HELP ME!!! Stolen Mobile Phone Abroad -Liable for Fraudulent Phone Bill! PLEASE HELP!

melmassey

Last week I went on holiday to Ibiza with my friends. On the first night, the 14 june 08 - MY 19TH BIRTHDAY. My bag was stolen, which contained my mobile phone,camera, passport and purse containing all my cash and cards.

Whilst in Ibiza, I had no means of contacting home to cancel my cards or my phone. I did have two pin codes protecting the phone, however these are only propted if the phone is turned off and on again. I went to the police station in Ibiza on two different occasions to report the theft, but as I had no passport they would not see me. On the second to last day my passport was handed in at the hotel reception. (The thief obviously realised I could not fly home without it) With my passport I again went to the spanish police, they initially said i could not report the crime as it had passed 48 hours, then they simply told me that there had been no bag handed in.

Upon arrival back in England, I cancelled my cards which luckily had not been used. However, my mobile phone had been used so excessively that the Spanish fraud team at Orange had frozen the account. The thief had ran up £1158.00 of long distance calls. 91 calls in less than 24 hours. My operator Orange have said that I am liable for this bill as it was prior to my reporting the phone missing. When I told Orange that I had no means of communication, and that my bill had never exceeded the £30 a month I pay. All the calls were made to Spanish numbers of which I have never made before - I dont even speak Spanish.

I am a 19 year old student from Manchester studying in Oxford. I am from a one parent family living in a council house. I work two jobs when in Oxford and recieve the highest maintenence grant, I still struggle to afford living costs. There is no physical way I can afford to pay this extortionate bill. When I emotionally told this to an Orange customer service operator, they informed me that if this was the case, a debt collector would be sent to my house. Orange have also told me that if I refuse to pay I will be taken to court. Is it legal for such a large company to bully the customer??

I beg of anyone who could possibly help to give me some advice.

I am going to speak to the Spanish Consulate in Manchester to try and register the crime from home and I am going to try and gain some knowledge of the law regarding whether or not it breeches any ethics to profit from a crime at the customers expense by speaking to an adviser at Ofcom.

Thankyou for any advice anyone can offer.

Melissa
x
:money:

danny69

Thats unlucky. One of them things that happens. Also for all your friends to have had all their cash/mobiles etc. stolen at the same time aswell.Must have been some crime. Can't you come to some arrangement with Orange to pay back the money on a monthly basis?Failing that, i'm not sure how a court would see it but surely if you told them that ytou could'nt pay it back all at once then they would have to settle for some monthly payment?

Viksabix

I'm paying back a large bill over 6 months, so you CAN arrange a payment plan with them.

They'll bar your phone from outgoing calls and text messages whilst you pay the bill.

bringmeshoes

do you have insurance on your phone? this may cover calls made while your handset is stolen
I know what has happend to you is bad but i'm afraid you will still be liable for the calls made before you reported the handset stolen

melmassey

Hi, no my insurance did provide me with a new phone when i got home but did not cover the fraudulent calls. Orange has already suggested that I could pay back this bill on a monthly basis but even if this was arranged for the 11 months left of my 18 month contract, it would still be far too high monthly outgoings for me to possibly afford on top of my £30 a month contract I am already paying. As I did not make these fraudulent Spanish calls I feel it is completely unfair that I should be made to pay them. Melissa x

pooler_2

you might qualify for legal aid but depending on whether a particular solicitors can offer this for this type of advice, it may be worth speaking to a criminal law solicitor but then again it may be more in the area of litigation. a solicitor may be able to help you correspond with Orange. They could maybe suggest that they should have barred the calls sooner considering it was so inconsistant with your previous record of calls.

Orange may well argue that you could have used another phone, or reversed the charges to call back home, and somehow got Orange to block the phone. it is a difficult situation, and i really do hope that you won't be liable for the bill. Orange would have to go down a number of steps before they asked a debt collector to come to your house.

If you are not sure about legal representation, i would suggest you speak to your local Citizens Advice Bureux who are normally very good at helping or pointing you in the best direction.

Best of luck,
Pooler

wantmemoney

melmassey wrote:

As I did not make these fraudulent Spanish calls I feel it is completely unfair that I should be made to pay them.

yes i agree. Unfortunately our telecoms industry is a disgrace and the UK 'regulators' are no better.
Unfortunately they are allowed to deal with this type of issue as a consumer matter when in fact most people would consider it a criminal matter.
In some of these cases i have read that the phone company will reduce the bill if there is enough 'publicity'.

You may want to contact your MP on the matter and ask him if he believes it's fair.

melmassey

Thankyou both so much pooler and wantmemoney. I will most definately take note of both these actions and follow them through. I will keep this thread updated on how I get on. Melissa x

Viksabix

melmassey wrote: »

Hi, no my insurance did provide me with a new phone when i got home but did not cover the fraudulent calls. Orange has already suggested that I could pay back this bill on a monthly basis but even if this was arranged for the 11 months left of my 18 month contract, it would still be far too high monthly outgoings for me to possibly afford on top of my £30 a month contract I am already paying. As I did not make these fraudulent Spanish calls I feel it is completely unfair that I should be made to pay them. Melissa x

Melissa, you don't pay the £30 a month whilst you're paying the outstanding balance.

mikegahan

Hi
Debt recovery is a civil matter, there can be no question of you facing criminal prosecution for it. . The main issue is that whatever you do you try to avoid damage to your credit rating. I know you are in a difficult position but your best bet is to make the point to orange that your are of limited means. be up front, communicative and firm. Mention that you have posted this isssue on this forum and even send them a link by email. And Orange do have a point in you should have found a way to telephone them to report the loss. But Orange have little to be proud of in this matter. There are similar instances reported on in this forum and you might want to do a little surfing o see if you can find guidance. Good luck

PS There are phones about now that tackle this issue by turning themselves off automatically

Neillgb

Viksabix wrote: »

Melissa, you don't pay the £30 a month whilst you're paying the outstanding balance.

Sorry, I don't understand why the £30 should not be paid, surely those are the terms of the contract.