Daughter signed up for mobile contract she cant afford!

Durhamgill

scurr wrote: »

You have my sympathy Gill - my son is clever but has absolutely no common sense - he did the same as your daughter and it was pretty disastrous but scraped through the experience without damage to credit rating. He actually LOST THE MOBILE IN QUESTION halfway through the 3rd month and had to continue to pay for the rest of the 18 month contract as the insurance wouldn't pay out since it was his own stupid fault.

Many 18 year olds are savvy and hard-working. My son wasn't - and at nearly 20, still isn't. Not due to bad parenting or lack of care - it's just the way he's made, which causes endless sleepless nights for me but ultimately he is - very slowly - learning the hard way.

To all the lucky parents of responsible young adults - please don't sit in judgment of others, I envy you, and no doubt so does the OP. Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try with your children, or how good an example you set - not all adults are fiscally capable so how can all 18 year olds be expected to be?

Thankyou Scurr:

I've had so many negative replies in this forum, I actually feel depressed now! lol

Most of them on here must have the most perfect offspring, and the most perfect lives........good for them!

shellsuit

Gill, I don't think you're getting it.

I was 18 once and did silly things, but I didn't lay blame with anyone else for my own actions.

You're blaming the salesperson as well as your daughter, but the salesperson has done nothing wrong, that's all I was trying to say!

mandi

mobilejunkie wrote: »

So did the communists - after several decades of ruining the lives of the people they were SO concerned about...

:rotfl:Strewth mate :rotfl::rotfl:

Durhamgill

shellsuit wrote: »

Gill, I don't think you're getting it.

I was 18 once and did silly things, but I didn't lay blame with anyone else for my own actions.

You're blaming the salesperson as well as your daughter, but the salesperson has done nothing wrong, that's all I was trying to say!

So......the sales person sending her out to get a quid off her friend to put in her bank account to enable him to set up a direct debit was ok, and he's no blame!


A tip for you shellsuit.......dont stand too near a flame!

Konamb212

What a load of self-righteous twaddle.

Good luck sorting out the phone issue Durhamgill, it did look like an interesting thread, but I drowned in the verbal diahorrea that sprung up somewhere in the first page or two.
Thankfully I'm not a perfect person or a perfect parent, but I do my best,and hopefully learn from my mistakes, and pass the lessons learned from my life-mistakes on to my offspring in advice, what they choose to do with that advice is up to them. At 24,21 and 19 I havent had too much to deal with in the grand scheme of things from them, but I sure as heck won't be surprised at some of the stuff they do.

Just try not to get too stressed out over it, after all its not life and death, and if your daughter learns a lesson from it then thats a good thing.

7891368

My main bank account has £0.57 in it, because I a preferential rate if I keep it with santander instead.

It's not uncommon for people to have near enough empty accounts, especially young people. Most my friends live off a fiver the week before payday.

She willingly put it in her account, it doesn't matter where it came from.

shellsuit

Durhamgill wrote: »

So......the sales person sending her out to get a quid off her friend to put in her bank account to enable him to set up a direct debit was ok, and he's no blame!


A tip for you shellsuit.......dont stand too near a flame!

So he forced her to go and get a pound?

He would have explained what she would have needed to have and do, and she went and did it!

But of course, it's not her fault is it, it's his? :rotfl::rotfl:

Someone else has asked how did the salesperson know that she wasn't having any money paid into her account?

She could have spent what she had in it and was due money to go in any day after she was in the phone shop!

If the salesperson has done wrong, your daughter will be able to cancel the contract with no problem, won't she?

But of course you will ignore me because I'm not saying anything you want to read and because I don't agree with you.

And here's a tip for you Gill ~ put me on ignore.

shellsuit

Durhamgill wrote: »

Thanks for the tip Shellsuit.........I'm new to this forum didn't know I had that option.

Now........go boil your !!!!!!!!!!!!

Grow up Gill.

Now I see where your daughter gets it from.

Durhamgill

Konamb212 wrote: »

What a load of self-righteous twaddle.

Good luck sorting out the phone issue Durhamgill, it did look like an interesting thread, but I drowned in the verbal diahorrea that sprung up somewhere in the first page or two.
Thankfully I'm not a perfect person or a perfect parent, but I do my best,and hopefully learn from my mistakes, and pass the lessons learned from my life-mistakes on to my offspring in advice, what they choose to do with that advice is up to them. At 24,21 and 19 I havent had too much to deal with in the grand scheme of things from them, but I sure as heck won't be surprised at some of the stuff they do.

Just try not to get too stressed out over it, after all its not life and death, and if your daughter learns a lesson from it then thats a good thing.

Thankyou Konamb.....never ever been in such a horrible forum as this.......not a very nice welcome for a newbie.....its full of self-righteous bull *hitters.

flyingscotno1

Durhamgill wrote: »

Thankyou Konamb.....never ever been in such a horrible forum as this.......not a very nice welcome for a newbie.....its full of self-righteous bull *hitters.

The 'problem' here with MSE is two fold.

The first is that it is dealing with money and too many people do head in sand and thus need it blunt. Not really applicable in this case.

Second point is that it really encompasses people from a wide spectrum as opposed to more general forums which appeal to a narrower band of people- football, cars etc. This means you'll get wildly contrasting opinions and stuff you don't want to hear.

A more general thing is this is the internet and everywhere you get keyboard toughguys who wouldn't say boo to a goose face to face but hidden away...

FWIW, I have to say in this instance a topic like this is red rag to a bull for some folk- a silly act by your daughter and the parent here apportioning a level of blame to a retailer just ticks some folks boxes alright!

---

Back on topic however....

Having scanned it, I have to say I agree with the majority view on this one. The only person with blame is your daughter really. The mobile phone company are selling phones and nobody dragged her in or hid the price. No, I can't afford it was all that was required at any time. Sure it is a mistake, but it is part of growing up. We've all done stupid things, and if signing up for an expensive mobile contract is the worse thing an 18 year old does that is lucky.:rotfl:

In any case we can argue the morality of retailers selling things without regard for affordability, but I don't think any shop asked me if I could afford something since I was 9 and weighing up some sweets. Reality is that retailers believe the person to judge these things themselves and do not wish to insult customers by asking those questions! Equally even if additional checks on income were done, your average 18 year old has ways round them when they want something.

I think it is good your daughter can come to you for support in this matter but I'd certainly want to teach my kids a lesson if they did that and have them sort it out themselves- be that cancelling, job or other means- whilst I ask continually how that is going!

This can be a positive thing- learning the hard way is best. Your daughter would be foolish if in 18/24 months time she doesn't remember what happened last time and look at value- indeed not just on phones but everything.