please help! what rights do I have with my mobile phone company?

[looobylooo]

Ive been with my mob phone company for yrs & not had an upgrade for 4 yrs so my line rental was reduced 2 yrs ago.

A wk ago I contacted them asking for a replacement phone as my old one now has a fault.

With no hesitation I was offered a new phone.

The standard follow up letter stated my line rental had increased.

I was shocked as I was not advised of any increase.

I wrote an email to them stating my concerns & asked them to clarify the cost & said that noone had told me of any increase.

Later that day I rang them.

They admitted the girl made an error & told me I can't keep the phone & wanted it back if I didnt agree to the increase!

I sadly boxed the phone up and awaited collection,which was to be today.

The next day I got a call from their cust serv's in response to my email I'd sent.

This lady, a diff one, assured me that I can keep the phone & that my line rental will remain at the same reduced price.

I thanked her & asked if she could put it in writing what she'd just confirmed .

Her email back was just a line to say she was happy to have helped resolve my query, so I emailed her back asking her to include the confirmation details & thanked her again for all her kind help.

4 emails later from me, I still haven't rec'd anything.

Today the parcel man called wanting to collect the phone!

I told him there was no phone to collect and offered him the relevant details including the name of the cust serv's lady who'd rang me etc.

He just put 'nothing to collect' on his paperwork.

I'm feeling rather stressed as I don't really know how I stand?!

It was an error on their behalf afterall.

Any advice appreciated please.

Thank

[meglet]

I don't know the answer to your problem but it did strike me that its not unreasonable for an mobile operator to expect an increase in line rental after 4 years is it? If I was you I would cancel the contract and shop around for deal more in line with your budgets - there are so many different tariffs available.

[sue11]

I suspect that when they offered you the new phone, they put you on a new contract, hence the increased rental. it seems that so far they are avoiding putting anything in writing and it may be that legally they are required to cancel a contract within a certain timeframe and are trying to avoid doing anything in the hope that you will let the timeframe lapse? Just a quess on my part, I may be completely wrong! I would definately contact them asap by phone and then follow up with a confirmation email to ask them to either put you on terms you are happy with regarding a new phone and rental, or to take back the phone asap. I would keep copies of all your emails sent to prove that you have tried to resolve the situation. I would also shop around for new deals and bear in mind that you never get anything for nothing! The brand new all singing and dancing phone that you may be offered will be covered in the cost of the rental agreement that you could be tied into for 12 to 24 months!
Cheers Sue!

[looobylooo]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply to me. Yes sue, I think you may be right about them hanging on and avoiding writing back to me. I have kept copies of all my emails to them so far to prove I am trying to resolve the problem.
What a palarva!!! lol
Thanks again, I will post a reply incase youd like to know if and when I hear anything.

Hello to Mrs D and Miss R if you're reading :o) its now approximately 00.34hrs and 16 seconds .... lol ... lol ....

[looobylooo]

I'm pleased to say my problem is now resolved :o)

I had a pleasant email back from their customer services office today telling me I can keep the phone, and my line rental will stay at the reduced price it was before.

Soo, it's all sorted now - what a relief !!

:o)