Policy on cancelling phone contracts ?

[AldoKemp-1]

Hi guys, Just wondering if anyone knew the answer to this and any help would be appreciated.

I had an Iphone under contract which has 8 months left, I pay £12 insurance for cover and unfortunately I lost my phone. However I had a feeling it might be in my friends house so never phone up straight away to report it incase it was found and would save me the trouble of phoning up. Yesterday still no sign of the phone so I phone up to be told if I wanted my replacement OLD iphone I would have to pay £300. This isn't even an iphone 4 so obviously im not going to pay that kind of money. They say they cant replace it because I never claimed within 48 hours and even though I explained why I didn't still no use, I am recieving a simcard with my number minutes text and internet, But with the other phone I'll be using I can't go on internet so theres no use for that and theres also no use for me to pay £12 insurance if the company are a big pile of wank who constantly make mistakes and can't help you when you have a problem.

I was just wondering if I was to cancel the contract what would happen ? Does anyone know as I said it only has 8 months left and I'm not upgrading the phone because I'm not sticking with the company as they are useless wankers tbh.

Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, Didn't know where else to put it..

 

[Redders]

I'm guessing that you will have to pay up the remaineder of your contract.

HOWEVER.

If you phone the phone company, and let them know you are cancelling - they may well offer you incentives to stay (their job is to keep you as a customer after all). Money off, more minutes, more texts etc etc. It depends what company you are with I suppose.

Best thing to do: phone them.

Another thing you could try, is re-phoning the insurance company and tell them you lost your phone yesterday, rather than however long it was ago. However they may have recorded notes on your account about you phoning them previously and this could result in allegations of fraud


And last but not least;

It's all your own fault for getting an iPhone rather than a HTC.

 

[W4FC B3N]

Best thing to do: phone them.

Another thing you could try, is re-phoning the insurance company and tell them you lost your phone yesterday, rather than however long it was ago. However they may have recorded notes on your account about you phoning them previously and this could result in allegations of fraud

Haha! Just tell them that you totally forgot about it.

 

[Redders]

Alternatively, buy a semi decent phone on Ebay (with internet capabilities) which you can put your SIM into, and see out the remaining months on your contract.

 

[AldoKemp-1]

I'm thinking having to pay the remainder, Do you know what would happen if it just cancelled straight from the bank though ?

I'm with orange and I don't want to stay with them lol, I'll definately be cancelling the insurance as it's useless having it. And they will have notes and I aint taking no risk of being done with fraud I need disclosures for football so can't take that risk

And thirdly - Thanks for the reply anyway mate but I had my I phone a year and a half ago thats why I dont have a HTC as they weren't as popular. Next phone will be a blackberry though Im thinking.

 

[Jake]

1. £12 insurance is excessive, i pay £1.50 a month for my Blackberry insurance.

2. No doubt their policy clearly states the 48 hour thing. So you should have followed their advice and reported it within 48 hours, or lied about when you lost it when you did eventually ring them, ie when you rang them you should have said i lost it yesterday.

3. To cancel the contract you will have to pay the remaining 8 months. So lets say your contract is £25 pound a month, you will be required to pay 8 x £25 = £200. Most insurance policies are not contractual, so you are free to cancel that whenever you wish and will not be required to pay anything to do so.

Unfortunately this will probably be an expensive lesson for you, but in future you should, and hopefully will read the small print of every contract you sign.

Your choices are to stick it out with your poor phone with no internet access for 8 months, or take the hit of paying for the new i-phone or cancelling, whichever one is cheaper.

 

[Redders]

Ahh don't get a BB, get a HTC phone (on Android or Windows mobile) - they're the future. Plus I got my HTC 18 months ago and it poops on iPhone's (inc 4).

If you cancelled it straight from the bank, Orange will chase you/threaten you I imagine. There's an off chance you'd get away with it, but there is always teh possibility they will send the heavies round (although for a few hundred pound, I don't know if they will be that bothered).

However you will always remain a debtor with them.

 

[Jake]

If you cancel the direct debit, they will just continue to send you bills, as far as they are aware you are still a customer as you haven't told them you are cancelling. Receiving a bill usually means an extra charge for not paying by direct debit, and if you ignore the bill, the baliffs will soon be knocking at your door, and you end up paying more as they usually charge plenty of money in admin fees.

 

[AldoKemp-1]

Cheers for the replys guys. Not sure what to do think just wait out until december hopefully my mate finds the phone.

Jake I did say I lost it on friday because I knew they would complain about it, However they brought up the fact that phone had been used daily until last sunday and thats where I was screwed. i said I was away on a football trip thats why it hadn't been used but then he asked why it hadn't been used on the friday then so I was ******. It'll be a **** site more than £200 to pay off my phone and I aint paying £300 pound for an old version of the Iphone. Suppose I'll just need to wait it out cancel the insurance and then when they come to me asking about a new contract I can just give them a little abuse and tell them were to shove their contracts..

**** happens. Next time im out on the **** I'll leave my phone in the house I think..

Someones also gave me another idea of going into phones for you and getting a better deal and they will pay put the rest of my orange contract maybe will work. See what happens

And thanks for the replys appreciated

 

[Jake]

Jake I did say I lost it on friday because I knew they would complain about it, However they brought up the fact that phone had been used daily until last sunday and thats where I was screwed. i said I was away on a football trip thats why it hadn't been used but then he asked why it hadn't been used on the friday then so I was ******.

I'd push a lot harder with that one. It's up to a customer how and when they use their phone. It would be very difficult for them to prove that you lost it on a certain date based on their records of when and how often you use it. Read the insurance contract carefully, if your only obligation is simply to report it within 48 hours, and you phoned on the Sunday telling them you lost it on the Friday (even though you didn't) then i would go in for the kill. Ask to speak to supervisors and ask them to justify why your phone had to be in use for it to be deemed to be still in your possession, go down the line that some people keep phones switched off and only use them for emergencies etc.

As for another provider paying off your old contract to win your business. It did used to happen, it's how i got 70% of my cutomers when i did telesales in Australia, but in the UK and i guess worldwide, this policy has been abandoned for a while, especially since the recession. Barring very, very occasional special offers/promotions, I'll be surprised if you find a new network provider willing to pay off your current contract.

 

[AldoKemp-1]

It's the company Phones for you that do it. I don't know what they get out of it the must get commision or something but they buy out your phone I think i'll need to lower my tarriff or something though and then they pay out a minimum so I've been lead to believe anyway. I'll need to look into alot more things before i make any rash decisions.

 

[Jake]

Just looked at the Phones4U website, i assume you are referring to the cashback offers?

They look good in principle, but theres always a catch. All the deals offering a cashback incentive of anywhere between £100-£300 seem to have at least one of these traits:

1. Monthly fee is higher than equivalent deals i can find elsewhere, therefore they make the cashback money given to you back over the course of the contract, and it wouldn't surprise me if they make a profit from this method.

2. Contract offers a competitive looking monthly fee, but offers less minutes/texts/data.

3. Contract offers a vastly inferior handset.

So the £200 or so cashback they offer may look like a nice incentive and will certainly help to pay off your current contract, but in the long run you will probably lose out, at best from being stuck with an average handset, and at worst you may actually lose money. Phones4u are middle men, it's rarely cheaper to go via a middle man, especially in the communications and media sector.

 

[Aneil14life]

Iphone insurance is £12 tho because they are so hard to repair. Blackberry's brake oftan and therefore easy to repair, eg why insurance is cheap.

Best thing to do it pay off the remainder of the contract, see what they offer u because they dont want you to cancel, but u said you dont like the network so leave them, or get a half decent phone as its only for a while and wait for your upgrade but even if u do this optin ring up and still say ur going to leave and make them give you extra things, N reeders is right, SHOULD OF GOT A HTC. . HTC LEGEND

Not gunna lie tho, Iphone is the best phone tho, HTC's aint that good. :L

 

[Redders]

Just looked at the Phones4U website, i assume you are referring to the cashback offers?

They look good in principle, but theres always a catch. All the deals offering a cashback incentive of anywhere between £100-£300 seem to have at least one of these traits:

1. Monthly fee is higher than equivalent deals i can find elsewhere, therefore they make the cashback money given to you back over the course of the contract, and it wouldn't surprise me if they make a proft from this method.

2. Contract offers a competitive looking monthly fee, but offers less minutes/texts/data.

3. Contract offers a vastly inferior handset.

So the £200 or so cashback they offer may look like a nice incentive and will certainly help to pay off your current contract, but in the long run you will probably lose out, at best from being stuck with an average handset, and at worst you may actually lose money. Phones4u are middle men, it's rarely cheaper to go via a middle man, especially in the communications and media sector.

I think companies such as Phones4U and Carphone warehouse often actually pay the remainder of your contract (if you are due an upgrade, so say 3 months worth) to get your business...it's nothing to do with the cashback I don't think (someone feel free to correct me).

Sometimes teh cashback can be good. My friend pays around £20 a month but because of his cashback it comes down to 10 and he gets a decent wedge of txts, calls and internet for that. Though your third point is valid: think he has a Samsung Jet :|

 

[Jake]

My blackberry has never broken per se, had to replace a trackball, but did that myself.

My insurance policy will remain at £1.50 even if i change to a different handset, doesnt matter if it is blackberry, andriod, iphone etc.

[COLOR=#00e0]---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:23 PM ----------[/COLOR]

Yeah i can understand paying off the last 2-3 months of a contract to win your business for the next 18-24 months, but i dont think AldoKemp is going to find anyone willing to pay out his remaining 8 months.

 

[Kris]

DO NOT just cancel the direct debit. These things come back and mess up your credit rating. Which of course you will need if you wish to buy a home or buy anything on finance.

 

[Anthony]

I can just give them a little abuse and tell them were to shove their contracts..

Why would you give them abuse? They didn't do anything wrong in this situation. You are the one who neglected to read the terms of the insurance cover and failed to report it on time.