because they'll often sell those phones below cost to get people in a position to be devastated when the bill comes in for all that streaming data technology that's often far too much fun to keep track of time with. It's a crappy business model and I'm glad you're not skulking away feeling guilty and ashamed about being fast-talked out of your money.



Don't count on much help from a certain type of people who will knock over their coffee (or tea, if they're locals) in the rush to grab their keyboard and inform you that you're boned, screwed, hosed, and above all it's YOUR OWN FAULT because you weren't listening and reading. I swear, humanity would be somewhat harder to oppress and ttyrannize if there weren't a different and more subtle kind of evil sitting back and feeding on the misery of others. Anyway, let's not make this any more of a rant than it's already been. Cheers and fortitude, noble shopper! You will conquer this or it will kill you, either way it can't bother you forever...

Answer 2

There are a number of issues here,



1) Did they draw to your attention - the 14 day cooling off period?



2) Does this 'Brochure' have clearly written - 'Terms and Conditions' or a clearly indication of 'Contract'?



3) The Staff member of the Car-phone Warehouse is in effect, an agent of the company, if they present a product / service - which you accept - their offer is now legally binding and the only way out for them is for them to buy their way out of it.



4) If you feel disadvantaged then you should make a complaint to Car-phone Warehouse as well as the mobile service provider.



5) If they above are not interested, then make complaints to 'Trading Standards' the 'Office of Fair trading' as well as 'Off-Com' -



6) The one thing that you will need to be aware of is they (the mobile phone company) have a nasty habit of - is to record it as a debt and then sell the debt on - then the debt collectors turn up. *Don't worry all you have to say is 'there is a dispute' - the debt collectors can not get involved in the dispute they may want to know details but it will be between you and the original service provider - not them*

Answer 3

Try to use Simple Mobile.

They are very very affordable and easy to use.

No contract required.