Vodafone Refusing to Downgrade Contract

[BuildMeBreakMe]

Hello, I'm new here so please bear with me.
I've been on a Vodafone contract since 2010.

When I initially signed up to a contract with Vodafone it was a SIM only plan. No phone. Nothing. After this was about to expire I upgraded to a phone and sim plan. I was NOT provided with a revised set of terms and conditions to read. I was simply guided through the upgrade process online. At no point, was I made aware of any inability to down grade the contract.

I have looked through the terms and conditions on the back of my initial contract/order form and it makes no statement to indicate that I could not downgrade the contract due to personal circumstance change.

I have, before finding out the above information, emailed Vodafone to politely ask if I could have my contract downgraded due to it costing too much and the fact that I do not use even half of what I'm paying for. Of course, they refused and if I want to terminate the contract I have to pay in the region of over £400.

What I'd like to know is, if any one knows, do I have any sort of case against them with the information provided above RE not being advised of this clause in their contract or having it on the order form?

Any help or advice is very welcome.

Andrew

 

[Witch consumer]

Oooooooh Vodafone

You signed up to a contract to pay a certain amount of money for a call/text and possibly data plan for a certain period of time - that as far as Vodafone are concerned is the end of their nose and they can't see any further than that.

To cancel a contract one or other of you must be in breach, if they are in breach you can simply cancel it and get nothing (apart from perhaps a free phone), if you are in breach and the cancel it, you will owe them £400, hardly fair is it?

I think it depends on how willing you are to fight and what you have already told them, not using all your calls/texts is not reason enough, coming out of work and having a wife and 3 kids to support may give you a bit of a lifeline but you'll have a battle on your hands.

 

[BuildMeBreakMe]

@witch consumer thanks for replying

I'm not really wanting to cancel it at the moment. I just want to downgrade to something more affordable and as far as I can see they have no clause in the order form I have which states that I can't do that. They however, seem to think otherwise.

If they ultimately refuse to do it no matter what I throw at them then I'll have no choice but to save up and terminate.

 

[Witch consumer]

Why don't you write and ask them which specific clause in their contract prevents you from downgrading?

 

[TallGuy]

I believe it is implied when you come to a new agreement that you have agreed to the terms and conditions. The fact is, your original contract is null now you're in a different agreement.

Most network providers will allow a downgrade after a set period of time. I am sure Vodafone are actually the ones who will allow it after nine months rather than twelve like the majority. There is one type of contract Vodafone will not reduce, I can't remember which one specifically but I would expect it to be the sort of contract that you can sign up to without a phone.

You may not have physically signed anything but you'd have had to agree to whatever it was they said to you when you discussed this new contract. At a push, you MIGHT be able to feign ignorance and say "show me where I signed" and see what happens, but think about it this way - when you tick a box to say you've read the terms&conditions on a piece of software...did you? And did you SIGN anything...?