O/T - cancelling a mobile phone contract early

[spongy]

I need a bit of advice please gents.....

I'm moving house in 2 weeks and my phone network "3" doesn't work where I'm moving to, nothing, it's completely dead, even to within a 50ft radius of the new flat.

Even where we currently live in woodingdean the signal has dropped lately and has become bad, mostly non existent at home unless it's on a window sill and loses it as soon as you move the phone.

It's never worked well at work either in the workshop, only basic network at best and never had a whiff of any 3G coverage, so basically I want out of it so I can move to another provider that works.

I've just a row with 3 a minute ago and I'm really pissed off with them.

Not only are they all Indian call centre based, they have also basically just told me to pay £195 to buy out or tough luck.

Is this right? Is this fair?

I can understand that I signed a contract of which 5 months still remain, but I'll be buggered if I'm going to continue to pay £45 a month (inc vat and all other extras) for a service that is going to be completely useless to me..

Can I break the contract? my missus is in exactly the same position as me as we got new phones together on same network to save a bit of money, she's had enough now and had the same argument as I had earlier in the day, she has decided to just buy a new phone on contract and swallow the 3 contract til the term ends.

She spoke to carphonewarehouse today and she told to complain to Ofcom, as apparently mobile providers have to, by law, cancel the contract or at minimum drop it to minimum price until it expires if the service isn't up to scratch.

Can anyone confirm or deny this? I couldn't find anything on the Ofcom website about it...........

Sorry about the essay but I need to sort this out, I have a giffgaff sim coming and would like to keep my number and unlock this handset which is another story completely! And probably just as difficult to sort out with these bastards.

 

[Jack Daniels]

It's a tough one chief. I am in a similar position. Being only 4 months into a 24 month contract I want out of. Mainly cos my contract gets me broadband, but i have just moved and the line here is toilet. I would rather get another deal and get fibre optics broadband. But I figures they give me £500 iPhone they is not letting me go anywhere.

If the buy out is less than the contract cost. It might be worth just taking on the chin. I think these contracts are reasonably watertight these days. It's a toss up as to whether its worth the many hours hassle to save a few quid.

Downgrading is another possibility. If you can convince the company to just take the contract down to a barebones cost. This could be worth taking if offered.

Don't see you getting away from this without incurring some cost. The company will make it as difficult as possible to stop the floodgates of similar cases opening.

If you can get them down to something you can stomach. Pay up and move on. It sucks, but your probably just going just give your self hours of grief and not get very far otherwise IMO.

Good luck.

 

[rool]

This might be a stupid idea but I'll say it anyway.

I assume you are on a contract for so many minutes a month?

Get a free or cheap sim card for a service that works in your area. Get your phone unlocked (if you can) and forward all calls on your current sim to the number on the temporary sim. Then put the temp sim in your phone until contract expires.

 

[Rowdey]

This might be a stupid idea but I'll say it anyway.

I assume you are on a contract for so many minutes a month?

Get a free or cheap sim card for a service that works in your area. Get your phone unlocked (if you can) and forward all calls on your current sim to the number on the temporary sim. Then put the temp sim in your phone until contract expires.

I think that not only would you still be paying the existing monthly bill, but call forwarding/diverting is not included in the contract and will be astronomical..

Otherwise, good idea.

 

[rool]

ha ha possibly lol, I didn't know if forwarding was included in contracted minutes.

*stands in corner*

 

[Cian]

If you've taken a large handset subsidy (e.g. a smartphone of any kind, particularly an iPhone) a network will effectively never let you out of the contract.

If you didn't take a large subsidy or none at all, a properly worded letter - although I think it has to be properly targetted phone call for 3 - will usually see a release if you've moved somewhere with no coverage.

 

[Rowdey]

ha ha possibly lol, I didn't know if forwarding was included in contracted minutes.

*stands in corner*

Well it could be with '3', but i'm basing this on my own experience with T-Mobile -> Orange doing pretty much exactly the same thing #oldfashionedcashregister

 

[StonehamPark]

Very simple (yet undesirable) answer for this one. Either keep paying until the contract is up or thank your lucky stars if you can 'settle' the account now and get away with paying the remainder of the contract at a slightly lower price.
You could also try and twist their arm and ask for a payment/contract 'holiday' where you can get 6 months break in your contract where your service will be temporarily suspended and you'll either pay a low monthly fee or if your lucky get 6 months break without paying anything.

 

[dibbydoo]

Phones 4u used to buy you out of your contract as long as they could set you up with a new one, they bought my last contract out with 8 months to go.
However i know they are a bit tighter now, but if they knew they were getting your business at the end of it they might offer to pay half?
or if both you and your partner are looking to change phones and they can set you up with 2 new contracts they might just pay them both off, they get massive commission for new deals!

Here you go a little more info on the buy out deal
Re: Contract Buyout | General Discussion Forum | Phones4U

 

[spongy]

Cheers for the replies, I think I'm basically screwed after finding this......

Your mobile phone rights - Mobile phone problems - Phones - Which? Technology

3 want £195 to buy out and will charge £25 to unlock the phone,

To get through to them you have to negotiate the minefield that is the phone system, it asks me for a PIN to talk to someone, I set it up ages ago and can't remember it, I can't get past this bit of the system, I've been on the website to get it reset and it directs me to a phone number that asks me to enter the PIN.

They know how to make things difficult.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Difficult. If it was a fixed service of some sort rather than a movable one, then you could claim that they are not fullfilling their part of the contract by not supllying their service, but obviously mobile is a bit different. The root of the problem I would imagine, is that they get their money back for the handset but you seeing out your contract, so if they let you out early, the lose out. I suspect you're on dodgy ground legally speaking, you signed the contract.

It doesn't help one bit, but I thought '3' were one of the worst suppliers by reputation, and £45 pcm sounds a lot anyway. A better supplier MIGHT possibly be inclinded to be flexible to keep your future custom.

 

[Springal]

Maybe go into phones4u or similar, sometimes if you take a contract with them, they will pay off an existing contract.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

I had this with Vodaphone six years ago when we left the UK. My wife had just started a contract and hadnt even used her new phone yet when we found out we needed to relocate. Phoned them up, told them the situation and told them they could have the phone book and their response was.... COMPUTER SAYS NO... the contract was on the computer and therefore I had to pay the required sum. So I told them that if I just continued with my move, taking the phone with me what could they do about it... wouldnt it be better if they got the phone back at least. The girl on the line pretty much said they could do nothing so my wife went to Turkey with a brand new phone.

The c onclusion - yes they do this allt he time and unelss you are relocating abroad thers pretty much nothing you can do.

 

[spongy]

I've been banging my head against a wall for last hour on the phone to them.

They won't let me out early unless I pay an early termination fee of £195.

I have to pay £15 to get the phone unlocked, annoying but something I have to do and was prepared for this anyway.

The bloke on the phone wouldn't budge even when I argued that they are breaching their contract to me by not supplying the network for which I am paying, fobbed me off with excuses that they are doing maintenance on the tower in Burgess Hill and it will get better on 23rd June. I think it's bullshit personally,

I said if I can't break the contract then fair enough but at least drop the contract for the remainder of the term, they said they'd let me off £3 a month for 5 months, but will charge a £10 downgrade fee

I've even said I'll pay out the remainder of the contract but please give me a PAC code so I can bring my number over to giffgaff, they said it shouldn't be a problem, put me through to customer services which is where I got cut off

Another call, another explanation of the situation, this time more forceful, and they said to get a PAC code I need to settle in full.......

So I'm stuck in a useless contract for 5 months.

f***ing hate 3 now. Been with them 10 years without a problem, now I'd like to go over to India or wherever their call centre is and do some phone insertion to those muppets.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I've been banging my head against a wall for last hour on the phone to them.

They won't let me out early unless I pay an early termination fee of £195.

I have to pay £15 to get the phone unlocked, annoying but something I have to do and was prepared for this anyway.

The bloke on the phone wouldn't budge even when I argued that they are breaching their contract to me by not supplying the network for which I am paying, fobbed me off with excuses that they are doing maintenance on the tower in Burgess Hill and it will get better on 23rd June. I think it's bullshit personally,

I said if I can't break the contract then fair enough but at least drop the contract for the remainder of the term, they said they'd let me off £3 a month for 5 months, but will charge a £10 downgrade fee

I've even said I'll pay out the remainder of the contract but please give me a PAC code so I can bring my number over to giffgaff, they said it shouldn't be a problem, put me through to customer services which is where I got cut off

Another call, another explanation of the situation, this time more forceful, and they said to get a PAC code I need to settle in full.......

So I'm stuck in a useless contract for 5 months.

f***ing hate 3 now. Been with them 10 years without a problem, now I'd like to go over to India or wherever their call centre is and do some phone insertion to those muppets.

What phone did you get from the contract? 18 x £45 per month = £810.

If you've got 5 months left and its a £195 get out, that works out at £39 per month, which would save you £30 instead of keeping on paying the £45 monthly contract. That means you'd only be £20 down on your GiffGaff if you had the £10 goody bag per month for those 5 months.

So assuming you'd have to unlock anyway so that cost is kept whatever, paying the £195 now, using the £10 per month GiffGaff sim will only cost you £20 more than if you stayed in the contract for the remaining 5 months.

 

[Springal]

Have you used their coverage checker? What are the results for new post code ?

 

[Aadam]

Another call, another explanation of the situation, this time more forceful, and they said to get a PAC code I need to settle in full.......

That's bollocks. They cannot refuse you a PAC. Call them again and demand it within two hours or you are reporting them to OfCom

The process is simple. To port your number, you ask your current mobile provider for a PAC (Porting Authorisation Code) before your service is terminated.
PACs have to be issued immediately over the phone or within a maximum of two hours by text message.
Once you have your PAC, it’s valid for 30 days and you must give it to your new mobile provider within this time.
If it runs out, you will need to request a new PAC from your existing mobile provider.
Once your new provider has your PAC and notifies your existing provider of the port request, your number will normally be transferred the next working day.
Some mobile phone providers may charge you a fee to move your number. You must also remember that, if you are still under contract to your old company, you may still be liable for charges under that contract

Reduce your contract down to the absolute minimum, and then buy it out next month, or better yet, see if carphonewarehouse or the like will buy you out of your contract to tempt you into a new one. Unfortunately most mobile phone providers are wankers. I quite like o2 for the perks you get at the o2 arena, but I'm sure if I wanted to leave it would be just as difficult.

Good luck fella.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

I've been banging my head against a wall for last hour on the phone to them.

They won't let me out early unless I pay an early termination fee of £195.

I have to pay £15 to get the phone unlocked, annoying but something I have to do and was prepared for this anyway.

The bloke on the phone wouldn't budge even when I argued that they are breaching their contract to me by not supplying the network for which I am paying, fobbed me off with excuses that they are doing maintenance on the tower in Burgess Hill and it will get better on 23rd June. I think it's bullshit personally,

I said if I can't break the contract then fair enough but at least drop the contract for the remainder of the term, they said they'd let me off £3 a month for 5 months, but will charge a £10 downgrade fee

I've even said I'll pay out the remainder of the contract but please give me a PAC code so I can bring my number over to giffgaff, they said it shouldn't be a problem, put me through to customer services which is where I got cut off

Another call, another explanation of the situation, this time more forceful, and they said to get a PAC code I need to settle in full.......

So I'm stuck in a useless contract for 5 months.

f***ing hate 3 now. Been with them 10 years without a problem, now I'd like to go over to India or wherever their call centre is and do some phone insertion to those muppets.

I know it's annoying, but it may be worth pursuing this line a bit more. I used to be on Three and work in Winchester, but live in Eastleigh. The reception was fine at home, but f***ing awful when I'm at work.

After a few calls and speaking to a manager, they let me out of my contact (4 months into a 24 month) for no charge. I paid the charge to unlock the phone and I'm now happliy on Vodafone.

 

[father_and_son]

I terminated my Orange contract early to move to 3, and you CAN have a PAC code without ending the contract. They took my [now very old number] and gave it to 3 and gave me a new number for my old phone. I only had about 6wks left to run so it wasn't a big deal and the new contract was a fraction of the cost of the old one so I was happy to have shifted my number.

The only problems I had were that my number is very old and has been ported a few times now (all the big 4 have had it at some point!) and so the PAC code often doesn't work first time, but after explaining to the new network where the number has come from most recently (not originally) they seem to manage it. 3 took 3 days to actually move it and I had allsorts of weird problems (txt messages coming in to both phones but couldn't reply from either!) but after the pain, its been great.

Moral: You have a right to the PAC in a timely and prompt fashion and they must give it to you. You are contracted based on the service, not a particular number and so moving the number in no way terminates or influences the contract and whatever agreement you come to over the contract does not impact your right to the number.

Stand your ground. Demand your number. Keep a diary of every time you speak to them, how long for, what you asked for and when/if it was done. When you speak to Ofcom, this diary will be worth its weight because you have chapter and verse on how reasonable your requests were and how many regulations they breached! You will win.

THEN... demand compensation for your time persuing the complaint. Don't take the p*ss but bill them for every second of your time, every phone call, every letter, every stamp, every piece of paper, etc etc and then send that to their Chief Exec and copy in Ofcom.

If your invoice to them happens to be £195 or more... all the better!

 

[father_and_son]

I terminated my Orange contract early to move to 3, and you CAN have a PAC code without ending the contract. They took my [now very old number] and gave it to 3 and gave me a new number for my old phone. I only had about 6wks left to run so it wasn't a big deal and the new contract was a fraction of the cost of the old one so I was happy to have shifted my number.

The only problems I had were that my number is very old and has been ported a few times now (all the big 4 have had it at some point!) and so the PAC code often doesn't work first time, but after explaining to the new network where the number has come from most recently (not originally) they seem to manage it. 3 took 3 days to actually move it and I had allsorts of weird problems (txt messages coming in to both phones but couldn't reply from either!) but after the pain, its been great.

Moral: You have a right to the PAC in a timely and prompt fashion and they must give it to you. You are contracted based on the service, not a particular number and so moving the number in no way terminates or influences the contract and whatever agreement you come to over the contract does not impact your right to the number.

Stand your ground. Demand your number. Keep a diary of every time you speak to them, how long for, what you asked for and when/if it was done. When you speak to Ofcom, this diary will be worth its weight because you have chapter and verse on how reasonable your requests were and how many regulations they breached! You will win.

THEN... demand compensation for your time persuing the complaint. Don't take the p*ss but bill them for every second of your time, every phone call, every letter, every stamp, every piece of paper, etc etc and then send that to their Chief Exec and copy in Ofcom.

If your invoice to them happens to be £195 or more... all the better!