There is a bewildering choice of phones, packages and deals available when buying a new mobile phone. It’s big business. It’s also top of the list when it comes to consumer complaints!

When choosing a new mobile, you are not only selecting the phone (or the handset), you are dealing with the retailer and choosing a package from a network provider. In effect there are three separate entities – and you need to know which one of the three to go back to if there is a problem with any aspect of your purchase or agreement.

Choosing the right phone

Phones these days come with an array of mind-boggling features – cameras are virtually standard now, as is the ability to surf the web and play MP3s and video clips. You can also use your phone to access your emails, download digital media, supply sat nav info, make mobile video calls, organize your life and so on. But how many of us use all the facilities on our phones on a regular basis? If you only want to make calls, text and send the odd picture message, then there is no point paying over the odds for one with loads of bells and whistles. Always best to check out the websites for the individual network providers such as O2, Orange or T-Mobile, or the high street retailers such as Phones4u or The Carphone Warehouse – and do this before you go in. Then you won’t get talked into anything you’re not familiar with!

Pay As You Go or Pay Monthly?

When you buy a phone you will have the choice of a ‘pay as you go’ or a ‘pay monthly’ phone. Pay As You Go or Prepaid plans tend to be more expensive per minute than the monthly tariff, but they can be very useful for people who don’t use their mobile phone much, have limited budgets, or want greater control over their children’s mobile use. The Monthly plans are cheaper and offer a wider range of bells and whistles phones, but you will have to sign a minimum term contract with a network provider and pay a fixed fee each month – although you will probably receive an allowance of free minutes or texts within this fee.

Choosing the right network

The network provider you end up with depends on the type of phone you choose and where you go to buy it. If you opt for a Pay Monthly phone, you will be entering into a contract with this network provider so check the terms of the contracts carefully and ask the sales consultant to explain carefully what your obligations and liabilities are – this is their job, and not to do so or to gloss over such detail when requested is mis-selling. Pay particular attention to the length of time you are ‘tied in’ to the contract. If you simply change your mind, you will not be able to switch to an alternative network provider and may not be able to change tariff. Also remember that by committing to a particular network provider you also commit to their coverage area and fees. So you may find that your friend who is ‘on’ Orange can get reception while you can’t. Not much you can do about this.

Choosing the right deal

Again – there is a huge choice of packages to chosse from. If you agree on a minimum payment each month, you will receive a free number of minutes or texts, although these only may be off-peak, or to certain numbers, so don’t be mislead. So have a think about when you use your phone – during the day, evenings weekends? Choose a tariff that gives you a better deal based on when you make most of your calls. Remember also to bear in mind the cost of the following as they may well not be included in your ‘free minutes’

• Peak time calls
• Calls to those on another network
• Calls to voicemail
• International or premium rate numbers
• Directory enquiry services
• Downloading data from the web
• Sending picture messages or video clips

When it all goes wrong…

You have certain statutory rights for the purchase of a product as provided for in the Sale of Goods Act. These rights refer to standards of quality you should expect and what you can do if it fails to meet these standards.If there is an obvious fault with the phone at any time within the first 6 months and it has not been caused by wear and tear or misuse, your first port of call must be the shop you bought it from. They have the responsibility to put the matter right, and should not evade this responsibility by referring you to the manufacturer in the context of a guarantee or warranty.

In the first instance the seller must offer to at least repair the phone. They must do this within reasonable time, at no additional cost to you and without causing any significant inconvenience. For this reason you should be given a replacement phone on a like for like basis (and not simply the cheapest and most basic model). Many consumer complaints relate to the length of time the phone is away being repaired – and although you must allow reasonable time for repair, the law does not say what ‘reasonable time’ is. Taking into account the nature and size of the product however, we would define this time as no more than two weeks.

If the repair is taking an unacceptable length of time to fix, if it can’t be fixed or if it develops the fault again, you are then within your rights to request a replacement. Again, this must be done within reasonable time, at no additional cost to you and without causing any significant inconvenience.

If the repair / replace remedies have been unsuccessful, you then have two further options. Firstly, you can then request they reduce the purchase price to an appropriate amount (although this does not affect your ability to take return the item if something else goes wrong). Secondly, and only after the repair/replace remedies have been attempted, you can request a refund. You should be aware however that if you have had the phone for several months, the refund given may well take account of any use you have had of the phone since you bought it.

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Most of us have, at some time in our adult lives have experienced poor quality, suffered economic loss, been injured or generally felt aggrieved by the attitude of powerful retailers. You may choose to do nothing and learn from the experience, or you may decide to take action against the offending party by investigating your consumer rights and remedies.

Understanding your consumer rights is complex and at times confusing, but What Consumer is here to help, by showing you whether you have a valid complaint under UK law and what remedies you can rely on to put the situation right. There are several sections to this site:

• Consumer Rights explains how various acts of UK legislation and European Regulations affect you. Among many others, you can find information on Sale of Goods, Supply of Services, Consumer Credit, Data Protection, Misdescription and Travel.

• Consumer Guides contains more information on specific scenarios such as buying mobile phones, new homes, second hand cars, clothing and footwear. It also deals with thorny issues such as returning damaged or faulty goods, cooling off periods, dealing with dodgy tradesmen, buying online or making a small claim.

• Consumer News keeps you updated on aspects of consumer news and how legislative changes affect you.

• Consumer Forum: It goes without saying that you, the consumer, are a central feature of our site. As such we’d love you to share your views and experiences and offer advice on the forums to your fellow consumers.

Important points to understand

1. In order to invoke your consumer rights under UK law you must be acting as a consumer – seems an obvious point, but you must be trying to acquire goods for personal use rather than business use.
2. The first thing to be aware of is the difference between civil law and criminal law with regard to what has occurred. You may have been the subject of a civil wrong and only able to take action (sue) on your own initiative in order to have the matter put right to your satisfaction. This usually involves being awarded damages to compensate you for your losses. On the other hand, your complaint may be due to the organisation or supplier having committed a criminal offence, which is altogether much more serious and usually taken out of your hands by the enforcement authorities in the form of prosecution. Unlike civil action, criminal offences do not usually result in any benefit to you beyond the knowledge that whoever it was is now being punished. The majority of consumer law is civil law.
3. Just because you are dealing with a large powerful retailer, it does not necessarily mean that they will always act in a lawful or an honourable way. This may be because the individual you are dealing with or the business as a whole is not aware of your consumer rights. In any event, arm yourself with a basic understanding of your consumer rights in order to get what you want and hold your own against unscrupulous or misinformed traders.
4. A useful starting point in anyone’s general understanding of consumer rights is an understanding of the basic principles of contract law. Put simply this relates to whether a legally binding contract exists – because without one you are unlikely to succeed in any claim.
5. Consumer legislation does not contain definitive descriptions or specific standards in terms of what you should expect. Instead it relies on concepts of ‘satisfactory’, ‘reasonable’ and ‘significant’ which can make it rather subjective. However, judgements will always be based on principles of reasonableness and proportionality in regard to whether you have a case and what you can expect in damages as a result.

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This short guide has been produced to help people avoid being scammed and to help carers protect the elderly and vulnerable.

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It has never been more important to get expert advice prior to signing a broadband contract.

The Daily Mail reported this week on the story of Will Pierce who took his son on a skiing trip for five days and came home to a £22,000 mobile broadband bill from Vodafone. He had used his Vodafone dongle to download a relatively small amount of TV programming at £300 per minute. So one eighteen minute TV programme cost him a shocking £5,000.

As Mr Pierce rightly points out: ‘There’s no warning when you log on how much it will cost a minute, or a counter on the screen telling you what it is costing. If you ran up such a bill on your credit card while overseas you’d get a call checking that it is you who is spending so much.’ So this is a serious situation – not only is there no warning message as you download of impending “bill shock” – but also customers’ awareness of these enormous potential charges is very limited.

People recognise that if they use their mobile phone abroad it costs more, but not hundreds of times more. So as mobile broadband subscriptions become ever more popular, many more mobile broadband users will fall into the same trap as Mr Pierce. And there are plenty of other “hidden costs” to be aware of before taking the plunge with a long term broadband deal.

Earlier this month TalkTalk the home phone and broadband provider complained to Ofcom about BT’s use of “rolling contracts”. February marked the first birthday of BT’s rolling contract scheme, meaning that unless BT customers notify BT that they no longer want BT’s service – they will automatically be signed up to a new full term contract and be forced to pay up to £180 if they then want to leave.

This is contrary to the usual practice that a contract expires at the end of the contract period, leaving the customer free to leave from that point on.
The high cost of broadband technical support lines can also lead to unexpected bills. Earlier this month a Which? survey of 45 companies including many ISPs found that while some offer free technical support (including O2, BT and Sky), many are using premium rate numbers. Key broadband culprits include Tesco Broadband, Supanet and Roxio who all use premium rate 090 numbers.

As a result, Tesco Broadband customers were paying £5 for a 10 minute call to Tesco’s help desk. Tesco have already responded to the criticism, and have said that it is moving the fee to a local rate.

Charlie Ponsonby CEO of the digital TV, broadband and home phone price comparison service Simplifydigital.co.uk said: “We believe that it is very important to talk to an impartial expert before signing up to a broadband, home phone or digital TV provider – we spend a great deal of time explaining to customers the hidden costs that they need to be aware of before taking the plunge”.

Simplifydigital’s research shows that other hidden charges that typically surprise customers include: charges for paper billing; poorly communicated install charges; and early termination charges.

Top Broadband Buying Tips

1. Not all advertised deals, will be available in your area. The deals available in your area depend on whether a supplier has put their own equipment into the BT telephone exchanges in order to provide their broadband services (a process known as local loop unbundling’). This enables them to provide better value deals. So a cheap looking deal advertised in national press for example, may not be available to you.
2. Watch out for price hikes at the end of the introductory period. Many suppliers offer introductory period discounts in order to entice you in, but it’s important to calculate the value of the package over the contract length to ensure that you’re getting the best deal.
3. Watch out for overly long and rolling contracts. Some suppliers offer deals that are only available if you commit to an 18 or 24 month contract and leave you unable to switch within that time (without paying a penalty). And watch out also for rolling contracts as per the BT example described above.
4. Ensure the cost of line rental is included in the headline deal price. Most home broadband or home phone packages require a BT land line and landline rental is typically about £10 per month.
5. Make sure you know the cost of technical support. If you broadband service does go wrong, you can quickly rack up a significant amount of time talking to technical support. O2, BT and Sky offer free technical support, but many providers do not

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