Hi, my husband signed up yesterday with Vodafone on a 12mth Sim only contract. He signed up to the wrong thing. I’ve asked Vodafone if we can cancel, they say they have no cooling off period so will charge us a fee. Aren’t they obliged to offer one for a short period of time?
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Did your husband approach Vodaphone in relation to the new contract, or did Vodaphone approach your husband?
I assume from the response from Vodaphone that your husband approached Vodaphone. This is called a solicited contact.
Cooling off periods for mobile phone contracts only occur when there has been unsolicited contact, such as Vodaphone calling you to sell you a product/contract. Cooling-off periods do not apply where a consumer visits a provider’s store, calls to request a service or orders a service online.
More information on unsolicited contact cooling off periods can be found on the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman website:
https://www.tio.com.au/publications/news/cancelling-a-contract-during-a-cooling-off-period
It may be possible to negotiate a new contract, especially if it is a more expensive one, with Vodaphone as it may be in their financial interests to do so. During the negotiations, Vodaphone may chose to waiver any transfer fees to the new contract.
Alternatively, if your husband entered into an agreement based on the information presented during the sales pitch from a representative from Vodaphone, but later found the information was not correct or the contract proved not to be fit for purpose (e.g. the phone can not connect at your house when the sales person said there would be no issue with signal strength where you live), then this can be grounds to break a contract.
In such case, it is very important to document what the sales person said an how it differs from the contract documentation/what you have found. Such information should be presented to Vodaphone to support a request to break the signed contract,.
Information on phone contracts can be found here:
https://www.tio.com.au/about-us/position-statements/contracts
Choice also has prepared information in the past in relation to:
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@SalJoSax it’s frustrating that Vodafone won’t simply help you out in this situation. You’ve already received some great advice from @phb, so I won’t add much except that you might try calling them a few different times. Sometimes it’s case of getting through to the right person. Don’t forget to let them know that you’re ready to take this to the ombudsmen if they won’t do the reasonable thing.
Let us know how you progress.
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