Sorry if this is long:

About a month ago my mobile phone needed repairs that I was told by Carphone Warehouse would cost £80 so I decided to buy a pay and go handset and just put my contract Sim card into it which would work out cheaper.

I went to the Carphone Warehouse and told the salesman what I wanted to do and he said he could do me a deal that wouldn't cost me anything. In short I was talked into a cash-back deal where I would get £200 which I was told would buy me out of my current contract and signed up to a contract with Orange at £40 per month with an LG Cookie phone.

The following day I phoned my current contract provider O2 (through carphone warehouse) who said it would actually cost nearly £600 to buy myself out of my contract! I then phoned Orange (through carphone warehouse) asking if I had a 'grace period' if I didn't want to go ahead with the contract and they said no.

I returned to the Carphone Warehouse store and told them that I was assured that the £200 cashback would buy me out of my O2 contract and they said as my O2 was a cashback contract (where I send my 3, 6, and 12 month bills in and get £105 back each time) that this plus the £200 would work out the same as buying myself out of the contract outright.

I am now tied into an O2 contract at £35 per month until next June and an Orange contract for 18 months at £40 per month and I cannot seem to get out of either contract. Both companies have said they cannot do anything as I am tied into the contract.

Where do I stand with this as I cannot afford £85 per month for 2 contracts?

how was your orange contract agreed? did you sign to say you agree to the contact ? or was it agreed over the phone . I had this trouble with 3 they sent me a "first monthly bill" for a phone and contact i had supposidly agreed to ! they said that i had agreed to a contract with them over the phone when i didnt ! I asked them to send me proof of my new contract which they couldnt (as i hadnt got one!!!).

FEW IDEAS . . .its strange that orange do not offer the 14 day guarentee most companies do- it may be worth checking this in your welcome pack even if the person on the phone said you didnt have one or it may be worth phoning and asking again.

you say thay you asked about "IF" you went ahead with the contract - how did you arrive at doing so?

Possibly look into reducing the o2 contract to the minimum to reduce costs ? or would your partner (for example) be able to make use of the orange contract if you are stuck in a contract.

I personally would write a complaint letter to the store explaining how misleading the person in question was and explaining the outcome. Explain how you were "assured that the £200 cashback would buy you out of your O2 contract" stressing the fact that you now have to pay for two contracts - see where that gets you

unfortunately I signed the contract at the store because I was under the impression the £200 cashback would buy me out of my contract with O2.

I contacted O2 to ask about reducing the tarriff and was told I can only do that after I have been in the contract 9 months and even then I can only reduce it one tarriff at a time.

It is too late to get out of the Orange contract using the 14 day period as all this happened over a month ago.

i had something similar happen to me when i damaged my phone, with enough complaining to o2 about having a sim card and no phone as they couldnt offer me any type of replacement they reduced my contract to £5 as a good will gesture (but proclaimed the fact they were under no obligation to do so), and also i am sure the company you mentioned has a 12 day returns policy if you read your contract, maybe a bit late now though :(

serves yourself right for been so dumb and signing up a contract before seeing if you could get out of your current contract. next time dont be so greedy

flying-pig:serves yourself right for been so dumb and signing up a contract before seeing if you could get out of your current contract. next time dont be so greedy

Next time read the post. The OP was not greedily going to benefit from the £200, it was going to be used to pay off the O2 contract.

flying-pig:serves yourself right for been so dumb and signing up a contract before seeing if you could get out of your current contract. next time dont be so greedy

Like the other person said - the cashback was to buy myself out of my current contract so next time read the full post before you go around calling people 'dumb' and 'greedy'! How dare you call me that!

Thank you to the previous poster for correcting also.

1. In a dreadful sector and in any case you should have got in touch with O2 away from the CWP store etc

2 You say you can't afford two contracts at £85 per month ignoring the cashback.

You may wish to abuse me but presumably this hasn't been your finest hour and the following may help you.

HELP

1 Chat (I use this word advisely - friendly, informally, with Otello and Ofcom - I think they both cover mobile phones.

CHARLES DUNSTONE CWP - Call me Charles makes great play of being the "blue chip" of the sector terribly respectable etc - see statement in monthly rag - I don't think he has a sense of humour so I suppose he believes it. Send a recorded delivery letter + a copy of this post/link to him. This will cost you very little and most likely be a waste of time BUT in risk reward terms it's worth the effort. PLUS I cannot see that MS would mind if you started a new post er.. say VERY BADLY TREATED BY CWP - request for CWP help here - ty and a bit of copy in the opening thread with link to this one. AND anything else you can think of which doesn't cost money. I SPEAK FROM YEARS of experience of the "shotgun" approach and great success. Of course at the start of my suggestion to friends their eyes light up and by the end I know exactly what they're thinking - I thought it was going to be easy I'm not doing that. FAIR ENOUGH but they then go on to moan about whatever situation long into the future.

You've made a mistake and effort may get you out of it. It's up to you.