Mobile phone contracts.

Can a mobile phone operator change your contract without telling you/ without your permission.

Background.
I have been with meteor bill pay since 06. I received an upgrade 12 months later on September 25th 07 and now this year I was told I was due my upgrade on August 25th. I was away that week and going in the week after I was told that meteor rules had changed and it was not 12 months. So I waited until today which is 12 months to the day. I have today been told that my contract is now 18 months and that I am not entitled to a upgrade for another 6 months. I told the guy in the meteor store that my contract has always been 12 months.
He said that no that the price plan I am on is 18 months. I said I got an upgrade last year and he wouldn't believe me.

Surely if the rules have changed it should apply to new contracts and not existing ones.

Now my bf / father brother etc are all on the same contract plan and have received their upgrades in the past couple of weeks. Their bill expenditure would be the same as mine give or take a couple of euros.

So what do I do? I have tried two meteor stores and they both ignored me and treated me badly. I also tried carphone warehouse who said that meteor cannot change my contract like that but they do not have the power to give me the upgrade if I am not eligable so I have to sort the issue out with meteor.

I have tried customer care and they have not been any more helpful.

Any help would be much appreciated.

What did you sign up to when you upgraded last September?

When I last upgraded with vodafone (early/mid 2007) I was offered a guaranteed upgrade after 18 months if I signed an 18 month contract.

The original contract was a 12 month talk 60 (04) contract. The contract had since changed but the guy in the store said I could remain on my current contract of free texts and calls. I signed a contract identical to the original contract and the service has been the same over the past year.

I know that the change of rules may mean that I will have to sign a 18 month contract this time around and I have no issues with that its just that I cannot understand why I am not entitled to an upgrade when a total of 7 other friends/family on the same plan for the same length of time and the same bill expenditure have all been able to.

Contract & upgrade are generally 2 seperate items.

Does your existing contract explicitly say you are entitled to an upgrade after the 12 months? I didn't think this was how they worked (certainly not for O2 & Vodafone) - the eligibility for upgrade is driven by amount billed rather than based on the contract, so someone with a 12 month contract on Vodafone with minimal bills may have to wait 2 or more years for an upgrade, but they could leave anytime after the 12 months.

I have today been told that my contract is now 18 months

Click to expand...

This reads as though they changed your 12 month contract to an 18 month contract without your approval - is this correct?

rmelly said:

This reads as though they changed your 12 month contract to an 18 month contract without your approval - is this correct?

Click to expand...

Well what he said was that talk 60 contract now means that you have to be on it 18 months not 12 and that this has changed without the last 3 weeks.

It means that my 12 months contracts were 12 months for the past two years but has changed to 18 months in the past three weeks.

The way I understand it is that anyone signing up to the contract is signing a 18 month contract. But since I signed 12 months the last few times it should not affect my current contract but means that when I sign my new contract it will be for 18 months.

As for spending being part of it. They did mention this. However I spend less in previous years and still qualified for an upgrade. This year I have had three roaming trips which doubled my expenditure for those months.
Like I mentioned bf and father etc are on the same plan and signed up the same year so we have been the same regarding upgrades and expenditure on bills has been the same.
Both of them have received their upgrades without bother.

Meteor being able to change the length of the EXISTING, IN PLACE contract without your permission doesn't sound right. Try leaving, or bring in your last signed contract that references 12 months and see what they say. You could just have been talking to an idiot?

The operators seem to reserve the right to change their upgrade eligibility criteria and they don't issue details of the criteria, so to be honest I'd focus on the contract duration, can't see you getting any joy with the upgrade unless as a goodwill gesture.

Well the guy I was talking to (appeared to be a manager) wouldn't believe that
I got received an upgrade last year and said it is impossible to give an exact date that I would be due an upgrade. He said he could only check if I was due one or not.

Now in the past I have always been given dates.

And to add on the 8 August a guy in the ilac centre meteor store told me 25th August.

Then on 7 September in meteor store Blackpool Cork I was told that the terms had changed from 11 to 12 months and I had to wait an extra 2 weeks.

I have not been able to revisit either stores but will do so within the next week.

In the past I have never had good experiences with the Patrick St store and only went there as it was closest at the time. To show the real intelligence of the workers there they sent me to the Sony Centre when I had a problem with my Sony Ericsson phone!

At least I know I have the backing of the carphonewarehouse and the manager in two of their stores said that I can quote them on what they said about meteor not being able to change my contract.

I will revisit the ilac centre and Blackpool stores and hopefully will be able to sort it out then.

If I don't I have a press card and a few carphonewarehouse managers who aren't afraid of publicity.