Recently I have taken out a contract phone with BuyMobilePhones.net.

The reason for this is I wanted the free gift which was a TV. After singing up and being accepted I was sent an email telling me about how to claim for a free gift and that I would need certain identification, identification which I do not have. The other way to get the gift was waiting 2 months for bills. But since my TV is broken now I could not afford to wait 2 months.

I originally ordered this product on the 4th. I then sent an email to BuyMobilePhones.net stating that I was going to return the phone to sender and that my contract was to be cancelled. The postie came on the 5th and I instructed him to return this to sender.

3 Days later I received an email about there cancellation procedure.

I then received a confirmation from Orange that my DD has been set up; I received this on the 10th. So I sent another email to say that my Account was to be cancelled immediately. I never received a reply to this.

Yesterday (17/07/200) I received a letter from Orange; it was a £40 bill. Again I sent another email pointing out the fact that I had instructed then to cancel this twice before. Both within the 7 day grace period allowed. I also emailed Orange at this point to make them aware of the situation.

BuyMobilePhones.net got back to me stating that they have not yet received the phone and are chasing Royal Mail for this and are telling me that I may not be able to cancel the contract as it is now 14 days into the contract.

So where do I stand? Am I now stuck in a contract even though I informed them on day one of the contract?

I know I have the right to cancel within 7 days which I exercised with them but they never told Orange so who would be liable for the contract?

I am still looking for a contract and will be going with Orange on the exact same plan but I am considering a different free gift and phone and a more reputable company!

Any advice would be appreciated.

Can't really give you a definitive answer - your best bet would be to find your local trading standards or CAB phone number and give them a call for advice.

My opinion on matters is that as BMP.net have acknowledged your email advising them of the fact you wished to cancel the contract under the 7 day cooling off period, they should have arranged between them and orange to cancel the contract. I'm assuming that the mobile phone they sent you was sent to you by something like special delivery? If it has, then bmp.net will know it hasnt been signed for, so will know you haven't got it, so shouldnt be dragging their heels over the cancellation.

It was sent by recorded delivery and I did not sign for it. They are pretty much saying that they are not cancelling since they have not yet received the phone. But as far as I’m concerned i have nothing to do with the phone since I’ve never touched the thing or ever been in possession of it. The only people have seen or done anything with it are BMP.net and Royal Mail.

Kind of hope Orange might nip this in the Butt. I do plan to cancel this contract and then go on another Orange contract with a different company so it makes no difference to them.

But the fact that BMP.net said I may not be able to cancel the contract. Surely it is there responsibility to cancel it with Orange?

I just want to know if I have any legal rights in which I could fight this.

Hopefully somebody more proficient in consumer law will be able to give you some help.

For a contract to be valid there has to be

A) An offer

Which in this case was you offering to buy the phone at a fee

b) Acceptence of the offer

Which was them accepting your offer and startign the agreement

3) Exchange of goods/services for a value in return of moey/services.

In this instance no exchange has happend so any contract has not been completed so is void.



At least thats what i think you could argue, only just starting to learn contract law.

I run a website and I had a customer who change her mind after despatch and she also refused to sign and it was marked as return to sender.

She bugged me for a refund for almost 3 weeks till it finally arrived back here with Royal Mail

Maybe they are working as fast with your returned phone

When you mark something as "return to sender" it goes by the cheapest (ie slowest route). So the company may not have received the phone yet. To use the 7 day period (which runs from the point you received the phone) it is up to you to return the phone promptly. It would have been better to have accepted delivery and then spent a few pounds returning the phone within 7 days.

Apart from the fact he never recieved the goods, so all conracts are void anyway.

i doubt the contract in question is for the sale of a phone; i would imagine it is for the provision of a connection to the orange cellular network and airtime.

swoosh84: who is your contract with (orange or buymobilephones.net) ?

you say you were provided with information on how to exercise your right to cancel the contract (assuming this is distance selling) . what did this information say? did you follow it?

I wish I did this now to be honest it saves a whole lot of problems. But I very rarely order stuff from the net. My currant contract phone has been running for 4 and half years. So its naivety on my part.


Is this a fact?


Would I not have to receive the Orange SIM Card before the contract could be enabled? I have not received anything.

I originally took the offer from BMP.net. They set up the contract from Orange. I would have thought it there responsibility to cancel this also since I have informed them I am cancelling.

I did not follow the information that the email stated. But I received this email stating the cancellation procedure 3 days after I had already cancelled and sent the phone back.

Thanks for all your advice so far!

whilst you many think you had already cancelled the contract, it may very well be that you at no point effectively cancelled your contract as you received the appropriate procedure (you have not set out what this is despite my asking) but did not follow it.

even if the procedure had said that you should send the phone by a particular method (which you could not follow since you had refused delivery of the phone) there would, no doubt, have been a telephone number, email, address or some such for you to properly give notice that you were terminating the contract.

unless you did so, it seems to me that you have not cancelled your contract and you are liable for the monthly charges.

in the circumstances, i suggest you contact orange immediately and attempt to negotiate a termination although, unless you notified correctly as set out above, this would be a matter of orange's goodwill.

Sananda,

Thanks for taking an interest in my problem. Any advice, good or bad is appreciated.

Here is the email the sent me in regards to cancellation.


Removed two paragraphs that are irrelevant.

S~

you have some difficulties: you have not sent the phone back to the correct place within the specified period of time and you haven't sent the appropriate letter stating that you are cancelling to the correct address. and prking tells us that items marked 'return to sender' are sent by the slowest means.

however, the email says they will consider returns outside the period.

i suggest drafting a letter to them stating that you wish to cancel the contract, that you have already attempted to do so by your prior email (enclose a copy of the email) within the correct period but that at that date you were unaware of the correct address for doing this, and that you did not ever physically take delivery of the phone but asked the royal mail to return it to the sender's address as you were similarly unaware at that point of the correct procedure. i would send this letter as soon as possible by some sort of guaranteed method.

at the same time, i would contact orange and inform them that you have attempted to cancel this (distance sold) contract within the appropriate period giving them the exact date and that you have not made any calls. ask them to cancel the contract.

Thank you. I will get all this arranged and done first thing tomorrow. I will post back and let you know what happens.

Your advice has great, Thanks so much for your time on this matter.

S~

my pleasure.

i'd get this backed up by someone a little more qualified than me but what ever that contract says is void.

For a contract to stand there has to be offer, acceptance and exchange, in this case there has been no exchange, so contract is voided anyway.

that's because you think it's a contract to buy a phone and that a phone hasn't been received by swoosh84 so there has been no consideration.

in fact, it's a contract to provide access to the orange cellular network (and no doubt some call time) together with the provision of a mobile phone. and that access is available to swoosh84 which is the consideration.

one could argue with no sim and no phone he has no access to the network.

but it would be a poor argument, because he could access the network with any number of phones.

if you have a cell contract, you try calling them and telling them you won't be paying anymore because you have lost your phone. they will quite rightly say that isn't their concern and that you agreed to pay for the duration of the term.

Agreed. It just makes sense.

I would get yourself (the OP) down to your local CAB office or phone Consumer Direct for advice