Disclaimer: I am not an expert in law, and the text below is my interpretation of events.  The text is the truth as far as I see it and understand it, but this article should be considered as personal opinion.

This is a follow up from the previous post, covering a bit more detail and bringing it up to date.  I hope that the story is not too long, but I don’t want to skimp on the details.

I had an O2 “Genion” contract in Germany.  O2 is now called telefónica.  The European head office is in Slough, England.  They are a major, international telecoms company.

I got a nokia phone in an O2 shop in Friedrichstrasse Station, Berlin, Germany, in February 2005.  When I went into this shop, I specifically stated that I am a scientist.  I explained that this means it is possible I’ll have to leave Germany for a new job somewhere else.  The young chap told me that everything is OK, I can cancel my contract if I am leaving the country.  No problem.

Fast forward 24 months to the end of the contract.  I asked to close my account, but they told me that because I didn’t tell them at a specific time (minimum three months before the end of the contract) it is automatically renewed for 12 months.  I couldn’t read the small print when I first arrived in Germany.  I wasn’t happy, but it was my fault, I accept that.

Fast forward almost another year.  I had a new job coming up in France, starting at the beginning of 2008.  In December 2007, I called O2 and asked them if I can cancel my contract because I’m leaving Germany.  They told me that if they have this in writing they will cancel it and send me the final bill.  I sent them my new address in France, and a request for the final bill along with clarification of a previous bill that seemed strange.

On 2nd January 2008 they posted a reply.  In their letter, O2 told me that they were giving me €5.  Then they asked for a €5.25 transfer into their account!?  And that was the last I heard from them.  The last bill I ever received was more than a month before, dated 29th November, 2007.  Being slightly naïve perhaps, I assumed therefore that my contract had been cancelled.

Fast forward 8 months, to Monday the 4th August, 2008.  I received a letter from O2’s lawyers at Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider.  Their letter said that a number of letters from O2 went unanswered.  They said O2 have not received the sum of €24.42, and oh, by the way, we are adding some legal charges to that which bring the total to €77.64.  They quote a list of legislation that justifies these legal charges.  They tell me that if the money is not in their account before the 10th August 2008 (i.e. four working days) then I would be in legal trouble.  At this point, I would like to point out that it is extremely difficult — maybe impossible — to transfer money from a French bank account to another in Germany within 4 working days.  Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider must be aware of this difficulty.

I immediately telephoned Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider and spoke to someone who was rude to me from the outset.  When I asked, politely, for an explanation for this bill, she replied: “Wissen Sie was O2 ist?” (do you know what O2 is?).  She then explained that the €24.42 was the total of the bills for January, February and March 2008 that remain unpaid.

Last night, I did not sleep very well at all.  Maybe a couple of hours, maximum.

Today, on the 5th August, 2008, I have spent the whole day talking with O2 to get their side of the story, and with various European consumer organisations to establish my rights.

O2 said that it’s true, they didn’t send me a bill for December 2007.  Nor did they send me a bill for January 2008.  Nor for February 2008.  No, the next bill they admit to sending me was entered into their computer system on the 3rd March, 2008 for the total amount.  One bill in 9 months, a fact they freely admit.  I never received this bill.  What happened to this bill is anyone’s guess.

They claim that a third party company would have written to me afterwards when I did not pay, and if I want clarification I should contact them.  I did not receive any letters from any other companies acting on behalf of O2.  O2 gave me two telephone numbers.  The first number did not work from France.  The second number put me through to a company that has no records under my name.

O2 then said that if the matter is already with their lawyers, then there is nothing that O2 can do and I have to negotiate with their lawyers directly.

At this stage, I would like to point out that I have been following the advice of O2 representatives.  I have not done anything illegal as far as I know.  Now I have German lawyers breathing down my neck and threatening me with legal action.

The lawyers at Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider have helpfully provided me with a bank transfer tear-off form that is only accepted by German banks.

The situation as it stands is that I have written to Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider, O2 Germany, and Telefónica Europe Head Office telling them my side of the story, and billing O2 for 2 days of my time plus one night, plus 2 international letters sent recorded delivery, plus Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider’s fees.  Total price: €879.29.  Actually, I under charged them by €5 for the letters.

The letter to Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider includes a cheque for their bill in Euros, but when that arrives it will take a few working days to clear, so it will miss their deadline for sure.  I think that is their idea.

I would now like to explore the question - what distinguishes this behaviour from that of a Mafia organisation?  According to the Oxford Dictionary, “Mafia” refers to a criminal organisation that uses extortion or other criminal methods.  In this sense, O2 cannot be regarded as Mafia because they are operating within the law.  They have a team of lawyers to prove it.  The same dictionary defines “extortion” as obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.  That seems to be applicable in my case, but the dictionary definition may well differ from the legal definition, and on that subject I do not want to comment.  It’s certainly true that other sources link the definition of extortion to “threat of violence” rather than simply “threats”, which would rule out extortion in this case.

The phone company has told me, on two separate occasions, that I can get out of their contract easily if I am moving country.  When it came to it, they did not honour this.  Nor did they tell me that they were not honouring it.  IN FACT, THEY TOLD ME ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The first information they provide, with help from their lawyers, puts me into a situation where it is impossible to meet their legal demands, and where I will be liable for more legal action and more charges from their lawyers.  That is blatantly unethical, but illegal?  Were this illegal, then I would be happy.  It would mean that I can bring a law suit against O2 and Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider and get them off my back.  But that would mean that O2 and Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider were breaking the law, and by definition that makes them criminals.  That would then be a positive answer to the hypothesis, because they would have been shown to be a kind of Mafia: their illegal activity is planned and organised.  It doesn’t take many contracts to end up at the lawyers to make a nice, tidy investment for the O2 shareholders.

Another interesting question is this: how many people just pay up?  I’m trying to pay up.  But at the same time, by way of a fight I’m trying to make sure that as many people find out about this as possible.

If any legal expert is willing to comment, I would be very interested to hear about it.  My suspicion is that the behaviour of O2 and Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider is certainly infringing some legislation at the E.U. level or in Germany.  If you happen to be a lawyer who does one of those “no-win-no-fee” things, so that there is no risk to me at all, and who likes the sound of this case, then please feel free to drop me a line :-)  You’ll find my contact details on left side of this page here.

Lastly, you might ask what I think about the mobile phone industry, the “next big revolution” in technology.  Indeed, just the other day, a work colleague of mine asked me when I was gonna start coding applications for the iPhone!

In answer to these questions, I would say this.  Personally, I can see now why my Grandmother has difficulties with her DVD player.  I have no intention of signing into a mobile phone contract in the future.  EVER.  These companies will say anything to you to get you to sign the contract.  That’s a strong statement, but it seems to be true for my case and others that you can read on the web.  They can change the contract any time they like.  If you don’t believe me, check the small print of your contract.  Anything they told you when you were discussing your new phone in the shop is void because it’s not in the small print of the contract.  If it is, they can simply take it out later.

Taking yourself out of the contract phone market detaches you from this nonsense.  This year I chose to have a pre-pay, thank all things sacred, which I never use.  I have only charged it up a couple of times when I’ve gone snowboarding.  My monthly expenditure has decreased a lot.  Friends and family phone me at home. 

Instead of SMS I use e-mails.  Think about it.  How many conversations have you had using SMS?  SMS is probably the most profitable thing these guys are selling.  They have costs typically ranging between 15 cents to 50 cents, just for sending 160 characters.  The data bandwidth is practically zero compared to phone calls, and it can cost a fortune if questions regularly turn into conversations.

Now back to my Grandmother.  If I restrict myself to the affordable pre-pay telephones and not top them up, only using them for skiing and stuff, then of course I will be at least 4 years behind the latest technology.  Consequently, after a while, I will be as bewildered with a hand-held gizmo as anyone else of the senior demographic band, whether or not I have the lucky pleasure of performing daily C++ acrobatics and getting paid for it. 

But at least I will be able to sleep well at night.

Update on 24th September

Just got a letter from Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider.  It answered my letter that I wrote to both Anwaltskanzlei Andreas Schneider and O2 Germany.  They explain that leaving the country is not considered by O2 to be a valid reason to terminate a contract.  This is the exact opposite of what the customer service told me on the phone, and what the sales guy told me in the shop.

In answer to my questions about why no bill was posted to me until these lawyers came running, they state that I always had the opportunity to view my bills via the internet.  I don’t remember ever doing that, nor do I remember setting up an internet billing service.  The existence of an internet billing option is news to me.

Their new letter had a simple excel spreadsheet printout stapled to the back of it.  This showed that I still owed them money.  It seems — and I have to guess here because there was no explanation — that they have charged me a €10 fee for cashing a French cheque, plus interest accrued every month when they sat around and did nothing.  They have given me until the beginning of October to cough up another €12 before legal consequences begin.