LATEST: Significant amount of traffic from Newbury. Hello to Vodafone. Schadenfreude? Surely not… That said, cantankerous is always interested in new challenges and opportunities, so if you’re in the market for a 720 GMAT MBA, with commercial background, starred first class degree, sense of humour and a proven track record in costing a major competitor millions of dollars, why not send an email?
MORE NEWS: I’ve been asked about taking part in, and helping to organise, a seminar/workshop looking at the lessons to be learned from #tmobileukFAIL, most likely in London in a couple of weeks. Get in touch if you’re interested in attending.
UPDATE: Of course, as you probably know, we won. T-Mobile capitulated in the face of the a concerted onslaught on twitter (#tmobileukFAIL) and in the technology and mainstream media across the globe. Downloads of the cancellation letter below were increasing exponentially, and had reached more than 600 per hour when T-Mobile threw in the towel. Interestingly, of the nearly 3,000 visitors this blog recorded on 12th January 2011, the visitor that stayed the longest was T-Mobile Deutschland gmbh. One can only imagine the conversations between angry parent and naughty child. cantankerous would like to thank all those who twittered this story into the mainstream media and shamed T-Mobile into obeying the law and OFCOM into enforcing it – you know who you are.
If you want to read about what happened I recommend Rupert Goodwins at ZDNet, who caught the mood perfectly, as did Richard Plant at ComputerWorld. Charles Arthur at the Guardian has a nice follow-up story on the skewering of T-Mobile UK by consumers, the press, T-Mobile Deutschland and OFCOM. cantankerous would also like to thank Ed Richards, CEO at OFCOM, and his office, for delivering the coup de grâce, however belatedly. This campaign wasn’t just about twitter and the media, it was also about understanding the regulatory legal framework and working behind the scenes to help all stakeholders do the right thing.
Here’s the original post…
Below is a standard template cancellation to send to T-Mobile. Just insert your address, today’s date, telephone number and account number. Here’s a photo of the cheque for £430 T-Mobile sent last time they tried this and I took them to court. What is OFCOM doing? There are only four operators now. How hard is it to ensure they obey the law?
T-Mobile knows it is in the wrong
Legal Department
T-Mobile
Hatfield Business Park
Hatfield
Hertfordshire
AL10 9BW
[Insert today's date]
Ref: Tel [Insert telephone number], Account number [Insert account number]
Dear Sir/Madam,
Yesterday, I learnt that T-Mobile has decided unilaterally to reduce the monthly data allowance under my contract with you to 500MB. I have received no notice of this change, despite my consumer contract with you clearly stating that you need to give notice of thirty days in writing. Thirty days notice in writing is also a requirement of Condition 9.3 of Ofcom’s General Conditions by which T-Mobile is bound. If these changes are to be implemented on 1st February, notice in the future is clearly insufficient. I hereby give notice to reject the proposed changes and to exercise my right to leave TMobile without penalty immediately.
I contacted your call centre, and was informed that I had no right to cancel, despite that the detriment to me is clear and that I stated I wished to exercise my rights under contract law, the specific terms of my contract with you, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, and specifically clause 9.3 of Ofcom’s General Conditions which give T-Mobile the right to operate in the UK and gives consumers the right to be informed of changes likely to be detrimental at least thirty days prior to implementation and to leave the telecommunications provider without penalty if they so choose.
Your staff said they were unwilling to waive the early termination fee, making the payment of a penalty fee a condition of receiving a PAC code, despite the fact that demanding such payment is clearly illegal under the legislation above and contrary to the terms of my contract with you. Please ensure that I am not required to pay this fee. Claims differentiating between ‘Services’ and ‘Additional Services’ are clearly bogus, given that the contract you wrote defines ‘Additional Services’ as ‘Services’ and, further, consumer and contract law and Condition 9.3 makes no such differentiation. I note call centre staff consistently claimed I had no right to cancel, which is untrue and misleading. There appears to be no cancellation process for detriment and call centre staff outlined no appeal process.
I am, of course, happy to pay for what I have used. Please confirm that I will not be charged the early termination fee, and send me a final bill for usage until the point at which I use my PAC. If I do not have a satisfactory response from you prior the date at which my direct debit with you is due, I will cancel the authority for the direct debit, to ensure I do not pay any fees which are not due under the terms of the contract. In this case, you will need to send me a final bill which I will pay by cheque or card.
In addition, I intend to make a formal complaint to Ofcom about T-Mobile’s behaviour and flagrant breaching of its licence and consumer protection legislation.
Please can you tell me for my complaint to Ofcom:
1. Why I was not informed of these changes to the terms and conditions of my contract with T-Mobile which are clearly to my detriment?
2. Why was I not informed of my right to cancel, as the Ofcom regulations stipulate?
3. Why call centre staff claimed I did not have the right to cancel, which appears to be T-Mobile policy and training?
I look forward to hearing from you. In relation to the first part of this letter regarding financial matters, I am happy to communicate in writing or by text or telephone. As regards the three questions regarding my complaint to Ofcom, I require a written response by either letter or email. Please note that failure or refusal to respond to these questions will be pursued by me through Ofcom and my MP.
I also require £30 compensation for the costs I have incurred thus far due to your failure to observe the terms of our contract and consumer protection legislation (including writing this letter, calling your call centre staff, stationery costs and time spent visiting the Post Office to obtain the ‘required’ proof of postage). This charge represents only a conservative estimate of my costs incurred.
I think your behaviour in this matter has been nothing short of disgraceful.
In the absence of a satisfactory resolution before 30th January 2011 I will initiate action in the County Court.
Yours faithfully,
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ashleigh. Ashleigh said: RT @cantankerously: @TMobileUKhelp @TMobileOfficial New standard cancellation letter here: http://redo.me.uk/vjqgf #tmobileukFAIL [...]
[...] Awesome: t-mobile have made the same mistake orange did, the changes to contract terms were made without necessary notice. Here is a template letter to send to t-mob to get them to release you from your contract: Cancellation Letter Template – T-Mobile FUP cuts « cantankerous [...]
[...] – There’s even a Cancellation Letter Template available to download. It seems that T-Mobile have not, as they should, given a 30-day notification [...]
Hello there,
The 30 days’ clause is a red herring in this argument; T-Mobile’s FUP defines the data allowance as an ‘additional service’ and their Terms state they only need to give “a reasonable period of notice” of change to an additional service, not 30 days (clause 7.1.2), meaning there is no breach of contract to dispute on this point.
We think the argument is how the allowance was defined when first contracted. We’ve been through this before, and we’ve had significant success in changing service provider policy (and lost out a few times too); we’re currently working with our solicitors and will have advice on the site tomorrow.
Best,
Paul
Hello there,
The 30 days’ clause is a red herring in this argument; T-Mobile’s FUP defines the data allowance as an ‘additional service’ and their Terms state they only need to give “a reasonable period of notice” of change to an additional service, not 30 days (clause 7.1.2), meaning there is no breach of contract to dispute on this point.
We think the argument is how the allowance was defined when first contracted. We’ve been through this before, and we’ve had significant success in changing service provider policy (and lost out a few times too); we’re currently working with our solicitors and will have advice on the site tomorrow.
Best,
[...] so you can get out of your T-mobile contract if you wish: Pre-written template letter here: http://cantankerous.co.uk/?p=499 Cool stuff: TV on your iPhone @ TvCatchup TiVo: still the best PVR 10 years later [...]
Would love to know if this letter has actually worked for anybody, especially with T-Mobile still being so keen to completely ignore consumer law and rights. People do have a very firm legal right to cancel as it is a major change to their service.
Well, it worked for me when they sent me the cheque for £430. I know of at least one other who took them to Court and won as well. I can provide Case numbers if you wish, and emails from T-Mobile’s legal department. The very experienced solicitors I spoke to were all of the opinion that T-mobile did not have a leg to stand on. The contract is very poorly written, operational implementation poor too (i.e. not giving necessary notice) and T-mobile’s submission was also very poor quality. You can already see the cheque image I scanned before cashing it. The Judge certainly thought there was a case to answer.
If I was T-Mobile’s CEO I would certainly look to hire quality in the commercial contracts (which I know a lot about) and legal departments.
Excellent to hear that, I’ll steer some of our readers this way if they ask me for advice.
I am shocked by this! I will be sending this letter also
There is a template cancellation letter here: http://cantankerous.co.uk/?p=499
Thanks for this. I’ve just punted an edited copy off to T-Mobile. Will let you know how I get on. Interestingly their (outsourced, third-party) call center are all
quoting from the same sheet- they’re a bit apologetic they can’t give definitive answers, they say the decision hasn’t been made, and that they’re consolidating complaints information for t-mobile which they will pass on. I rang back an hour later and asked the second call center employee to read back the notes on my account and they did so correctly. Means nothing, obviously, as they aren’t speaking officially on behalf of t-mobile…
It’s all over now
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=DATA_CHANGES
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=DATA_CHANGES now states:
T-Mobile Statement:
“On Monday 10 January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its Fair Use Policy for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers. Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only – not existing customers.
There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused. The revision to the Fair Use Policy is designed to ensure an improved quality of service for all mobile internet users.”
Lysa Hardy, VP, T-Mobile UK
[...] Cancellation Letter Template – T-Mobile FUP cuts >> cantankerous [...]
[...] Cancellation Letter Template – T-Mobile FUP cuts >> cantankerous [...]
In case this happens again, it is worth responding to the comments about notice of 30 days being a red herring:
– T-Mobile itself defines Additional Services as a Service, as the template states
– Condition 9.3 of the General Terms requires 30 days notice of any potentially detrimental change, as the template states
– In terms of both UTCCR and Condition 9.3 there is only one consumer contract and detriment is key, as the template states
– T-Mobile accepted itself that it had failed to provide the necessary notice and offered compensation
– T-Mobile withdrew the proposed changes
[...] left in the two days between the announcement and the rollback, and others mocked up template cancellation letters excusing themselves from fees because T-Mobile had broken the terms of its [...]
[...] – There’s even a Cancellation Letter Template available to download. It seems that T-Mobile have not, as they should, given a 30-day notification [...]
[...] a letter is painful, but it hurts less than taking on a slippery call-centre operative. We like this letter whipped up by grumpy blogger Cantankerous as a starting point for your particular complaint. Writing a letter, however, does give the network [...]
[...] call charges, international roaming charges and particularly and most recently, in relation to massive reductions in Fair Use Policy (FUP) mobile internet allowances, have received a great deal of [...]
So is it too late to try to cancel due to the change in terms and conditions?
I would say so, yes.
[...] customer anger over the sudden change in policy had gone viral, with several bloggers posting form letters and suggesting that subscribers could use them as a way of cancelling their contracts and avoiding [...]
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