A puzzling mobile phone contract problem!

A question about : A puzzling mobile phone contract problem!

Hi all,

I am having some on going difficulty with my mobile contract, I'm tearing my hair out and the problem seems quite unique so I can't find anything about it online. Any help or advice at all would be appreciated.

It's quite a complicated issue but I'll try and keep the explanation as clear as I can.

In August 2011 I took out a 2 year contract on a mobile phone through Carphone Warehouse (Vodaphone was the provider) at Ј26a month. When my time on the contract was up in summer 2013 I decided to get a new contract and noticed that Carphone Warehouse had a deal on for an Iphone 4 for Ј21 a month - still with Vodaphone. Great! I thought, and went in to sign up immediately. All my details were already on CW's system so it was just a simple matter of switching to this new tariff.

However something evidently went wrong because the next month I was still paying Ј26, not the new Ј21 rate. This went on for a few months and when I finally got round to speaking to them they said that the new contract hadn't gone through on the system and that it just happens sometimes so I've had a new phone but still on my old tariff. There has been a lot of back and forth on the phone and I've got so fed up I've neglected it for months, still paying this Ј26.

They have said they can either refund the extra money I've already paid but I would need to go into a new contract on an Iphone 4 for another 2 years (which I really don't want to do) or they can upgrade me early but I have to say bye bye to the Ј150 they've swindled me out of over the last 16 months. Neither of which appeal to me.

I've suggested to them that, because the contract didn't go through on the system, as they put it, I have no legal obligation to keep paying. I'd rather just wash my hands of the whole thing, cancel my direct debit and go elsewhere. But according to them I am still legally bound to keep up payment on the contract...though I really don't know how because as they have told me there is no contract!

I'm very tempted to just cancel the direct debit, have the phone blacklisted and go elsewhere but I'm worried this will affect my credit rating.

Does anyone have any advice or know what I should do? Because I really am at the end of my tether.

Thank you so much in advance!

Best answers:

• you have left this a long time , summer 2013 to almost march 2015?
  as the contract did not go thru , you are now on a monthly rolling contract , and can give them a mths notice , forget any help from CPW , they don,t do help , just want money
  however you have got there iPhone 4 .
  you have got to be clever here , more clever than those crafty !!!!!!s
  your actions depend if you need your old number?
  give them a mths notice , and hand the phone back
  transfer your number to a PAYG
  do not cancel your direct debit!
  now you have seen there underhand ways , go somewhere else
• Thank you both,
  I have been dealing with this since early 2014 but I've just been going round in circles. Just to clarify I'm still on my OLD tariff (same data, minutes etc) so does that I am on a rolling contract (Enfield Freddy said) or did I still enter into a new two year contract as Daytona0 seems to suggest (because if so Vodaphone haven't honoured the price or tariff of that contract so it seems grossly unfair that they should be able to call the shots in terms of what recompense to offer me).
• the number of minutes , txt and internet EXACTLY the same as the first contract , or have you gone over and wondered ?
  maybe a quick (quiet) call to voda , asking about your minutes to see if they are identical
  IF they have changed , then you are on a new contract and they have conned you , if they are the same then you are on a one month rolling contract (extension of the first) and have been hiring the iPhone 4 for an extra Ј5 per mth ,
  where is your old phone?
• This sounds like you upgraded your phone and entered into a new contract based on that.
  As part of that, you also requested to change your talk plan. This did not happen and as such, you continued to be charged your old rate.
  Have you got any paperwork to confirm that you should have been put on a cheaper tariff?
• As part of your 'new contract' you have been buying an iphone. If you hand it back you waste the value you have built up in it so far. If you cancel your dd then chances are they will blacklist the phone and the money you have sunk into it is also lost. Remember that about Ј20 a month is actually the cost of the phone. A better option is to accept the upgrade offer- and upgrade to a different tariff for a lower cost. You don't always have to upgrade onto a new phone- they just get you to sign up to a new 12/24 airtime contract. If you are happy with the phone and the voda service then this solves it because your monthly purchase payments end, thus taking account of your earlier 'overpayments.'