Cancelling contract phone?

[J D]

Having been made redundant i need to cancel my contract with 3. Speaking to them they are saying i need to pay the line rental off which is around 150 quid i think? Obviously with no money coming in i dont really want to pay it !

Is there a way around it?

[pa_broon74]

Normally if you press the point with them, they'll waive it. Especially since you've been made redundant, if for example the press new about their policy regarding cancellations due to redundancies... You could suggest it would make them look really bad.

Realistically, if you cancel the direct debit then ignore them, they won't pursue you for £150. If they do, there are ways to tie them in knots using the system.

You could offer a compromise I suppose and go for a pay and go option with the same provider... Not sure if they'll accept that though.


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Didn't catch anything.

[dgo1212]

you have signed a legally binding contract,but has anyone ever gone to prison for breaking one with a phone company?When i was made redundant i took the "if i haven't got it,you can't have it" approach.Contract or not if you don't have the money then you can't pay it,the way i got through redundancy was by contacting everyone we owed money to ie mortgage company,banks,car finance etc,explained the situation and asked for reduced payments for 6 month and told them we didn't mind if this added extra interest after the final payment,some said no at first but when you clearly state that if they don't take what your offering,or atleast meet you half way they wont get a fookin penny they soon play ball,as for the phone contract i just cancelled the D/D and thought no more of it,worst it can do is give your credit rating a little knock

[Nufkamp]

[JonB]

Instead of paying it off in one lump sum, keep paying it on the monthly basis?

No point trying to avoid the issue by cancelling DD's, you'll just get bombarded with final warnings.

Just one of those things, you'll be hard pushed to get 3 to waive the fee. At the end of the day you aren't really paying for texts and calls, you are paying for heavily subsidised phone they provided you with.
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[Finglonga]

[Marcg868]

Similar to the above regarding mobile contracts, i had a 18 month contract with O2 from march 2006, which by my reckoning should have ended around september 2007. Now i got a new contract with Orange in october 2007 and rang O2 to say i have changed can you stop billing me as my contract was only 18 month, and i did not take a new one out, so they said yes blah blah we'll cancel it. However 3 months down the line their stll taking money off me, same again ring them up after sending a letter asking them to stop billing me and they say we'll stop it.

Same again continue to charge me for that that month, so i cancelled the direct debit, however they have now sent it to a Debt collecters for the sum of £48.99. This is 2009 i had an 18 month contract from 2006!

So how do i deal with this one, i have rung the debt collecters up and have got the "well its not our problem" erm im currently off on the sick with no pay so i m not paying it back.
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JACK, MISS YOU LOADS YOU LEGEND.

[Kickstart]

[Marcg868]

[syl]

You need to simply tell the debt collectors that the debt is in dispute, you cancelled the contract a long time ago and they should refer back to their client. If they continue to contact you after that, tell them that further contact will consitute harrassment.
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Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[Drew]

If you have a contract phone the chances are you have a pretty new decent phone.

Cancel contract, sell the phone, buy a brick, use the sale money to pay off the contract.

[Ant]

before cancelling and paying the fee's i would lower your contract to the cheapest one (so if your on a £35pm one now knock it down to a £15 one) then either keep it untill your back on your feet or cancell that one and you shouldnt have so much to pay!
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04 ZX10R ~

[pa_broon74]

The idea that these contracts are legally binding is a bit of a fallacy. There is as much protection in consumer law working for you as there is in contract law for the company.

I went to a consumer forum (directed from here) and the advice I got was along the lines of "you signed the contract; tough shit." It was just shit advice given by a patronising ill-informed do-gooder. (Yes, this is a forum and there might be irony here. )

Go to the citizens advice bureau (go to a city one, they're the most useful.) They'll be able to tell you exactly where you stand.

I would repeat, this myth about "you signed a contract so ner..." is propogated by big business and folks who just don't know better to keep you scared. Yes, its a contract but it can be got out of.

For £150 they might pass it on to a debt collector, but they have little in the way of power, all they can do is harass you and frankly, baiting 'debt management' companies is fine sport. They have to go to court before bailliffs get involved, its at that point that you can start tying them in knots.


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Didn't catch anything.

[pa_broon74]

Ok.

Just checked something there...

An axample of tying big companies and debt management companies (A.K.A scum of the earth) in knots is thus.

You have a contract with a big company that you want out of. Ok, it might be air tight (check anyway.) But even if it is; The company will threaten to take you to court closest to where their legal representation is or where their offices are.

Under the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgement act 1982, they can't do that. As a consumer you entered into a contract with them and as such if a dispute arises, and importantly, even if on the contract, you agreed to have any dispute settled somewhere other than where you reside; the action would be incompetent. The only way the company can get around this act is if you agreed to have the dispute resolved after the dispute itself arose NOT when you signed the contract!

Basically, if they want to sue you, they have to do it in the country court (or sherriff court) closest to where you live. Now, if they happen to conduct their business 300 miles away (in my case, I was in Edinburgh and they wanted sue me in Northampton County Court) they would have to employ legal counsel locally or send someone over.

To recover £150 and at the risk of not winning... Its not worth their bother. If this does happen you must stay in touch with the court, if you do nothing, it goes against you automatically; debt management monkeys rely on that.

If they even bother to issue a summons, reply with something approaching the following text: