Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: are verbal contracts binding in state of virginia

Verbal contracts are binding. But it is very hard to prove that a contract exists. Your situation actually raises the question of whether or not you AGREED.

You must INTEND to enter into a verbal contract. There must be a "meeting of the minds." And the cell phone company would have the burden of proof.

The exact same thing happened to me. They pretend that when you changed your plan you verbally AGREED to extend the contract another year. Of course, you never agreed to it. I assume they never said a word to you about agreeing to another year. And THEY CANNOT PROVE IT.

Check your original contract. You need to look for: (A) Whether the contract says that all modifications must be in writing. What they are saying is that you made a verbal modification to the contract when you called in and changed the plan. However, the contract probably says that no verbal modifications are allowed. Therefore, the change is not enforceable. (B) Look to make sure you did not already AGREE to such a scenario in the written contract. Make sure there is nothing in the contract that says you agree to automatically extend the contract any time you change the plan.

Because it is their policy, you will never get them to admit they are wrong. The only thing that you can do is the following: (1) Tell them you want to cancel, but you do not agree to pay the cancellation fee. It is possible that they are recording the call, so you must NEVER agree to pay the fee. (2) Send a written letter saying you cancel the fee (or reminding them that you cancelled it earlier if there was an earlier date). (3) They will try to collect the cancellation fee. Ignore them. (4) They will turn it over to a collection agency. Send a written letter IMMEDIATELY within 30 days demanding "verification of the debt" and saying you dispute the debt. Then ignore them. (5) Eventually, they will either forget about it or turn it over to a laywer. (6) The ONLY time you will be able to actually dispute the validity of the debt is in court. In court you demand to see WHERE you ever agreed to extend the length of the contract. They cannot prove it. Deny (if true) that they ever mentioned extending the length of the contract when you called in to change your plan. If they say "it is our policy to always say XYZ" or "We know we said it in your case because we always say it" stand up and OBJECT. "Habit" evidence is not evidence that they they said something in your particular case. The fact that they are supposed to say something does not mean that they DID say it in your particular case. Because they have the burden of proof (if the judge is fair, which is hard to predict) they will lose, and you will win.