T-Mobile cancellation Hell. PAC code.

Jonnigee

Nightmare cancelling T-mobile contract. My girlfriend took out a monthly contract in 2007 for her son on an 18 month Ufix tariff, £15 p/m and he couldn’t exceed the monthly allowance. The 18 month’s passed and he kept the phone but the contract changed, something to do with his age and the availability of the previous contract, blah blah, anyway we ended up paying 24.99 p/m line rental. In January 2010 we got him a Blackberry on contract with O2, (again in my girlfriend’s name as he was still 16). The new number he was given with O2 was excellent, easier to remember, so we decided not to switch the old T-Mobile number over. On Jan 5th she called T-mobile Customer ‘Service’ line to cancel the contract, she was told that a 30 day cancellation period applied at it was confirmed to her that the contract would be finalised and finished on 7th Feb. We knew we would have to pay the final month even though he wasn’t using the now ‘old’ T-mobile phone. The CS adviser then gave my GF a pac number, even though she didn’t request one, and told her that it was valid for 30 days, if she didn’t use it within the 30 days then the PAC would be invalid and she would have to call back and request another one in order to keep the existing T-mobile number, My GF explained that we didn’t want to keep the existing number, but the CS bod said keep it anyway in case you change your mind. Fast forward to 19/3/10, when £24.99 was deducted via Direct Debit from her account by T-mobile. We assumed it was full n final payment for the contract ending on 7/2/10 so we let it go and considered T-mobile an ex entity. Until 19/4/10 when they took another £24.99, I quickly instructed my GF to cancel the DD with her bank (something I accept should’ve been done on 5/1/10 I know!). Fast forward again a few months when a letter from the lovely people at Buchannan Clarke and Wells turned up, demanding money for unpaid debt, I knew nothing about this and, very stupidly, my GF called them and set up a DD payment with them because she was petrified by the threats made by BC&W. They took two payments of £40 before I found out and told her to desist in my own polite way. When I called T-mobile they told me that despite having a record of the cancellation, they didn’t cancel the contract because the PAC wasn’t activated by another Network! Even though we told them we wouldn’t be using, needing or wanting the PAC. After several disputes with different CS bods I eventually spoke to a manager who checked all the details and apologised for the mix up, he stated that the original Cancellation CS bod had misled us and he would forward the issue to the complaints dept who’d arrange full refund of the March and April payments. How do I stand with regards to reclaiming the money from BC&W? In light of T-mobile’s acceptance. Also, what happens to the incorrect bad debt record now appearing on my GF’s credit report?

grumbler

Jonnigee wrote: »

How do I stand with regards to reclaiming the money from BC&W? In light of T-mobile’s acceptance.

It's a difficult question. As T-mobile admitted that it was their fault and it was they who sold the debt to BCW, *I think* you can claim the rest of the money from T-mobile. The problem is that you should not have paid in the first place if you believed that you did not owe anything.

Alternatively you can try claiming from BCW and let them settle their business with T-mobile. I think it will not be easy as their actions were based on the information they received from T-mobile and they have not done anything wrong.

Also, what happens to the incorrect bad debt record now appearing on my GF’s credit report?

If T-mobile reported the default, they are the only one who can make corrections to the credit files

mobilejunkie

Actually it wasn't the girlfriend who was "stupid". Telling her to cancel the direct debit was the really stupid thing to do. THAT would merely make matters worse - as is now the case. I detest T-Mobile; they are truly awful on cancellation and their customer "service" is non-existent. However, not using the PAC code means the contract WAS still live so technically it is down to T-Mobile's "generosity" to sort out the external credit files and debt collector.

Jonnigee

mobilejunkie wrote: »

However, not using the PAC code means the contract WAS still live .

Are you telling me that nobody can cancel a mobile phone contract after the term date, unless they register a PAC code with another network provider and keep their old number????? Surely not.

grumbler

Apparently it cannot be cancelled while the PAC is active.
And apparently you have to give another notice after the PAC expires unused.

PAC Codes and Oranges Way to Stop You Cancelling

mobilejunkie

You either go the PAC code route or have to give 30 days notice. If you don't activate the first or give the second the contract continues to run.

The point is, cancelling a direct debit without finding out WHY payments were still going out cures the sympton but allows the cause to expand out of control - and in a direction far worse than the problem you started with.

Jonnigee

Guys, thanks for the replies, I understand the mistakes which have been made re the DD's etc, but my main inquiry is the legality of T-mobile not cancelling the contract 30 days after the request was made to cancel, (their T's & C's do not contain anything about PAC's not being activated) and also what options do we have next with regards to recovering our money and correcting our credit report.
What if I see out an 18 month contract, and decide not to have a mobile any longer after the 18 months, with anybody, thus never using a pac, does my contract run forever even though I've given 30 days notice and never ever use another mobile ever again??!!

grumbler

Just give a notice without requesting a PAC.
The same if you want to change the network without keeping the number.

balmk

There are 2 issues:

1) Your cancellation was processed incorrectly by T-Mobile. They have admitted that.

2) Rather than contacting T-Mobile to ask why they were still taking money, the DD was cancelled. This triggers the non-payment and debt collection processes.

IMO there is responsibility to be taken on both sides here.

connor85

im having similar problems with t mobile i asked for my contract to be cancelled at the end of my minimum contract tmobile advised me that i either had to give 30 days notice or i could switch straight onto payg without costing me any more i asked for the payg option. This was november 2009 i recently discovered t mob were still taking money cancelled my DD and spoke to them about what was going on. They admitted that nobody contacted me from their cancellations dept but they can see on their system that i requested for my account to end. I dont see how this is my fault as they have seen the account has been asked to be closed/turned into a payg However they expect me to pay the remaining DD up till april 30th. The DD was cancelled in jan meaning they are expecting £120 from me and have passed me onto their debt collecting people although I have also been told i should be getting a refund for all the previous months according to one CS bod i spoke to a few weeks ago. As well as this according to tmob this call never took place as they cant find any record of it. Anybody know if they have 2 systems or ways that mean certain calls are logged in a different way so they wouldnt show up? One of their managers is supposedly ringing me today to confirm that they are expecting full payment from myself

grumbler

connor85 wrote: »

... They admitted that ...they can see on their system that i requested for my account to end.

I think this says it all.