Unicom Phone Company Review

Overall Rating

None

We found ourselves stuck in a nightmare 3 year contract with Unicom Phone Company, we have been overcharged, we have never had a correct bill. But to add insult to injury we sent a letter giving 3 months notice and they have told us that we are four days late in cancelling and that they have signed us up for another 3 years contract and if we wish to cancel we will incur 100's of pounds in charges. Avoid this Company at all costs they operate sharp practices. I would also point out that you would have had to have been a qualified Solicitor to have understood the small print in the contract, so I would be interested to see how many other people they have tricked with this one!

Members' Comments onHargreaves's Review

• darrenCumbria on 20th Jul 2007

  I agree totally. I'm in exactly the same situation. Tied in for another 3 years. I have started complaints procedures with Ofcom and Otelo - have to wait and see what happens. But this company gives business a bad name

• wildfirejc on 20th May 2008

  I have just found out that I too have had the same contract renewal - is there any legal precedence to this?

• darrenCumbria on 22nd May 2008

  I managed after a lot of calls and letters to reduce the new 3 year contract down to one year which comes to an end in October. All I can suggest is complain and contact Ofcom, the more people do the more chance they may be prevented from practices such as these.

• johnwright on 28th May 2008

  Just going through the same thing, unicom have put me in to another 3 year deal and my contract doesn't run out for another 3 weeks, but because I didn't cancel with in the 3 months I am added again to another 3 years.
  
  Has anyone been to court or had this over turned?

• palmerhoughton on 29th May 2008

  Read your contract and look at clause 8.1 there is nothing in the clause (unless they have changed it) to say that if you do not cancel in time you have to sign up for another 3 years, I accused them of deliberately trying to mislead me and accused them of sharp practice. They also tried to charge me for termination of the new 3 year contract before it had even started. This is clearly a Company that will try any tactic going I have found. I made a formal complain to Offcom, but I was more than ready to take them to court on matter of principal and I think they realised this so they sent me a letter of without prejudice stating that if I didn't take this complaint further they would let me leave the contract with no penalties. So don't Give up.

• wildfirejc on 29th May 2008

  I found something on the web abt them being told off by Ofcom: www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_compcases/cw_941/ www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_ccases/closed_all/cw_915/
  
  I tried phoning the chap at Ofcom but no answer. Left a message but no callback. I then tried quoting the ofcom case against them and told them that I am speaking to my legal adviser. My legal adviser told me to ask them for a copy of the contract where I signed on the dotted line - there was no signed contract. Unicom came back with a reply to my letter - saying that they will look into my complaints and they will take 28 days to reply. I asked for a copy of the contract and she of Unicom said it was verbal and she will review the recorded call to see if I was in fact told about the 3 years automatic rollover when I spoke to them on the phone 1 year ago. I also said they didn't mention about the 3 months written notice before the end of the contract term on the phone - otherwise I would have remembered because I have been trying to break away from them since 2005! She said she will review the case and give me a copy of the recorded message. In the meantime, I received a letter from them saying since I have opted to cancel the contract, I will be charged £242.10 for early termination fee. I sent back an email saying that I did not cancel my contract - but just in case, I have stopped my direct debit to ensure they just don't take the money out of my bank account. Then I phoned Unicom and spoke to the lady again who informed me that I was correct - my line is still with them and they will not charge the termination fee.

• johnwright on 30th May 2008

  They are not giving up on me, what made me laugh was they asked me who I was going to for my new services so I just made up a name and they said to me don't go with them they will rip you off all the time!

• wildfirejc on 2nd Jun 2008

  Ofcom finally replied to me. The gist of it is this:
  By following your service provider's complaints procedure, it is likely you will be able to resolve your dispute. If you have exhausted the complaints procedure and you remain unhappy, you should request that your service provider sends you a letter which outlines their final position. This is known as a 'deadlock' letter. Once you have received this, you will be able to take your dispute to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. You are also able to take your dispute to an ADR scheme if it remains unresolved after a period of 12 weeks after the date you first complained.
  
  Unicom is a member of the Office of Telecommunications Ombudsman (Otelo) for the purpose of ADR. Otelo can be contacted at: Otelo, PO Box 730, Warrington WA4 6WU. Phone: 01925 430 049. Website: www.otelo.org.uk.
  
  I shall take it there and let you all know the outcome in due course.

• turbatam on 10th Jun 2008

  I think this company should be informing people well in advance of there contract renewal dates prior to the three month deadline.

• wildfirejc on 11th Jun 2008

  Unicom has now replied and given me a Cd with my original voice recording - no mention of the 3 months written notice of termination but there was a mention of the terms and conditions which they said would be sent to me and which I must read and get back to them within 7 days if I disagree with anything on the T&C. I don't recall the T&C being received in 2005 - who would! Anyway, they have now given me till 4 April 2009 and 3 months before that date to cancel. I would now send them a recorded delivery letter to cancel on the 4 April 2009 as suggested as someone on this review board earlier on and see what Unicom say to that.

• jmonilaws on 11th Jun 2008

  We are in the same 3 year renewal cycle, Last year we had 6 months to go on our 3yrs. when we attempted to switch. They just told us about the termination fees, and did not mention auto renewal or 3 month notice in writing. Blindly assuming, (stupidly), that we could switch after the end of the contract period, we just waited until this year, only to discover the un notified auto renewal issue, and the same old 3 year contract and termination.
  
  I find that their termination fees bear no resemblance to actual or reasonable damages. £100 admin fee would be bad enough, but full term service fees, and 30% of typical call charges is completely unreasonable.
  
  The issue is compounded by the fact that they are no longer offering the service we originally had, (BT has withdrawn the business Highway Service)and require us to go through high priced conversions, and completely failed to offer a very much lower cost replacement solution.
  
  Letter are being exchanged all they seem interested in is waving the spectre of termination charges, rather than finding a reasonable solution.
  
  You should be aware that they have recently had an agreement with OFCOm, that found their sales practices were potentially flawed and refund may be due for contracts started during a limited period 2006/7
  

• philipwood on 27th Jun 2008

  I agree, we are in the same position as everyone else my contract with Unicom ends 21/sep/08 because I PUT THE 22/6/08 THE 21ST of September BEING A SUNDAY I was told I will have to enter another 3 year contract as I am a day late.
  This is not fair trading, surely? The contract is with my solicitor and I am awaiting their advice.

• doneuplikeakipper on 16th Jul 2008

  I also am in a battle with Unicom for £1853.00 in so called cancellation fees.
  There was a thread on vnunet with similar stories about them, but it seems to have disappeared?

• jmonilaws on 17th Jul 2008

  Follow up from earlier comment. I eventually gave up, but made some progress by dumping 2 of my three numbers (for no charge), and reinstating one for the remaining term. However, they "mistakenly" still tried to extract the now no longer payable termination fees. Luckily, I had cancelled my direct debit.
  
  
  Shortly after "settlement", someone from Unicom called to "check" on other phone lines we have at our location and see if they can help us with special rates. You have to give them something for sheer effort!
  
  In my opinion their 3 year contract is poor for the comparatively small savings they offer. I would not lock into anyone for this long in todays telecom market. Even if you do lock in for 1 year, make sure that you very clearly understand what the termination fees are. (for example one of BT's contracts I looked at was quite reasonable, 1 year, small admin fee, refund of difference between "special rate" and standard rate charges for period up to cancellation. Quite reasonable in my opinion.

• jmonilaws on 17th Jul 2008

  I think their attitude to cancellation is questionable. I also think their contract is biased towards them. I don't find their discounts and deals that good.

• Simon Barrett on 9th Dec 2008

  Avoid at all cost! .And who has 3 year deals that rolls over if you don't serve 3 months notice before the end of the contract?

• Avoid OneBill Telecom on 9th Apr 2009

  Why are you all complaining? The T&C's clearly state that you need to provide the notice - as with most contracts in the world. If you didn't read the T&C's then don't blame the company.
  
  Any valid complaints (ie. swearing at you, being billed incorrectly, etc) should be raised. These are the factors that potential customers should know about. Are Unicom bad in this regard? I know of many other companies that are.

• PaulSavidge on 4th Aug 2009

  You could try refering to "The Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999" which in schedule 2 gives a non-exhaustive list of unfair contractual terms, specifically item 1(h) which states:-
  
  Automatically extending a contract of fixed duration where the consumer does not indicate otherwise, when the deadline fixed for the consumer to express his desire not to extend the contract is unresaonably early.
  
  I think that if you are a consumer rather than a business you should be able to use this to raise a credible defence.