Can an O2 contract be suspended when student goes abroad?

alun4

My son turned 18 last April and immeadiately started racking up debt. He was a student and had part time work as a kitchen porter in a local pub. Amongst the Store cards and bank accounts which immeadiately gave him an overdraft or opened "premier" type accounts is our MAIN problem..... his IPhone 3GS on a £45.00/24 month contract with O2 through CPW (He had a friend who worked there). We have PAYG phones which are on our business letterheads and my wife and I use about £4 or £5 each month.

He has now gone to Austria to work and ski until end of April next year. We have taken the phone but there will be a direct debit each month going to a bank account that is already over it's limit.

Any suggestions as to how we could move forward? We would like to suspend the contract for 6 months - adding the time to the end. After all he was stupid enough to go for a contract phone knowing he was likely to be away for 6 months.

He just doesn't seem to care about money or creating debt.

Techhead_2

You can't suspend the contract. If he was service personnel unexpectedly called overseas to a theatre of war then he could ask for a suspension.
He needs to seek professional advice on his debts. Or at the very least contact his creditors and arrange to make some sort of payment.
I would direct all your efforts at getting him back to the country, take professional advice and get a job here.

Jon_01

Also, unless he's set it up, O2 won't talk to you about his acc. They can't under the data protection act. He need to set one of you up on his acc as a third party to give you access...

custardy

sell the phone

Rikki

custardy wrote: »

sell the phone

The monthly DD still has to be paid regardless for the full term of teh contract, but you mean use the money to pay the DD's.

alun4

Techhead wrote: »

You can't suspend the contract. If he was service personnel unexpectedly called overseas to a theatre of war then he could ask for a suspension.
He needs to seek professional advice on his debts. Or at the very least contact his creditors and arrange to make some sort of payment.
I would direct all your efforts at getting him back to the country, take professional advice and get a job here.

I am aware that the mobile companies brought this concession for armed forces following a lot of campaigning by consumer programmes.. If there is no way of suspending I suspect our best option is to try and extend his debt with his bank to cover payment of the Direct Debit. At least this way we will not simply be paying it off.
We are hoping it will be better for him to be abroad as the friends he was mixing with in the UK have little ambition, little focus and mostly very wealthy parents who seem content that their offspring "drift whilst finding their feet"

We will get him to write and sign an authority. Will O2 accept this by email?

Jon_01

alun4 wrote: »

We will get him to write and sign an authority. Will O2 accept this by email?

Not sure. The Acc holder (as a rule) has to clear security and then set up third party.

It might be an idea to call O2 and ask what to when the acc holders isn't in the UK and won't be for a while. I sure they must (!) have a policy, but I have no idea what it would require. . .

Wintermute

alun4 wrote: »

We will get him to write and sign an authority. Will O2 accept this by email?

You wont need to do that, you'll need to make sure your son has setup a security password for O2 (usually a security question and answer, like mothers maiden name, name of pet or similar, but the question can only be given the the account holder) this will enable you to phone up, state your full name, his name and the security password and that's all you need although the actions you're allowed to take will be limited to those that wont effect his credit score.

Be aware, there's no way to suspend the account, the best you can really hope for is for O2 to allow you to lower the tariff, but that'll depend how far into the contract he is and whether this has already been done.

alun4

Wintermute wrote: »

Be aware, there's no way to suspend the account, the best you can really hope for is for O2 to allow you to lower the tariff, but that'll depend how far into the contract he is and whether this has already been done.

There will be no use of the phone but I wonder what tarrif I have a chance to negotiate to. He is paying £45.00 per month.


How long would it be before they commenced proceedings against him. Would they "roll up" the bill if they knew he was going to be back in May next year?

macman

It's simply not your problem, he is over 18 and an adult. If he fails to make the payments they will disconnect him and trash his credit record. If the DD is still paid out of his bank then he will get OD charges from the bank until the OD limit is reached. He is apparently perfectly well aware of what he is doing and doesn't seem concerned, so why are you bailing him out-has he asked you to?

alun4

macman wrote: »

It's simply not your problem, he is over 18 and an adult. If he fails to make the payments they will disconnect him and trash his credit record. If the DD is still paid out of is bank then he will get OD charges from the bank until the OD limit is reached. He is apparently perfectly well aware of what he is doing and doesn't seem concerned, so why are you bailing him out-has he asked you to?

But it has not been adult behaviour. It is our problem and worry because we are the parents. we don't know what we've done wrong. The bank will probably keep paying the direct debit for six months because they know the family connection.Both my wife and I are retired staff.