30 days notice to cancel mobile contract but end date in 18 days...

[haggis1984]

Contract ends on the 18th september, just spoke to Vodafone customer services and was told that if I give notice to cancel today I'll have to pay until 2nd October. Can they make me do this even though the contract ends before that?

[IdaInFife]

Hi Haggis,

 

I have moved this to the telecoms forum.

 

I would have thought they would have left the service til the 02/10

 

Hi CAG members,

 

We thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves and to assure you all that our presence on CAG is with the very best of intentions.

Vodafone UK has recently introduced a dedicated Web Relations Team which is keen to seek out customers who’re having difficulties with their accounts and feel that they have no other place to turn to than CAG and other consumer forums and blogs.

Naturally, it’s not possible for us to help directly with account specific queries on CAG and as such we would encourage those members who feel we can help them to contact us privately and securely using the ‘Contact us’ form on the Vodafone website with your account details.

https://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/s...PARTITION_ID=1

 

When emailing us we would also ask that you either provide us with a link to your post or thread – if you’ve posted in another member’s thread please also provide your CAG username so that we can check what your query is – and state the code WRT135 within the body of your email to make sure it comes through to us.As soon as we’ve received your email we’ll endeavour to get back to you as quickly as possible.

 

Many thanks

 

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK.

CAG members contacting us, add the code WRT135 in the subject line in order ensure that email gets routed into our queue.

 

 

You mght want to contact Lee with the above details

[IdaInFife]

Hi Haggis,

 

I have moved this to the telecoms forum.

 

I would have thought they would have left the service til the 02/10

 

Hi CAG members,

 

We thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves and to assure you all that our presence on CAG is with the very best of intentions.

Vodafone UK has recently introduced a dedicated Web Relations Team which is keen to seek out customers who’re having difficulties with their accounts and feel that they have no other place to turn to than CAG and other consumer forums and blogs.

Naturally, it’s not possible for us to help directly with account specific queries on CAG and as such we would encourage those members who feel we can help them to contact us privately and securely using the ‘Contact us’ form on the Vodafone website with your account details.

https://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/s...PARTITION_ID=1

 

When emailing us we would also ask that you either provide us with a link to your post or thread – if you’ve posted in another member’s thread please also provide your CAG username so that we can check what your query is – and state the code WRT135 within the body of your email to make sure it comes through to us.As soon as we’ve received your email we’ll endeavour to get back to you as quickly as possible.

 

Many thanks

 

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK.

CAG members contacting us, add the code WRT135 in the subject line in order ensure that email gets routed into our queue.

 

 

You mght want to contact Lee with the above details

[Surfer01]

Normally with any telecoms provider you have to give 30 days notice so you may be stuck with them until 02/10/2010..

[IdaInFife]

Surfer, they are cutting the phone off on the 18th tho

[Surfer01]

Surfer, they are cutting the phone off on the 18th tho

The Op does not state that anywhere in their post. All they state is that the contract ends on the 18th but this does not mean it is cut off on that date. once the contract finishes, it normally goes onto a rolling 30 day contract.

[haggis1984]

I'm not sure when the cut off is, assumed it would be the when the contract ends. Doesn't seem fair that they can keep me tied into a contract after it's expired?

[IdaInFife]

The Op does not state that anywhere in their post. All they state is that the contract ends on the 18th but this does not mean it is cut off on that date. once the contract finishes, it normally goes onto a rolling 30 day contract.

 

It doesn't say they get cut off so why does Ida think that

 

Must need caffine

 

i'll go and sit on the naughty step!

[IdaInFife]

I'm not sure when the cut off is, assumed it would be the when the contract ends. Doesn't seem fair that they can keep me tied into a contract after it's expired?

 

 

Contracts do not expire. The roll on until a termination is actioned.

[Surfer01]

Apologies to haggis1984 for a quick hijack. Idainfife, if you start a 12 month contract in March 2010 at a fixed sum per month, can they increase it within the first 12 months, i.e. Sky? thanks.

[IdaInFife]

yes as long as the increase is not more than 10%

[Surfer01]

yes as long as the increase is not more than 10%

Thanks

[haggis1984]

Apologies to haggis1984 for a quick hijack.

I feel violated!

 

Guess I'm stuck paying up for 30 days then...thanks for advice guys, appreciated as always

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi haggis1984,

 

It's a shame to hear that you're looking to leave us - can I ask why?

 

If there's anything you'd like me to look into then you're welcome to get in touch with me via the steps in the pinned thread which Ida linked you to last week.

 

In regard to the cancellation aspect of your post I can confirm that although your minimum contractual commitment will be fulfilled on 18th September your agreement doesn't end unless you submit written notice to us.

 

However, you'll still be able to benefit from the service up to your cancellation should you decide to continue through this process.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Surfer01]

Isn't it strange that you can start and agree the whole contract verbally, but when it comes to cancellation suddenly it has to be in writing a different type of media to way the contract was originally agreed. I think that Trading Standards would take a dim view of this but if I am wrong I will happily apologise.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Surfer01,

 

I can understand your point of view here.

 

Whilst I'm not 100% certain what Trading Standards' view would be our cancellation policy is disclosed within the terms and conditions of our airtime agreements and we do also accept cancellation notices via email.

 

Hope this clears things up a little for you.

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[haggis1984]

Hey Lee, thanks for looking in.

 

It was all about cost. I got the same deal on T Mobile for £20 (£10 for the first 8 months) a month that I was told by Vodafone's retentions department would cost £30 a month. Annoyingly the day the T Mobile handset arrived a call from Vodafone offering me the same deal for £17.50 a month. If that had been offered originally I would have stayed.

 

I know one of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations refers to terms that benefit the company without any real benefit or actual detriment to the consumer. Requiring written notice to cancel a contract upon the end date would seem to fit the bill here, care to comment?

 

This term has obviously benefit Vodafone at my expense here. I have a 2 week overlap in between contracts, so Vodafone are going to receive line rental for a service that is not wanted and not required.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi haggis1984,

 

Thanks for coming back to me.

 

It's a shame to hear that we weren't able to offer you a suitable package sooner, are you still within your cooling off period at all?

 

In regard to our cancellation policy I think there may be a little confusion here. Whilst we've always required written notice to cancel it's important to bear in mind that we do accept notice to cancel upon commencement of the penultimate month of the customers minimum contractual commitment with us which would allow the cancellation date to be set as the date on which their minimum commitment was fulfilled on.

 

Your agreement wouldn't have automatically ended on 18th September had you not submitted your written notice to us and as we only received your notice this month the cancellation date would be set thirty days from the date we received it with you being able to make use of the service up to that date.

 

Should you not be able to cancel your package with T-Mobile and as such accept that last package we offered I'd be happy to take a closer look at your cancellation if you could email your details across to me.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[haggis1984]

Hi Lee,

 

We have definitely crossed wires here Lee, I'll try to clarify. Requiring 30 days written notice to cancel the contract is a contractual term. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/contents/made) legislate as to under what circumstances a term can be unfair, and is thus void. I'm suggesting that having to provide written notice of 30 days is unfair.

 

Schedule 2, section 1 (a):

 

automatically extending a contract of fixed duration where the consumer does not indicate otherwise, when the deadline fixed for the consumer to express his desire not to extend the contract is unreasonably early;

This is from a section providing example of unfair terms.

 

I have messaged you with my details.

[locutus]

The section you posted is refering to contracts of a fixed term. There is no fixed term for a mobile contract, there is a minimum term and after that is complete this, your contract becomes a 30 days rolling contract. You can provide written notice 30 days before the end of your minimum term and your contract will then expire as soon as your minimum term is up.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Lee,

 

We have definitely crossed wires here Lee, I'll try to clarify. Requiring 30 days written notice to cancel the contract is a contractual term. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 ( http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/contents/made) legislate as to under what circumstances a term can be unfair, and is thus void. I'm suggesting that having to provide written notice of 30 days is unfair.

 

This is from a section providing example of unfair terms.

 

I have messaged you with my details.

 

Hi haggis1984,

 

Thanks again for coming back to me and apologies for the misunderstanding.

 

locutus is correct when saying that our pay monthly agreements don't have fixed periods attached to them and once the minimum period has been fulfilled they would revert to a thirty days rolling agreement.

 

I have got your details so will pick this up again with you as soon as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[haggis1984]

Sorted

 

Just had a call from Lee. It turns out that if you port your number to a new provider before the minimum term ends this overrides the 30 day rolling contract so you are only charged for the minimum term.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi haggis1984,

 

Thanks for your time on the phone earlier and for updating the thread to confirm that your query has been resolved.

 

All the best and I hope you'll consider coming back to us at some point in the future.

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[Red313]

Please could you show me exactly where in my 2 year vodafone mobile contract it states that it will keep rolling on month by month until I give notice of termination.

I signed a two year contract for services provided by vodafone for two years, no longer. I entirely dispute that I am required to give exactly 30 days notice to vodafone to say that the two years I've signed up for is coming to an end and I no longer require their services. A contract is an agreement between two parties for a set length of time.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi haggis1984,

 

Thanks again for coming back to me and apologies for the misunderstanding.

 

locutus is correct when saying that our pay monthly agreements don't have fixed periods attached to them and once the minimum period has been fulfilled they would revert to a thirty days rolling agreement.

 

I have got your details so will pick this up again with you as soon as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[locutus]

10.1 Customer shall have the right to terminate this Agreement in whole or in part by giving Vodafone 1 month’s written notice of termination, subject to the payment of any early termination charges as set out in the Commercial Terms.

 

24 months is the "minimum term" is is not a 24 month contract. I believe you can send a letter on the 23rd month giving the 30 days notice to cancel the contract so that it ends on the 24th month.