Mobile Phone Companies & Consumer Credit Act (CCA)

[buzby]

CAG members who are attempting to follow the same procedure to reclaim unfair charges levied on their accounts in a similar fashion to that used for calling their Bank to account, should note that the template letters available on this site should NOT be used.

There is a fundamental difference between enforcing your rights under the Consumer Credit Act, and doing the same with a mobile phone contract. A mobile phone contract does not provide credit, it is simply a service agreement, so a CCA claim to a network will be met with a reply stating that the arrangement is not regulated under the acts and they cannot assist you further. This is perfectly true, but it doesn't mean your complaint ends there. Under the Data Protection Act you are entitled to having all information held about you supplied under a Subject Access Request - a Subject Access Request. This requires the network to provide a copy of everything the network has on its files about you, from your dealings with customer services to copies of all the bills ever issued to you.

There can be a charge for this (the maximum fee is £10) but many networks have been known to waive the charge, or even charge less. Some may not even know what to do if you send them £10 and ask for a Subject Access Request, they often just credit the £10 to your account and ignore the Subject Access Request request. It is often easier to ask for the information, and advise IF there is a charge, you'll send the payment by return.

Once you have the Subject Access Request information (which can often run to hundreds of A4 sheets), containing a 'screen grab' of your account data taken from their computer files. You can use this to identify any anomalies in your account, or unfair charges. You can also refer to this data as the reason of your complaint and ask for the fees/costs to be refunded. If they do not, the Subject Access Request document then becomes irrefutable evidence in any court action (as it was provided by the defender). If the company charges you a fee for the Subject Access Request, add the cost of this to your claim also.

For a mobile claim, the lack of CCA regulation is no barrier in seeking satisfaction, but it can make you look silly trying to assert it was a credit agreement when it wasn't one!

Good luck!

Mods note;It is CAG's view that the 10.00 should always be sent as this is then seen as a legally enforcable request.In our opinion it can save time later and leaves little doubt as to the responsibilities of the DC.BTW....I have made Subject access requests to Orange O2 and Vodafone recently and ALL of them take the tenner....although Orange will waive it if it is only part disclosure (without call/sms lists)