Mobile Contract Non Payment Advice Needed

UnemployedDebt

Is they also not such a thing as "duty of care" to the customer? She was on a £42.50 mth contract, so surely when her bill got to around £100 alarm bells should ring and O2 should of contacted her then and not waiting till the bill got to £315 and then just cut her off with no warning? Her phone has been off for the past 3 weeks, she had unlimited txt and web, so surely only her outgoing calls should have been barred and not everything? They also could have moved her from 600 mins at £42.50 to 3000 mins at £73 a mth instead of letting her get to such an amount. She has put in an O2 PAYG sim so is still using the phone.

chriswatts

You may want to check what happens if the bill goes unpaid, I noticed a clause in the terms when I purchased a phone from mobiles.co.uk that if the account goes into default they don't get commission on non paying accounts and that the difference between full cost of the phone and the subsidized price will be charged to the credit card that paid for the phone.

Not sure if O2 shops have a similar clause but it's worth checking the small print to see if there are penalties or if there's a clause allowing to take payment from the credit card used to make the purchase.

DarkConvict

UnemployedDebt wrote: »

Is they also not such a thing as "duty of care" to the customer? She was on a £42.50 mth contract, so surely when her bill got to around £100 alarm bells should ring and O2 should of contacted her then and not waiting till the bill got to £315 and then just cut her off with no warning? Her phone has been off for the past 3 weeks, she had unlimited txt and web, so surely only her outgoing calls should have been barred and not everything? They also could have moved her from 600 mins at £42.50 to 3000 mins at £73 a mth instead of letting her get to such an amount. She has put in an O2 PAYG sim so is still using the phone.

This will not be done mid month, at the end of the month they may ring up and advise you change up a tariff, but remember it is a contract and they may not let you go up or down price plans until a set number of months have been served. At the end of a month when you have a large bill the operator will usually ring you before attempting to take payment.


As you have still not mentioned about who is named on the contract (which is the most important thing to answer your original question), i am going to assume it is yourself. Because if it isn't you dont need to worry about it.
If it is you, you will be solely liable for the full amount as mentioned in my original reply.

Jon_01

UnemployedDebt wrote: »

Is they also not such a thing as "duty of care" to the customer? She was on a £42.50 mth contract, so surely when her bill got to around £100 alarm bells should ring and O2 should of contacted her then and not waiting till the bill got to £315 and then just cut her off with no warning? Her phone has been off for the past 3 weeks, she had unlimited txt and web, so surely only her outgoing calls should have been barred and not everything? They also could have moved her from 600 mins at £42.50 to 3000 mins at £73 a mth instead of letting her get to such an amount. She has put in an O2 PAYG sim so is still using the phone.

Depends on new new accounts are monitored at O2. I work for one of the other networks and some dept monitor usage in the first X months, but its not a service to police people's account for them it's mostly for fraud detection.

If someones old enough to get a contract they should be old enough to use it responsibly. If not they should be on payg.
A network has millions of customers all using the network at the same time and, maybe a few hundred staff. There's no way a network could (or would) police accounts on the off chance someone didn't know how to themselves...

UnemployedDebt

DarkConvict wrote: »

As you have still not mentioned about who is named on the contract (which is the most important thing to answer your original question), i am going to assume it is yourself. Because if it isn't you dont need to worry about it.
If it is you, you will be solely liable for the full amount as mentioned in my original reply.

Thats the thing I dont actually know who is named on the contract. The credit check was done on my card, but the salesman said I wouldn't be responsible for the bills she would be. When her phone got cut off, she phoned O2, if it was in my name surely O2 would only talk to me about my account?

They is no way I can pay it, cant get blood out of stone. Also any card I might have used has now expired and I've been issued with new cards and no's.

DarkConvict

Ah fair enough. O2 should only talk to the account holder, as they go through security details.

Was the phone sent to her address or yours, or just picked up in the shop there and then?

UnemployedDebt

The phone was picked up in the shop. By talking to her, has O2 not now acknowledged that she is the account holder? I'm just a bit worried that if it is in my name and she doesn't pay it they will want payment from me, which would be impossible unless they would take £5 a mth. I dont fancy having bailiffs or whatever at my door and getting a poor credit rating.

DarkConvict

If it is in your name, you maybe able to get away with that it was identify fraud although i reckon it would be extremely difficult given your previous relationship. But if she has been dealing with the account, stating it was on your behalf (when obviously it wasn't) You could say she took the contract out in my name without my permission.

But as she is dealing with O2, and i am sure they can obviously tell they are speaking to a woman, then if the account was in the name of a male it would be raise eyebrows.

It is odd they used you the credit check, if that is what they are doing because you need more than a card. Credit check is usually name, address and permission to carry it out. I.e. If you sign up to a bank in the application form you may have to give them permission to do one.

Maybe it was her card bounced or some reason, so used yours just to get a valid card. So you might be worrying over nothing. Just hold fire and wait, there is nothing you can really do right now anyway. The most i think you could do is ring up O2 and when they ask for the mobile number just give hers, and see what response you get. Under data protection they cannot give details, but they can confirm information. So if you tell them your ex's name, they should confirm if it is in her name. If not, tell them yours.

http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=397,E=0000000002484299940,K=9983,Sxi=5,T=contact_Us_iphone

O2 Iphone customer services - 0870 607 2302

had-enough-now

Sorry to be the bearere of bad news, but it sounds to me like the contractwas done in your name, therefore making you wholly responsible for any debt built up.

I work for a different network provider, and we require 2 signatures on our contracts, on to authorise the dd payments out of the account - which is the part your ex signed - and the other one to take accountability for the contract - which is what you signed. This also includes any shortfall in payments I'm afraid.