Tesco Mobile - Ending a contract early

[airsafari87]

I am after some advice as to if it is possible to get out of a mobile phone contract early due to very poor customer service from Tesco Mobile.

Relevant points are ...

New 24 month, upgrade anytime contract taken out on a HTC One.
Insurance taken out on HTC One with Tesco Mobile (£8 per month) ... Not something I usually take out, but due to the job I was doing at the time, and the high risk of damage to the phone, I deemed it a wise thing to take out.
HTC One upgraded to Sony Xperia Z3 approx 20 months later (October 2014). On a 24 month contract.
Same service plan, mobile number etc ... transfered over from old HTC One to Sony Xperia.
Additional insurance declined on Sony phone, Insurance from HTC phone to be transferred to Sony phone.
£8 per month has continued to be taken from bank account up till present day.
Approx 4 months into owning Sony phone the rear glass cracks due to bending in pocket. NOT dropped.
Approx 1 month or so after that the front screen starts to delaminate.
Tesco Mobile Insurance number requested by myself in store, number called, problem described, phone sent for repair in Tesco Mobile pre-paid returns box.
Approx 2 weeks later I receive a call from Tesco Mobile Repairs confirming that indeed my phone was broken as described and it would cost me £90 to repair.
Pointed out that the phone was insured and I believed I should not have to pay for repairs.
Caller stated that the department my phone was with was not the insurance repairs department, but the department that deals with regular repairs????
Unrepaired phone was then mailed back to me approx a week and half later.
Once again requested the insurance repair number instore and was given the `new and recently updated' phone number.
Called that number, only to get through to a very very unhelpful guy who had no record of the Sony phone, only the HTC One. And that the Sony was NOT insured, and that the insurance I had been paying (£8 per month for a full 12 months at this time) was for the old HTC.
The conversation went back and forth a bit with the upshot being, him sticking to the company script and saying that the insurance I have is for the HTC phone only.
I then receive a text a few hours later stating that my insurance has now been cancelled!!! (I still have the text)

All in all I am absolutely fed up with Tesco Mobile and no longer wish to deal with them.

Question is ....

Do I have grounds for stopping my monthly contract payments to Tesco Mobile (£33 per month), assuming that I write them a letter stating my reasons why I am cancelling?

Is there any effect to credit rating?

Any further advice is appreciated, I've owned mobile phones on contract for 15 years or more now and have never had the need to do anything like this before.

Thanks

[vxr8mate]

Was the insurance with Tesco? If it was you could argue they were aware you had changed phones.

If so, did they acknowledge the insurance had changed from a HTC to Sony? I would expect them to email you or write to say the insurance had cahnged.

Even so, I wouldn't have thought the damage would be covered under a typical phone insurance policy anyway.

[mikeveal]

Can't help with your contract question, but you might (not)like to google "Xpreia cracked". I was rather dismayed to find out they do it a lot and Sony don't appear to give a stuff.

[Soov535]

airsafari87 said:

Do I have grounds for stopping my monthly contract payments to Tesco Mobile (£33 per month), assuming that I write them a letter stating my reasons why I am cancelling?

Is there any effect to credit rating?

1. No. Your contract if for a period of airtime and is for a fixed period.
2. Yes.

[btcc123]

Tesco do mobile phone insurance for contract customers so this is what you probably have.When you upgraded the HTC phone after a two year contract to the Sony phone normally you keep the old phone.I think that you should have made sure that the insurance was moved to the Sony phone as for all Tesco knew you still wanted the HTC phone to be insured.

I doubt you can cancel the contract as it was more likely your fault and not Tesco.

[Foliage]

Check if your phone is covered on any other insurance, home content insurance, travel insurance etc

[JustinP1]

Soov535 said:

airsafari87 said:

Do I have grounds for stopping my monthly contract payments to Tesco Mobile (£33 per month), assuming that I write them a letter stating my reasons why I am cancelling?

Is there any effect to credit rating?

1. No. Your contract if for a period of airtime and is for a fixed period.
2. Yes.

Indeedy.

Whether an insurance policy covers your phone or not is totally separate to your contract to have calls supplied.

O/T but £100 a year for phone insurance is quite a lot!

[Pontoneer]

If you can produce evidence that this sort of damage is common on these handsets , you might have an argument under SOGA that the handset is not fit for purpose .

You might be stuck with the airtime contract , which is a separate matter , but there ought to be a reasonable chance of exchanging an unfit for purpose handset which there is at least anecdotal evidence is prone to this kind of failure .

I'd ask nicely in the first instance to see if you can get an amicable exchange for a different model of handset ; failing which you might see if the small claims court agree with you - properly presented consumer claims should be within their remit .

[AbzST64]

btcc123 said:

Tesco do mobile phone insurance for contract customers so this is what you probably have.When you upgraded the HTC phone after a two year contract to the Sony phone normally you keep the old phone.I think that you should have made sure that the insurance was moved to the Sony phone as for all Tesco knew you still wanted the HTC phone to be insured.

I doubt you can cancel the contract as it was more likely your fault and not Tesco.

Yip exactly this I think (im with Tesco mobile). When you upgrade to a new phone your insurance does not transfer over too and you have to phone up to change it to your new phone, this is not done automatically so yes they did know you had a new phone but no you didn't tell them you wanted the insurance to cover this and not your old phone albeit how obvious it may seem to you (to be honest like car insurance, change car you phone up and tell them??)
On a side note I got my insurance for £2.50 month with a bit of haggling!!

[smashie]

airsafari87 said:

.....
And that the Sony was NOT insured, and that the insurance I had been paying (£8 per month for a full 12 months at this time) was for the old HTC.
The conversation went back and forth a bit with the upshot being, him sticking to the company script and saying that the insurance I have is for the HTC phone only.
I then receive a text a few hours later stating that my insurance has now been cancelled!!! (I still have the text)
.....

Did they refund you the payments you made? If so, it will only cost you an extra £5 to have it repaired. If not, then get them to refund.
I had a similar issue with O2, but their customer service was spot on.
I had a contract with them but then upgraded via CPW. Refused CPW's insurance and rang up O2 to confirm that I can carry on my existing insurance with new the phone. 16 months or so in and the phone screen goes wrong. Ring them up and it was sorry it is not insured with us. However as they had a record of the conversation, they sent me a reconditioned phone at no charge, cancelled the insurance and refunded what I had been paying. I did not expect the refund and the replacement, although I was hoping for one or the other as it was not my error.
See if they have any records of your conversation with them.