hchie: Hi
I agreed a mobile phone contract over the phone with Tmobiles 3rd party provider, SCS for a 12 month contract
I received a letter from them to say they had made a mistake and they were extending it to 24 months as the phones comes with that length of contract.
I was obviously not happy and had I known this before I would have gone elsewhere to find a better deal. 24 months wasn't and still isnt acceptable to me.
On speaking to SCS, they will charge my account and send me a cheque on the basis I will upgrade my phone with them.
Where do I stand ? I'm sure that changing terms of contract like this without my agreement is not correct.
Thanks
The key thing here is that you entered into a contract and that now they are changing terms of the contract.
A contract is a legal obligation agreed between 2 parties. For the contract to be changed requires the agreement of both (all) parties. You do not have to agree to this change if you do not want to. If it is a mistake by the other party then it is their mistake and you are not responsible for it and if there is a cost involved then that cost needs to be met fully and legally by the other party and not by yourself unless you agree to do so.
I would remind them of this simple contract law and tell them that the mistake is theirs and not yours, if it is a 24 month contract then they simply will have to reimburse you the cost of leaving the contract early (12 months line rental)
If they dispute this then tell them that in order for them to prove otherwise they will need to produce a copy of the contract at which you either signed or verbally accepted a 24 month contract and not a 12 month contract. If the intial contract was agreed (verbally or by signature) then a copy of this will have been kept and you have the right under Data Protection Act to receive a copy of it through what is called Subject Access which is the right for you to obtain a copy of all information about you and any and all communications regarding you that is held by the provider and even any third party communications about you that the provider has been party to.. You will be able to find many variations of a Subject Access Letter either on this forum or on the internet. Be aware that to access this information the data provder does have the right to charge a maximum fee of £10.00 although most providers I have dealt with normally waive the fee.
Good Luck.
