Buying A Cell Phone - Know Your Rights

By Author: Neo Nashville
Total Articles: 30
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Buying a cell phone handset remotely, that is to say online, over the phone, or by mail order, means that you have some extra rights as a consumer. Any complaints that you feel have not been satisfactorily resolved can be taken to an ombudsman service, who will fight your corner for free if they feel that you have a case.

If you have ordered your mobile phone service contract over the phone, online, or by mail order, then you are entitled by law to cancel the order and receive a full refund up to seven working days after you have placed the order. While you are not required to give a reason, you waive this right of cancellation if you specifically request that your service starts immediately, rather than after an agreed period.

You can cancel the order for a handset that you have bought without a service contract up to seven days after receiving the phone, providing you have not damaged the unit or its packaging.

Nearly all new phones come with a manufacturers warranty, which guarantees that your phone will be replaced, refunded, or repaired if it develops a problem that is not of your doing.

If your ...
... phone is not guaranteed, you still have the right to a repair, refund, or replacement if the phone develops a fault through no negligence or misuse on your part, depending of course on the age of the handset.

Although you may be discouraged from doing so, you do have the legal right to keep the same phone number when you switch from one network provider to another. In order to do this, you will have to ask your current provider for a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC), which you can then give to the provider you are looking to switch to. The changeover should take no longer than two days, and you will be given a temporary number in the meantime.

Before you commit to any new mobile contract, you should find out whether you can cancel the contract at any point during the term, whether there is a minimum period, and what the cancellation charge is, as these contracts can be hard to wriggle out of once you have signed them.

Visit Vodafone today for your next mobile or for a great sim only deal.