carphone warehouse contract problems

[aloofy]

I was contacted by carphone warehouse back in NOv when my 18mth contract had come to an end. I was not ready at that time to upgrade my phone so the guy on the phone offered me a change in tariff - I made it very clear at the time that I did not want to sign up to anything. The guy offered to send me information in the post and I agreed for him to do this but again reiterated that I was not signing up to anything. I received no information but a couple of weeks ago I recieved a cheque for £50. After many attepmts to contact the carphone warehouse by phone. I went along to my local branch, who advised me that it was cashback in relation to a recent downgrade back in Nov. The sales assistant advised that I was now on 100mins and 400? texts and tied into this for 24months. I had no new phone with this and am now unable to upgrade for at least 2 years. the sales assitant gave me the name etc of the guy I had spoken to in NOv who had put this downgrade through without my consent.

 

I have written a letter to Carphone Warehouse detailing all of the above and I gave them 14 days to contact me. they did ring me and said they would get back to me within 5 days. That was almost 2 weeks ago and I have heard nothing.

 

Where do I go from here and what are my rights? the sales assistant in my local branch did advise me that all calls are recorded and so they should be able to hear me quite clearly stating that I was not agreeing to any down grade?

[Human Writes]

Make a SAR to CPW and ask for a recording of the call in question.

[buzby]

This will cost you £10. It is often cheaper simply to reject you agreed to anything, and provide a note of the date/time of the calls for THEM to check for themselves. You reject their reimposition of the minimum term which was exteneded without your agreement.

 

What happened to trhe cheque is important... if you banked it, you're stuffed.

[aloofy]

No we haven't banked the cheque and wrote a letter straight away but have not heard anything. Would like to know where we stand legally and what to do as a next step?

[buzby]

You should not have banked the cheque. By doing so you are confirming the arrangement - why would you take the money if you didn't know what it was for?

 

As for the next step - you could try sending CW a cheque for the same amount, and asking for the contract to be cancelled, but if they refuse to do so, you'll have to see out the contract as asserted by them

[MaxxPower]

You should not have banked the cheque. By doing so you are confirming the arrangement - why would you take the money if you didn't know what it was for?

 

As for the next step - you could try sending CW a cheque for the same amount, and asking for the contract to be cancelled, but if they refuse to do so, you'll have to see out the contract as asserted by them

 

But he said that he didn't bank the cheque and still hasn't

 

It looks like the best bet would be to ask Carphone Warehouse for recordings of the original call, and refuse that you entered into the contract.

[buzby]

Brain fade.

 

Excellent - send a copy of it to CPW without benefit of the inducement, they cannot enforce!

[aloofy]

So I just need to send them a copy of the cheque or the original cheque back?

 

What, if anything, do I need to say in the accompanying letter?

 

Is it worth ringing cancellation depertment to close my account?

[buzby]

A COPY (only). Tell them you will return the original cheque on receipt of their confirmation that they will cancel the erroneous contract renewal.

[aloofy]

received a text from cpw this morning they have cahnged my tariff again to a lower one!!!! rang them up and spoke to someone who has emailed some emma girl who has apparantly listened to the phone call from November to ask her to contact me.

 

I will be sending a subject access request in the meantime, can I cancel my direct debit ???

[buzby]

Might be worthwhile confirming you indend doing this, but they'll charge you more for non-DD. You'll still have to get them to accept your notice of termination (giving 30 days) and then any residual amount due before you go.

[alb10n]

It may be worth calling Carphone warehouse and asking to speak to their sales escalation team as it seems that is the department that is looking into the sales call. They should of by now have listened into the call and should be able to reverse the upgrade/downgrade for you. Are you on o2CPW? If so it shouldnt take too much for them to be able to reverse the upgrade.

 

Just thinking that it may be easier to call up first and try that route before sending off for a SAR and having to pay £10 and wait for their reply.

[aloofy]

We are awaiting a call back from the sales team member who has listened to the call but she has not got back to us. I think I will just call the cancellations dept and try cancelling the contract and go from there.

[buzby]

In addition to this, back up your cancellation in WRITING, stating the reason. As not to do so is leaving you open to the horrors of non-compliance.

[alb10n]

Just thinking, you said you recieved a text saying your contract had been lowered, are you on o2cpw?

 

Have you asked which tariff you are on at the moment? If so is it the same tariff you were on previously?

 

The only reason I ask is they may have listened into your call and reveresed the upgrade already. Just a random thought.

 

Speaking to the disconnection team probably wont lead to too much if your contract has a long time left on it (if the upgrade was done in november your probably looking at having around 19 months left) so they will ask you to pay for a cessation fee as they are literally there to process disconnections and try to "save" customers that are looking to leave.

 

The best bet is to call up and ask to speak to their fanatical support or the sales escalation (sales escaltion are a part of fanatical support) department in relation to an escalation. Dont settle for them arranging a call back again and the fanatical support department should be able to clear everything up for you.