Carphone Warehouse / Vodafone - Legal advice need

[Hardrivejack]

Ok heres the situation, I’m currently with Carephone warehouse Vodafone and I upgraded my phone contract in May for a further 12 months. I was under the impression I wouldn’t be able to downgrade my tarrif for at least 6 months. Anyway I have had a shed load of problems with their callcentre for years now but because I rarely call them its not been a major issue.

I changed bank accounts recently and the dd didn’t go through and didn’t find out about for about 3 weeks so they put a restriction on my line. I called up and explained the situation but they wouldn’t lift the restriction. Anyway when I got piad I’d got 2 months bills to pay the one outstanding and the current months totalling £170.00 so I phoned to pay by debit card and told the chap I spoke to I could pay the full amount but it would make it easier for me if I paid the majority with the rest being added to my next month. Asked if this would be ok and checked they wouldn’t restrict my line again and he said yes wouldn’t be a problem and a restriction wouldn’t be placed. So I paid £130 with £40 being rolled over on to this month.

Thought everything was ok and then last week they put a restriction on my line again, I phoned and complained and was told I had been informed wrong and they would always place a restriction if any amount was outstanding for more than 30 days.

So being completely hacked off with them now I decided I would downgrade the tarrif as soon as possible and take out a new contract with someone else. I phoned up to find out when I could downgrade and was told it would be 6 months from when I upgraded (fair enough it was what I expected). Phoned back to find out the exact date and was then told it was 9 months. As of end of July CPW will no longer be billing me as it is being migrated to vodafone and all future dealings will be with voda direct. I have received information saying my terms will remain exactly the same, however I contacted Vodafone direct as I will be with them when I can downgrade and they confirmed it would be 9 months.

Anyway have looked through the CPW Voda terms on their website and states;

“4. Payment
h) You must not move to a tariff which offers a lower rate monthly subscription within 6 months of connecting to the network unless you pay us the difference between the monthly subscription on your original tariff and the lower tariff we agree that you may move to.”

My questions are;

1. When my contract is migrated to Vodafone directly and their terms are that I cannot downgrade for 9 months when my current terms are 6 months are they in breach of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 specifically Part 5 para (1) & (2) ?

2. If they are in breach am I within my rights to terminate the contract due to their breach of contract?

3. If you think I can terminate how should I go about it?

Thanks in advance.

[kippax]

Who made the decision to switch your contract from CPW to V/fone ?

[Hardrivejack]

Vodafone are taking all customers back in house and away from CPW. The terms mention both CPW and Vodafone. There are a couple of clauses in the terms such as;

"ii) In the event that we undergo re-organisation or are sold to a third party, in which case you agree that any personal information we hold about you may be transferred to that re-organised entity or third party for the purposes and subject to the terms of this agreement.
"Vodafone Group" means Vodafone Group Plc and any company or other entity in which Vodafone Group Plc owns (directly or indirectly) more than 15% of the issued share capital. "CPW Group" means The Carphone Warehouse Group Plc and any company or other entity in which CPW Group Plc owns (directly or indirectly) more than 15% of the issued share capital including, without limitation, its fixed line telephony and insurance companies."

And another

"a) We reserve the right to transfer this Agreement to any third party at any time. You may not transfer this Agreement to anyone else unless we have agreed in writing beforehand and we shall not unreasonably withhold such agreement."

So I don't think I can argue that point I think the only arguement I may be able to use is due to the length of time before I can downgrade my tarriff.

[kippax]

Thats fine .... but there is no way they are allowed to transfer an account and offer detremental or even different terms from the original contract which you signed.

If they fail to offer the same terms then I'm pretty sure that you would be entitled to cancel the arrangement.

[Hardrivejack]

Thanks for that

[Hardrivejack]

How does this sound,

Dear Mr Dunstone

I recently changed bank accounts and unfortunately the Direct Debit didn’t go through, however I was not informed of this for about 3 weeks so a restriction was placed on my line. I contacted your call centre and explained the situation but they refused to lift the restriction. When I received my monthly salary I’d 2 months bills to pay, the one outstanding and the current months totaling approximately £170.00 so I phoned to pay by debit card and told the person I spoke to I could pay the full amount but it would make it easier for me if I paid the majority with the rest being added to my bill the following month. I asked if this would be ok and checked my line wouldn’t be restricted again and was advised this wouldn’t be a problem and a restriction wouldn’t be placed. So I paid £130 with approximately £40 being rolled over on to this month.

Thought everything was ok and then last week a restriction was placed on my line again, I phoned and complained and was told I had been informed wrong and they would always place a restriction if any amount was outstanding for more than 30 days.

Due to my continued frustration when dealing with your callcentre I decided I would downgrade the tariff as soon as possible and take out a new contract with someone else. I phoned up to find out when I could downgrade and was told it would be 6 months from when I upgraded which was in May 2006 (fair enough it was what I expected). I phoned back to find out the exact date and was then told it was 9 months. At the end of July CPW will no longer be billing me as the service is being migrated to Vodafone and all future dealings will be with Vodafone direct. I have received information saying my terms will remain exactly the same, however I have contacted Vodafone direct as I will be with them when I will be able to downgrade and they confirmed it would be 9 months.

It has come to my attention that this is in contravention of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999specifically Part 5 para (1) which states;

“A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer”

At present under your terms which are displayed on your website I am entitled to downgrade my tariff after 6 months, however when the migration is complete Vodafone will only allow me to downgrade after 9 months.

Due to this breach I wish to terminate my contract and require a date when the disconnection will take place. I will pay for the line rental and any calls made up to and including 27th July 2006 which is the date I believe when the migration is scheduled to take place.

Should you fail to respond to my request I will contact and file a formal complaint with both Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading.

Yours sincerely

[Hardrivejack]

Anybody any thoughts on the above email before I send it?

Cheers

[daftpunk]

Just to make you aware, the "not allowed to downgrade" policy only applies to new contracts. If you Simply upgrade an existing contract you can change your price plan down to the minimum at any time you want. I'm not sure how carphone warehouse work, but i work in the high value department for Vodafone and as i state the condition only applies in the first 9 months of conection to the network. You can downgrade the very next day after upgrading if you want to.

[Hardrivejack]

Cheers for that daftpunk.

Here's an update of the situation so far.

On the day the email was going to be sent I received 3 telephone calls from carphone warehouse asking for payment. I refused and told them I would pay as soon as either Charles Dunstone or one of his tema called me back and I had the car ready to make payment as soon as they called. Requested they put me through but was told they couldn't but would get somebody to call me back (suprise, suprise nobody did). Anyway on the 3rd call the guy I was speaking to told me that as the amount wasn't in dispute he was going to disconnect my line unless I paid. Explained again I would pay as soon as CD called me but he wouldn't have any of it and just said if I didn't pay he would disconnect, I asked how they would be able to contact to discuss my complaint if the line was cut off and he said well they will have to right. Told him that as it was so near to the migration date if they had to write and then I had to respond the line would have migrated and they wouldn't be able to switch it off so he said the only thing to would be to pay the bill. Anyway the only solution I could see was to pay the bill. I then re-sent the email to CD with details about the calls I had revceived and quoting that this was harrassment and would report it if it continued, marked the email Urgent but have still not heard anything and so the migration has taken place and not quite sure where I stand now. I'm going to speak to Vodafone to see what their response is regarding downgrading the tarriff and will quote the breaches and will take it from there.