Advice needed about phone company

sugar_lump

Hello, I'm new to this forum and I'm currently having a problem with my mobile phone provider.
Any advice would be gladly appreciated....
Due to unforseen circumstances, my income has dried up and i'm struggling to pay my bills. I e-mailed vodafone asking if I could cancel my phone contract as I would like to go on pay as you go. Vodafone wrote back to me saying that to do that I would have to pay a shortfall of £500 (which after some research is perfectly legal apparantly) This was just not possible in my eyes so I wrote to them again asking for a downgrade. They wrote back again saying that they could not give me a downgrade because I had not completed enough of my contract to do so. Vodafone have tried to do nothing to help my situation and it seems that if I cannot get the money together for my bill due this month they will cut me off.
Could/will they take me to court or damage my credit rating if I just tell them I want to cancel and then cancelling my direct debit?? I've about had enough of them, they are useless.

KILL_BILL

how long have you been in your contract

i know that vodaphone will only allow you to downgrade once you have been 9 months into a contract - i dont know about the other networks.

sugar_lump

Yes this is what they said. I renewed the contract in March which means no downgrade as it don't need a maths whiz to figure out that's not 9 months.
I asked them if there was anything else they could do for my situation and they basically said no.

willo65

It sounds like your on a £35 a month contract so i would assume you also got a new phone in march, why don't you sell the phone and put that towards paying vodafone back.

if you cancel the direct debit it will go as a late payment on your credit file and after 3 missed payments quite possibly a default and they will chase you for the money.

pinkshoes

The whole point of signing a contract is that you get a shiny new phone, and they get at least 9 months of your money...

You MUST pay the monthly bill. Stopping the direct debit is a stupid idea, as they'll still chase you for the money, and you'll end up paying for court/debt collector fees too.

As willo65 said, just sell the phone and use the money to cover the monthly bill, and if you're still short of money, start selling other possessions.

I know you didn't plan on the income drying up, but in future, you should try and have back up savings that cover these sort of things.

sugar_lump

Ok so lets say I sell my phone to pay the bill, then what? I'm still going to have to pay monthly as I can't cancel my contract without having to pay a shortfall of £500 so I will still be paying £35 a month.
The only reason my income dried up was because I left work to go on maternity leave (because i'm 33 weeks pregnant) and my maternity pay is being delayed. Therefore my back up savings that I did have got me through a couple of months- I was kind of hoping that my maternity pay would have been sorted by now.
I agree that cancelling my direct debit is a silly idea but that was the advice that someone else had given me.

4743hudsonj

or sell on the sim too

ask people you know personally if they would like to use the contract, and ask them to pay you the 35 a month or whatever it is (or near it) so you can keep the phone and get a payg

OR if you have a child

research the network called BLYK

they offer something like £15 worth of free credit every month as long as you agree to receive a few ads

i personally received 3 mms messages a week and that was it

brilliant

you can also top up normally


but you would need your mobile unlocked with should cost around £30

oh and you need to dig through the blyk site as you need an invitation code which can be obtained by texting something to a number that can be found on their site

bb999

sugar_lump wrote: »

Ok so lets say I sell my phone to pay the bill, then what? I'm still going to have to pay monthly as I can't cancel my contract without having to pay a shortfall of £500 so I will still be paying £35 a month.
The only reason my income dried up was because I left work to go on maternity leave (because i'm 33 weeks pregnant) and my maternity pay is being delayed. Therefore my back up savings that I did have got me through a couple of months- I was kind of hoping that my maternity pay would have been sorted by now.
I agree that cancelling my direct debit is a silly idea but that was the advice that someone else had given me.

Unfortunately you are probably stuck with the contract. If you only took out the contract in March then surely you knew you were pregnant and would be going on maternity leave. Too many people sign contracts without thinking them through, just because they want a cool new phone.

ABH_3

4743hudsonj wrote: »

or sell on the sim too

ask people you know personally if they would like to use the contract, and ask them to pay you the 35 a month or whatever it is (or near it) so you can keep the phone and get a payg

Are you *serious* with this comment?

You NEVER sell on your Sim card, the reason for this is simply it's in YOUR NAME! If someone uses it to call Pakistan for 3 hours to talk to their great uncle YOU WILL BE LIABLE for THE WHOLE BILL AMOUNT!

There is no getting out of this the easy way, but IF you sell your sim card, you're going to be liable for every call on that card. You could report it as stolen, but be aware they will still make you liable for every call made on that card.

So in essence, you'll have to take the advice offered, sell the phone put the cash towards paying the bill. Yes it's going to be an expensive lesson, but sometimes some people need a little reminder that money doesn't come easily to them. I'm sure this sounds somewhat sanctimonious, but chances are you won't forget this feeling and will account for your money a little better nexttime.

Also, the BLYK network, you'll be giving them all your information so they'll have that to sell onto other advertisers for years! So you may like to think about that some more, unless you don't mind being deluged with junk mail, personally I was glad to finally stop getting such rubbish when I moved. Just a heads up so you don't just jump in there feet first, you've already made one rash mistake, try not to make another.

Good luck with the baby however.

pinkshoes

sugar_lump wrote: »

Ok so lets say I sell my phone to pay the bill, then what? I'm still going to have to pay monthly as I can't cancel my contract without having to pay a shortfall of £500 so I will still be paying £35 a month.
The only reason my income dried up was because I left work to go on maternity leave (because i'm 33 weeks pregnant) and my maternity pay is being delayed. Therefore my back up savings that I did have got me through a couple of months- I was kind of hoping that my maternity pay would have been sorted by now.
I agree that cancelling my direct debit is a silly idea but that was the advice that someone else had given me.

Well the phone for a £35 a month contract must be worth a fair bit, so surely that will help?

Paying the £35 a month until December (when your 9 months are up) is better than coughing up £500, and then you can try and change it to PAYG or a cheaper contract. You can buy yourself a second hand phone for £5 on ebay!

Why hasn't your maternity pay being sorted? Could you not speak to the company you work for (i presume they're responsible for the maternity pay) and get them to help you with the phone bill?

sugar_lump

Well I have come to the conclusion that i'm just gonna have to pay the bill and the £35 a month (for at least 9 months) as I am bound in a contract. And it doesn't need pointing out where I messed up because I know.
I just thought I'd seek some advice BEFORE I parted with my cash. The bill isn't due till later this month so I was merely thinking ahead.
Thanks anyway.