Can an O2 contract be suspended when student goes abroad?

Wintermute

alun4 wrote: »

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?

Depending on how far into the contract and what previous action's been taken on the account you might be able to get it down to £35, but you're unlikely to get it any lower.

I can't remember the exact time scale, but after about 30 days of non payment (i.e. a failed direct debit) there'll be a bar placed on the account directing all outgoing calls will be redirected to customer service then as time progresses more bars are placed then after about 60 days of non-payment (I'm very rough on the time scales here!) the line is disconnected and termination fees are applied (cost of monthly tariff multiplied by the remaining months on the contract - so a fair amount!) at this point you can usually get away with paying the outstanding amount and getting reconnected and the term fees credited back, but if they're left unpaid for long enough the debt will get sold onto a debt recovery agency. Throughout this process there'll be numerous text messages, letters and emails sent so you'll know what's going on.

Unfortunately you will be rather limited on what you can do with your sons account, the debt assistance department will be unable to speak to you even if you can pass DPA checks as it will have a major impact on your sons credit score. Also, be advised that debt assistance wont speak to your son until there's over one billing periods worth of money outstanding.

Unless your son takes some action and responsibility and keeps on top of his contract until he comes back or unless you bail him out, he'll be returning to the UK with a trashed credit record and quite a bit of debt.

Techhead_2

I come back to what I said in post #2. He needs to come back to this country and sort out his problems. Its going to be very difficult to do from overseas.

Parva

I'm with macman on this. He's now an adult and he has to be responsible for his actions. I have two grown up children (my daughter is 19 so still a teen) and no way on this earth would I bail my children out of something like this.

Why has it become your problem? We love our kids, I would die for mine but I draw the line at mollycoddling them with the pitfalls of phone contracts and credit cards! It's time you unleashed the world of adulthood on your offspring.

iinvestor

just cancel the direct debit and tell them he has moved abroad. simples

gjchester

iinvestor wrote: »

just cancel the direct debit and tell them he has moved abroad. simples

Simples way to ruin a credit record yes...


The OP's son needs to come back or at least call and get the patents put on the account, then they may be able to help, but all the time we discuss this the bill is still mounting.

MrRincewind

Always by far the most stupid piece of advice...

iinvestor wrote: »

just cancel the direct debit and tell them he has moved abroad. simples

alun4

iinvestor wrote: »

just cancel the direct debit and tell them he has moved abroad. simples

Running away is not a solution!

alun4

Just a long overdue update!

O2 have agreed to lower the monthly tariff but not postpone. The phone remains in a draw here in the UK and our son is still in Austria. WE have paid various amounts to 02 but they marked the "reduction" forward so it will only come onto the bill next month.
I am still amazed that 02 (presumably) authorise a contract to a barely 18 year old who was not on the Electoral Register, had no permanent or substantial job and the salesman at CPW knew to be going abroad for the following 2 winters.

grumbler

Stop treating him like a child and blaming everybody around. He is adult.
Thousands of students have contract phones.
This is a good starting point for building a credit history. If your son chose to ruin it instead it's his fault.
Salesmen are not supposed to know about future plans of their customers. They get paid for selling, not for interviewing.

Techhead_2

I see an issue here, I hope you won't mind me being blunt. But you are acting like those parents you mentioned earlier. Don't try to divert blame to O2 and don't try to 'cover' for him. It will be better in so many ways if you can guide him through this, enable him to face the issues squarely as an adult and not do things for him.