I'm fairly certain that, because you bought it online, the law says you are able to return it within 14 days. As you say, this would include if you had turned it on as this is the only opportunity to test it as you would in store.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations

Your right to a refund

You should get a refund within 14 days of either the trader getting the goods back, or you providing evidence of having returned the goods (for example, a proof of postage receipt from the post office), whichever is the sooner.

A deduction can be made if the value of the goods has been reduced as a result of you handling the goods more than was necessary.

The extent to which a customer can handle the goods is the same as it would be if you were assessing them in a shop.

You can still do a chargeback even for £29.99

Thanks Maxx, that’s good info, in the iphone the battery is not accessible and vodafone want to charge me for replacing the whole handset - so despite the SOGA I should at least be able to get them to ONLY charge me for the battery replacement?

The best bet would be to take it to an Apple Store, or an authorised Apple repairer, if it is just the battery that needs replacing. They should be able to do it, and since it was done by Apple themselves (or someone authorised by Apple) there can be no claims that you've voided the warranty or invalidated any claims under the SOGA for other problems down the line.

If nothing else they can either confirm that it is just the battery, in which case it is a consumable item and so no claim could be made under the warranty/SOGA, or they can advise that the issue infact isn't the battery but something else, in which case you would have a claim under the SOGA against Vodafone to have it repaired/replaced for free.

How can he claim the cost of his Insurance Excess AND the cost of the repair? Surely he paid the Insurance Excess so that the Insurance company would pay the cost of the repair....?

You mentioned that you don't have the manual though. If the set is incomplete, then most likely they wont refund or swap it for something else since it isn't faulty.

There's no harm in trying of course.

The issue you might face is that the battery will possibly be classed as a consumable item which isn't covered under the SOGA.

Technically both. You can't downgrade your package during your minimum contract term. Once the minimum term is up however, you can downgrade the package with 31 days notice.

It's probably so they have your details which they can then sell on. Selling huge lists of names, addresses and phone numbers to cold callers is big business.

BT are saying they wouldn't use the same connections as other providers who use BT Lines? So....what are BT using then?

Well if you don't have an Umbrella company then I think you'll need your own limited company to handle things tax wise. The idea of an Umbrella company is they take a fee from your earnings and in exchange they do all the tax side of things and, essentially, pay you as PAYE.

The reason for this is because you wont actually be an employee, but a contractor.

One thing to keep in mind is that you'll likely have the same issue from any other provider as well since they'll all use the same line and all will have to call an Openreach engineer to attempt to fix the problem.

You should certainly call up and complain to see if you can maybe get some discount applied, or line rental/talk package costs waived until the issue is resolved, but getting the contract cancelled and switching to another provider likely wont achieve anything in the long run for getting the issue itself fixed.

So what is the issue you're having exactly?

It's pretty common that PAYG handsets are sold at a cheapish rate on the proviso that you also buy a Top Up. Top Up is described as non-refundable. This is pretty normal and sensible as CPW don't really have a way to check if the Top Up has been redeemed or not.

Thanks for your reply . I don't agree with littering but nor do I see it as such huge issue and the fine is excessive and just revenue raising . My question was about the age of the person and whether it was legal to fine someone under 18.

They are likely to have very little money Yes and I know they are buying cigarette !

Of course it's a huge issue. Not only is it litter but it's also a fire and health hazard. Just because a cigarette has been stubbed out doesn't mean it isn't still hot enough, or potentially have enough still hot embers, to set something on fire. The fine is most certainly not excessive. Maybe it is bringing in revenue, but that's revenue that goes towards the cost of cleaning up littering, which isn't cheap.

I'm not sure I see the problem. People throwing cigarette butts on the floor is a huge issue and should be fined heavily.

I'll keep in mind places like All Clear Travel. Think my mum might take a bit of offence if I try to organise it through Age UK...

After this experience though I can safely say we wont be bothering with the Post Office again. Just struck me as odd that a large comparison site seemed to be asking the exact same questions with the same wording. I guess they were using the same company as the Post Office.

Over the phone with Yorkshire Bank she had no problems getting cover sorted right away, so what you say about not going online for it does seem to ring true unfortunately. Just seems a bit prejudiced (to me anyway) against people who've been unfortunate enough to have cancer, but fortunate enough to make a complete recovery.

I was tempted to use 'discriminate against' in the thread title but thought that may have been a bit too strong.

Ok, so my mum is currently on a trip to Dubai with my dad (He's already over there for work) and so we went to take out a travel insurance policy. She's done this trip (alone and with me) several times in the past few years so we've got a good bit of experience with buying Travel Insurance online, usually from the Post Office, and just printing out documentation at home within minutes. All nice and simple.

So this year we sat down (She's not at all IT-savvy, so it's down to good old Son who works in IT to do something so 'complicated' for her ) and went to go through the process as usual, but this year there was something a bit different about the questions to answer/fill in, with more details on the medical side being requested. In the past there's never been any medical questions when buying travel insurance beyond the "pre-existing conditions wont be covered" type stuff. Now, unfortunately my mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer nearly 6 years ago. Fortunately it was caught very early and through a combination of minor radiotherapy and drug treatments, she made a complete recovery and was given her all clear last December. Previously this has never been applicable to the questions that we've been asked when buying Travel Insurance online, but the new questions, or at least the new wording of the questions, meant that it did seem to fall into the 'relevant' bracket now, so when the following question came up,

Within the last 2 years, you or anyone to be included on this policy;

has had any surgery, inpatient or outpatient treatment or any referrals or investigations of any sort. This includes being on any waiting list;

has taken any prescription medication, tablets or received any medical treatment;

received any medical advice or treatment for any respiratory condition relating to the lungs or breathing;

received any medical advice or treatment for any heart, stroke or diabetic condition;

suffered from anxiety, depression or any Psychological Condition;'

Along with.

Does this person have a medical condition or, have they ever had a medical condition?

We had to click Yes, wanting to give an honest declaration that she had been for treatment, but that she was now all clear and no longer undergoing any treatment.

On clicking Yes we were asked what the condition was, and Breast Cancer was an option. We were then given the following questions,

Has the disease ever spread beyond the breast?

Available answers were, "No", "Yes - spread to lymph nodes in armpit only" and "Yes - spread to other parts of the body". Fortunately, our answer was "No".

How long ago was the initial diagnosis of breast cancer made?

"Under 2 years"

"2-3 Years"

"3-5 years"

"5-8 years"

"8-10 years"

"More than 10 years"

Our answer was "5-8 years"

Was the breast cancer completely surgically removed after diagnosis?

"Yes"

"No"

"Still waiting for surgery to remove the cancer"

Now on this one, we selected "No", as there was never any surgery. However I'm assuming here that Chemotherapy and medication don't classify as 'surgery' as there wasn't what I could consider a surgical procedure involved.

How frequently are you seeing a hospital doctor about your cancer

For this one we selected the option of 1 to 2 visits in the last 12 months, the last one being her final check last year before getting her all clear.

Are you currently having any treatment or is any planned

Well, no she's not. Treatment is complete, but there was no option for that at all. There were only options for Chemotherapy, Surger, Radiotherapy, Tablet treatment, Other Treatment or No. So we had to pick no.

So as you can see, there were absolutely no options to say "I did have cancer, but it was treated completely successfully without the need for surgical removal". So we put in those details, and then got prompted that there were no policies available based on the information. Hm, odd.

So next we tried a comparison site, thinking that might be a bit better. We ended up on Moneysupermarket after prompting that there was a previous cancer case involved were directed to their "Pre-existing condition" quote site. Sounded good, something a bit more specialist. Went through that only to be prompted with word for word the same questions and answers. Obviously we put in the same information....and got the same results. No policies available.

In the end, she had to phone up her bank and managed to get a quote over the phone since she could actually explain the cancer was now gone and she'd received her all clear.

But why not have an option for people who have been successfully treated for Cancer? Why did we have to go through all that? Are insurance companies just of the opinion that once you've had cancer, you always have cancer?

Unfortunately batteries will generally be classed as a consumable. 5 years for a battery is a very good lifespan for it really, so I seriously doubt the SOGA would be of any use.

And whilst Apple say only they can replace it, you'll certainly be able to find third parties that are able to do so.

Then the assistant manager phoned the 'store manager' who was home(?)

Everyone needs a day off now and again.

Of course you don't have to go as far as 5GB. You've gone over your usage cap, so they charge you for an extra 5GB of usage cap. You get charged the second you go over the cap, not when you go more than 5GB over the cap.

Do you expect them to charge you per KB?

This is how all capped internet works. You pay a fee for up to a certain amount of over-usage. If you will keep going over that usage, they'll offer you a different package that has a higher cap. Of course that will cost more.

When they say "We'll charge you £5.60 for an extra 5GB" what that means is an extra 5GB of usage ontop of your cap.

Do they charge a fee on stolen property like this? I thought if you went for it more or less right away then it was just returned to you. Seems immoral at best to charge you a fee for returning stolen property when retrieving it is their job.

13 months might sound short, but it all depends as there are many ways to shorten the life of a laptop battery. If you leave the battery inserted, and leave the mains plugged in all the time, that can (sometimes significantly if your laptop produces a relatively decent amount of heat) shorten the lifespan of the battery for example. Also, the battery can only handle so many discharge/recharge cycles before it dies.

The best way to maximise the lifespan of your laptop battery is to not quite fully charge it (only take it to about 80% or so) and not allow it to charge further. Many manufacturers will include software that stops the battery charging at around the 80% (or let you set a custom level) mark. If you don't have this, remove the battery once it reaches about the 80% charge level and then run from the mains with the battery removed whenever possible.

The issue with that is that you could be anyone with a receipt you found on the street, or just got given by a friend. Just because you have that receipt there's no way to prove that you're the owner of that credit voucher, so they could end up invalidating it for the legitimate owner and then issuing someone else a voucher they're not entitled to.

I wouldn't describe a phone that bends from being in your pocket as having 'superior build quality'....

Looking at the cancellation section of their Terms and Conditions,

4. Right of cancelation

 

You have the right to cancel this Agreement within fourteen days without stating reasons.The cancelation notice period is fourteen days from the date the Agreement is signed.

In order to exercise your right of cancelation you must inform us

 

Aviteo Ltd., Kundensupport [Customer support]

Josephspitalstraße 15

D-80331 Munich

Fax: 089 - 20172018 (German landline costs)

 

by making a clear statement (e.g. by a mailed letter, fax or email) of your decision to cancel this Agreement. You may use the enclosed sample cancelation form to do so although it is not mandatory to use it. You can also complete and send the sample cancelation form or other clear statement electronically on our website https://www.usenext.com/support/contact-form/. If you use this option we will immediately send you (e.g. by email) confirmation of receipt of such a cancelation.

 

The cancelation notice period is deemed to be complied with if you dispatch the notice that you are exercising your right of cancelation prior to the expiry of the cancelation notice period.

 

Consequences of cancelation

 

If you cancel this Agreement we must repay to you all payments we have received from you including delivery costs (with the exception of the additional costs arising from the fact that you have chosen a different type of delivery from the cheapest standard delivery offered by us) immediately and within no later than fourteen days after the date on which we have received the notice that you are canceling this Agreement. For this repayment we shall use the same payment method you used for the original transaction unless a different method has expressly been agreed with you; under no circumstances will you be charged fees for this repayment.

 

If you have requested the services to begin during the cancelation notice period, you must pay us a reasonable amount corresponding to the proportion of services already provided up to the time at which you notify us of the exercise of the cancelation right relating to this Agreement compared with the total extent of the services provided for in the Agreement.

 

End of cancelation advice

It says you can cancel within 14 days. It doesn't exclude renewals from this anywhere that I can see. The renewal section of their Terms and Conditions,

4. a) On the date of the expiration of the term of the Agreement, the Agreement shall automatically renew for the term of the original selected product package (one, three, nine or twelve months) unless the Agreement is terminated in writing no later than one day prior to termination of the Agreement (either by fax or mail or using the online form at https://www.usenext.com/support/contact-form/) or using the appropriate link in the customer-only area of the Provider’s website.

 

b) Termination takes effect only upon timely receipt by the Provider of the customer’s decision to terminate the Agreement.

doesn't state that the cancellation period doesn't apply to renewals.

They've already acknowledged that you cancelled only 3 days after the renewal, so within the 14 day limit.

The sticking point may be the part "fourteen days from the date the Agreement is signed", which they might say means it only applies from when the contract initially began and that there is no cancellation period after a renewal. However I'd say that not allowing a cancellation right after renewal, and trying to charge for the whole year, is definitely an unfair contract term. At best, they would be entitled to 3 days worth of subscription costs in my opinion.