Fixed should mean fixed with mobile contract prices
Today’s the day Three puts its prices up for existing customers already tied in to ‘fixed’ contracts. And today’s the day we ask Ofcom to stamp out this practice. We need your support to ensure that Fixed Means Fixed.
Did you know your fixed mobile contract could go up in price at any time? When we recently asked more than 1,500 UK adults with a mobile contract, 70% said they didn’t know companies were able to do so.
That’s despite a spate of price hikes from Britain’s biggest mobile providers; Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and Three. It’s an issue I’m sure many of you are familiar with here on Which? Conversation – over 1,700 comments have been made by angry mobile customers hit by such price rises.
Pledge your support for Fixed Means Fixed
If you sign up to a 12 to 24 month contract at an advertised price of ‘£25 per month’, I’m sure you’d be surprised if you were told you had to pay more. You’d probably be outraged if you weren’t allowed to cancel without having to pay penalty. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what mobile companies have got away with.
Why? Most mobile companies’ T&Cs include a caveat that lets them put up prices by the RPI rate of inflation. And this can vary – last year Orange hiked prices by 4.34%, and this year Three put them up by 3.6%. You’ve been with us every step of the way and your comments haven’t fallen on deaf ears – we think it’s time to tell mobile companies that Fixed Means Fixed.
It’s simple; if a customer signs up to a fixed deal, where they can be tied in for up to two years, then all of the terms of that deal, including price, should be fixed for the contract’s duration.
If a mobile company feels it needs to put up prices, it should factor this into deals for new customers and not impose such hikes on existing customers who are already locked in. We have submitted a formal complaint to Ofcom packed full of your feedback and we need your support to help make it stand up and take notice:
Providers may protest that their price rises aren’t significant for individual customers, but we’ve worked out that with around 10.5 million Brits affected so far, consumers have spent almost £34.5m extra as a result. In a year, mobile companies could make a hugely significant £90m. That’s £90m that we, the customers, didn’t think we’d agreed to when we signed our contracts.
Shifting the balance of power back in your favour
If mobile providers can’t or won’t commit to Fixed Means Fixed not only should they be upfront about this in their advertising, they should give customers the ability to cancel without penalty if they change the deal. This means you could refuse a contract with variable terms, or accept a contract with fixed terms and cancel if those terms change.
If you agree with our campaign, show your support using the pledge above. The balance of power needs to be put back in your favour – Ofcom must intervene now and stamp out this practice so that you can be confident that fixed really does mean fixed.
Post a Comment
Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked
jennet flynn
I can’t get out of my three contract, so in april 2013 I will not be taking out another contract with them.As an pensioner mine is for safety reasons mostly.I was always brought up with when a contract was made and agreed to for how long a period that was what it was,but seems not.
Patricia
Jennet Flynn, I am living on pension too, and I have challenged my service provider for increasing the monthly rate while the contract is still in operation. They are sticking to the increase which I cannot afford to pay. I’m afraid they may have to take me to court on this one!!!
neil
I had been with ORANGE for 6 months out of a 24 month contract when the rise was imposed on me. This was never mentioned during the sale, in fact I was promised a fixed price for 24 months as a was considering PAYG instead. Thieving BANDITS !
maggie
I will never have a contract with orange again because of this rise and hope others do the same.
Terry
I was just 6 months into a 24 month contract when Orange hiked the price up. They now have the audacity to offer me a cheap internet deal as long as I stay with Orange mobile. Snowballs in hell have a better chance. Since they took over another supplier their available coverage has gone with the snowballs – I will be changing ASAP
Tall Person
My contract, I thought, was fixed but Vodafone have increased it. I believe twice now this year. I was totally surprised that they were allowed to do this. When we take out a contract with a mobile phone company we cannot end it before, in my case, two years are completed and yet THEY can break theirs and make increases. This is a breach of contract.
abmscopes
So we now have to add ‘fixed’ to the list of words that mobile phone companies don’t know the meaning of. ‘Fixed’ can now sit nicely next to ‘unlimited’. Where did this random assigning of new meanings to words come from exactly? Marketing departments I suppose. Can we send some primary school teachers round to these companies head offices for an English lesson?
Wonder if they would accept my new definition of £15 per month.Think i’ve now decided that this means…. oh, £10 per month. I’ll amend my direct debit accordingly; I’m sure they’ll understand.
Tired of Orange
I have a contract with Orange, two years ago I upgraded my phone and initiated the free internet/data service inclusive with my plan. Soon after I noticed that I was having extensively high phone bills, I looked at my bill to see that they were charging me for data usage that should have been covered by my free inclusive data allowance on my plan, I never went over my allowance but they felt it acceptable to charge me for that to an amount that was double, triple or greater. I complained for months before they responded and agreed they were doing things incorrectly and would issue a credit, which came after another 3 months of charges.
It gets better, at the time I upgraded my phone, they switched my service plan to a more expensive plan without my permission, they never told me they did this or were going to, they just did. this too, increased my monthly charges to an unacceptable level in my view even though I told them to switch it back to my original plan repeatedly from the first moment I noticed the switch. I had Orange Care insurance at the same time but cancelled it when I upgraded as my mobile had better coverage through my bank that was free, but they still charge me for it even though I told them to cancel it repeatedly as well. They still haven’t done either or refunded me the extra charges even though I have contacted them countless times and had proof of their actions and charges.
Aside from the data charges, the switch of plan and additional charges for doing that, the continued charges for the insurance plan I told them to cancel. They cancelled my service for non payment of my bill according to their Executive Office department, this was despite the fact they had issued me a credit for the data charges I mentioned previously and told me I did not need to pay my bill until it had expired, which it had not. They considered each month of the credit paying my bill as a further month of non payment and charged me for that month and an additional non-payment fee while reporting each of those months as a non payment to the credit recording agencies which has put up a big negative flag on my credit record and ruined what has been to date a perfect credit rating until all of these actions by Orange, they recently sent my bill to a collections agency and have initiated legal actions for a CCJ and to get money back that was never owed as my bill was being paid by the credit they’d issued me and told me I didn’t need to pay until it was expired. They still haven’t switched my service plan back to the original or cancelled the insurance I told them to and issue me additional credits back for all of those charges.
It has been nothing but a nightmare as their customer service towards an excellent customer who never missed a payment ever is beyond belief or they just don’t respond, all of their service plan switches and charges and cancelled insurance plan charges. they still refuse to correct their action, withdraw their collections and CCJ actions and correct their reports to the credit recording agencies, refund the monies they owe me or apologise.
The most I can do is file complaints which do little and suggest that other consumers avoid using Orange as their mobile/broadband provider, but Orange doesn’t care as I think they treat us as rubbish and cost as outrageous amounts of money.
I think you should avoid orange at all costs or you could be the next consumer to receive this type of treatment.
Gerry
Customer with T-Mobile – coming to the end of a fixed term 2 year contract. I have experienced 2 price hikes during the contract – started at £25 a month – now £26.75.
Not happy at all with the price hikes – believed the “small print” was too small to see this coming. Disgraceful conduct dressed up in legalese, small print and RPI clothing.
Will not be renewing with T-Mobile – believe I have to send them a message that ripping of customers who are contractually tied-in is not a good business model.
Denis Rumbold
I have just sent a complaint to 3 via their website re. the recent price rise:
I am contacting you to complain about the recent rise in my monthly payment. You say that this is allowed as it’s in the Ts&Cs but I am not allowed to leave the contract early as a result of this change. This is totally one sided and unfair. I will bear this in mind when my contract with 3 expires. I will seriously consider moving my contract to another provider.
They ask: How would you like us to solve this complaint?
My answer:Revert to the price agreed when I signed the contract.
It won’t happen, obviously, but I await a reply.
Denis
brad
Report it to your local Trading Standards
Guardian link to this story…..http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jul/20/mobile-phone-contract
Patrick Steen
Hello all, just to say we have now passed 8,000 signatures pledging support for our Fixed Means Fixed campaign! http://www.which.co.uk/news/2012/07/8000-join-which-to-tackle-mobile-price-rises-291637/
Great work everyone and keep spreading the word!
Will
That’s an amazing level of support especially in such a short time and gives great publicity for another push across the media (social and otherwise). Can’t wait for the 10,000 announcement, surely Ofcom can’t ignore that …can they?
Charlotte Jones
3 have put up my’fixed’ fee, 9months into a 2 year contract
Lydia
I took out a two-year contract with Vodafone and they changed the the costs of calls (and which calls were or not included in the bundle) half way through. I don’t care how good the terms are that they offer, I’ll switch at the end.
dellbob
Orange raised our contract price within 4 months of us taking a fixed 2 year contract. I asked if we could reduce our minutes and keep the same fixed price instead. They refused and the regulator said he could do nothing about it.
I will only join a company that promises to keep the price of the contract the same in future.
Orange online billing was also out of action for about 4 months meaning we could not download a bill to send to our phone supplier for a cashback offer. there service is poor.
Tom Jackson
I have a total of 3 Three mobile contracts and was more than a bit miffed at the recent price hike in what I thought was a fixed contract. I wouldn’t expect my car insurer to suddenly demand more money int the middle of an insurance year. If they want more money I should be able to walk away from the contract. That simple!
I was looking for an iPad and was about to source one through Three but found that the price that were quoting was about to go up by the same amount as the phone contract, even though they were still advertising the original price in the store. I only found out because I asked.
Have since sourced my iPad elsewhere.
Tom J
Vanessa
This really is an outrage. I have been withOrange for several years successfully negotiating with them at each contract renewal. Unfortunately I have to wait for a year for this contract to end….. And then no more! I can’t think of another industry where such cavalier behaviour is apparently tolerated.
Patra
I have just been given £10 return by 02 for bearing with them during the recent disrupption to the service. It’s to be used with there ‘Priority Moments’ which I never use but a nice gesture anyway.
Well done 02.
Patra
I have just been offered £10 return by 02 for bearing with them during the recent disrupption to the service. It’s to be used with there ‘Priority Moments’ which I never use but a nice gesture anyway.
Well done 02.
frugal ways
On what date, did Which? find out that OFCOM had been investigating mobile phone contracts “since January”?
Kenneth Mumford
I took out my contract with Vodafone 2 years ago at the “fixed” price of £30:00 per month, it was first increased “because of the increase in VAT”, the 2nd increase was for (on my part) reason’s unknown. I am waiting for my foot injury to heal and I am most definitetly going back to “pay as you go”. At least that way I will know how much I am spending and not wait for another increase in my “fixed ” price contract, I may even move away from Vodafone, even though I have been with them for over 10 years!
GeoffT
Like many others, my 24 month Three contract was increased after just 12 months. Outrageous, I agree, but I can see little point in saying I’ll change at the end of my contract because all companies are as bad as each other ( and I still think Three’s All-You-Can-Eat data plan is the best available). I’ll let Three know I ‘m unhappy but what is required is industry-wide legislation.
paul owen
I did not no that they could put up a fixontract so did other people I have talked to
David
My “fixed” price contract with Three commenced in February 2012 and the price will increase on 16th July. Therefore the advertised contract price that I accepted will only actually remain the sum paid for around 4 of the 24 months payment.
The argument that the increase was due to the inflation rate is frankly garbage. Improved package deals are currently available for a reduced cost of my contract. If the cost base had increased the new package prices should cost more. It is very clear that Three have increased existing customer contract prices to subsidise a marketing push at lesser contract prices.
I certainly believed that I would be paying the same monthly cost for the duration of my contract and based my decision not to purchase a pay as you go based on this contract sum.
Pauline Gilhooly
I suffered too with T-Mobile and a price rise 9 months into a 2 year contract. If they are having such difficulty with predicting the costs why offer such long contracts? It is really hard to get a yearly contract now (if not impossible) so they tie you in for longer and then put the price up willy-nilly.
One of the other most annoying things is that they put your phone charges up but when you next go into town the store is offering either a better or the same deal that you were on before the price hike. ???
Bill
Orange hiked my monthly payment after about a year with another year to go. Thank goodness I took out a small value contract. When its finished I will definately NOT be renewing it. The phone I got will last me another 3-4 years at least and in future I will be buying any new phone outright or even a second hand one, certainly not through a contract. Dont just blame the phone companies who never miss opportunities to extract as much cash out of your pockets as possible. Blame politicians, the government and the useless regulators who allow it to happen. About the only people who stand up to them are in Brussels who have done more to help the consumer in this country than we realise.
Marek
Is it legal? Surely a contract is binding on all parties, they deliver a service and we pay for that service.
If they vary the contract then they must bring something more to it and we must agree that what they are bringing must be in our interest or be able to say no.
E.G. If credit card providers alter the interest rate you can say no and then pay off the current balance at the old rate.
We must be able to continue to the end of the of the contract term at the old T’s & C’s. A contract renewal is a different thing altogether.
Tony
I signed up for a two year contract with t-mobile in May of this year. I was tempted by an offer which was part of a heavy marketing push in many national papers promising a Blackberry with limited call time and texts for £10.50 per month “fixed for two years”. As I my mobile usage was very light this seemed the ideal opportunity to get a new phone for the price of my normal pay and go spend. As this was my first contract I was a little wary, so I asked the salesman if this meant that my monthly bill would remain unchanged for two years, he said that it would. So I went ahead. Now I find that Fixed price means Fixed until they decide otherwise. It’s not that I can’t afford the increase, it is a matter of about £1.50ish, it’s just that I don’t like being conned and rest assured if I can’t leave before my contract expires then I’ll flippin’ well be off the day that it does. I support Which’s campaign..
frugal ways
On what date, did Which? find out that OFCOM had been investigating mobile phone contracts “since January”?
Just a rough idea will do…
Patrick Steen
Hello Frugal, Ofcom published information about its own investigation into the terms of mobile phone contracts in January. The details can be found at this link: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/competition-bulletins/open-cases/all-open-cases/cw_01082/. However, we wanted to make Ofcom aware of the sheer amount of consumer frustration about this issue, add Which?’s voice on behalf of the consumers affected, and to pressure Ofcom to take action on the problem sooner rather than later.
frugal ways
Thanks for that Patrick, but it doesn’t answer my question.
At what date did Which? find out that OFCOM had been investigating mobile phone contracts since January 2012?
Ann
My two contracts with three were increased. I cancelled one, at the end of the contract period so i didnt get any charges and they rang and offered a significantly better deal. Two things 1. Should have thought about that before angering a loyal customer paying over £50 PCM on 2 contracts & 2. How can they afford offer me 50% off just because I cancelled/threaten to cancel. If you follow marketing theory a loyal happy customer is surely better than an extremely aggrieved ex customer who uses social media etc to ‘bad mouth’ an inept org who it took 4 phone calls & 2 complaints to cancel. Contract 2 expires in September – dreading it!
Patrick Steen
I’m sure you’ve already spotted it, but we’ve added a live thermometer to the post and the http://www.which.co.uk/fixed campaign page to show you how many pledges we’ve had in real-time. Over 13,000 so far!
Paul
This could be the forerunner to an ominous trend if mobile companies are allowed to get away with these price rises. Next we will have home insurance, building insurance, car insurance and whatever else insurance companies including these terms and conditions in their small print and it will become the norm among the industry. Nobody will ever feel comfortable in taking any form of contract again.
Daniel
its nice to see that the contracts that have gone up in price are available to start at the old rates
gill
When I took out a contract with 3, they quoted £15 per month, when the bill came it was £20 per month, I will leave as soon as the contract ends.
Patrick Steen
Hello everyone, we’re looking for case studies for possible media coverage of our Fixed Means Fixed campaign – that is people have been affected by these mobile phone price rises. Preferably you should be based in London.
If you would like to have the option of being a case study, please contact us here: http://conversation.which.co.uk/contact-us. The more coverage we get, the more pledges, thus the more pressure we put on Ofcom and mobile companies. And we want your voices to be at the heart of that. Thanks!
frugal ways
On what date did Which? find out that OFCOM had been investigating mobile phone contracts since January 2012?
MRS L
T-Mobile increased mine about 1 year after I took it, didnt occur to me that it was out of order. But now I know, I wont renew with them or O2 who are the most obstructive.
stephen
I was with Orange, left when my contract expired because of the price rise. I then signed a 2 year contract with 3 and low and behold they put there prices up. Do these huge companies not know there is a recession on. I just renewed my insurance and my premium had gone up when i questioned the company about it they just said all premium’s across the board had gone up by 10%.
derek c
i complained about the price rises and the fact i have to inform them 30 days prior to my contract ending i have been trying to tell them now that i was to leave when my contract ends, this is giving the over 2 months notice the term and conditions say i have to give at least 30 days but they will not except my notice the said;
I’m sorry you had to get in touch with us about the recent price increase and the cancellation of your account. I understand you aren’t happy about the price increase.
Our business costs have been rising for some time, and we factored this into the price packages we launched on 8 March. All packages sold from this date onwards have the price increase costs factored in.
Our approach is to apply a consistent increase based on the March RPI rate, for all customers who joined before 8 March. So we standardised our price increase based on this RPI rate. Even as the RPI rate has changed after this, we’ll keep the same price increase for you unless and until we may need to change the price in future again.
Our customer terms state that we have a right to change our pricing annually in line with the Retail Price Index, so this change doesn’t amount to a breach of our customer terms, and therefore you cannot cancel your contract without incurring early termination charges.
Clause 4 allows us to introduce a price variation as long as that price variation isn’t more than the percentage increase in RPI. Such changes don’t give customers the right to terminate their agreements.
From 16 July 2012, we’re increasing the monthly charge of our phone and Mobile Broadband contracts that were set up before 8 March 2012.
We’ve raised our prices by 3.6%, in line with the March Retail Price Index (RPI) rate published on 17 April 2012. The RPI measures the average cost of goods and services across the country for consumers and businesses and we’ve brought our charges in line with this.
We haven’t made any changes to the current policy on contract cancellation. You can cancel your contract in the last 30 days of your contract end date which is 23 September 2012. If you choose to cancel now, we’ll have to charge you the monthly cost for the number of months remaining on your contract.
We know that increases are never welcome, so it’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly. In fact, it’s the first time we’ve ever put up package prices for our contract phone customers and we’re confident that your plan still represents excellent value for money.
I’ve checked your account and see you’ve called us to serve a 30days notice on your account. We’re sorry we can’t accept your cancellation request at the moment. Your contract end date is 23 September 2012. Please write to us on or around 15 August 2012 to serve a 30days notice and we’ll arrange to cancel your account on 23 September.
You can also cancel your account early by paying an Early Termination Fee (ETF). This is your monthly line rental for the remainder of your contract. If you are willing to pay the ETF, please call us and we can arrange to have your account cancelled immediately.
We hope that this puts your mind at rest. For more details on the price increase, we’ve set up a special web page at – three.co.uk/pricechanges
Yours sincerely,
Raja Buxani
Three Customer Service
DavidJL
This is typical Three behaviour: working policies that don’t conform to their own T&Cs.
You don’t have to write to them, Derek, and there is no upper limit on the notice you give them.
Nor, of course, can they raise their prices for free. This is so obvious now it is like it is screaming out. There are so many obvious flaws in Three’s approach to this it’s almost embarrassing.
Yet in practice they’ve got away with it, in a lot of individual cases.
And Which? clearly don’t even have the gumption to say “Sorry folks, we were wrong.”
Sean
Thanks Derek C for posting your response from your mobile operator, whom I am assuming is THREE given the details of issues you are having with them!
“…we’ll keep the same price increase for you unless and until we may need to change the price in future again.”
This demonstrates quite clearly that they have every intention of increasing it again in the future now a precedent has been set and not successfully contested!
THIS is the very reason why such (now widespread) price increase justifications needed to be challenged and condemned by the relevant government appointed bodies concerned, as soon as they raised their ugly heads in the telecoms marketplace… it’s just blatant profiteering using the thinnest of excuses, and at the expense of the public!
It also infuriates me that your operator has the gall to refuse your letter of cancellation despite the fact they only state “at least 30 days notice” is required in their terms as a rule, and you have given them well in advance of that, but hardly by an inappropriate amount!
To request that you go through the process of writing once again in what amounts to no more than two weeks time, which still places your notification an absurd 8 days before their “laboriously prescribed” 30 day period is simply another example of how they make people jump through hoops by stonewalling them and giving them conflicting approaches and information even when it comes to legitimately ending your contract at its natural term end. (For if your operator is indeed Three, their very own website claims there is no need to write, as it can all be done over the phone… except we all know how that process is “artifically drawn out” for the customer too to delay/prevent honest cancellation!)
The only redeeming thing for you is that you will be free of them within a short space of time.
Trust me, I envy you, they are an absolute disgrace when it comes to hnoouring their customers and their contractual agreements.
frugal ways
Still waiting for an answer Which?
On what date did Which? find out that OFCOM had been investigating mobile phone contracts since January 2012?
Nikki Whiteman
Hi frugal – I think Patrick’s already answered this one a bit further up the page, but in case you missed it the answer is January. You can see the post they added to their site here, which provides a bit more background and detail into what it is that they’re investigating: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/competition-bulletins/open-cases/all-open-cases/cw_01082/