MP solves licensee's phone bill row

A licensee has been released from an onerous six-year telephone contract after involving her local MP.

Maria Jessney found her original 2006 three-year contract with Manchester-based Unicom had been doubled when she tried to change to a more affordable provider on 10 March — without being notified by Unicom.

Jessney was told the only way out was to pay an "outrageous" £1,200 termination fee.

She had planned to move to rival company TalkTalk where both broadband internet and line rental including unlimited national calls cost around £25 per month, in contrast to the £40 charged by Unicom for telephone services only.

"There was no mention of an automatic contract renewal, early cancellation fees or that Unicom make no customer contact when I made a verbal agreement," said Jessney, owner of the Old George in Goole, Yorkshire.

"It was not made clear that the onus is on the customer to remember a specific date three years into the future."

She wrote a formal complaint and informed her MP Ian Cawsey, who also contacted the company. The telecom provider has agreed to let Jessney out of the contract without a termination fee.

A spokesman said: "I can confirm that written communication was received from Mrs Jessney's local MP and after consideration, Unicom accepted cancellation of Mrs Jessney's telecommunication agreement. Once the transfer away has completed, Unicom will issue Mrs Jessney with a final invoice."

Jessney said: "This is excellent news. It has got to be brought to people's attention to stop companies getting away with poor practice."

Cawsey agreed: "At the heart of this case remains the situation that people are signed up to contracts without full details. It is important that goods and services are transparent and we need regulations to that effect."