Mobile phone contract

[MindExpansion]

I had a cold call from All Phones who apparently got my details from Virgin (my service provider, who I never told could give my details to all phones) selling me a new contract after my existing one expired.

Unfortunately I was off work sick so I actually got the call and was dumb enough to agree to the contract only to realise when i came to my senses that I don't want it.

They are now palming off responsibility of who needs to cancel the contract.

Neither seem to understand the ACCC's definition of unsolicited. All phones just told me that they 'only make solicited calls'... when the ACCC define unsolicited as:

'-a supplier, their salesperson or

dealer approaches or telephones a

consumer without invitation from

that consumer

- it results from negotiations by

telephone or at a location other

than the supplier’s premises, and

- the total value of the goods or

services is more than $100, or

the value was not established

when the agreement was made.'

So I never told All phones to call me for anything at all ever... nor did I tell Virgin to call me when my contract runs out, nor did I till Virgin that they could give my deets to All phones.

Now onto the next point. On unsolicited sales, a minimum cooling off period of 10 business days (which still hasnt passed) is mandatory, and should the salesperson not inform the consumer of this cooling off period at the time of sale (which they did not in this case) this lengthens to between 3 and 6 months. If they send any goods within the first 10 days and do not send a written copy of the contract within 5, the cooling off period also extends to up to 6 months. They sent the goods within 5 days and no copy of the contract has been sent in any form.

I also have not taken receivership of the goods (left them at the couriers).

Virgin are now saying they will have to charge me the remainder of the new contract (over 1k) if i cancel it... which I think is wrong given that it was an unsolicited sale (as far as I can see anyway).

The guy I spoke to on the ACCC consumer advice line agreed with me... but these fucking fuckers just refuse to accept that this was an unsolicited sale and refuse to accept the terms that come with an unsolicited sale. They seem to blanket it with a 'we don't offer returns for change of mind'... but they HAVE to, in the circumstance of an unsolicited sale.

Any legal eagles out there that can confirm I've got good legs to stand on in the small claims court if (i hope it doesnt but at this rate...) i end up there?

Can I also make a point that the 'customer service' from virgin has been excellent with regards to their attitude and communication...

All Phones however - well the two fucking idiots I have spoken to from there so far have both been the most ignorant, cocky, rude and outright insulting (and I mean literally insulting me directly) 'customer service' reps that I have ever had contact with from any company in my life. Neither have put me in contact with a supervisor when requested, neither have given me a reference number for the call without me asking for one, and neither have offered any advice to my situation, they have simply informed me that there's nothing they can do (which virgin definitely disagree with).

So in essence after 5 days of waiting on hold over and over again, I'm about to pop like a shaken up bottle of beer. These fuckers are trying to screw me and I truly feel like 'the little guy'.

Has anyone here ever had to deal with the telecommunications ombudsman or the small claims court? Or had a nightmare experience with these fucking vultures?

Peace and RAGE!

[qualia]

did the number come up as 'private number'?

i had a private number call last night which i didn't answer, as i've learnt most calls of that type are just going to annoy me.

[toby]

Definitely call telecommunications ombudsman

Tell them your story and forget about it in my experience..

[naja naja]

if u did it over the phone, tell them wat I did and that is that they don't have a signiture so fuck off.

[Sallubrious]

I've been stung by those allphones fleabag, piss ant, fuckwit, retard, rip off, puss sucking, lowlife, scam merchants.

I bought a phone that didn't do what the salesman promised and there was no way I could get a refund, the phone was a samsung and when I contacted them (samsung) I found out that samsung has a policy of never giving money back ever, no matter what the problem is.

Never again will I deal with samsung or allphones, I buy things like that from a dept. store or a large retailer that has a policy of refunding for unsuitable goods without question, like Big W, Kmart or Dick Smith (Woolworths) etc. (I've even "borrowed" some cool stuff like cameras and taken them back after I'd used them for weddings etc)

I can't advise you of your legal rights but that sucks being conned into a deal over the phone with no cooling off period.

I think a lot of companies sell details like phone numbers to anyone these days, telemarketing is almost open slather these days as well and largely unregulated if you haven't registered saying you don't want the calls.

If anyone doesn't want unsolicited calls you should register on the Do Not Call Register and if anyone tries any telemarketing shit they will be breaking the law.

Do Not Call Register

[Rabaelthazar]

I got to the stage of lodging a complaint with the Ombudsman once... never got a reply.

THe basic situation was that I was moving house, called up my internet provider to advise them that three weeks from then I'd need to have my service disconnected. The consultant told me in a cheerful voice

"That's all done for you now, sir".

"What is all done?" I replied.

"I've disconnected your service."

"Ah, ok... but I still ned it for another three weeks."

"I'm sorry sir, but the change is irreversible."

"But.... I didn't ask you to cut off my service today"

"Sorry sir, the process is irreversible"

"So, are you telling me that I will be without internet for the next three weeks?"

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir"

"But I need internet access for my work"

"I'm sorry, sir"

20+ hours on the phone to the countless different cogs in the machine that is Big Pond finally resulted in a call from a "senior manager" who sounded about 20yo called to tell me that he was sorry for the inconvenience but basically I had to cop it.

The clincher was when the "senior manager" looked at my address on screen and said:'

"Hey, you live in Disraeli St.... I live in the same street as you, just down the road!"

"Wow" I said, "which number?"

"I'm not telling you that, sir. Good day"

Some fucking snot nosed prat, (probably the work experience kid) got the job of placating a customer who'd been fucked around by the company, essentially offered nothing but an empty apology, flaunted the fact that he had access to my private data. Acted as though it was ok for him to make friendly conversation about the coincidence of our geographical proximity but then ended the call when I asked a friendly question.

Worst customer service experience of my life. Wrote a detailed letter to the Ombudsman and never heard back.

Fuck the telecommunication companies. They're all as bad as each other.

[Sallubrious]

I got to the stage of lodging a complaint with the Ombudsman once... never got a reply.

 

So much for due process, I think ombudsman translates to corrupt prick or something similar.

One time when a major arterial bypass was being constructed near my house someone with a backhoe dug up a telstra junction box/pit and conveniently left a trench draining directly into the pit which flooded it and resulted in over 3 square kilometres being left without a landline for 4 days.

I talked to the workers fixing the mess and they told me the pit was flooded because of the incident with the backhoe (which I witnessed) and that caused the problems.

Telstra would not reimburse me or compensate in me in any way for the lack of service , so I contacted the ombudsman.

The official reply was that the fault was caused by "birds or animals"

I wrote another letter to the ombudsman explaining what the workers had told me & explaining that the pit was under a concrete slab and I never got an answer either.

[santiago]

the question is why anybody real goes contract anyway.

why not just get a 29 dollar nokia from woolies which does the job beautifully efficient get a 26 dollar voda recharge that gets you $150 credit plus free voda to voda, if your broke then at least people can still call you and if its urgent you can text them from a phone box for 20 cents.

thats all you need kids, at least you friggin well have paid for it up front and at most a wholle year of communication costs roughly $250 dollars, the best part is too if your silly like me and lose your phone who gives a shit, it cost 29 dollars hahah.

people have to learn to start using their own money first before credits and contracts and they will be much better off in many ways short and long term and both mentally and financially.

[mac]

if they have no signature they don't have a contract

i had the same problem with dodo once & when they told me it was a verbal contract i said well pull up the recording of said contract & they had no record or recording of it

if they have no signature & you did not receive any goods or services then they don't have a leg to stand on

[sharxx101]

Ring the Ombudsman they are really good. I have had a few spells with Optus giving phone shit service and even worse customer service, and high bills (which wasn't my fault ;).

The Ombudsman will put a freeze on the account and it must be investigated. The only fuckers you can't beat is the big T Telstr*, they are the worst mother fuckers to deal with, I hate them and will never be one of their customers ever!!! If you read this fuck you Telstr*!!! $299= 37 mins just to get a tech to hook up the phone line!!! Then a extra $100 cause I wanted nothing to do with the mofo's.

Come on NBN!!!!! Lay some fucking cables already!!! I had internet installed last week, they told me it will be ADSL2+, when I speed test i can only get 4mb download speed which is half of the speed of a normal adsl connection.

[dollarjuice]

why not just get a 29 dollar nokia from woolies which does the job beautifully efficient get a 26 dollar voda recharge that gets you $150 credit plus free voda to voda,

 

I used to be on something similar to this but with optus prepaid, and I'd be having to dump hundreds of dollars onto it a month. Now I'm with vodaphone on a plan, have a much better phone, have unlimited talk and text anywhere in Australia except 13-- numbers, for $65 a month. It really just depends on how much you use your phone.

[MindExpansion]

Yeh I use my mobile way too much for prepaid I want onto Amaysim's 39.90 a month plan with no fixed term contract (month to month), unlimited calls and text to australian numbers and 4GB of data.

Just finished writing my letter of demand, talking to the ombudsman and talking again to the ACCC to lodge a formal complaint. Also contacted the privacy commission as I'm not sure Virgin should be allowed to provide All Phones with my contact details and contract details without expressed permission (I expect that they may be within their rights here though). I'm not just going to bend over and take it from these fuckers, I dont think anyone should, and by god they are genuine FUCKERS.

[naja naja]

if they have no signature they don't have a contract

i had the same problem with dodo once & when they told me it was a verbal contract i said well pull up the recording of said contract & they had no record or recording of it

if they have no signature & you did not receive any goods or services then they don't have a leg to stand on

 

Long stoiry short, but this is wat I did to telstra and made a few threats of my own. They ended up sending ME a $40 cheque, I assume, hoping I wouldn't follow through with my threats of calling TT amongst others.

Telstra has shown their incompitence time and time again, unfortunately I am forces by geographical isolation to go with telstra. When I re-signed up recently I abused them for their shitty service, told them that I didn't want to be with them, but had no other real option if I wanted good reception range.

One time they called and appologized that I was not able to get ADSL, I told them that was ok, as I had already had it hooked up by westnet several weeks earlier. WTF, they are not even aware when their own lines have ADSL or even the ability for it.

Just remember this trick, 1800 numbers are free to call, be polite so they can never block u. It is not a free call for telstra, they have to pay sum1 to talk to u. Talk for enough time, over and over and it eventually cost them so much they will do sumthing about it. Worked every time for me. I figure 40 hours @ $20 = $800 This is not money they like spending on your silly questions.

[santiago]

Yeh I use my mobile way too much for prepaid

well thats your answer there, cut down your phone time.