UK consumer organisation Which? has found that mobile phone sales staff are giving inaccurate information about the possibility of price increases on ‘pay monthly’ contracts.
Mystery shopping at 39 mobile phone shops - a combination of network-owned stores plus the Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U chains - found that 32 of them gave incorrect information about potential price rises on fixed-term phone contracts.
When asked whether the price would stay the same throughout the contract term, 82% of shop assistants said the price was fixed. However, the past 12 months have seen four of the five major mobile networks increasing their charges.
Which? recently launched a campaign that calls on phone companies to ensure the price and all other aspects of fixed-term deals remain the same for the full length of the contract.
Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director, said “It’s totally unacceptable that people aren’t being told the full story about potential price rises when signing up to contracts in mobile phone shops. Shockingly, even when we asked directly about price increases, the vast majority of staff denied this could happen. There should be no nasty surprises after signing a mobile contract. People must be confident that fixed really does mean fixed.”
Recent research from Which? found that 70% of people on fixed-term contracts didn’t know the prices could be increased during the length of their contract.