Do I have a case to cancel contract?

A question about : Do I have a case to cancel contract?

In July I had a phonecall from vodafone trying to get me to take out a contract phone with them, originally i said no and explained that i still had 5 months left to run on my current contract so wasnt interested.
The guy then offered me 4 months free line rental and 2 months at half price, so i agreed to go ahead and give my current phone to my partner for the remainder of my contract.

During the 1st month i had various problems with the handset being cut off and had to ring vodafone from my house phone on 2 seperate occasions, one of these phonecalls which lasted an hour i repeatedly asked to be tranferred to somebody else or a call back and was refused, this phonecall cost me Ј46! when i complained i was given Ј10 bill credit. On both occasions i rang i asked them to confirm my contract conditions of the 4 months free and both times was told yes that was certainly set up.

Last month i find i have been charged line rental, so i rang vodafone again, & again they checked my contract conditions and confirmed it does state i have 4 months free, they tried to fob me off with bill credit again but i insisted it was their mistake so got it put back in my bank.
Today i find they have tried to take bill again!! i didnt have the money in my account so have also been charged. I spoke to a lovely lady who again confirmed i do have 4 months free and says i will be refunded fully and they will reimburse my bank charges. This lady was very apologetic but told me i couldnt cancel my contract without paying out the remainder.

I am not happy with vodafone at all and have had nothing but problems with them so am wondering is there any way i can cancel the contract without having to pay? Can i claim it was missold as i was told it was free for 4 months but they have repeatedly charged me, or have they in anyway broken their terms & conditions thus making the contract void?
I really dont want another 21 months of problems with them.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Best answers:

• In a word, no. Incompetence is allowed - and to be honest, these schemes are more about customer acquisition than getting it right. As for the deal you are on - the rental is always charged, it is simply refunded by way of a rebate each month, and this is where the problem lies.
  Your costs for calling them remain your responsibility - but as they have credited you as a goodwill gesture, that is all you can expect.
  As for your bank charges, again this is not the responsibility of the network - they are not to know you have not enough funds, and it is your bank that are charging you. If funds are tight, the last thing you do is provide a DD, as problems like these are common. Cancel the the DD and take responsibility for payment yourself - it will usually be cheaper in the long run.
  And lastly, your contract is never ending, once the minimum term is up you can give notice to leave - stick to PAYG, you stay in control and problems like these (and many others) cannot happen.
• Actually no, the deal was I wouldn't be charged at all, they have confirmed every time I have rung that it shouldn't have been taken out, they have admitted that they were in the wrong for that and will pay my bank charges. It's not a case of me not having enough money , I always make sure there is enough in my bank to cover my direct debits the fact is this one should not have come out. I don't believe my calls to them are my responsibility when I am trying to resolve a problem that is their fault and repeatedly asked to be transferred to someone who knew what they were doing, there was no need to keep me on the phone for over an hour when the next person I spoke to sorted the problem within minutes.
  The case has been referred to a manager as the lady I spoke to agrees I should not have had all these problems so I shall see what happens