For the last three years I’ve had a mobile phone contract with O2, which has been excellent. Out of the blue, I was phoned by a salesperson suggesting I should renew it.
I was assured, on several occasions, that my contract would stay with O2. Having renewed, I then discovered it was actually with another firm called Plan.com.
I have told the company that I have no desire to leave O2, but Plan has migrated our three phone numbers over. Despite many phone calls and emails, it is refusing to help.
As I see it, it has ignored the legal requirement to supply me with pac codes – which you need to transfer your number from one network to another – or cancel the contract under the 14-day cooling-off period.
I remain without a mobile phone service which, as a guardian to my severely disabled granddaughter, is proving very difficult for emergency contacts.
I believe that this contract was sold to me by deception.
DB, Edinburgh
A decade ago, we were receiving many letters like this, but after a clampdown by the regulators, the problem appeared to have gone away. Your letter, plus another we received this week similarly complaining about another relatively little-known phone airtime supplier, suggests this issue may be making a reappearance.
I asked Plan.com about your case, and it says a third-party sales company over which it had no control had (mis-)sold you its plan. It says the delays in resolving this were down to it asking that company to explain itself.
However, after I raised the issue, it moved quickly to put the matter right. You have now been released from its contract and had your service restored to O2, and Plan.com has sent you a hamper to apologise.
For the rest of us, the moral of the tale is clear: don’t take unsolicited calls from people offering to upgrade your mobile contract.
If you are interested in upgrading or renewing, end the call and then contact your chosen provider to ask for the renewals team – and then shop around. That way, you know exactly who you are dealing with and won’t get into this situation.
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