How To Terminate a Mobile Phone Contract
In the present economic climate that we have here in Ireland there are many people asking this question and I’ll be honest it’s quite difficult to answer because it really depends on the type of contract you have and with what network service provider. Generally contracts that you have taken out will be for 12 months or 18 months and at the time you will have signed a contract with Vodafone, O2, Meteor, or Three. At this time you will also receive a copy of the contract and terms conditions are stated on the back of this. Now let’s be honest, not many people actually read this and probably most people had disposed of this or cannot lay their hands on it.
Some contracts may be terminated with 28 days notice once you are over the initial contract term. Let me explain this a little, if you take out a contract for 12 months you may also have received a phone with this. You may have paid a small fee towards the cost of the phone or you may have received the phone completely free. During the 12 months of your contract you are actually paying back the cost of this phone to the network as they have subsidized this. Once you are past 12 months period of your contract you can then terminate this giving them 28 days or 30 days notice (this will depend which network service provider you are using).
What Options Do You Have
If you are having financial difficulties do not simple stop paying if you are still in contract. It’s always advised to simply phoned them and explain your present financial difficulties and due date had any options that you can both work out together and terminate the contract as soon as possible. Sometimes they may require that you pay the rental fee until the end of the contract is this helps them to recoup the costs of subsidized handset. But, you may have to terminate the service but still pay the ongoing fee for a few months.
You may also be able to switch the phone to pay-as-you-go so you keep your number but you will still have to pay the costs until the end of the contract. Generally this maybe a better option is used to keep your number will not incur monthly fees which are contract has finished.
Another Option
If you are faced with a bill to pay the remaining months you had under contract you could sell the handset and used the money from this to go towards paying what you need to pay the network provider.
What Not To Do
As I have said already do not simply cancel any standing orders without first contacting the network provider. This maybe a short-term gain for you because you reduce your outgoings immediately. But, if you’re still in contract they are legally obliged to recover this and you may incur extra legal fees on top of this. Now it must be noted that I am no legal expert on this but what you should really do is contact them first and have a discussion to seek the best way you can work around this.
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