Selling/trading in a phone while still under contract

[cass]

I have a mobile on a 3-year pay-monthly contract with Virgin. The contract started in April 2021 so 8 months left on it.

I want to change the phone, but not with VM or O2. I have been offered money off the phone I want to buy, if I trade in my current one.

Given that the current one is not yet paid off, is it acceptable to do this?

[Adri_G]

Hi, cass. Thanks for posting our our help forums and glad to see you back to the community.

We're eager to best reply to your queries and concerns regarding the above, please allow us to explain the following:

As you've had a loan agreement with us where a certain amount of instalments had been set to pay the handset value off in full, this will need to be honoured in full based on your agreement T&Cs.

The refund we offer via trading in your old device is based on the fact that you've purchased this (paid in full) and therefore we're returning part of that value to you (depending on it's current status and reduced value as a used, older handset), which will then be deducted from the new phone value etc - so you practically get a discount on the new device.

We do hope this explains things for you, you may also refer to this page here where you can view more on our T&Cs as well as here for details about trading in.

Let us know if you have more questions and we'll be happy to help.

[cass]

Thanks for the reply.

That is helpful regarding a trade-in with Virgin, but I'm talking about a trade-in with another company (Back Market). They would be effectively buying the phone from me.

If that would contravene the T&Cs of my contract with Virgin, would it be possible to request a final settlement bill from Virgin and pay off the handset contract immediately? This would presumably then allow me to do as I wish with the phone.

[Adri_G]

Thanks for your reply and for providing further details, cass.

We can advise that you'll need to pay off the loan agreement even if you have handed your device over to the seller for this purpose, regardless.

Of course, we give you the option to make a full repayment of the remainder amount for the handset should you wish to do this - please, call our mobile team at 789 from your mobile (or 202 if you've migrated to O2 already and we'll be able to help.

Let us know if you need further help or advice as well as how things go from here.
Best regards,