Cancelling a vodacom cellphone contract

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Kabullet

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Hi all, i recently lost my job and would like to cancel my phone contract. I since found a new job but it is in Dubai so will be emigrating there.

The fees to cancel a contract are crazy and i cannot afford that. Any ideas or solutions?:confused:
 
Your ass is theirs, sorry.

leave money in your local account to cover costs or transfer each month until contract runs out. Then cancel.
 
Think up a good story! I know a particular woman that lived in Canada that badly wanted to get out of a contract, but refused to pay the $600 backout fee. She phoned them and spoke as if she knew nothing about cellphones, etc and really felt sorry for herself and told them she's moving to a place that she found out was out of their coverage area and she couldn't afford the fee and that she just had to have a phone, so they said they'd cancel her contract free of charge and they'd like it if she joined them again should she ever move back. So she stayed where she lived, got out of the contract, kept the phone, and didn't pay a cent further. Be creative.
 
Mokusei said:
Think up a good story! I know a particular woman that lived in Canada that badly wanted to get out of a contract, but refused to pay the $600 backout fee. She phoned them and spoke as if she knew nothing about cellphones, etc and really felt sorry for herself and told them she's moving to a place that she found out was out of their coverage area and she couldn't afford the fee and that she just had to have a phone, so they said they'd cancel her contract free of charge and they'd like it if she joined them again should she ever move back. So she stayed where she lived, got out of the contract, kept the phone, and didn't pay a cent further. Be creative.
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i only see one problem with that...
this is not Canada
 
rodga said:
i only see one problem with that...
this is not Canada
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Worth a shot. Think of a South African equivalent story. The South African cellphone company employees may not be nearly as bright as the Canadians, but one can always think something up.
 
When you sign up for a contract you sign an agreement to pay the amounts each month. When you cancel, you pay the outstanding balance of the contract in full. It's in the T&C's of your contract. Read carefully before signing...
 
Mokusei said:
Think up a good story! I know a particular woman that lived in Canada that badly wanted to get out of a contract, but refused to pay the $600 backout fee. She phoned them and spoke as if she knew nothing about cellphones, etc and really felt sorry for herself and told them she's moving to a place that she found out was out of their coverage area and she couldn't afford the fee and that she just had to have a phone, so they said they'd cancel her contract free of charge and they'd like it if she joined them again should she ever move back. So she stayed where she lived, got out of the contract, kept the phone, and didn't pay a cent further. Be creative.
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Problem is, the entire country is covered. MTN and Vodacom are bloody amazing like that
 
boramk said:
Problem is, the entire country is covered. MTN and Vodacom are bloody amazing like that
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I suppose you have a valid point. One of the advantages of this in Canada is that there is a lot of tundra so it wasn't difficult to find a fake home.
 
vodacom sucks

J0n0 said:
When you sign up for a contract you sign an agreement to pay the amounts each month. When you cancel, you pay the outstanding balance of the contract in full. It's in the T&C's of your contract. Read carefully before signing...
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Is this not against the new Consumer Protection Act? I am more than willing to pay for the device cost (i.e. the fixed cost the company had wrt my contract), but I am unhappy at having to pay for the rest of a contract that I will not be using.

Any legal views on this?
 
j-unit said:
Is this not against the new Consumer Protection Act? I am more than willing to pay for the device cost (i.e. the fixed cost the company had wrt my contract), but I am unhappy at having to pay for the rest of a contract that I will not be using.

Any legal views on this?
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The CPA has not been implemented yet. Even if it was, my understanding is that it will only cover contracts that were signed on or after the implementation date of the CPA, so you would not have been covered.

As it is now, you will be liable for the outstanding subscription fees for however many months is left on the contract. Should you want to cancell, have CLI deactivated and itemized billing as this will reduce the price a little.
 
Kabullet said:
Hi all, i recently lost my job and would like to cancel my phone contract. I since found a new job but it is in Dubai so will be emigrating there.

The fees to cancel a contract are crazy and i cannot afford that. Any ideas or solutions?:confused:
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In Dubai?

:erm:

Just make sure you don't incur any debt there, they won't let you go that easily if you've got some debt at Dubai's banks... (when the time comes when you want to leave Dubai for various reasons).
 
The Consumer Protection Act will ONLY APPLY to Contracts/Sales/Purchases made AFTER the CPA takes effect on 1 April 2011.

You will NOT be able to use the CPA as an excuse to cancel existing contracts.
If you need to sign a new contract in the next while, I recommend waiting until after 1 April before taking up any new contracts.
Even a cellphone contract taken out on 31 March will NOT be covered under the Consumer Protection Act.
The CPA will not help anybody to cancel existing contracts of any sort.
 
AniV said:
The Consumer Protection Act will ONLY APPLY to Contracts/Sales/Purchases made AFTER the CPA takes effect on 1 April 2011.

You will NOT be able to use the CPA as an excuse to cancel existing contracts.
If you need to sign a new contract in the next while, I recommend waiting until after 1 April before taking up any new contracts.
Even a cellphone contract taken out on 31 March will NOT be covered under the Consumer Protection Act.
The CPA will not help anybody to cancel existing contracts of any sort.
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This post seems to differ:

The CPA could apply to any contract entered into on or after 25 April 2010 AND that will expire after 24 October 2012.

However the consumer only has the right to bring action after the effective implementation date of the rest of the CPA (1 April 2011).

This is if the action is not excluded due to certain other restrictions (there are NOT many exceptions!!).
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I'm sitting with the same situation right now. I am moving to Geneva in 3 months time and just phoned Vodacom now to check, and I have to pay R8500.00 :wtf: I have no problem paying for the phone, but FFS.. that's a bit harsh. Looks like I am going to have to try sell my house after all in order to pay off all the crap before I can leave :(
 
Why dont you get someone to take over the contract from you. It will be way cheaper.
 
Pretty much everyone I know already has contracts, Over the last 6 months I have got my whole family over to VC with BB contracts to use the BBM instead of SMS's
I'd also like to keep the phone to use in Geneva, but its still cheaper to buy somebody a new BB and give them my contract.. just don't know anyone willing
 
Kalvaer said:
Pretty much everyone I know already has contracts, Over the last 6 months I have got my whole family over to VC with BB contracts to use the BBM instead of SMS's
I'd also like to keep the phone to use in Geneva, but its still cheaper to buy somebody a new BB and give them my contract.. just don't know anyone willing
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u can buy me a BB ;)
 
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