Safe Speed Forums

Can someone help me with a financial matter please?

I entered into an 18 month contract with Vodafone broadband which came to an end this month. I went to my bank to cancel the Direct Debit with them a couple of weeks ago and today I have phoned Vodafone to say that the contract has now come to an end and I want to make it clear that I no longer wish to use it or have it extended. But they tell me I have to give one month’s notice to cancel it!

I was told by the bank manager that I may need to notify them so that they don’t try to keep taking payments but how is it that if I take out a contract for 18 months I have to tell Vodafone at 17 months that it is my intention to discontinue with their service at the end of the contract period? That is surly nonsense and a big con?

So basically, I have got to have their pathetic service, which I do not want and was always useless, for another month making it 19 months in total. In other words if I didn’t speak or write to them they are at liberty to extend my contract ad infinitum without my permission or consent even though I didn’t sign up for any more than 18 months.

I mean if you wanted to pay me to dig your garden for a week at £40 per day and I run over to eight days, how would you feel if I insisted you owe me another £40?

I’m absolutely furious! I'm sure it's in the small print somewhere but honestly, seriously - what b t!!!

Are they all at it; all companies? Is it the norm these days? I wanted to post in case anyone else here gets duped or is heading towards the end of a contract. Beware!

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

This is the norm. At 17 months you give them notice that you want it to finish as most contracts have a 30 day notice period. When you rung them up to say you were going to cancel then they should have sorted out cancellation to occur 30 days after. If they didn't then that is rather naughty of them. But some require written cancellation you have to email or write to them to cancel. It's a pain but the terms are usually clearly laid out.

It is stated as an 18 month minimum term rather than 18 month isn't it? Subtle difference in the wording.... Annoys the heck out of me too!

If that is the norm I am never getting anything on contract ever again. I want to keep my life simple teabelly and have cut my credit card up too. If I haven’t got the money I don’t buy it.

I have been working on rationalising everything in my life over the past year. “Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”. (William Morris). I don’t know what I’m doing in there then

I wouldn’t mind so much if they hadn’t conned me in the first place with some bull about having excellent coverage in my area when in fact it is useless! I was to find out later, (too late for me), that the coverage is theoretical FFS but by the time they said “try this” and “try that”” and a change of SIM and a change of underpants, I had gone over the two weeks committing me to 18 months of shite service. So I ended up giving it to someone who needed broadband where the coverage was better and they paid me for using it.

What other cons are out there I wonder?? Oh, I know another one. When I’d been in my house about nine months I had a guy from nPower make me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Long story short: the unit rate of electricity goes down from 8p per unit to just 2p per unit. Sounds too good to be true eh? It was! I read all the small print and sure enough once you have gone over 2000 units you’re paying a fraction of what I would have with eon or anyone else.

Trouble was I don’t use 2000 units in a year, I used about 500 as it happened that year but of course I wouldn’t have known that because I hadn’t been there long enough. In hindsight I could have, and should have, gone into the garage and seen that it was never going to be anywhere near 2000 units.

There’s always a catch and it just leaves you more cynical. I dumped that contract and learnt another lesson the hard way. I left them on a point of principle; the guy who sold it me knew I was living on my own and wouldn’t benefit from the lower rate - tosser! The next person to come knocking on my door trying to sell something is going to get a size 7 boot up their arse! (I have very small feet for my height ).

Anyone got any other rip-off stories doing the rounds lately?

Thanks teabelly

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I almost hesitate to say this but have you never read your BT contract ? Makes Vodaphone look like saints IMHO !

Yes it is common to have to write (you are lucky if you are allowed to email too) 30 days prior to ending many contracts. What about the allowed all the calls you like - read the small print and it is 'reasonable allowance' or similar wording ...
They try on one hand to ensure that they are protecting themselves for their supplier contracts and costs and ensure if you go over their expected use they can claw back some money so they don't loose out, but maintain a profit.

Contracts are important, they specify what each party is responsible for. If you fail to read and understand your 'part' then what can you 'do'? Nothing as you have missed your chance a long time ago. You can if in time call them and change a contract in writing - make special circumstances, allow and extension to ensure you have good reception and so on.
People often fail to appreciate words are very important and precise and 'count' in contract law.

A friend loaned a chap a horse, he didn't restrict the grazing when told to and horse gets laminitis. Passer by calls SSPCA (RSPCA) friend is megga worried as now fears Court Case, however 'chap' horse is loaned to ends up with the Court Case and friend is witness. BUT had she had a clear contract stipulating that he was responsible, that the horse was prone to laminitis etc etc then she would only have needed to flash the paper at the SSPCA and she would not have had any sleepless nights - apart from horse care health worry.
Another twist to this story was that the horse was a companion horse, now the SSPCA remove one horse leaving the other alone who goes nuts ! (Nutty horse anyway). Now as it happens that 2nd horse did not (as far as I ever knew) escape BUT who's responsibility would it have been?
A grey area in Law. The SSPCA wished to remove one for immediate care but the horse needed a restricted area did not need to leave the other horse therefore has 2nd horse got out then the SSPCA created an unstable (forgive pun) situation that was in essence totally un-necessary. Had 2nd horse caused damage or injury to another they had taken responsibility as it was beyond the ability of it's owner to have intervened, as he was not even noified (they claimed to have tried) ! All they needed to do was to leave 1st horse in field but treated until notification was secured and arrangements made to secure 2nd horse. They chose not to.

Contacts and wording are very important. I am sure with your job you have very precisely worded contracts, perhaps including time frames of all sorts of things and security issues and so on. Go outside of that contract and they or you 'have a case' the responsibility (and often trust) is broken. Contracts are there for both parties involved. If you disagree then you need to say so within 7 - 14 days (depends on contract) often.
I agree you were unlucky to not find out the bad reception but I would have made a point of checking prior to receiving the goods and then as soon as I received them I know I have to check - but I have knowledge in this area.
(Had many run-in's with BT etc. I have yet to have BT act honorably. I could fill a book of BT nightmare's (!) and some even when the contract goes your way, they can still mess you about.)

Having said all of that - I do understand that small print is tough to read and time consuming. We sign things on trust that the contract is fair and honourable, but we frankly never should, we ought to always read every section and ensure that we fully agree & understand it first.

Even your gardener situation - often a verbal contract is made, but in reality it is best in writing, as then everyone knows where they 'stand'.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

With respect Big Tone, our contracts say something like "Minimum rental period: two years, cancellation notice period three months up to contract termination date and thereafter".

So we expect clients to give us three months' notice if they want to cancel at the earliest point, i.e. two years.

Sounds like yours trumps mine Claire

Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of reading and understanding contracts and I like to think I am nobody’s fool. But in reality how many of us go into the minutiae of it all, questioning each and every detail and the ramifications until every last desire to digest it all to our satisfaction is well and truly satiated and understood before signing up? I would still be looking through the documents I signed to buy my house to this day if I were like that.

So then, I may be wrong but I think what most people do, rather than trying to be your own solicitor, is go on popularity, brand and recommendation. I'm sure not many people who eat chocolate look at the ingredients to see what is inside and whether there are any nasties before biting the bullet. It's Cadburys, it Thornton’s – we know and trust them and they go back a long way. My grandmother eat the stuff and we all trust it.

I have a story... I don't eat or care for chocolate much but when I went to buy some for a friend a few years ago I went to a Thornton’s outlet and looked at their range. When I saw one pretty package I liked I happened to scan down the ingredients and I saw my BIG HATE. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil! I won't bore you with what I knew about it and how right my late brother was about the vile stuff, but then I went on to pick up their other products...

Every single one contained Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, to my disgust!!! (So I went elsewhere and bought Cadburys instead). Nowadays they don’t use it in anything and eveyone condems it, at long last. Cheap nasty crap to bulk up products and they have the nerve to use their long tradition of 'quality' to shove it down our throats! Too little too late for me, you have lost my custom and they will never get a recommendation from me, least of all a purchase.

My point is, I can do something like that because it is simple and short; uncomplicated. But if I were to look and examine every single thing in all the documents and interrogate everything I didn't understand or was ambiguous when I was buying my house, like most people I would never buy the thing!

Contracts are full of this 2 size font War and Peace and I’m sure they play on the fact that the vast majority of folk have neither the time nor inclination to delve. We shouldn't have to and it wasn't like that years ago.

BTW, Thornton’s don't use it anymore but again, on a point of principle, I will never buy their crap after that for the same reason that if Kellogg’s ever pull a stunt like that on their Cornflakes I shall treat them and all their products with equal contempt!


I know you’re right and I know there’s nothing we can do to argue against it. But is it right that they can, and do, use the argument I use above to dupe us?

I've only got one more toy to throw out my pram now

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Our contracts have a page of font 2 on the back, most of which is pretty irrelevant and rarely enforced.

On my quotes, I add a couple of short paragraphs that basically say "this is what we'll do for your money, this is how long you're stuck with us for".

Saves a lot of aggro later.

Well ok!

I want my money back on that knackered Sinclair C5 you sold me for £5,000 years ago you said was an investment!

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I'm not a mobile phone person - I personally have not used more than £10 worth of credit since their introduction! I have a pay as you go for emergencies - I only switch it on to use it, and have only ever sent two texts!

However I fear you might be doing Thorntons a disservice, unless there was further information!

I think what you refer to as dodgy is in fact the hydrogenated trans fats - normal hydrogentated fats are still common, and not harmful when part of a varied diet.
Butter is a form of hydrogenated fat as is margarine and other blended "spreads".

The traditional form of chocolate used cocoa butter or chocolate liquor.
Chocolate made with the latter is dark and full flavoured - and fats are added to change it's taste and colour. This of course is subject to fashion - and over the years the manufacturers change their recipes to suit taste and different markets - hence continental chocolate being different to our "home grown" product.

I'm not saying it isn't sinister - just that the subject is far more complex than you might imagine.

Too much chocolate can kill you due to it's theobromine content - ANY chocolate! About 226 lbs would do it for a human adult - but far far less for dogs due to them being unable to process the theobromine as quickly as humans!

I have long attempted to understand what we eat - I recommend that we should all read "E for Additives" AND take note of the ingredients of our foods, and the manner in which it is processed.
Now too I get annoyed about the manner in which it is packaged!

There is a train of thought which says "healthy eating is just a way of prolonging a miserable existence" !

I am always fascinated how the different food trade bodies spin their product.
The peanut industry is "evil" in the manner it controls information about it's products. Statistically, peanuts are more dangerous than radioactivity, but they don't want hysteria breaking out, and so they even swamp search engines with positively spun stories to protect their industry from misunderstanding by the public - mostly the American public, but that's another story!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Hadn't heard that before

Ah, you take a keen interest in this too Ernest One thing I know for sure, they suddenly took it out of their entire product range when it used to be in their entire product range for some recent years, and with good reason!

I’d like to have taken them to task over it but, just like my beef with the crap Peugeot brakes, you will only ever get fobbed off. (BTW Mole, I didn’t bother to pursue that one after the local branch road tested it and said it’s fine). Pah!

I hate when manufacturers come up with things like ‘original’ and ‘best’. Ahem, how can it be original when it’s got something which wasn’t even invented back when the product was first made and as for being the best? Do they think we're stupid?

Maybe it’s edible again now but they interfered with something which wasn’t broken, unlike Cadburys, (apart from the owners of course).

But I digress.. I know a contract is fluid; it can be anything they want it to be. But somewhere in recent history someone moved the goalposts and put the emphasis on us to be mindful of their smallprint. I know I sound like a fuddy duddy but the drip-drip of having to scratch every financial itch is making me sore.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Most car insurance policies will now renew automatically unless you specifically tell them you want to cancel it.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Cynical hat on...

I bet if you had an expensive claim to make a day after your policy expired, (before you have paid for the 'automatic renew'), they would have something to say which allows them to wriggle out of it.

"Terribly sorry sir. You didn't renew and you were not insured" (Even though you paid them the day after the accident).

In the old days I would hotfoot it down to Hill House Hammond to ensure I was insured when my old policy was about to expire. I spoke to a real person who searched for a good deal. I got to know her, Sue. She was nice and sweet and always made me a lovely cuppa.

Nowadays I just gawp at a screen for an hour and play roulette putting sensitive information online and I have to make my own cuppa

I miss Sue.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

If they sold you a contract where good coverage is part of the sale, then that could constitute a breach of the contract between you and the provider.
More to the point:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1149723/Mobile-phone-customers-poor-network-coverage-win-compensation-landmark-ruling.html

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

That’s it exactly thanks Jom.

They did the same to me as that guy in the paper; not so much bullying but a steadfast “you have gone past the two weeks so bog off!” I had gone past the two weeks, just, but like I say it was because of them messing me around.

Trouble was I ended up giving it to my girlfriend so she could use it and pay me something towards the cost. So I wouldn’t be able to claim anything because it will have been seen to be used; just not by me in my area. I don’t know how they can get away with this ‘good coverage theoretically’ nonsense?

Shouldn’t someone go out there and measure if there’s actually any b RF present for Christ’s sake? I wouldn't have had a problem then. I guess the short term money grabbing means more to them than customer satisfaction, but they will pay the price later I hope. I should have paid them with some of my theoretical money.

It’s not right and it’s not fair but so long as it’s in the contract they can screw me ‘till the cows come home. Well not in future they won’t, they’re on my blacklist - for good!


Anyway, I didn’t mean to go off on one about that but modern contracts in general. It’s all enough to put you off signing anything for fear of a clause or copout for which you end up paying the price or suffering.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

And you can _always_ beat the renewal price by shopping around. I firmly believe many firms rely on repeat business to turn a profit.

Indeed. I have on two occasional done an internet search for the best price and found that my current insurer was offering a price for a new policy almost £100 less than his renewal quote.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Another trend I have noticed in recent times is how companies are more dedicated to getting new customers instead of looking after their loyal ones. My work colleague left his mobile phone network after years with them because newbies were getting a better offer then he could. In the old days you were rewarded for being a longstanding customer.

Another typical example of something I don't quite get... I went over to TalkTalk for my phone & broadband about six months ago only to be told by someone the other week that they have reduced it even further exclusively to new customers. You would think they would give me the same deal as an existing customer, automatically or upon request, but nope. Presumably, I would have to dump them and reapply or something.

And another thing I don’t get is how TalkTalk can be cheaper than BT when TallkTalk actually use BT’s lines and buy their service from them as I understand.

Again, it make me just want to never sign another thing; unless it's my autograph when I'm famous one day

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

The modern management-speak spell checker always replaces the phrase "loyal customers" with "complacent mugs"


The same way that mail services can undercut Royal Mail despite the delivery being made by the same postie - cherry-picking the more profitable bits of the market.


Won't hold my breath

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

One thing I realised recently is that I set up my BT phone line over the phone, and I have bills for water, electricity and gas, yet I have never signed a contract with any of these companies. I didn't even agree to one on the phone with BT.

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Andrew.

I know you can electronically sign these days. Done that once or twice although I don't remember doing so with my phone connection now I come to think of it.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.