You may have seen that there are numerous websites out there that offer you cash for your mobile phone.
You type your phone model into the site and, if you accept their price, they send you a freepost envelope.
Pop your phone in the post and a few days later you get money straight into your account.
Money for old rope – and simple too.
Well, most of the time.
I sold two phones with cash4phones.co.uk and had a bit of difficulty.
I inevitably seem to attract this sort of thing – a dispute over contract law and fair trading practices, all over a tenner and an old mobile.
Still, it’s also the principle.
And I’d like to make you aware about how contract law can work for you, as a fellow consumer.
Selling shoddy goods?
I typed two phone handsets into Cash4Phones.
One, an old Nokia, was valued at around £5.
My untouched Nokia C5 phone was valued at just over £20 – a good few quid for something taking some space in my drawer.
I decided to accept these offers – note the word – and duly dispatched them in the freepost envelopes.
Then I was informed there was a problem.
I’d been passing off rubbish old phones as ones in good condition so C4P wanted to rethink their offers.
To be fair, the old Nokia probably did have some wear and tear, but the Nokia C5 certainly didn’t.
Offer and counter-offer
I was offered revised prices for my two handsets based on their condition following inspection.
The prices were approximately half of the previous price – so only £10 for my C5.
I thought that was pretty cheeky – it was in excellent condition and barely used.
I could reject this offer, it turned out.
So, being the careful consumer I am, I decided I would.
But there was an issue: it would cost me £7 in postage to get my phone back, according to their terms and conditions!
That seemed a bit ridiculous to me.
The cynic in me might even say it’s punitive – an artificially high price designed to encourage you to accept any offer.
It’s not fair… but is it legal?
I don’t think that £7 is a proportionate amount to charge for postage of a handset.
Especially when you talking about something worth only a tenner.
It made me question – why do I have to pay that much?
Because it’s in their terms and conditions.
We’ve seen before how flexible terms and conditions can be.
Anyway, all this talk of offer, counter-offer and terms made me think of my contract law.
Something slightly unclear, slightly fishy was going on.
Contract law applies – if there’s a contract
So, let’s start at the beginning.
What is a contract?
It’s an agreement between two parties.
It has to be an agreement on the exact terms offered and then accepted.
The ‘contract’ consists of all the terms that have been agreed when the contract was made.
In consumer contracts, terms and conditions apply when you agree to pay money for goods or services.
The agreement for that product at that price is the offer (price) and acceptance (you agree or pay).
The terms and conditions are then binding between you.
So were we in a contractual relationship?
For there to be a contract, then, there has to be offer and acceptance.
Only then can terms and conditions be binding.
But in this case, Cash4Phones are very clear that we’re not in a contract.
If we were, they wouldn’t be able to just change the price and offer me a tenner less.
Cash4Phones very explicitly say, in their terms and conditions, that we aren’t in a contractual relationship.
Their offer for the handset is not an ‘offer’ in a legal sense that I have ‘accepted’.
That’s why they could decide to ‘offer’ me (this time legal) the £10 price having inspected the phone.
And yet it’s their terms and conditions that say I have to pay £7 to get my handset back if I don’t accept their offer.
Having cake and eating it
This sounded like they wanted to have it both ways.
They wanted, under their terms, to say we weren’t in contract (I wouldn’t get the price I accepted) but that we were (I pay a disproportionate amount for postage).
Legally speaking, I believe I should get the price I accepted for the phone, unless I’ve offered them something that doesn’t reach the required standard.
Personally, I think we are in a contract once I’ve been offered a price for the handset and I’ve accepted it by sending it off.
So I decided to give them a call.
The result?
CC: We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You’ve reduced the offer for my Nokia C5 handset on the basis it’s too worn. It is in excellent condition. You can either rethink the offer for my phone, or I have some concerns about the legal status of your terms and conditions I’d like to discuss…
C4P: Is the phone definitely in good condition?
CC: Yep.
C4P: Okay. We’ll give you the £20 for it.
The take-home
- It’s amazing how often simply bargaining, trying to negotiate or raising an issue will see a quick result. Just point out your problem and sometimes the company sort it immediately – to save themselves some trouble.
- Think about the contractual relationship you’re in. Have you accepted what you’ve got? Is the company trying to have it both ways? The basic rules of contract law – offer and acceptance on the exact terms – is a useful place to start if you think something is unfair. Contract law is an excellent weapon.
- Don’t be afraid to ask! Sometimes a company might try it on. Don’t just take it. Sometimes a consumer crusade doesn’t have to be hard.
Any further questions?
Have you had a similar experience?
Have you used contract law to take on a company?
Or do you have a fishy terms and conditions issue I might be able to help you with?
Send me a comment below or email me and I’ll get back to you!
Let’s not let them get away with having their cake and eating it.