T-Mobile UK accidentally activates early cancellation clause

[Guest hecatae]

Are you on T-Mobile UK? If so the you have probably received the 'contract price increase' letter from T-Mobile, putting your price up by 3.3% from next month.

T-Mobile seem to have made a mess up with their figures.

Their cancellation clause states:

( B ) we want to increase a charge to you and the increase, (when calculated as a percentage) will be more than the increase in the Retail Prices Index Figure, the RPI (also calculated as a percentage) for the 12 months before the month in which we send you notice of the increase

Last months APR was 3.2%, the T-Mobile clause says "RPI (also calculated as a percentage) for the 12 months before the month in which we send you notice of the increase" is actually 3.1%.

Either way, T-Mobile seem to have slipped up, their greed for the extra 0.1% has opened up the cancellation clause.

If you need the relevant sections from their T&Cs:

(iii) you must tell us if you want to cancel this agreement or a SIM card. You may have to pay a cancellation charge if you cancel within a SIM card's minimum period (see 2©(i) and (ii)). A cancellation charge is not payable if you are cancelling because:

( A ) our entitlement to operate the network ends; or

( B ) we want to increase a charge to you and the increase, (when calculated as a percentage) will be more than the increase in the Retail Prices Index Figure, the RPI (also calculated as a percentage) for the 12 months before the month in which we send you notice of the increase (see 4(g)). We will tell you if the increase will be more than the increase in the RPI. You must tell us you want to cancel before the increase happens;

Plus:

7 When the Agreement ends

(a) You can cancel this agreement by notifying Customer Services you want to terminate. If you are cancelling because we have increased a charge above RPI or we have changed these conditions and that change is of material detriment to you (see 2©(iii)), your agreement will terminate immediately.

T-Mobile UK have no legal justification to refuse a cancellation request, it's their own fault they chose to roll out the T-Mobile increase a month after Orange - anyone getting a 3.3% increase letter dated April has the right to cancel.

I can't take the credit for discovering this, Dave, Super Moderator over at Whatmobile forums, spotted the error.

Are you affected by this? Let us know in the comments.

[Via: Whatmobile]

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[Guest ArcticFox]

You are a freaking life saver, I'm 16 months into a 24 month contract and I've been having a back and forth with some VERY smug CS agent over email basically just telling me to read the T&Cs, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hmm, just thought, what happens to the contract phone I have with them, will they block it?

[Guest andybarker]

I've had two of these letters, as my account has a phone for me and one for my brother. Both letters show the same price increase and the same new price, even though they are very different contracts (mine is currently a SIM only contract at £10pcm, and my brother's is a S3 with 18 month contract). So they screwed up pretty well.

Personally I'm very happy with T-Mobile. I got a all-you-can-eat SIM only plan for £10pcm when I said I was moving to Three - very pleased with that. Even got a SIM only for my wife at a good discount. Coverage has never been a problem for me.

I'm sure all the networks have customers that think they are the worst ever, and also customers like me that are very happy. If you are someone that wants to leave, hope you manage to use this cock up to leave.

[Guest frankoid]

I'm happy with T-Mobile...but not with this price increase, especially since my contract is going from £11 to £12 i.e. a 9% increase. They say they can do this because I'm on a £31 plan with a £20 discount, but they didn't say anything about it being structured like that when I signed up, they just said they'd do me a deal for £11/month. Anyway, there are more important things in life than £1/month, that doesn't stop it being annoying! Why can't they just increase prices when contracts expire?

[Guest kaizoku_san]

Meh. This would have affected me, except I'm going to cancel my contract with them tomorrow anyway :-p

Hate the fact that t-mob charge for voicemail, and also charge for calling "non-uk" mobile numbers (lyca, lebara etc!)

Nice find though, which will help some people out there

[Guest Samuran]

This isnt just T-Mob, I'm in exactly the same boat with Orange....

[Guest StevieJ99]

I'm afraid this is wrong. Your data shows the 12 month figure for February 2013. T-Mobile letters were issued in April, and refer to the 12 month RPI figure of 3.3% for March 2013. Below is a direct extract from the Office for National Statistics PDF:

The RPI 12-month rate for March stood at 3.3%, meaning that it was 0.6 percentage points higher than it would have been had it used formulae that meet international standards.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_306185.pdf

This means you and I (yes, this is the SECOND price hike I've suffered at the hands of this despicable company) will have a hard time convincing them of a right to cancel.

The best bet is to do what I have done and told the managers at T-Mobile that at the end of the contract, I will NEVER be putting business their way again. The only way to send a message to these greedy corporates is to hit them in the wallet.

[Guest hecatae]

I'm afraid this is wrong. Your data shows the 12 month figure for February 2013. T-Mobile letters were issued in April, and refer to the 12 month RPI figure of 3.3% for March 2013. Below is a direct extract from the Office for National Statistics PDF:

The RPI 12-month rate for March stood at 3.3%, meaning that it was 0.6 percentage points higher than it would have been had it used formulae that meet international standards.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_306185.pdf

This means you and I (yes, this is the SECOND price hike I've suffered at the hands of this despicable company) will have a hard time convincing them of a right to cancel.

The best bet is to do what I have done and told the managers at T-Mobile that at the end of the contract, I will NEVER be putting business their way again. The only way to send a message to these greedy corporates is to hit them in the wallet.

T-Mobile are increasing prices by 3.3%, stating they have used the Retail Price Index, currently at 3.3%. This rate is incorrect; the latest figure on the ONS website, released on 19 March, is 3.2%.

Clause 7.2.3 of T-Mobile’s terms and conditions allows the customer to terminate the agreement within the minimum term without having to pay a cancellation charge if: "The change that We gave you Written Notice of in point 7.1.4 is an increase in Your Price Plan Charge (as a percentage) higher than any increase in the Retail Price Index (also calculated as a percentage) for the 12 months before the month in which We send You Written Notice and You give Us notice to immediately cancel this Agreement before the change takes effect. (7.2.3.3)".

As the price increase of 3.3% is higher than than the current RPI percentage rate of 3.2%, you are entitled to terminate the contract without penalty, provided the written notice you received from T-Mobile is dated April 2013.

The PDF you link to is from the 16th April 2013, the letters from T-Mobile were sent out before this date.

[Guest StevieJ99]

Thanks for pointing this out. I have today, phoned the ONS to confirm the published date of 19 March 2013 for the February figure of 3.2%. This was the basis for the letters dated April 2013. So I apologise for my mistake.

I also phoned T-Mobile today to cancel my contract early. I have had quite a hostile response from customer services representatives which makes me even more eager to see this through. I am now awaiting a call back froma manager.

In the meantime, I think this fortunate mistake needs wider publicity - any suggestions?

[Guest Andymac1969]

Thanks for pointing this out. I have today, phoned the ONS to confirm the published date of 19 March 2013 for the February figure of 3.2%. This was the basis for the letters dated April 2013. So I apologise for my mistake.

I also phoned T-Mobile today to cancel my contract early. I have had quite a hostile response from customer services representatives which makes me even more eager to see this through. I am now awaiting a call back froma manager.

In the meantime, I think this fortunate mistake needs wider publicity - any suggestions?

I have successfully cancelled at no charge one Orange and two T Mobile pay monthly accounts, this was on the basis that the network signal in our area had gone down the pan since they merged, but mainly since they decided to turn most of the masts off in our locale, this might be an option to get out , if like us your signal has gone missing :blink:

PS: if anyone finds our missing Orange/T Mobile signal could they please just keep it, Tesco/O2 seems miles better (at the moment)

[Guest hecatae]

I love this email from EE that a poster over on MSE has received:

Thank you for your email.

The written notice that was issued in early April 2013 was sent without knowledge of what the actual March RPI figure would be until published on 16 April 2013, however, this increase in charges is not an increase above the published month March RPI figure of 3.3% and does not give the customer a right to cancel.

This was a risk that we took as a business as to what figure would be published on 16 April 2013 but that was our risk to take as a business and does not give the customer the right to cancel.

As a business we anticipated the RPI figure for March, if it had been lower than expected customers would have been entitled to cancel their contracts but as this is not the case, cancellation of your contract without penalty is declined.

As you have reached the end of our escalation process, if you wish to take this matter further you will need to seek external advice.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Baillie

Executive Office, EE