Help needed!!!!!!

hartypants

I am new to posting on the forums but often spend my time browsing the site and forums and have finally plucked up the courage to make a post.

A close friend has recently passed away very suddenly at far too young an age, he has left a wife and two young children aswell as friends in a state of shock to say the least. We are helping where we can and one of the issues I am trying to help resolve is with mobile phone contracts. Both my friend and his wife signed upto 3 network at the same time with the wifes phone being a gift where in he would refund her the £35 bill each month. Both parties signed seperate contracts and 3 have agreed to cancel his contract if they can see the death certificate, they will not cancel his wifes though. She cannot afford to keep up the contract as they did not have life cover and all her resources are going to try and keep a roof over their head.
Can anyone offer any advice on how to help her. ANY help would be very very gratefully received.

mikegahan

3 are not being overgenerous agreeing to cancel your friends contract as the contract was a personal one and terminated at his death anyway? As regards the wife hopefully others can give more specialist advice, it seems a gross shame but this is the way mobile networks make their money. It might help if you said the issue was being aired on this forum and that a helpful response would be noted here as well, as networks always like free or cheap publicity

McKneff

Sorry, but this is not what you want to hear. A signed contract is binding and cannot be cancelled unless the company agrees. I seem to remember on another thread one mobile phone company wouldn't even cancel the deceased's contract and his widow had to pay the last 3 months of the contract out of his estate.
It's a sad world, isn't it.

mikegahan

Dear Anniehanlon
I was genuinely shocked by the story about a widow being forced to pay the balance of her deceased hsubands contract. i will be examining my small print in great detail!

McKneff

Yes, it was genuinely upsetting even reading about it. It was only in the last couple of weeks i read it. There is enough grief to deal with without having to deal with that sort of thing for the sake of a few quid especially when they are multi-million pound companies

proplusplus

well, if the contract is in her name, then she'll be liable for it, and the get-out is only if the network allows it.

for deceased customers, if the account holder dies, the contract is voided 'cos they can;t get the funds anyway (bank accounts get frozen) and can't take them to court (obvious reasons).

proplusplus

Browntoa

it's one of those , technically+legally they are correct , but morally ???

sort of thing these companies drop for "goodwill" if it hits the local papers

McKneff

proplusplus wrote: »

well, if the contract is in her name, then she'll be liable for it, and the get-out is only if the network allows it.

for deceased customers, if the account holder dies, the contract is voided 'cos they can;t get the funds anyway (bank accounts get frozen) and can't take them to court (obvious reasons).

proplusplus

The contract was in the deceased's name. Maybe further through the thread the decision was reversed but the first half dozen posts they OP was told that they had to pay. They said that the money (which is in fact a debt)
had to be paid out of the deceased's estate.