Re: Astonishing isn't it
Do you know how many people I know who have "bought a new car" on only to realise three years later that they didn't read the small print and now they have to pay some huge portion of the overall cost or lose the car entirely?
If people sign up to a long agreement and then FORGET that they've done so... and then let that linger for any significant portion of time, when they were given the contract, had it all explained, have it there in writing in front of them? Yeah, I think there's an element of "learning experience" there for them.
The exact people who get those agreements are the exact people who can't *afford* to be sloppy with money because they couldn't even afford to buy their phone outright. Though that might flag as something we should babysit for them, I really think we'd be better off just leaving them to it.
There isn't a court in the land that would demand the mobile companies "pay back" that unnecessary extra paid as every piece of paper they have clearly lays out what they're paying, how long for and what it'll cost. That people just let that roll over, without even phoning up the company and saying "I seem to have been paying for this an awful long time now" or "I can get a better deal elsewhere", means they don't care.
And it's for something that I consider a luxury item. Smartphones don't have to be luxury items, but the ones you need to take out finance just to purchase them? Yeah, that's a luxury item for you, I'm afraid.