One morning in August 2022 I was at my desk doing something\nor other. The phone rang. Sometimes I ignore such calls from unknown numbers.\nBut this time I decided to answer. I was polite as usual. I was being offered a\nmobile phone contract. I explained I was currently paying about \u00a310 for a\npay-as-you-go per month contract, having come to the end of my previous\ncontract. Of course, I could have continued with the current arrangement. It\nwas a case of \u2018it\u2019s not broken\u2019 so I didn\u2019t need to fix it. But clearly I\nwasn\u2019t thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a minute or so of the initial sale conversation, I was\npassed to a colleague who then began to talk me through the phone contract. He\nwent into some detail. After a few minutes I began to get impatient. I just\nwanted to get back to whatever I had been doing before the call. It was also\ntime to go for my coffee break. During this period of impatience, I probably\nstopped listening to what I was being told. I do remember agreeing to pay just\nover \u00a310 per month for a three-year contract. I quickly signed a contract and\nwent for my coffee break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About a month later, out of the blue, I received \u00a370 into\nour bank account. I did not understand where this had come from or why. In\ninvestigating this I was told by the phone company, OneCom, that this amount\nwas a refund towards my monthly bill, which would be about \u00a380. When I\nexpressed confusion about this it was explained that there was ‘discount’\n‘investment’ of \u00a370 which I would receive for the first 17 months. This raised\na question in my mind: what about after 17 months? (as this was a 36 month\ncontract). When I queried the whole arrangement with an agent of the company\nthey extended the \u2018discount\u2019 to 24 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I explained the full episode to\nmy wife and business partner. I was expecting her to say how stupid I had been\nor worse. But all she managed was to say words to the effect of \u201cah well, no\none has died\u201d. Very true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I began to think: what about the last 12 months? A couple of\nmonths later it was explained in an email that after 24 months I will have the\noption of entering a further 36 months contract, with a new discount I presume.\nHowever, if I did not wish to enter into a new contract then my discount would\nend, leaving me to pay an additional \u00a370 per month for the remaining 12 months.\nIn an email, a representative of OneCom stated that “I fully appreciate\nour discount is not the norm”. This made me think: if it is not normal\nthen surely they should have explained the whole think in a more explicit way\ninstead of not even mentioning the word \u2018discount\u2019 before I signed the\ncontract, especially as it was going to lead me to pay the additional \u00a370 per\nmonth for 12 months. Had they explained the discount arrangement I would not\nhave signed the contract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how am I feeling about all this? Frustrated, angry,\nstupid, bit of an idiot\u2026. The word depression may be too strong but I was\ndefinitely low. I so wanted to turn the clock back so I could undo the whole\nbusiness. I did not need a new contract. I was fine as I was. But, as they say,\n\u2018it was water under the bridge\u2019. I had signed on the dotted line. I was stuck.\nFor a \u00a310 a month contract I was either stuck with the company for life (by\nsigning a new contract every 24 months) or having to pay an extra \u00a370 per month\nfor the final 12 months; a total of \u00a3840. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live in the present normally. But this was ruining that by\ntaking me into the future. I kept thinking about what would happen after 18\nmonths or 24 months. Do I want to wait till then or do I terminate the contract\nnow? Of course if I took the latter option I would have to pay them even more\nmoney, for early cancellation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout these three or four months I constantly emailed\nthe company. Back and forth. Always polite exchanges, with their customer\nservices people and the secretary of the CEO, who I had tracked down and linked\nup on LinkedIn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How I felt was made worse by me reading horror stories on\nthe internet from other customers with OneCom. So, now I am thinking (isn\u2019t\nhindsight wonderful): why didn\u2019t I look up the company before I signed the\ncontract!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frustration and the feeling low (pretty low, for a\nperson who is normally glass half-full) continued. It was all-consuming. I\nwould think about it all my waking hours, especially those moments in the\nmiddle of the night when I was trying to go back to sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, as a man of faith I was praying all the time, for\nGod to intervene, to do something, do anything to help. Was he listening to\nwhat I was saying? Along the way I was\nable to describe the whole episode to the two guys from our church with whom I\nmeet every fortnight to share what is going on in our lives and pray for each\nother. I remember saying how stupid I felt. To this I was told by one of the\nmen: don\u2019t say that; you are not stupid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, one day I heard God speak to me; very clearly, as\nclear as I am about sitting here now writing this blog\u2026. I had just finished my\nhospital chaplaincy ward round and was sitting there in the waiting room so I\ncould have my Covid jab. At the time, like most days I was having another very\nLOW moment. Just then I audibly heard a voice which I took to be from God,\nsaying: I\u2019ve got this. So, now God was saying he had heard me, he knew what was\ngoing on and he will sort it. Did that help? A little. But I still wanted to go\nback in time to not make (the stupid) mistake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I considered writing to the BBC Watchdog. I contacted\nCitizens Advice. I considered writing the full story and name and shame the\ncompany\u2026. I tried my best to persuade OneCom, their CEO, his secretary, their\ncustomers service\u2026.. I considered writing to my Member of Parliament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I then decided to complain to OfCom. But it turned out that OneCom\nwere not within their jurisdiction but had their own Complaints System. This\ndid not give me much hope. I didn\u2019t think this would be a system that would\ngive me a fair hearing. Still I tried them. I wrote the full story. They\nconsidered whether I had a case for them to take on. They did think I had a\ncase and that they would take it up on my behalf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My main case was that because the ‘discount’ and its likely\nend at 24 months had not been made clear to me when I first signed the contract,\nI wished to terminate the contract, without having to pay any termination\ncharges. Alternatively, I was happy to continue with the contract if the \u00a370\ndiscount was extended to the full 36 months of the full duration of the\ncontract. I also explained to the Adjudicator that I had signed the contract in\ngood faith, based on the phone sales conversation, but without reading the\nsmall print of the contract which did explain the \u2018discount\u2019. In summary, I was\nof the view that it was a 36 month contract and I would pay just over \u00a310 per\nmonth. Simple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I waited for the decision by the Adjudicator. They took a\nfew weeks before reaching their decision. I expected bad news. So, I began to\nprepare for it. Occasionally I would remind myself of what God had promised. It\nhelped a little, to get me through my days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Adjudicator decided in my favour. They instructed the\ncompany to terminate my contract, after making sure that, over the 8 months\nduration of the contract I only pay \u00a310.70 per month. I was owed over a \u00a3100\nwhich I was pleased to have refunded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a bonus! The month following the resolution of my\ncase, I received my normal \u00a370 discount. I wrote to the company to inform them\nof this, expecting they would expect a refund. They didn\u2019t. Instead they wrote\nto me to say I could keep the money. But then the same happened the month\nafter. Again I wrote to them to inform them of this discount money. I did not\nhear from them. So, I ended up benefiting from \u00a3140. By this time I had a new\nphone contract with a different company which was below \u00a310 a month. Moreover, my\nOneCom contract had come free membership of Amazon Prime. I have tried to\ncancel this but have not been able to. So, I continue to have this free\nmembership and probably will have it for 36 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In conclusion\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The episode has renewed my faith in our systems, such as,\nadjudication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have learnt that next time someone phones me to sell me\nsomething I shall be less trusting and less quick to enter into a contract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, maybe, next time God says, \u201cI\u2019ve got this\u201d, I will be\nmore trusting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One morning in August 2022 I was at my desk doing something or other. The phone rang. Sometimes I ignore such calls from unknown numbers. But this time I decided to answer. I was polite as usual. I was being offered a mobile phone contract. I explained I was currently paying about \u00a310 for a … <\/p>\n