nastyboi!

Was looking for a bit of advice and also a way to vent my rage at the appalling treatment this bunch of to$$ers have thrown in the direction of my dad.

First of all, last year he receives a phone call on his o2 supplied mobile from a company called communications direct. They manage to talk him into signing up to a package from 3 consisting of a motorola handset and tariff to the tune of £50 a month (he's been convinced they're calling from o2).

I'm not happy but a contract is a contract and he's signed up so let it run its course.
However, wind the clock on to february this year and the 6 month old handset packs up. It's sent off to 3 for repair who reply with some guff that the phone has been damaged by watre and therefore isn't covered by warranty. However, they'll happily supply a new one at cost. He gives up using his mobile (well, kinda has to) and resolves to pay the tariff til the 12 month initial contract expires in june.

June comes and he calls to cancel only to be told that it's really an 18 month contract he's got. On checking it appears he was never actually issued with a copy of said agreement (he's religious at keeping records) and decides that after paying £50 a month for something he's not getting he will cancel the d/d.

Now they've come on all heavy - they wrote demanding he pays up £150 or else. As a pensioner, he calls and states that he can't in one go and would be happy to pay in smaller bits. They will accept this but ONLY ON THE BASIS HE SIGNS TO ANOTHER 18 MONTH £50/MONTH DEAL. Am I the only one to think this is blackmail??? He's in his 70's, he has heart problems and these barstewards are taking the P!

I reckon I can go after them on a count of mis-selling on the part of the vendor and alos get 3 for material breach of contract due to their failure to provide the service. At the same time, threatening to report to the relevant regulator and BBC's watchdog.

Anyone got any thoughts on how i should play this?

vRSLen

Ask for a copy of the signed contract?

__________________
Current car: Black MKII Octavia vRS Combi
Previous: Black MKI Octavia vRS Combi
Black Fabia Elegance 100 BHP

steve0275

Have a read of this, maybe of some use.

Help Me! Unsolicited Calls Offering New Handsets!!!! [Archive] - 3G forum - your 3G community and resource

comunications direct website. .: Communications Direct :.


probly worth getting in touch with ofcom Home page | Ofcom

Basically communications direct are one of these companys that like to cold call giving the impression that they are calling from your phone company offering upgrades.

__________________
06 black magic furby vRS, slower than a mustang.

roblatus

Have you thought of getting in touch with OFF COM? My wife had trouble with a mobile phone provider and their cashbak scheme. It took her a few months but after getting advice and help from off com and trading standards the company crumbled and paid up.

__________________
1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

nastyboi!

Thanks for those replies, I'll look into them... I fancy having a word with ofcom

Moose

Communications Direct keep phoning me. They will not give up at all. They don't seem to accept that I really do not want another phone.

And yes, 3 are a bunch of idiots.

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

steve0275

probly worth you registering your phone with tps TPS Registration

__________________
06 black magic furby vRS, slower than a mustang.

Moose

The contract is getting cancelled in a few days time. But its sometimes fun to have a go at them, then when they call me again, put complaints against them for calling me names and cutting me off.

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

JPreston

Scumbags, contact Ofcom. It's not 3's fault but complain loudly and repeatedly to them and they will take care of Communications Direct and hopefully refund you themselves, argue that Comms Direct are their agents and you are not Comms Direct 's customer, you are 3's customer.

And, if it were me and my dad, I would call the local papers and consumer show on local BBC FM station to kick up more of a fuss, to kind of blackmail 3 into taking care of you directly.

piggeh

As above, and if you have to pay anything, then stand your ground and say you (well, your dad) can only make token payments due to your tight finances. Draw up an Income & Expenditure plan, and if necessary overstate your expenditure where it cant be disproven, to show you can only pay them £1/month

Quetz VRS

It is a legal requirement that he has a copy of the contract form, signed by himself, if he has not and they will not supply a copy, then there is no contract and you could then tell the to shuv it up there **** and depend compensation of monies lost to them and court fee's etc etc etc

Q

PS Get in contact with OFCOM, they helped me out when I have a fight with Carphone Warehouse

__________________
Insanity is not an illness.... it's a way of life !!

nottyash

I had my visa card number used to purchase minutes for some thieving gypo from 3.
It should not be allowed to take a card number without addresses etc.
They are putting prices up for all of us by allowing this payment.

They have not answered any of my complaints to them, as they are making a fortune from it. The sooner it stops, the better.

Do not give them the pleasure of your custom

blades

On a similar theme I once got 9 unsolicted texts for ring tones in one month. It cost an extra £13.50 on my months bill so when I phoned Orange they said I should have text stop. I was under the impression that If I replied I got charged so just kept deleting them. Orange told me that I had to chase the company who sent them me and gave me a number to try. After a few hours thinking about it I phoned Orange back and pointed out that my contract was with them they had billed me for these texts and therefore it was their responsibility to refund me. They said it wasn't and If I cancelled it would affect my credit rating (we were moving house so need a new mortgage so didn't want this). They are all a bunch of full weight t0ssers and come May I shall be cancelling my £200.00 a month business contract with them and going elsewhere. If anyone else is interested I'm starting my own mobile communication network it's called "Bean Can" to join you will need an old washed out bean can and a length of string - coverage should be about 10m depending on where your standing, line rental is cheap and you will get no unsolicted texts. The only downside is the cans have to be connected and I'm not sure what the feds would make of two cars going down the M1 with a piece of string between them and the drivers talking into two old bean cans

ap0gee

They went through a spate of calling me too. Their calls would always start "as you know, your contract's ending soon". Except it isn't, and as soon as I pointed this out, they'd hang up. Gits, wasting my time trying to sell me stuff I don't want...

__________________

steve0275

They would obvioulsy need to be handsfree bean cans so as not to upset the feds even more.

__________________
06 black magic furby vRS, slower than a mustang.

JPreston

What is actually happening here is:

1. Theiving gypo registers a premium rate phone line (he can even do this using his own legitimate details).
2. Theiving gypo acquires a PAYG SIM/SkypeOut account or similar using false details.
3. Theiving gypo buys lots of airtime using stolen card details and constantly calls his premium rate number, pocketing his share of the revenue. What's neat is that even if the premium rate number is in his real name, it cannot be proven that he is making the calls to it with the stolen airtime...

When you notify your credit card provider, you get a refund and your credit card provider charges 3, therefore 3 actually lose out here. And rather than being due to 3 lax policies, this will happen as long as credit card fraud exists because all it takes is 'Kazakhstan VoIP' or similar cowboy outfit to set up shop anywhere in the world. I.e, it's not 3's fault and 3 are the ones losing out.

blades

there we go - job done

Moose

What would the damage be if I cancelled a direct debit for a mobile phone contract before they want to end the contract?

My vodafone contract is due to end on the 14th of this month. I called last month to ask how to cancel it and which address to send that information to. I then sent my 30 days notice to them and included that it would end on the 14th as per the conversation. Now they are phoning me and telling me that it will actually end on the 28th as they work in months now and a contract cannot be ended mid month, no matter when the actual date of 12 months is up. If I cancelled the direct debit and called them on the 14th to tell them I've done it and just send a cheque for the amount I believe I owe, what is the likely outcome?

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

mluton

They will just invoice you for the amount.

__________________
Support Briskoda---------------------->
Red Skoda Octavia V//RS
Mods to date: Carbonio CAI Forge 007 DV Aero Wipers Briskoda Stickers KVW100 GB Wheel Inserts RS Tuning Remap Delocked Piper Cat Back Kenwood KDC-W6541U Fli Twin 12" Active Sub Parrot CK3100
------------------------------------------------

Moose

I mean if I refuse to pay? Not having any more mobile phone companies think they can screw me about. O2 still owe me money in a big way and won't let up and this treatment from Vodafone isn't on.

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

steve0275

Thanks blades. I'm liking the sound of this. One question i have is will i be able to make cross network calls to people on other networks such as soup tin?







i'll get me coat!

__________________
06 black magic furby vRS, slower than a mustang.

mluton

if you refuse to pay, they will do the usual breach of contract thing and unpaid bills thing and probably start proceedings to recover the money.

Can i ask why you wont pay, cause you only pay for what you use ?

__________________
Support Briskoda---------------------->
Red Skoda Octavia V//RS
Mods to date: Carbonio CAI Forge 007 DV Aero Wipers Briskoda Stickers KVW100 GB Wheel Inserts RS Tuning Remap Delocked Piper Cat Back Kenwood KDC-W6541U Fli Twin 12" Active Sub Parrot CK3100
------------------------------------------------

Moose

Would you pay for 14 days worth of mobile phone contract that you do not want and didn't sign up to? The customer service rep told me it would end on the 14th, which ties in with when I started the contract and now they have moved it to the 28th because they feel like changing the terms of the contract without notifying me.

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

mluton

if you started the copntract on the 14th then asked them to end the contract on the 14th 12 months down the line, giving them 1 months notice to them fair do's, but if you gave your notice less than 1 month before the 14th then you still have to pay for the month from notice.

Is it worth getting the bad mark on your credit for 14 days worth of unpaid bills if they take it any further.

__________________
Support Briskoda---------------------->
Red Skoda Octavia V//RS
Mods to date: Carbonio CAI Forge 007 DV Aero Wipers Briskoda Stickers KVW100 GB Wheel Inserts RS Tuning Remap Delocked Piper Cat Back Kenwood KDC-W6541U Fli Twin 12" Active Sub Parrot CK3100
------------------------------------------------

Moose

How can they take it any further though? 30 days notice was given and I did call to confirm the exact date of 12 months and put that in my letter as well. My credit rating is pretty much screwed up by family now anyway so thats no major problem, just had enough of mobile phone companies trying to take the mickey. I would gladly stand up in a civil court if needs be, hand over a copy of my bills which confirm when I called and the registered post receipt and a copy of the letter and smile. But would they really go that far?

__________________
Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport